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MaxPreps/USA Baseball Players of the Week for March 7 -March 11, 2016

March 16, 2016 by MaxPreps, AZPreps365


Photo by Frank Hoover

Logan Bender of Triton (Erwin, N.C.) struck out 12 batters and only surrendered one walk in firing a two-hit shutout and earning Pitcher of the Week honors in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

DURHAM, N.C. -- USA Baseball and MaxPreps announced on Monday, the MaxPreps USA Baseball Pitcher and Player of the Week Award winners for the week of March 7, 2016, bringing national recognition to the top-performing high school athletes in the country.

Representing eight national regions, -- Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and West -- players are selected based upon stats that are submitted to MaxPreps.com by coaches and team administrators. For players to be nominated each week, their coach must enter the athlete's game stats into MaxPreps by Sunday evening. High school coaches may obtain an access code to enter stats for their teams at maxpreps.com/cl.

The Great Lakes and Northeast regions will not have a Pitcher or Player of the Week Award recipients for the week of March 7 – 11 due to limited statistical updates and season start dates.

The winners for MaxPreps USA Baseball Player of the Week Award are as follows:

Mid-Atlantic Region

Pitcher of the Week: Senior pitcher Logan Bender pitched a two-hit shutout for Triton High School (Erwin, N.C.) to earn the Mid-Atlantic USA Baseball MaxPreps High School Pitcher of the Week. Bender struck out 12 batters and only surrendered one walk.

Player of the Week: Davis Morgan hit an incredible .900 for the week for Durham Academy (Durham, N.C.) to earn Mid-Atlantic USA Baseball MaxPreps Player of the Week honors. The senior tallied nine hits, eight RBIs, earned three walks, and scored eight runs in 10 at-bats.

Midwest Region

Pitcher of the Week: Brody Ninemire surrendered one hit and one run in seven innings pitched for Viola High School (Viola, Ark.) to earn Midwest USA Baseball MaxPreps Pitcher of the Week honors. The senior gave up one walk and struck out 11 batters in the victory.

Player of the Week: Josh Casteel hit .833 for Strother High School (Seminole, Okla.) to be named the Midwest USA Baseball MaxPreps Player of the Week. Casteel, a senior, went 5-for-6 with four runs scored and two RBIs.

Northwest Region

Pitcher of the Week: Evan Finley pitched a complete game and struck out 15 batters for Peyton High School (Peyton, Colo.) to earn Northwest USA Baseball MaxPreps Pitcher of the Week honors. Finely surrendered three hits and one walk, and gave up one unearned run.

Player of the Week: Jared Miller went 8-for-11 at the plate for Montrose High School (Montrose, Colo.) with seven runs scored to be named the Northwest USA Baseball MaxPreps Player of the Week. Miller, a sophomore, hit one home run, collected six RBIs, and picked up two walks to earn a .769 on-base percentage.

Southeast Region

Pitcher of the Week: C.J. Bianco pitched a no-hitter for Citrus High School (Inverness, Fla.) to earn the Southeast USA Baseball MaxPreps High School Pitcher of the Week. The sophomore struck out 19 batters in the victory and faced only two batters over the minimum.

Player of the Week: Rylan Thomas went 8-for-10 with four home runs and nine RBIs for Windermere Prep (Windermere, Fla.) to earn Southeast USA Baseball MaxPreps Player of the Week honors. The senior scored seven runs and held a slugging percentage of 2.300.

Southwest Region
Pitcher of the Week: Weston Smith pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball for Sandra Day O'Connor High School (Helotes, Texas) while only allowing three hits to earn Southwest USA Baseball MaxPreps Pitcher of the Week honors. Smith, a junior, struck out 16 batters and surrendered only one walk in the victory.

Player of the Week: Noel Vela notched 10 hits in 13 at-bats for Veterans Memorial High School (Mission, Texas) and scored seven times to earn the Southwest USA Baseball MaxPreps Player of the Week Award. The junior hit two home runs, collected 9 RBIs and held an on-base percentage of .786 for the week.

West Region
Pitcher of the Week: Chris Lincoln struck out 11 batters in seven innings for Rancho Verde High School (Moreno Valley, Calif.) to earn the West USA Baseball MaxPreps Pitcher of the Week Award. A senior, Lincoln gave up one unearned run and only two hits in the victory.

Player of the Week: Joey Spears scored nine runs and hit two home runs for San Ramon Valley High School (Danville, Calif.) to earn the West USA Baseball MaxPreps Player of the Week. Spears finished 5-for-6 at the plate with three RBIs and four walks to compile a .929 on-base percentage and a 2.166 slugging percentage.

About MaxPreps
Founded in August 2002, MaxPreps.com is headquartered in Cameron Park, California, and is a unit of CBS Interactive. MaxPreps is proud to be involved with America's hometown heroes – the young men and women working hard to improve their skills, place team above self and serve as inspirations to their local communities. MaxPreps aspires to cover every team, every game and every player, doing so in collaboration with nearly 100,000 varsity coaches throughout the United States.

About USA Baseball

USA Baseball is the national governing body for the sport of baseball in the United States and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The organization selects and trains the World Baseball Classic, Premier12 and Pan Am teams (and all other USA Baseball Professional Teams); the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team; the USA Baseball 18U, 15U and 12U National Teams; and the USA Baseball Women's National Team, all of which participate in various international competitions each year. The organization is responsible for the continued proliferation and health of the sport, and leads a number of amateur initiatives including PLAYBALL and Pitch Smart. USA Baseball also presents the Golden Spikes Award annually to the top amateur baseball player in the country. For more information, please visit the organization's official websites: USABaseball.com, PLAYBALL.org, PitchSmart.org, GoldenSpikesAward.com and USABaseballShop.com.