Prep Baseball Report

Conference Preview: District 9 Class AAAA



By Greg Williams
PA Director of Scouting

With the start of the high school season less than a month away we will be previewing conferences around the state leading up to opening day. In addition to a look at the top teams we will also highlight some of the top prospects in each conference.

                 district 9 Class AAAA

Preseason Favorite

DuBois (17-5) 

Under the current PIAA playoff format DuBois knows one thing heading into the 2014 campaign, they will be playing post season baseball. DuBois, being the only AAAA baseball program in District 9, automatically qualifies to play in a sub-regional with representatives from District 10 and District 8. The winner of that sub-regional then moves on to the 16 team state tournament field.

DuBois downed the winner of the District 10 vs. District 8 game (McDowell) last season to advance to the state tournament where the Beavers saw their season end in a 13-5 loss to Seneca Valley. The Beavers will be in a bit of a rebuild mode this spring after saying good bye to eight seniors that made significant contributions during last year's 17 win season.

2013 District 9 Player of the Year Devon Walker, a Pitt-Johnstown recruit, will be relied on heavily for his offense as well as his role as the team's No. 1 starter. Jakob Felix (.419), Jon Mohney (.333) and Derek Heckathorne (16 RBI) will also need to have solid years for DuBois to repeat its success of a year ago.

 

Devon WalkerPreseason Player of the Year

Devon Walker, DuBois (Class of 2014)

Walker went 6-0 on the mound and hit .418 offensively to earn PBR District 6 Player of the Year honors in 2013. Walker made 11 appearances on the mound working 39 innings with a 1.44 ERA. Along the way he struck out 39 batters, walked just 11 and held opponents to a .136 batting average.

Walker was equally as impressive at the plate scoring 29 runs and driving in 15. The 5-foot-9, 160-pound prospect was also hit by pitch five times and drew 17 walks to finish the campaign with a .562 on base percentage.

Walker is ranked No. 83 in the PA Class of 2014 and signed a National Letter of Intent with Pitt-Johnstown in November.

 

Top Prospects

Derek Heckathorne, C (Class of 2014)
Jon Mohney, 1B (Class of 2014)
Devon Walker, SS/RHP (Class of 2014)
Jakob Felix
, 1B/3B (Class of 2015)

 

view all conference previews & preseason players of the year by conference


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