Weekly Diamond Notes

May 20, 2016

There have been eight players named the Porsche Exchange Player of the Week so far this season. This past week’s winner was Lemont senior RHP/1B Garrett Acton.

Acton more commonly known for his pitching prowess and the ability to run his fastball into the low 90’s, did most of his stellar work at the plate last week for the Indians.

For the week, Acton went 11-for-12 (.917), with a home run, five doubles, nine runs batted in, five runs scored and walked twice at the plate. On the mound he went three innings, gave up one hit, no runs, struck out six and walked two.

Click Here to read about Acton’s success last week.

Several players narrowly missed out on winning the award this week. Let’s take a look at some of the players around the state who put up impressive numbers last week:

WEEK 8

Ryan Kutt, RHP, Brother Rice, 2017
Illinois recruit. Last week Kutt twirled a complete game for No. 1 Brother Rice. Kutt got the win in a 5-1 victory over then No. 3 St. Laurence. Kutt went seven innings, scattered four hits, one run, none earned, struck out six and walked one. Kutt threw 89 pitches with 65 of them for strikes.

Bradley Harrison, LHP/OF, O’Fallon, 2016
Southern Illinois recruit and two-way prospect. On Tuesday in an 11-0 victory over rival Edwardsville did damage at the plate and on the mound. On the mound Harrison twitled a six inning complete game shutout. He scattered two hit, struck out 10 and walked two. At the plate he went 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs batted in. In a 11-0 victory over Granite City on Thursday Harrison went 1-for1 with a home run, two runs batted in, three runs scored and two walks.

TJ Chance, RHP, Harlem, 2016
McHenry County College recruit. Last week TJ picked up 2 wins. Twirled a complete game shutout vs Guilford and picked up a win in relief against Nic-10 co-leader Hononegah. He also had the walk off hit vs Hononegah. His line on the mound for the week was 8.1IP, 1R, 5H and 8K’s. At the plate Chance went 6-for-12, 4RBI and 2R. Harlem is now 21-6 overall and 15-1 in the NIC-10

Ryan Renken, RHP, Richards, 2016
Last Wednesday, Renken threw a complete-game, no-hitter in a 4-0 victory over Reavis. He struck out 10 and walked 2. He threw a total of 86 pitches with 62 of them for strikes. The win increased his season record to 6-1, and lowered his season ERA to 1.24.

Andrew Wilhite, SHP, SS, 2018
Wilhite is a switch-handed pitcher and left-handed hitting shortstop. At the plate he went 5-for-9 with a home run, six runs batted in, three runs scored and two walks. Last Wednesday throwing left-handed Wilhite went seven innings and got the win. He threw 78 pitches, allowed one earned run, struck out three and walked two. On Thursday, Wilhite got the start and win, this time throwing right handed. He went seven innings, threw 84 pitches, allowed two earned runs, struck out nine and walked one. On the season Wilhite is hitting .471 with 28 runs batted in and 29 runs scored. His season line as a RHP is: 15.2IP, 19K’s and a 0.89 ERA. As a LHP: 40IP, 41K’s and a 1.75 ERA.

Levon Smith, RHP, Belvidere North, 2016
Uncommitted. Threw a complete game no hitter in a 6-0 win against Boylan Catholic HS. Smith went seven innings, no runs, struck out nine and walked two. Smith also leads northern Illinois in batting average at .514.