PRAIRIE GROVE -- Four Prairie Grove players made All-Conference from the 2018 Tiger baseball season: shortstop Drew Cates, catcher Couper Allen; pitcher/outfielder DJ Pearson, and infielder Kyle Fidler.
Prairie Grove compiled a 14-18 record, two wins shy of what coach Chris Mileham was aiming for the Tigers to become a .500 ball-club by season's end. They placed second at the district tournament and fourth at Regionals before suffering a narrow loss in their first state tournament appearance with Mileham at the helm.
Drew Cates
Cates was named All-State for his junior season, appearing in 30 games batting .333 with 32 hits in 96 at-bats and 110 plate appearances, 16 runs scored, 23 RBIs, 6 doubles and 1 triple. Cates was also recognized as All-Conference by the 4A-1. Cates took 11 bases-on-balls against 12 strike-outs, reaching on an error 7 times managing an on-base percentage of .400 and a .416 slugging percentage. Cates had 5 stolen bases.
Despite a team-high 18 errors, Cates sported a .849 fielding average and turned 6 double plays, one-fourth of the Tiger total of 23. Cates made 8 appearances as a pitcher and recorded 2 saves. Cates allowed 7 runs on 8 hits in 7.2 innings on the mound.
Couper Allen
Allen played in 31 games as a junior, hitting .319 with 30 hits in 94 at-bats among 112 plate appearances. He was frequently replaced by a courtesy runner and scored 8 runs with 19 RBIs, and 10 doubles. Allen reached base-on-balls 13 times, struck out 26 times, twice was hit by pitches, reached on an error 5 times with a .409 on-base percentage and a .425 sluggin percentage. Allen stole bases twice. Allen was steady as the Tigers' backstop finishing with a .985 fielding percentage and 3 errors.
DJ Pearson
In his senior season Pearson provided leadership. Playing in 31 games he produced 22 hits in 91 at-bats from 105 plate appearances for a .242 average with 12 runs scored, 11 RBIs and 2 doubles. Pearson was awarded 13 bases-on-balls and struck out 25 times. He was left on-base 57 times, second to Chase Wade (62) and stole 2 bases. Pearson's fielding percentage was .933 with 4 errors.
Pearson started 8 games on the mound, accumulating a 2.12 earned-run average and a 5-2 record. Pearson pitched the second-most innings of any Tiger with 43. Garrett Heltemes led the team with 43.2. Pearson allowed 30 runs on 39 hits with only 13 of those runs earned. His strike-out (47) to base-on-balls (26) ratio was nearly 2-1. Pearson faced 207 batters with 174 at-bats. Wild pitches weren't his thing as he wound up with only 3 such deliveries and 7 batters hit by pitches. Pearson threw the most pitches of any Tiger with 756.
Kyle Fidler
Fidler came on as a sophomore moving into the starting lineup. Fidler appeared in 30 games, batting .265 with 22 hits in 83 at-bats with 108 plate appearances, 17 runs scored, 20 RBIs, and 2 doubles. Fidler got aboard 11 times with a free pass, had 17 strike-outs, led the team in being hit by a pitch 14 times, 6 times reached on an error and had a .435 on-base percentage with 2 stolen bases
Fidler matched 6 errors with 6 double plays and had a .965 fielding percentage. Fidler also made 6 appearances on the mound, allowing 12 runs on 14 hits in 13.1 innings of work. His strike-out to walk ratio was 2-1 with 14 strike-outs against 7 bases-on-balls.
Sports on 06/20/2018