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Rivera selected county baseball MVP
That leadership earned Rivera this year's Most Valuable Player on the All- Wharton County Baseball Team. "This means a lot to me because coach (Floyd) Ciruti taught me a lot these past three years," said Rivera. "I was really appreciative of that. and it giving me a chance to play on the next level," said Rivera who tried out for the Wharton County Junior College baseball team earlier in the week. Rivera will play in the Houston Texas High School Coaches Association Class 3A-4A all-star game Tuesday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston. "Hopefully I can have big game and get some recognition," said Rivera. Rivera boasted a .392 average with 21 hits and 15 RBIs. He walked six times and scored 29 runs. "I was really surprised by the season I had," said Rivera. "My job as a lead off man was to get on base and get the game started for us." "My bat came along for me. I just went after the best pitch I saw.
"He was one of the best lead off hitters that we've had here in a long time. He had a big year and was very instrumental in our success. Wharton got off to a tough start in district but rallied back to take the third and final District 24-3A playoff spot. "We won four of the last five games to make the playoffs and that was a big thing," said Rivera. Ciruti, who announced his retirement after the Tigers were eliminated from the playoffs, garnered Coach-ofthe Year honors for the second year in a row. "This means a lot to me and this will go in my bio," said Ciruti who will be inducted into the Houston Area Baseball Coaches Hall-of-Honor Tuesday night at Reckling Park in Houston. "My players are the ones who caused this to happen," said Ciruti. "If we hadn't had that surge at the end I'm sure I wouldn't have been coach of the year." "We constantly talked about playing hard no matter what the score is. They kept on and kept on and this year's team had a turn around and made the most of it." Louise freshman Trey Koudela was a standout for Hornets as he garnered the Newcomer-of-the-Year award. He had a .458 average with 11hits. He battled back from a injury and missed five games. "I was toughing coming in as a fresheman and playing," said Koudela who was limited to only 24 at bats. "I just made me mad having to watch. " Koudela started the season as a catcher but also pitched and played first. First team selections included pitchers Kris Looper from Wharton and Matthew Hamman from El Campo. Looper had a 5-5 season record with a 1.88 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 52 innings. He also contributed a .338 batting average with 25 hits and 16 RBIs. Hammon was 4-6 on the season with a 3.89 ERA while striking out 66 batters in 72 innings. El Campo junior Landon Appling earned catcher honors. He had a .388 average with 31 hits and 15 RBIs. He committed only two errors and had 15 assists. Infielders include Wharton's Michael Mata, East Bernard's Clinton Graves, Boling's Justin Hobbs, Louise's Wesley Branscom and Bryan Skow and Tyler Socha of El Campo. Mata, who played at first, had a .318 average with 21 hits and 26 RBIs. He had a fielding average of .974, committing only four errors. Graves, also played first and had a .375 average with 13 RBIs. He had a fielding average of .940. Hobbs had a .397 average with 27 hits and nine RBIs. He scored nine runs and had an .831 fielding average. Branscom had a .564 average with 31 hits and 28 RBIs. He also scored 23 runs. Skow had a .321 average with 26 hits and 18 RBIs. He scored 14 runs. Socha had a .253 average with 21 hits and nine RBIs. He scored 20 runs Outfielders are Chris Acuna from Wharton, Aaron Alexander from East Bernard, Trevor Archer from Boling and Chris Hicks from Louise. Alexander had a .306 average with 10 RBIs. He scored 12 runs and had a .940 fielding average. Archer had a .424 average with 28 hits and 12 RBIs. He scored 24 runs and had a .944 fielding average. Hicks had a .537 average with 29 hits and scoring 26 runs Sharing utility player honors were Taylor Ustynik of Wharton and Sean Hollis of Boling. Ustynik who played three positions for the Tigers, had a .318 average with 14 hits and seven RBIs. He had a .878 fielding average. Hollis had a .273 average with 15 hits and seven RBIs. He also scored 10 runs and had a .960 fielding average. Second team selections included East Bernard junior pitcher James Powell who went 5-4, had an ERA of 5.83 and struck out 48. Louise senior Nick Barrera was selected as a catcher. He had a .469 average with 15 hits and 17 RBIs. Infielders included Cameron Orsak and Matthew Stelzel from East Bernard and Koby Sanchez and Tanner Thompson from Boling. Sanchez contributed with a .415 average with 17 hits and nine RBIs. He had a .809 fielding average. Thompson boasted a .377 average with 26 hits and 21 RBIs. He scored 14 runs and had a .983 fielding average. Stelzel had a .278 average with eight RBIs and a on-base percentage of .453. Orsak had a .251 average with 11 RBIs, a on-base percentage of .353 and fielding average of .910 Outfielders included Ben Williams from Wharton, Matthew Blumerick from Louise and Blake Korenek from El Campo. Williams had a .250 average with 11 hits and six RBIs, scoring 17 runs. He had a .933 fielding average. Blumrick had a .339 average with 20 hits and 17 RBIs. Korenek had a .256 average with 21 hits and eight RBIs. Tiger junior Lucas Munoz earned utility player honors with a .250 average including 15 hits and 11 RBIs. ALL-WHARTON COUNTY BASEBALL TEAMS MOST VALUABLE PLAYER J.D. RIVERA, WHARTON, SENIOR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR TREY KOUDELA, LOUISE, FRESHMAN COACH OF THE YEAR FLOYD CIRUTI, WHARTON, 33RD YEAR
HONORABLE MENTION BOLING - TANNER THOMPSON, SR; DUSTIN ORTIZ SR EAST BERNARD - JACOB HUDMAN, SR; CAMERON MAZOCH, JR EL CAMPO - HOLDEN WHITLEY, SOPH; CHASE BULLARD, JR LOUISE - KYLE TEGELER SR; CLINT BLAHA, SOPH |
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