Winning the varsity baseball championship of the East Division of the Fort Ancient Valley Conference, Glen Este compiled an enviable and very respectful overall record of 19-3 and the Trojans were 14-1 versus its conference competition..

“This year’s was my favorite group to coach and work with. They bought in to what we were trying to do and to teach them; and the defense especially played well,” said GE head coach Mike Hatfield, himself a former Clermont County high school baseball standout.

“They were a very dedicated and hard-working team. . . The pitching staff was very tough. They struck out nearly one batter per inning and the entire staff accomplished an earned run average that was 2.82.

“Next season we’re going to hit hard on to our overall squad pitching and defense. We’ve got some good, promising prospects coming up. They should do well offensively and defensively. It’s going to be a young squad that has good experience.”

The rugged Purple and White defense was anchored down around junior Ryan Fuller and junior Heath Blandford both at catcher, sophomore Austin Istvan at first base, junior Nate Boston at second base, junior Adam Heming at shortstop, sophomore Ryan Henning at third base, sophomore Austin Rieck in left field, senior Anthony Clark in center field, and freshman Tyler Burdick in right field.

Hitting-wise, the Trojans in the forefront were Rieck with a batting average of .422, Clark who hit at.358, Burdick .327. and senior Matt Jones .303.

Rieck had 27 hits, Clark 24, Henning 19, Burdick 18, and Boston 17.

Crossing the plate and accounting for the most runs scored were Clark with 26, Rieck 19, Henning 12, and Boston and Austin Istvan 11 apiece.

Henning hit in 17 teammates, Rieck and Burdick 15, and Jones 10.

Burdick led Glen Este with two triples.

Rieck, Istvan, and Collin Pitman doubled safely five times.

The home run leaders were Istvan and Heath Blandford with two apiece.

Clark was the sharpest base runner by swiping enemy bases 14 times.

The pitching leaders were Chris Linneman with a 7-1 record and a 1.75 earned run average, Pete Winegardner with a 5-0 record and a 2.23 earned run average, and Zach Mager had a 2.53 earned run average.

The senior leaders were John Abrams, Clark, Corey Goedde, Jones, Michael Kennedy, Linneman, Mager, Pitman, and Winegardner.