Poll results: Edwardsville senior BND Baseball Player of the Week in southwestern IL
Caeleb Copeland of Edwardsville High School is the winner of this week’s Belleville News-Democrat Baseball Player of the Week high school poll, as selected by readers of bnd.com.
In recent action, Copeland, a senior right fielder, had 3 RBI along with a home in a 16-3 win over Belleville West.
Copeland, who secured 24% of the votes to edge out Althoff Catholic High School’s Hank Gomric, entered the weekend batting .400 with 2 home runs and 34 RBI for the Tigers, stationed at 23-8 overall and 8-1 in the Southwestern Conference.
Here were the other candidates for the week of May 1-6:
Bryer Arview, Civic Memorial High School, senior, INF. Airview had a HR along with 4 RBI in a 9-8 win over Freeburg as the Eagles entered the week at 11-12 overall and 2-6 in the Mississippi Valley Conference.
Connor Blue, O’Fallon High School, sophomore, INF. Blue hit a HR and had 3 RBI in a 13-1 win over Granite City as the Panthers entered the week at 19-4 overall and 6-2 in the Southwestern Conference.
Hank Gomric, Althoff Catholic High School, junior, OF/P. For the week, Gomric batted .600 with 5 home runs, 16 RBI, 8 runs scored and 2 doubles in 20 at bats for the Crusaders, who entered the week at 10-17 overall and 4-5 in the South Seven Conference.
Zander Mueth, Belleville East High School, junior, P. Mueth fired 5 strong innings against Breese Central, allowing just 3 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 10 for the Lancers, who entered the week 16-10 overall and 4-2 in the Southwestern Conference.
Gabe Smith, Father McGivney High School, senior, P. Smith fired 5 innings of 2-hit ball in a 12-1 win against Belleville West while fanning 11. Smith then recorded 1 hit and a HR in a 11-8 win against Mater Dei as the Griffins entered the week 30-1 overall and 10-0 in the Gateway Metro Conference.
Dominic Voegele, Columbia, senior, P/SS. Voegele had 2 hits and 4 RBI in a 13-0 win over Roxana, helping lead the Eagles into action this week at 23-3 overall and 9-1 in the Mississippi Division of the Cahokia Conference.
The poll ended at 8 a.m. Friday.
To be clear, this poll is not scientific. In fact, we invite you to vote as many times as you want. It’s all for fun, BND readers.
The next poll will appear on the BND’s website — www.bnd.com — at 5 a.m. Tuesday. Please email nominations to gvartanian@bnd.com.
Previous winners: Joe Mendiola of Belleville East High School; Connor Blue of O’Fallon High School; Brady Biffar of Gibault Catholic High School; and Dylan Mannino of Belleville East High School.
This story was originally published May 15, 2023 at 6:30 AM.