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2017 Northeast Kansas League Legion Baseball Standings - click here
2017 KNZA McDonald's "Player of the Game" selections - click here
The 2017 legion baseball season brought plenty of competition throughout the League while the also the Northeast Kansas League lost a member as Atchison decided not to field a team this year. With the season in the books the 2017 Kanzaland American Legion NEKL All-League team honors have been handed out.
For the fourth straight season Doniphan County earned a spot at the AA State tournament for the fourth straight season and ninth time in program history and finished 1-2 in State action with a pair of close losses while posting a 23-10 record overall. The season marked the fifth straight of 20+ wins and 11th of the last 12 years. Leading the charge for Doniphan County was Reid Greaser who earned All-League honors for the third straight year and is selected as the League MVP this year. Five of his teams get the nod for All-League honors alongside Greaser as Chris Winkel and Wil Smith both get the nod for the second time, while Tyler Franken, Zeb Speer and Levi Watts all earn All-League for the first time all playing significant roles for Doniphan County.
Sabetha just missed out on a trip to AA State with a tough one-run loss to Doniphan County in the Zone tournament and finished the year with a solid 24-12 record. Joe Gruber earned All-League honors for the second time to lead Sabetha in postseason honors. Four others join him picking up All-League honors as Blake Frey, Brandon Brownlee, Brayden Becker and Brett Stallbaumer all earn All-League honors for the first time.
Silver Lake, Oskaloosa and Seneca all finished with similar overall records on the season. For Silver Lake it was a strong year in NEKL play while the team finished 16-12 overall. A trio of guys earned All-League for Silver Lake as Josh Boyd, Justin Keller and Jake Lindstorm all snag the honors.
For Oskaloosa the season saw a return trip to the AAA State tournament and the team went 1-2 in action at State while finishing the year 17-13 overall. The group of Hunter Reed, Dawson Gatzemeyer and Seth Coltrane all picked up All-League honors for Oskaloosa.
Seneca posted a 15-10 record on the season and had three guys earn All-League honors led by Dalton Hiltibrand who picked up the honors for the third time. Lucas Schraad and Derek Uphaus both got All-League nod, also.
Leavenworth finished the season 4-19 and won their Zone to make the AAA State tournament, while Corning posted a 2-18 record on the year. Each team had one player earn a spot on the All-League team as Tanner Morris picked up the honors for Leavenworth for the second time and Dalton Boeckman earned the honors for Corning.
2017 Kanzaland American Legion NEKL All-League Team
MVP: Reid Greaser (Doniphan County)**
1B: Josh Boyd (Silver Lake)
2B: Chris Winkel (Doniphan County)*
SS: Dalton Hiltibrand (Seneca)**
3B: Dalton Boeckman (Corning)
C: Brandon Brownlee (Sabetha)
DH: Wil Smith (Doniphan County)*
OF: Tyler Franken (Doniphan County)
OF: Lucas Schraad (Seneca)
OF: Blake Frey (Sabetha)
Utility: Hunter Reed (Oskaloosa)
Utility: Joe Gruber (Sabetha)*
Utility: Dawson Gatzemeyer (Oskaloosa)
Utility: Justin Keller (Silver Lake)*
Utility: Tanner Morris (Leavenworth)*
Utility: Brett Stallbaumer (Sabetha)
Utility: Levi Watts (Doniphan County)
P: Derek Uphaus (Seneca)
P: Zeb Speer (Doniphan County)
P: Seth Coltrane (Oskaloosa)
P: Jake Lindstorm (Silver Lake)
P: Brayden Becker (Sabetha)
*indicates previous years selected All-League
2017 Northeast Kansas League American Legion Baseball Notes:
- Sabetha won the Preseason NEKL Tournament title for first time since 2009
- Sabetha won the Marysville Classic
- Leavenworth won AAA Zone Tournament (at Leavenworth) (qualified for AAA State tournament (0-2 at State))
- Oskaloosa finished runner-up AAA Zone Tournament (at Leavenworth) (qualified for AAA State tournament (1-2 at State))
- Doniphan County finished runner-up AA Zone Tournament (at Sabetha) (qualified for AA State Tournament – fourth straight year (1-2 at State))
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