Division I

Player of the Year - BLAKE ADAMS

SCHOOL Springdale Har-Ber

HEIGHT 6-2

WEIGHT 205

CLASS Senior

THE SCOOP Adams earned All-NWADG DI Baseball Player of the Year honors, leading the Wildcats to the state finals for the third consecutive year. ... The Arkansas signee went 7-0 on the mound with a 1.69 ERA with 96 strikeouts in only 66.1 innings. ... He also and also hit .318 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs, but was pitched around often by opposing team-- drawing a team-high 20 walks.

DID YOU KNOW Adams loves the outdoors and when he's not doing something baseball related, he enjoys duck hunting. He and his father travel to eastern Oklahoma to duck hunt, which started around age seven for Adams.

QUOTABLE "The season didn't end the way we would like for it to, but it was a good season. A lot of people didn't really believe in what we could accomplish. We had our bad days, but we had our good days. We got to the state championship game and playing for a state championship three years in a row is really good.

"Personally, I didn't have the hitting numbers I expected. I was pressing early in the season. But the last two weeks I just relaxed and stopped thinking in the box. I said I was going to react and swing the bat and it really did work. I had quality at-bats and did a lot of productive things for my team."

-- Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulB

Newcomer of the Year - JOSH LLEWELLYN

SCHOOL Rogers Heritage

HEIGHT 6-2

WEIGHT 180

CLASS Senior

THE SCOOP Llewellyn hit .388, drove in 10 runs and scored nine and started behind the plate for the War Eagles. ... He also hit over .400 in 6A-West Conference play from the lead-off spot and earned all-conference honors. ... The senior started off hitting in the two-hole in the batting order but moved up to the lead-off spot, which is unusual for a catcher.

DID YOU KNOW Lewellyn had not played an inning of high school varsity baseball at Bentonville High until moving to Rogers Heritage this year for his senior year. He enjoys fishing for trout on the White River to get away and clear his mind.

QUOTABLE "As soon as I got to Heritage it felt like home. I was a late bloomer. I know I played very well, but I can't put that all on myself. My teammates turned to brothers in a year. I was able to do what I needed to do on the field as well as make brothership connections and connect my love for the game with the people I was surrounded by and come out with some of my best friends."

"I never really got much of a chance to play, but when I got a chance I wasn't about to let it go. I tried to make the most of it and that's what I did."

-- Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulB

Coach of the Year - CHIP DURHAM

SCHOOL Bentonville West

THE SCOOP Durham started the baseball program at West three years ago and guided the Wolverines to a share of the 6A-West Conference title and back-to-back state tournament appearances. ... The Wolverines finished 20-11 -- the best record in the school's short history and lost to eventual state champion North Little Rock in the semifinals. ... He has an extensive coaching background at the college level including Crowder College and Nicholls State and played baseball at Arkansas-Monticello.

DID YOU KNOW Durham got out of coaching entirely, selling pharmaceuticals for six years before taking the job at Bentonville West.

QUOTABLE "I'm really pleased where our program has come in three years. These guys who are leaving, the seniors, have left a footprint to get us where we want to go. We came up a little short on the field, but we had a good year and kids did well.

"They did a great job of laying the groundwork for what this program is about, setting standards and leaving a legacy of where we want to be."

-- Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulB

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Division II

Player of the Year - WALKER WILLIAMS

SCHOOL Shiloh Christian

HEIGHT 5-10

CLASS Junior

THE SCOOP Junior led the Saints to their fourth consecutive state finals appearance and a 24-6 overall record. Shiloh Christian was 7-1 in the 4A-1 Conference and captured both conference and regional tournament titles. ... Williams batted .417 with 40 hits, 23 RBIs, 3 home runs and 4 stolen bases. ... As a pitcher, the left-hander was 10-0 with a 1.34 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 61 innings pitched. Held opponents to a .142 batting average. ... Over his three-year career, Williams has a 2.01 ERA with 190 career strikeouts. ... Selected to the 4A all-state team.

DID YOU KNOW A lot of people mistake Williams' first name as a longtime family name. Actually, he got his first name from Walker Elementary School in Springdale, where his parents first met as students.

QUOTABLE "I think our team exceeded a lot of expectations. We lost a lot of seniors from last year's team and a lot of people did not think we'd make it very far this season. So I was very proud of our team and doing what not many people thought we could.

"I think I did about as well as I could. I set a goal to come in and be the ace of the staff and I think I filled that role, I think I handled it OK. I tried not to let the pressure of being the ace get to me. Landon (Brown) was the ace the two previous seasons and did a heck of a job. I just wanted to try to come close to that."

-- Chip Souza • @NWAChip

Newcomer of the Year - MARCUS BROWN

SCHOOL Shiloh Christian

HEIGHT 5-10

CLASS Junior

THE SCOOP Helped the Saints reach the state championship game for the fourth straight season. ... Shortstop batted a team-best .430 with 40 hits, 39 runs scored, 3 home runs, 28 RBIs and 3 triples. Struck out just 9 times in 117 plate appearances. Drew 15 walks and was hit-by-pitch 8 times. ... As a pitcher was 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 30.1 innings. ... Has verbally committed to the University of Kentucky.

DID YOU KNOW Brown sat out last season after transferring from Springdale Har-Ber. Brown was able to play junior varsity games.

QUOTABLE "When the season started, I was itching to go after sitting out last season. On the first pitch I saw, I hit a double down the line off the wall. I was just ready to get after it. I'd had a good summer and it carried over into the spring.

"It was awesome being part of this team. It was fun to see everything fall into place. I wanted to be a leader for the team and it was fun to take on that role and see the other players follow that lead. Words just can't describe what it was like to be a part of this team and to make it back to the championship game."

-- Chip Souza • @NWAChip

Coach of the Year - REED MENDOZA

SCHOOL Lincoln

THE SCOOP Led the Wolves to a state tournament berth in his first season as the head baseball coach. ... Lincoln's 12 wins in 2019 were more than the past three seasons combined. ... Mendoza graduated from Mena High School and played baseball at Vernon (Texas) College before an automobile accident during the spring of his freshman season ended his playing career. ... Mendoza graduated from Arkansas Tech. He was a volunteer coach while in college at Mena and Russellville, and his first coaching job was at Dardanelle before coming to Lincoln two years ago.

DID YOU KNOW Mendoza will be the new football coach at Dover after he was hired recently to take over that program. It will be his first head football coaching job.

QUOTABLE "This season was definitely gratifying, but more than anything it was seeing the kids reap the benefits of their hard work. I felt like they did a good job of responding to the changes we made in the program and showing up and putting in the time and dedication that it requires to get a program going the right way. They showed up for 6:3o a.m. bullpens in the winter. Since January, we were outside basically every day. We had some tough days and there were a few days where we didn't go outside in the winter. But there were two different times that I remember vividly where we're outside putting in work and it's spitting snow. I don't know that we were getting a whole lot better those days, but we were changing a mindset and an attitude."

-- Chip Souza • @NWAChip

Sports on 06/16/2019