MaxPreps/USA Baseball Players of the Week for May 16-22, 2016

By Staff Report May 25, 2016, 12:00am

MaxPreps/USA Baseball High School Pitchers and Players of the Week

Brennan Rubin of San Diego Jewish Academy (Calif.) struck out 14 batters and allowed just three hits to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps West Pitcher of the Week.
Brennan Rubin of San Diego Jewish Academy (Calif.) struck out 14 batters and allowed just three hits to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps West Pitcher of the Week.
Photo by Orlando Ramirez

DURHAM, N.C
. -- USA Baseball and MaxPreps announced on Monday, the USA Baseball MaxPreps Pitcher and Player of the Week Award winners for the week of May 16, 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 winners for USA Baseball MaxPreps Player of the Week Award are as follows:

Great Lakes

Pitcher of the Week: Lee Smith pitched seven innings of no-hit baseball for Belvidere North High School (Belvidere, Ill.) to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Great Lakes Pitcher of the Week. Smith had nine strikeouts and gave up no runs in the victory.
Player of the Week: Drew Behling hit .889 for Waupun High School (Waupun, Wis.) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Great Lakes Player of the Week award. Behling, a junior, had eight RBIs, scored three runs and was 8-for-9 at the plate.

Mid-Atlantic
Pitcher of the Week: Devon Crossin struck out nine batters in seven innings for Perkiomen High School (Pennsburg, Penn.) to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Mid-Atlantic Pitcher of the Week. Cross, a senior, gave up no runs and just two hits.
Player of the Week: Brett Whiteman went 5-for-7 at the plate for Frankfort High School (Ridgeley, W.V.) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Mid-Atlantic Player of the Week award. Whiteman, a junior, had five RBIs and hit one home run.

Midwest

Pitcher of the Week: Brock Reller pitched a no-hitter for Grand Forks Central High School (Grand Forks, N.D.) to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Midwest Player of the Week. Reller, a senior, struck out 10 batters in seven innings in the victory.
Player of the Week: J Martin hit two home runs for Silex High School (Silex, Mo.) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Midwest Player of the Week award. Martin, a junior, hit .800 and was 4-for-5 at the plate.

Northeast

Pitcher of the Week: Joe Canonaco struck out 10 batters for Briarcliff High School (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.) to be named the USA Baseball/Max Preps Northeast Pitcher of the Week. Canonaco, a senior, gave up just one hit and no runs in seven innings.
Player of the Week: Steve Contreras hit .875 for Waldwick High School (Waldwick, N.J.) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Northeast Player of the Week award. Contreras, a senior, went 7-for-8 with two RBIs.

Northwest
Pitcher of the Week:
Brock Townsend struck out 10 batters in seven innings for Churchill High School (Eugene, Ore.) to be named the USA Baseball/Max Preps Northwest Pitcher of the Week. Townsend, a junior, gave up just one hit and no runs in the victory.
Player of the Week: Wyatt Berg scored seven runs for Lathrop High School (Fairbanks, Alaska) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Northwest Player of the Week award. Berg, a senior, had five RBIs and hit .833.

Southeast
Pitcher of the Week:
Gage Gillian struck out 14 batters in seven innings for Spring Hill High School (Columbia, Tenn.) to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Southeast Pitcher of the Week. Gillian, a junior, gave up no hits, no runs and just two walks for the victory.
Player of the Week: Gunner Smith hit .857 for Mosley High School (Lynn Haven, Fla.) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Southeast Player of the Week award. Smith, a senior, went 6-for-7 at the plate and scored two runs.

Southwest
Pitcher of the Week:
Matthew Williams struck out 13 batters for Hyde Park High School (Austin, Tex.) to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Southwest Pitcher of the Week. Williams, a senior, gave up no runs and no hits on the week.
Player of the Week:
Payton Henry went 4-for-6 at the plate for Pleasant Grove High School (Pleasant Grove, Utah) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps Southwest Player of the Week award. Henry, a senior, scored one run and tallied one RBI to finish the week with a 1.166 slugging percentage.

West

Pitcher of the Week:
Brennan Rubin struck out 14 batters for San Diego Jewish Academy (San Diego, Calif.) to be named the USA Baseball/MaxPreps West Pitcher of the Week. Rubin, a junior, gave up no runs and just three hits in the victory.
Player of the Week:
Braiden Ward hit .750 for El Capitan High School (Merced, Calif.) to earn the USA Baseball/MaxPreps West Player of the Week award. Ward, a junior, had one home run and finished the week with a 1.375 slugging percentage.

About MaxPreps.com

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