Shelby County baseball standouts selected for ABCA All-Star weekend

Published 2:05 pm Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Eighteen Shelby County high school baseball standouts have been selected to participate in the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association’s 2010 All-Star weekend June 24-27 in Troy.

Eight different teams will compete against each other in front of 41 professional and college scouts who have registered to attend the event. Teams will play one game each day June 25-27.

The Shelby County players will suit up for three separate teams.

Matt Haskins, Alex Henderson, Mason Morris, Ian Murray and Michael Schofield will play for the Orange team. Pelham’s Ty Pierce and Parker Curry will join the Thompson group on the Orange team. Brett Conner and Ben Craft of Briarwood Christian, along with Spain Park’s Colton Freeman, will also play for the Orange squad.

Pelham’s Reed Bright and Hunter Pearson will suit up for the Royal Blue team. They will be joined by J.D. Crowe and Jake Hubbard of Oak Mountain. Thompson’s Jonathan Keller will also play for the Royal Blue squad.

Logan Crook of Briarwood Christian, Thomas Lowery of Pelham and Joey Mock of Chelsea will play on the Navy Blue team.

In addition to the games, the all-stars will also participate in the following on-and-off the field activities:

* Video Breakdown: The players are video-taped pitching in the bull pen and hitting in the batting cages, then critiqued by professional coaches.

* Academic Session: A college counselor will conduct a session covering how to be a successful student-athlete on the collegiate level.

* Strength Training Session: A professional strength and conditioning coach will show the players proper strength training exercises and techniques for baseball players.

* Enrichment Session: Former Major Leaguer, Lou Thornton, and former Auburn player and coach, Mark Fuller, give players straight talk about pursuing a college degree while striving for your dream of playing college and/or major league baseball.

* Pitching & Hitting Instruction: Players will go through an instructional session with Lou Thornton and Mark Fuller.

* Sunday morning breakfast chapel: All players and coaches are addressed by an inspirational and thought provoking speaker.