Stephens, Zimm honored

By Mark Fleckenstein

On their way to winning the Class AA state championship, Lincoln’s trio of junior Josh Harlow and seniors Dale Martin and Jacob Harmer combined for 23 home runs and 68 RBIs for the 17-11 Cougars.

In their state semifinal win over Independence, the three combined to score five of the Cougars’ six runs and accounted for four of the team’s seven hits.

The trinity was the drivetrain that propelled Lincoln’s state championship car, and for that the three Cougars’ captains were selected to the Class AA all-state first-team, announced by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association Thursday.

Harlow, this year’s first-team captain at pitcher, led Lincoln with nine home runs and a .404 batting average.

“My goal was to win a state championship, and that’s what I drove for,” Harlow said. “But being picked here, it’s a great privilege.”

While his offensive numbers were impressive, it was his work on the mound that set him apart as he led the Cougars to their second state championship.

The hard-throwing righty, who was a first-team pitcher last season, finished with a 7-1 record, with four of those wins coming in postseason play. He struck out 110 batters in 59 innings while walking just 13.

“He takes offense when someone gets a hit off him,” Cougars coach John DeMarco said. “We’re just a much better team when he’s on the mound. When he’s pitching, we even seem to hit better.”

Martin, who hit his eighth home run of the season against Independence at Appalachian Power Park, led Lincoln with 29 RBIs and eight doubles.

“(Dale) came to me before the season and said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to lose,’” DeMarco said. “You could see it in his eyes all year and during the postseason. He’s just really been a leader for us these last three years.”

Martin, who makes his second straight appearance in the first-team infield, recorded five put-outs in the Cougars’ title game win over Point Pleasant while playing shortstop.

Harmer started every game for Lincoln over the past four seasons at catcher. DeMarco thinks so highly of his backstop that Harmer has complete autonomy over pitch selection.

“With Jacob back there, we were never afraid of throwing a curveball in the dirt with a runner on third,” DeMarco said.

In 2009, Harmer was second on the team with a .375 batting mark and third with six home runs.

“For us to win it all and have all three of us on (the first team), it’s just been a dream season,” Harmer said.

Joining Harlow in the first-team rotation are Magnolia’s Andrew Robinson, Berkeley Springs’ Michael Twigg and Independence’s Mark Ward. Robinson and Twigg both make their second-straight first-team appearance.

Robinson, a senior, posted a 6-1 record and 1.70 ERA for the 15-5 Blue Eagles and batted .379 with nine doubles and 16 RBIs for coach Dave Cisar.

Twigg, a senior whose Indians (12-9) fell to Lincoln in the Region II final, was 5-0 with a 0.93 ERA. He also struck out 85 in 45 innings of work and batted .414.

Ward was 6-0 as a senior with a 0.98 ERA for the Patriots and recorded a no-hitter against a great Oak Hill team earlier in the season.

“Mark just had an outstanding season,” Patriots coach Joe Goddard said. “He was a different kind of pitcher. He got a lot of ground balls and this and that and was really effective for us.”

Along with Martin in the first-team infield are Magnolia’s Jordan Ash, Oak Hill’s Rob Stephens and Tyler Consolidated’s Zach Perkey.

Ash, a senior, batted .417 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs for the Blue Eagles. He also finished an impressive 12-for-15 on stolen base attempts.

Stephens, who led the Red Devils (21-5) with an double-take inducing .561 average, had five home runs and 11 doubles while swiping 16 bases as a senior.

Perkey, also a senior, drove in 22 runs for the 6-16 Knights. He batted .509 with eight home runs and five doubles.

Headlining the first-team outfield is Point Pleasant’s D.W. Herdman. The junior batted .409 with seven doubles, four home runs and 17 RBIs while leading the Black Knights (20-11) to the state championship game.

Herdman also pitched for Point, amassing a 3-0 record with a 3.21 ERA.

Joining Herdman in the outfield are Sissonville’s Tyler Burdette and Ravenswood’s Luke Corley. Burdette led Sissonville (21-17) to the state semifinals, where the Indians fell to Herdman and Point Pleasant. A junior, Burdette batted .384 with 12 doubles and a preposterous 38 stolen bases. As a pitcher, Burdette’s ERA was 0.79.

As a sophomore, Corley batted .435 with a .667 on-base percentage for the Red Devils (11-13). He also hit 10 doubles, two home runs and drove in 23.

Grafton senior Cameron Gallaher tops the first-team utilities.

Gallaher leads all first-team players with a .630 batting average. As a senior for the Bearcats (11-6), he scored 24 runs in 17 games and drove in 16 more, all while compiling eight doubles and 18 steals. Gallaher was also 4-2 on the mound with 64 strikeouts in 34 innings.

Independence’s Kendrick Epling, who started the Patriots’ state semifinal loss to Lincoln, was 6-2 on the mound with a staggering 0.28 ERA and had 97 punchouts in 50 innings.

“If you sit down and draw it up, you hope that your pitcher can go out and win you a ball game, and that’s what we had this year,” Goddard said. “Kendrick struck out about two per inning, threw a one-hitter. He just had a great year.” Epling, a junior, also hit .370 with 30 RBIs.

Oak Hill’s Tyler Zimm did a little bit of everything for the Red Devils, and he generally did it well. A senior, Zimm was 8-2 with a 0.37 ERA and struck out 81 in 56 innings. He also batted .506 with three home runs.

The final member of the first team is Wayne’s Neil Dillon, who batted .385 with 17 RBIs and seven stolen bases as a senior for the Pioneers (14-8). He also won eight games and had a 2.35 ERA.

The second-team rotation features Oak Hill’s Dustin Nuckels (7-1, 1.56 ERA), Point Pleasant’s B.J. Lloyd (4-2, 2.20 ERA), Wyoming East’s Kyle Hurley (4-2, 1.30 ERA) and PikeView’s Bo Garrett (6-3, 1.90 ERA, 69 Ks).

The second-team catcher is Sissonville’s Scottie Derrick, who hit .313 with four home runs and 31 RBIs. He also threw out base-stealers at a 51 percent clip.

The second-team infield consists of captain Jake Justice (.365, 34 runs) of Independence, Sissonville’s Ryan Bailey (.406, 37 runs, 33 SB), Wayne’s Daniel Damron (.354, 21 RBIs) and Frankfort’s Jeff Conley (.433, 6 2B, 4 3B).

In the second-team outfield are Grafton’s Damon Waters (.345, 25 SB), Petersburg’s Chase Feaster (.371, 29 runs, 14 RBIs) and Berkeley Springs’ T.J. Lambert (.361, 19 RBIs, 10 SB).

The utility players on the second team are Ronnie Loy (.538, 32 RBIs) of Petersburg, Herbert Hoover’s Patrick Ryan (.478, 4-2, 83 Ks), Magnolia’s Justin Fox (.403, 16 RBIs, 4-3, 1.23 ERA) and Weir’s Chris Bittenger (.358, 20 RBIs, 4-4).

Other Oak Hill players recognized were: special honorable mention — Marcellas McFarland, outfield; honorable mention — Jerad Wolfe, catcher; Brent Brash, infield.

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