State Level
Jul. 5—LAPEL — The postseason accolades for two of Madison County's finest baseball players continued this week as Lapel's Owen Imel and Frankton's Bradyn Douglas were named 2A All-State by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association.
Shenandoah's Dylan McDaniel and Douglas's Eagle teammate Tyler Bates were named honorable mention All-State for 2A as well.
The honors for Imel and Douglas come just a week after both took part in the North South All-Star weekend and also followed the two being named All-District, with the Bulldogs senior being named the District Player of the Year.
Listed by IHSBCA as an outfielder, Imel led the Bulldogs—and the entire area—in a number of offensive statistical categories. He batted .484 this season with 6 home runs, 36 runs batted in, 14 doubles, 44 total hits, and scored 32 times. He added an on-base percentage of .600 with a slugging percentage of .879 and an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.479.
Additionally, Imel committed just one error in the field and made 7 pitching appearances with a 2-1 record, a 2.12 earned run average, and struck out 46 batters—against just 15 walks—in 36.1 innings pitched.
Imel was also named the Herald Bulletin's 2023 Area Baseball-Player Athlete of the Year and will continue his baseball career at Huntington University.
Douglas was named the second baseman on IHSBCA's team and excelled at the plate and in the field for Frankton.
He hit .437 for the Eagles with a pair of home runs, 6 doubles, 25 RBI, 38 total hits and scored 43 runs. He finished with a .735 slugging percentage and an OPS of 1.281. Speed and baserunning ability were among Douglas's greatest skills this season as he recorded an area-best 7 triples and stole 18 bases.
Douglas also recorded a .952 fielding percentage—just 4 errors in 84 chances—and will also play baseball collegiately, starting at the junior college level at Vincennes University with hopes of moving on to a Division I program afterwards.
Bates paced the Eagles with 39 innings pitched, 11 appearances—5 starts—and a 3.41 ERA. He struck out 46 batters, walked just 16, and hit .414 at the plate with 30 RBI and led Frankton with 19 stolen bases.
A two-time area Pitcher-Athlete of the Year, McDaniel appeared in 17 games for the Raiders with an ERA of 0.85. He was 7-0 and struck out 104 batters while allowing just 75 batters to reach base in 66 innings pitched. He also hit .325 at the plate with 4 home runs, 8 doubles, and 29 RBI.
Bates will be attending Ball State University while McDaniel will be studying at Purdue.
Contact Rob Hunt at
or 765-640-4886.
