2017 NHSI Day 1 Statistical Stars

While small sample sizes are obviously something that shouldn’t be over-emphasized, we thought it would be fun to touch on the biggest statistical standouts from day one of the National High School Invitational on Wednesday.

Below you can find some of the tournament leaders in various categories, and below that you can see which players stood out in each of the eight individual games from the first day.

Strikeouts:

1. A.J. Labas, Trinity Christian (13)
2. Christian Santana, American Heritage (11)
3. Ryan Kutt, Brother Rice (9)
4. Nick Pratto, Huntington Beach (9)
5. Hans Crouse, Dana Hills (9)

Strike Percentage (min. 10 pitches):

1. Ryan Kutt, Brother Rice (85.1)
2. A.J. Labas, Trinity Christian (78.3)
3. Mark Diaz, Archbishop McCarthy (74.4)
4. Nick Pratto, Huntington Beach (74.2)
5. Korey Cirks, Orange Lutheran (72.2)

Pitches:

1. Daniel Buice, Winder-Barrow (103)
2. Jacob Heatherly, Cullman (102)
3. Blake Dallas, Arlington (100)
4. Hans Crouse, Dana Hills (99)
5. Nick Pratto, Huntington Beach (97)

Innings:

1. Nick Pratto, Huntington Beach (9.1)
2. Daniel Buice, Winder-Barrow (8)
3. Christian Santana, American Heritage (7)
4. A.J. Labas, Trinity Christian (7)
5. Ryan Kutt, Brother Rice (7)

Hits:

1. Mark Vientos, American Heritage (4)
2. Cory Acton, American Heritage (4)
3. Tate Kolwyck, Arlington (3)
4. Tristan Hanolan, Orange Lutheran (3)
5. 13 players tied with 2

Home runs:

1. Cory Acton, American Heritage (1)
2. Adan Fernandez, Archbishop McCarthy (1)

Hough (Charlotte, N.C.)  vs. Trinity Christian (Jacksonville, Fla.) — Game Recap

A.J. Labas opened up the NHSI by tossing an absolute gem in a complete game for Trinity Christian:

• 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R (0 ER) 13 K, 0 BB on 92 pitches
• 78.3 percent of Labas’ pitches went for strikes
• Labas threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 27 batters that he faced

Archbishop McCarthy (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) vs. Arlington (Tenn.) — Game Recap

Arlington lefty Blake Dallas proved to be a workhorse for Arlington in its first game:

• 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R (1 ER), 3 K, 5 BB on 100 pitches
• Dallas held Alex Toral and Joe Perez (two of our top 100 prospects) to one hit in five combined ABs

McCarthy right fielder Adan Fernandez had no such problems against Dallas:

• 2-for-3 with 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI

American Heritage (Plantation Fla.) vs. Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins, Colo.) — Game Recap

A handful of good hitting performances from American Heritage in this one, including:

• Mark Vientos: 4-for-5 with 1 2B, 1 SB, 2 R, 1 RBI
• Cory Acton: 4-for-4 with 1 HR, 1 3B, 3 R, 2 RBI

In addition to getting the bats rolling, American Heritage had a strong showing from RHP Christian Santana:

• 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 11 K, 1 BB on 93 pitches
• Santana threw 61.3 percent of his pitches for strikes

Merritt Island (Fla.) vs. Orange (Calif.) Lutheran — Game Recap

Three different Orange Lutheran batters had multi-hit games:

• Tristan Hanolan: 3-for-4 with 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI
• Zachary Lew: 2-for-4 with 2 R
• Zach Busalacchi: 2-for-3 with 1 RBI

The Canterbury School (Fort Myers, Fla.) vs. Hamilton High (Chandler Ariz.) — Game Recap

It was an all-around team effort for Canterbury in its 7-0 win over Hamilton, although Cooper Weiss and Tyler Shuck added a couple extra-base hits:

• Tyler Shuck: 1-for-3 with 1 2B, 2 R
• Cooper Weiss: 1-for-3 with 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI

 South Hills (West Covina, Calif.) vs. Brother Rice (Chicago) — Game Recap

Ryan Kutt might have had the better outing on the mound even though Karlos Morales took the win. See how they compare.

Kutt:

• 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R (2 ER), 9 K, 1 BB on 87 pitches
• Kutt threw a ridiculous 85.1 percent of his pitches for strikes and of the 30 batters he faced, he threw 25 of them first-pitch strikes

Morales:

• 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 K, 2 BB on 84 pitches
• Morales took more of an effectively wild approach, with 54.8 percent of his pitches going for strikes and just eight first-pitch strikes to the 25 batters he faced

Winder-Barrow (Winder, Ga.) vs. Huntington Beach (Calif.) — Game Recap

The sole extra-inning affair of the first day of the NHSI stemmed from a pair of impressive pitching performances:

Nick Pratto:

• 9.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R (3 ER), 9 K, 0 BB on 97 pitches
• Pratto’s 9.1 innings were the most of any pitcher Wednesday, although he averaged an efficient 10.39 pitches per inning
• Pratto threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 34 batters he faced

Daniel Buice:

• 8 IP, 5 H, 1 R (1 ER) 4 K, o BB on 103 pitches
• Buice threw the most pitches of any arm Wednesday, and his work paid off as he set Winder-Barrow up for the huge upset victory

Cullman (Ala.) vs. Dana Hills (Calif.) — Game Recap

The biggest names coming into this game also had the biggest stats.

Hans Crouse:

• 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R (0 ER), 9 K, 2 BB on 99 pitches
• Crouse threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 23 batters he faced

Jacob Heatherly

• 5.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3ER, 7 K, 4 BB on 102 pitches
• 2-for-3 at the plate, pacing both teams in hits