Four members of the Bluejay baseball team earned All-Valley honors and have parlayed them into All-District awards as well.
Junior shortstop Alex Cordova and senior pitcher/catcher Dylan Burkam both were selected to the First Team in the WVC, and seniors Kyle Kubichek (centerfield) and Jack Osness (second base) both picked up Second Team rights.
Cordova, a slick-fielding .493 hitter, was chosen for First Team All District and as a result can still earn All-State honors. Burkam, with his .397 BA, was the Second Team All-District catcher and Kubichek and Osness both received AD Honorable Mention.
In addition, Kubichek (3.95 GPA) and Cordova (3.75) were both All-District Academic and will be All-State Academic choices.
Cordova added a .576 OBP and a .712 slugging % with 11 extra-base hits, as well as 28 runs and 18 RBI. Burkam had a .457 OBP, a .644 slug % and 21 RBI.
“Cordova’s batting average spoke for itself,” MHS coach Brian Artac said. “He had one of the highest averages at any position (in AD voting). There were some very good players that didn’t make First Team, like Sully Luepke from Marshfield and the kid from Rhinelander, Kyle Comer. Burkam was beat out at catcher by Marathon’s (Koleman) Shilling. Burkam hit .397, Schilling hit .410, but look at what (competition) Burkam was going against.
“Cordova would like to bat lead-off and he can run, but we needed him to drive in runs. We didn’t score a million runs getting back into the Valley. If we had set the table better we could have helped him get more. Your shortstop should lead the team in errors, but he did not. He fielded over .900 (.906). That’s pretty decent.
“Burkam, for a catcher, had a lot of stats. He caught with a lot of energy, and he got stronger as the season went on. He’d get pumped for games.”
Kubichek hit .312 with a .393 OBP and .468 slug %, while fielding .949. Osness batted .309, with a .400 OBP and .370 slugging, while fielding at a .907 clip. He was second on the team with 13 walks.
“Kubi had a little bit of a reputation in the Valley,” Artac said. “Coaches liked him because he was a talker, a yacker. He had some life. Kubi might have had two errors all year. That’s pretty solid because in centerfield you get a lot of chances. With (speedy Jordan) Burton (the base-stealing leader with 14, and MHS record holder with 33) in right and Kubi in center, they covered a lot of ground.
“Ozzie was just a solid hitter. He batted .333 in the Valley. He was pretty solid at second base for us, too. One thing is he could play shortstop, too, and he did when Cordova pitched.”