Newton baseball players receive LHC honors

Four Newton Senior High School baseball players received postseason honors from Little Hawkeye Conference coaches. The coaches selected the 2014 All-Little Hawkeye Conference baseball teams recently and released it as soon as the Iowa state baseball tournaments were completed over the weekend.

Junior Tyler Wood and seniors Derek Wrage, Evan Shimon and Chandler Sturtz made an impact on the 2014 season for the Cardinals. The Cardinals finished at 14-20 for the season. They were 10-11 for fifth place in the LHC.

Conference co-champion Dallas Center-Grimes played for the Iowa Class 3A state title Saturday, losing 1-0 to Assumption. DCG and Norwalk each posted a 15-6 record in Little Hawkeye action.

Wood garnered All-Little Hawkeye Conference first team honors as a utility player. Wood pitched and played at third base, shortstop and second base during the season.

The junior right-hander went 5-4 on the mound for the Cardinals with a 1.26 earned run average, which was sixth best in the conference. He pitched 61 innings allowing 44 hits, walking 38 batters, hitting one batter and striking out 60. He also had one save.

Wood was Newton’s second-best hitter at .304. He had 34 singles, six doubles and one home run. Wood scored 18 runs and drove in 10 runs. He was 6-for-9 in stolen base attempts. He had a fielding average of .876 and had 15 errors in 34 games.

Wrage earned All-LHC second-team honors as a pitcher. Wrage, a left-hander, posted a 5-4 record on the mound with a 2.14 ERA. He worked 52 1/3 innings giving up 51 hits, walking 14 batters and striking out 31.

Wrage played first base for the Cardinals when not pitching. He had a .983 fielding average with four errors on the season. He led the Cardinals with a .348 batting average, which was 10th best in the conference. The senior connected for 31 singles and four doubles. Wrage had 16 RBIs and scored nine runs. He also led the team in drawing 17 walks.

Shimon and Sturtz received conference honorable mention.

Shimon was Newton’s starting catcher with a .973 fielding average. He made five errors on the season. He threw out 15 base runners attempting to steal.

Shimon led the Cardinals with 11 doubles. He also hit 28 singles, one triple and one home run. He had a .267 batting average and a .419 slugging percentage. Shimon drove in 20 runs.

Holding down the starting shortstop spot most of the season, Sturtz had a .932 fielding average with 10 errors for Newton. The senior also pitched, going 2-5, for the Cardinals. He gave up 41 hits, walked four, hit two batters and struck out 18 batters. He had a 2.26 ERA.

Sturtz hit at a .250 clip from the left side of the plate. He had 25 singles, four doubles and one triple for the season. He scored 14 runs and had 16 RBIs.

Contact Sports Editor Jocelyn Sheets at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com.