Division I Team Of The Week: Week 6 - Westerville South

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Division I Team Of The Week: Week 6 - Westerville South

WESTERVILLE - When you outscore the opposition 65-1, you can obviously call it a good week.

That was the case for Westerville South, the Prep Baseball Report Division I Team of the Week.

“Pitching, defense and timely hitting,” is what head coach Tim Bates said has stood out about his squad, which now stands 23-3 after beating Franklin Heights 18-0 and 16-0, and Worthington Kilbourne 24-1 and 7-0.

It truly has been a remarkable season for South, which finished with a 12-2 record in the Ohio Capital Conference.

“We had four goals,” related Bates, who has been with the program for 24 years, the last 18 as head coach. “Winning 20 games in the regular season, winning the OCC, winning districts and getting to the state tournament.”

With the first two goals attained, the league title the first since 1983, the focus now turns to the postseason for a team that has admittedly had one area of surprise this year for Bates.

“The team ERA of 1.668 is a surprise to me,” Bates noted. “Credit KC Brewer for doing a great job as pitching coach.”

Four no-hitters have been thrown by four different pitchers this year by Westerville South. Logan Hunn, Matthew Bame, Nick McConnll and Brandon Kim have all been credited with the feat, but when it comes to the top stats on the mound, Bates points to Andrew Collinsworth, a Bluffton College commit who has a 1.09 ERA with 51 strikeouts in 44.1 innings. Bame is an Ohio Dominican recruit ranked 228th in Ohio’s 2021 class, McConnell is the 42nd-rated senior left-handed pitcher, Kim the 126th-ranked 2021 RHP and Hunn, the 65th-rated senior righty who is committed to Ohio Northern.

Toledo commit Brayden White is having a phenomenal season leading the way at the plate for South. The second-ranked 2021 catcher in Ohio is batting .506 with five home runs and 36 RBIs.

Infielder Santo Scillia is hitting .433 with an on-base percentage of .581 while Kaden Saunders, a Penn State football commit and the fifth-ranked junior outfielder in Ohio, is averaging .383 and stealing 19 bases without being caught.

“Getting good pitchering, playing good defense and scoring runs,” Baes said is the key to success from this point on, with the Wildcats taking on either Columbus South or Hilliard Davidson in the sectional opener on Wednesday.