As the Nebraska high school baseball season came to a close for most schools and headed into state tournament weekend for 16 others, we started crunching the numbers and selecting our Top 10 hitters and pitchers that will step foot onto Hawks Field at Haymarket Park in Lincoln to compete for state baseball titles beginning Saturday and running through Thursday.
Of the 16 baseball programs that punched their tickets to the state tournament, nine of them are represented in this week's Top 10s with Class A Millard South and Seward from Class B landing four representatives each in our dual Top 10s.
But – first things first. Lets take a look at Nebraska's state tournament big swatters. Norris' Joe Osborn tops the list after he obliterated opposing pitching for a .534 batting average and had a hand in 73 Titan runs crossing the plate this spring. Runner-up Cole Evans of Grand Island produced a batting average that was 22 points higher than Osborn, while scoring 30 Islander runs and knocking in another 30.
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Millard South's Tyson Gerdes and Noah Greise both hit over .400 and produced more than 100 runs between them to finish in the No. 3 and 4 spots respectively, while Kyler Randazzo of Elkhorn rounded out the Top 5 after hitting .441 and scoring 23 runs. Evans hit for the highest average and produced the Top 10's top on-base percentage, while Osborn gets the nod as the Top 10's No. 1 slugger.
Randazzo was dominant on the mound as well, producing the state's best earned run average of .030 in about 23 innings of work. The 6-foot, 1-inch sophomore gave up 15 hits, just one earned run and issued 10 walks to 24 strikeouts. Waverly's Jonah Reiser put together a 0.84 ERA in 41.2 innings pitched and allowed 33 hits, five earned runs and dished out 11 base on balls, while striking out 42 batters.
Jax Brockett of Elkhorn South produced the Top 10's third-best earned run average of 1.36 after allowing 20 hits and just seven earned runs, while Seward's Joseph Krause and Jayden Payne of Millard South round out the Top 5 flame throwers in the No. 4 and 5 spots respectively.
Elkhorn South's Sayer Diederich is the Top 10's strikeout king with 47 Ks on the season, while Waverly's Maverick Wylder posted the stingiest opponent batting average of .146. Randazzo and Diederich were the only athletes named to both lists.
In order to be eligible for this week's Top 10s, batters had to hit .400 or better and have at least 50 at bats, while pitchers were required to maintain an earned run average below 2.00 and throw at least 20 innings. The statistics used for this week's Top 10 were drawn from MaxPreps' database Wednesday.
Nebraska's Top Hitters1. Joe Osborn, Norris (Firth), Sr..534 BA | 39 Runs | 34 RBIs | 22 Extra Base Hits | 78 Total Bases | .592 OBP | .886 SLG
2. Cole Evans, Grand Island, Sr..556 BA | 30 Runs | 30 RBIs | 18 Extra Base Hits | 72 Total Bases | .631 OBP | .800 SLG
3. Tyson Gerdes, Millard South (Omaha), Jr..424 BA | 35 Runs | 18 RBIs | 16 Extra Base Hits | 55 Total Bases | .550 OBP | .647 SLG
4. Noah Greise, Millard South, Jr..417 BA | 25 Runs | 24 RBIs | 15 Extra Base Hits | 52 Total Bases | .551 OBP | .722 SLG
5. Kyler Randazzo, Elkhorn, So..441 BA | 23 Runs | 20 RBIs | 13 Extra Base Hits | 50 Total Bases | .494 OBP | .735 SLG
6. Brett Meyer, Seward, Sr..520 BA | 21 Runs | 12 RBIs | 11 Extra Base Hits | 52 Total Bases | .561 OBP | .693 SLG
7. Sayer Diederich, Elkhorn South (Omaha), Sr..443 BA | 20 Runs | 18 RBIs | 10 Extra Base Hits | 44 Total Bases | .541 OBP | .721 SLG
8. Rhett Jordon, Waverly, Sr..413 BA | 24 Runs | 11 RBIs | 11 Extra Base Hits | 45 Total Bases | .527 OBP | .600 SLG
9. Jaxson Simmerman, Seward, Jr..411 BA | 26 Runs | 19 RBIs | 9 Extra Base Hits | 32 Total Bases | .558 OBP | .571 SLG
10. Jack Torosian, Concordia/Brownell/Omaha Christian Academy (Omaha), Jr..554 BA | 21 Runs | 13 RBIs | 7 Extra Base Hits | 38 Total Bases | .618 OBP | .678 SLG
Nebraska's Top Pitchers
1. Kyler Randazzo, Elkhorn, So.0.30 ERA | 23.1 IP | 15 Hits | 1 Earned Run | 10 Walks | 24 Strikeouts | .176 OBA
2. Jonah Reiser, Waverly, Sr.0.84 ERA | 41.2 IP | 33 Hits | 5 Earned Runs | 11 Walks | 42 Strikeouts | .209 OBA
3. Jax Brockett, Elkhorn South, So.1.36 ERA | 36 IP | 20 Hits | 7 Earned Runs | 8 Walks | 36 Strikeouts | .157 OBA
4. Joseph Krause, Seward, Sr.1.50 ERA | 32.2 IP | 33 Hits | 7 Earned Runs | 10 Walks | 31 Strikeouts | .244 OBA
5. Jayden Payne, Millard South, Jr.1.58 ERA | 40 IP | 35 Hits | 9 Earned Runs | 7 Walks | 28 Strikeouts | .223 OBA
6. Sayer Diederich, Elkhorn South, Sr.1.62 ERA | 26 IP | 18 Hits | 6 Earned Runs | 14 Walks | 47 Strikeouts | .182 OBA
7. Caleb Riedel, Millard West (Omaha), So.1.75 ERA | 24 IP | 16 Hits | 6 Earned Runs | 10 Walks | 32 Strikeouts | .182 OBA
8. Tayte Rolenc, Seward, Jr.1.76 ERA | 43.2 IP | 35 Hits | 11 Earned Runs | 12 Walks | 23 Strikeouts | .212 OBA
9. Jarrett Novak, Millard South, Jr.1.88 ERA | 41 IP | 33 Hits | 11 Earned Runs | 11 Walks | 40 Strikeouts | .202 OBA
10. Maverick Wylder, Waverly, Sr.1.93 ERA | 25.1 IP | 13 Hits | 7 Earned Runs | 17 Walks | 27 Strikeouts | .146 OBA
