Ben Cowles left little doubt when it came to end-of-the-season awards. The Newark junior led the Finger Lakes East with a .605 batting average. Of his 26 hits on the season, 14 were of the extra-base variety including 11 doubles, two home runs and a triple. He drove in 18 runs and scored 24. His 14 walks contributed to an on-base percentage of .707. With all this and more Cowles earned Finger Lakes East Player of the Year.
Coming out of the bullpen, the University of Maryland commit struck out 20 and walked nine in 15.2 innings of work. He finished 2-1 with three saves. Teammates Zach DeVito and Ryan Velte joined Cowles on the first team. DeVito went 6-0 on the season. He fanned 56 and walked 22 for the Reds which claimed the league title with a record of 13-1. Velte hit .404 on the season and drove in 15 runs for the No. 2 seed in Class B.
Brett Anderson, Jake Jones and Jesse Kabat also grabbed spots on the first team. The trio paced a Mynderse squad which finished 7-7 and in a four-way tie for second with Midlakes, Palmyra-Macedon and Penn Yan. Anderson hit .385 with an on-base percentage of .475. Jones finished with a batting average of .365. Rabat hit .370.
Ezra Maslyn registered a 4-0 record on the mound for Midlakes. Penn Yan’s Derrick Riviello went 4-2 with 39 strike outs and 15 walks over 31.1 innings. His battery mate Peyton Shuck hit .311 and scored 25 runs.
Wayne’s Tom Bolt hit .356 on the season. Sean Flannery matched his teammate with a .356 clip at the plate.
Geneva’s Matt Tierney hit .421. Sean Hesler joined his Panther teammate batting .431. Palmyra-Macedon’s Grant LaDue rounded out the first team hitting .444 for the campaign.
2017 Finger Lakes East First Team
P Zach DeVito (Sr.) – Newark
P Ezra Maslyn (Jr.) – Midlakes
P Derrick Riviello (Jr.) – Penn Yan
C Peyton Shuck (So.) – Penn Yan
INF Sean Flannery (Jr.) – Wayne
INF Sean Hesler (Sr.) – Geneva
INF Jake Jones (Sr.) – Mynderse
INF Jesse Kabat (Jr.) – Mynderse
INF Ryan Velte (Sr.) – Newark
OF Brett Anderson (Sr.) – Mynderse
OF Tom Bolt (Jr.) – Wayne
OF Grant LaDue (Sr.) – Pal-Mac
DH Matt Tierney (Jr.) – Geneva
Player of the Year: Ben Cowles (Jr.) – Newark
Coach of the Year: Mike McGavisk
Second Team
P Devin Hicks (So.) – Midlakes
P Logan Holgado (So.) – Wayne
P Donnie McMahon (Jr.) – Penn Yan
C Devin Kelly (Jr.) – Midlakes
INFAustin Avanzato (Sr.) – Midlakes
INF Mike Baroody (Sr.) – Geneva
INF Noah Detar (So.) – Penn Yan
INF Jeremy Howe Jr.) – Mynderse
INF Caden Murray Jr.) – Newark
OF Tristyn Brey (Sr.) – Newark
OF Jordan Maher (So.) – Midlakes
DH Luke Kornbau (Sr.) – Newark
Honorable Mention – Geneva: Jake Perry, Kyle Pierce, Brandon Rider, Curtis Schultz and Victor Torres
Midlakes: Mike Deckert and Connor Young
Mynderse: Keegan Baker, Jaret Follett and Nick Hartwell.
Newark: Lucas DeVito and Troy Ludolph
Penn Yan: Robbie Wigsten
Waterloo: Matt Barron, Jake Dygert, Greg Hoke, Kenny Matoon, Evan Shumway, Blake Spina, Jake Webb and Nick Webb.
FINAL STANDINGS 2017 Finger Lakes East
Newark 13-1/18-5
Mynderse 7-7/8-9
Penn Yan 7-7/10-11
Midlakes 7-7/10-9
Pal-Mac 7-7/9-10
Geneva 5-9/8-11
Waterloo 5-9/8-12
Wayne 5-9/5-13
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