Statistics show precision of ballplayers' greatness on diamond

No doubt, it was a great baseball year. For the second year in a row, the county saw two state championships. Three players, Brandon Cumpton, Jeff Rowland and Josh Whitaker, signed NCAA D-1 commitments and several other seniors also will play at the next level.

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It's almost funny how, with two state championship teams and so many college prospects, it was a sophomore from Harlem who won the Columbia County batting title. Bulldogs sophomore Patrick Gamblin hit .488 during the season with 39 hits in 80 at-bats.

That's just one of the many surprising stats that emerged at the end of the 2006-07 season. Here are a few more of our Columbia County leaders with all stats supplied by the head coaches of each school:

Batting (min. 50 AB)

Patrick Gamblin (H) .488

Josh Whitaker (AC) .473

Jeff Rowland (G) .441

Hits

Josh Whitaker (AC) 43

Jeff Rowland (G) 41

Ted Leverett (E) 41

Doubles

Wesley Morris (H) 15

Patrick Gamblin (H) 14

Brandon Cumpton (G) 10

Triples

Josh Whitaker (AC) 5

Tyler Bourdo (AC) 4

Kyle Knight (H) 3

Nolan Belcher (G) 3

Home Runs

Josh Whitaker (AC) 10

Mike Leverett (H) 6

Brandon Cumpton (G) 5

J.C. Huffman (L) 5

Taylor Hensley (AC) 5

RBI

Josh Whitaker (AC) 53

Patrick Gamblin (H) 38

Rodney Scruggs (H) 33

Runs

Josh Whitaker (AC) 48

Tyler Bourdo (AC) 47

Jeff Rowland (G) 40

Pitching Wins

Brandon Cumpton (G) 11

Nolan Belcher (G) 10

Taylor Hensley (AC) 7

Mike Sanders (H) 7

Innings pitched

Brandon Cumpton (G) 77

Nolan Belcher (G) 71

Kyle Golden (E) 63

ERA (min. 35 innings)

Pat McGowan (G) 0.57

Nolan Belcher (G) 0.89

Brandon Cumpton (G) 1.27

Strikeouts

Nolan Belcher (G) 124

Brandon Cumpton (G) 91

Travis Cerasuolo (AC) 80