Brandon Bass Wins National Batting Award; Teammate Marcuzzo Runner-Up; Four Wildcats in Top Seven

September 17, 2008

Brandon Bass, a senior at Millard West High School, has recently received the 2008 Louisville Slugger Award, presented annually since 1945 by the Hillerich and Bradsby Company of Louisville, Kentucky to the American Legion player compiling the highest batting average during national competition.  In five games against other state champions in the Central Plains Regional Tournament in Minot, North Dakota and two games against Regional Champions in the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina, the shortstop for the 2008 Class A State Champion NP Dodge Wildcats had 19 hits in 33 official at bats for a .576 batting average.  Bass was 16-for-24 (.667) in the Regional Tournament and 3-for-9 (.333) in the ALWS.  Brandon's batting average was the highest in national competition since 1998 when Chad Opel of Edwardsville, Illinois posted a .632 average, and ranks sixth all-time for the sixty-three years that the award has been presented.  For the summer Legion season, Brandon compiled a .425 average with 91 hits, 20 doubles, 4 triples, 8 home runs, 56 RBI's and 79 runs scored.

 

As hot as he was at the plate in the post-season, Bass was certainly not the only Wildcat to put up big numbers. Overall, the Wildcats claimed three of the top four spots in the batting average rankings and four of the top seven.  Danny Marcuzzo finished runner-up to Bass with a .520 batting average (13-for-25), Central Plains Regional MVP Steve Jensen finished fourth (15-31, .484) and Jesse Vervelde earned the #7 spot (12-26, .462).  Marcuzzo, Jensen and Vervelde are all 2008 Millard West graduates.  Top 10 finishers in the Batting Average Competition in Regional Tournament and ALWS competition:

 

Top Ten Hitters in 2008 American Legion National Tournaments (ranked by avg) 

Player 

 avg  gp-gs  ab  r  h  2b  3b  hr  rbi  bb  hbp  so  sb-att 

Brandon Bass, NE 

 .576  7-7  33  14  19  2  1  2  11  0  2  1  1-1 

Danny Marcuzzo, NE 

 .520  7-7  25  8  13  1  1  0  7  1  3  2  0-0 

Garrett Yatch, MI 

 .514  8-8  35  13  18  5  1  1  5  5  0  3  5-6 

Steve Jensen, NE 

 .484  7-7  31  10  15  2  0  4  9  0  0  4  0-0 

Brett Jacobs, WA 

 .481  7-6  27  9  13  2  0  1  2  2  1  5  2-2 

Bradley Shaban, VA 

 .462  9-9  39  6  18  3  1  0  5  1  2  4  1-3 

Jesse Vervelde, NE 

 .462  7-7  26  9  12  0  0  0  6  0  2  4  0-1 

Paul Sewald, NV 

 .459  10-10  37  10  17  6  0  1  11  3  3  4  0-0 

Max Garrett, WA 

 .447  11-11  47  15  21  8  0  3  17  6  3  8  0-1 

Scott Dysinger, NV 

 .444  10-10  36  10  16  1  1  0  10  5  2  3  1-2 
   

 

Louisville Slugger Plaque

Danny Marcuzzo

Brandon Bass

Steve Jensen

Jesse Vervelde

 

Two of the Top 10 hitters were from the Wildcats' opening round opponent in the ALWS, the Southern Nevada Titans (Las Vegas Bishop Gorman HS), which went undefeated in the tournament to claim the 2008 ALWS Championship.  The Wildcats played the Titans close in a 7-5 loss.

 

Wildcats Coach Frank Ryan noted that Bass and several other players on his team are getting considerable recruiting interest following the teams' extraordinary post-season run, including pitchers as well as position players. 

 

Other Nebraska Legion players who have won the coveted award:  1948 Don Hunter, Omaha (.397), 1955 Richard Hergenrader, Lincoln (.389), 1961 Kenneth McEwen, Omaha (.548), 1985 Gregg Olson, Omaha (.500) (tie), 1985 Steve Nelson, Omaha (.500) (tie).

 

Congratulations to Brandon, his teammates and their coaches for these outstanding achievements.

 

| American Legion National Tournament Statistical Leaders | Louisville Slugger Award |