By TYLER HATHAWAY
Wayland-Cohocton head coach Steve Wager had one way to describe the 2023 Section V Class B2 Player of the Year Markus Brehm.
“He’s someone you’d consider to be a five-tool kid,” said Wager.
Wager used this phrase because to him, Brehm did it all.
“He hits for power, he hits for contact, has an excellent arm. With his speed. The kid can do it all.”
Brehm, a junior, is the recipient of Way-Co’s first Player of the Year award. The shortstop hit .420 in the leadoff spot, reached base safely over 50 percent of the time, had three home runs, and stole a program-record 43 bases.
“It’s an honor to win it out of all the kids in B2,” said Brehm. “We’re a small school, so it’s kind of an honor to be seen.”
Brehm was a pivotal piece of a Wayland-Cohocton team that finished the regular season 16-3 and earned the No. 1 seed heading into the B2 Sectional playoffs.
“I don’t think I could have won this without my team,” Brehm explained. “We all kept each other happy and in it together.”
“He’s been a very quiet leader,” said Wager. “He leads by example, he grabs teammates and does defensive drills among other things. He’s as well schooled a baseball player as I’ve seen.”
Despite winning the award, Brehm was disappointed in how his season ended. The Eagles bowed out in the B2 quarterfinals.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t make it as far as we wanted, but we are a young team so hopefully next year we can do it again and go farther than we did this year,” said Brehm.
“As a one seed we were obviously disappointed to not meet our goal,” said Wager. “He and a teammate have already talked about the goal of winning a title next year. I overheard him say to somebody at the sectional luncheon that he would trade his award plaque if it meant we would have won as a team.”
Livonia head coach Scott Gilman and his team faced Brehm and Wayland-Cohocton twice during the regular season, and sung high praise for the junior standout.
“I’ve seen him since he was a freshman, and you can see the growth and development he has had as a baseball player,” said Gilman. “He’s a menace in the leadoff spot because he’s a contact hitter, and if he gets on base he’s gonna run.”
“He’s (Brehm) been the full package for us,” said Wager. “Hopefully he can help us get to the next level. Having him back next year puts us in the mix to have a shot at it.”
Brehm is joined by his teammate Michael Gammell (Sr. .333 BA, 12 RBI, 17 RS, 1 HR) (3.41 ERA, 40 K, .266 BAA) who is making his second straight appearance on the B2 All-Class team.
Three other players from Livingston County to make the team are Dansville’s Reid Martin (Sr. second straight appearance)., Haverling’s Zach Musso (Sr. .380 BA, 9 RBI, 20 RS) (1.69 ERA, 75 K, .181 BAA), and Le Roy’s Alex Spezzano (So. .404 BA, 16 RBI, 18 RS/2.24 ERA, 49 K).
Brady Bouchard (Jr. .326 BA, 15 RBI, 2 HR/0.87 ERA, 48 IP, 109 K, 9 BB) and Jayden Ryrko (Sr.) represented Finger Lakes East from Penn Yan and Mynderse respectively.
Attica’s Dan Bialek (Sr. .463 BA, 22 RBI, 6 2B, 18 SB, 1 HR) (3.20 ERA, 50 Ks) makes the team from the Genesee Region.
Logan Dunbar (Sr. .329 BA, 12 RBI, 18 RS, 4 2B, 5 3B) (3.06 ERA) makes the team from Wellsville to represent Allegany County.
Logan Caves (Jr .492 BA, 19 RBI, 29 RS) (57 K) made the team from Wayne County’s North Rose-Wolcott.
*Section V coaches decided the All-Class teams.
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