Five area prep baseball players will be playing in the 2012 Indiana All-Star Series in Jasper this weekend. Selected to the North team were Will Coursen-Carr of South Side, Grant Wilson of Carroll, Austin Plasterer of Homestead, Matt Kaplanis of Blackhawk Christian and Bayley Coleman of DeKalb.
The All-Star series is a three-game set that will be played Saturday and Sunday at Ruxer Field in Jasper. A doubleheader between the North and South teams will be played beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday. The third game will be noon Sunday.
Coursen-Carr was The News-Sentinel Player of the Year as well as the Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year after leading South Side to its first sectional title ever. A left-handed pitcher, Coursen-Carr had a 10-1 record with a 0.40 earned run average and 134 strikeouts. In the sectional final at Huntington, he struck out 11 in a 4-1 win over Homestead. He also batted .488 with four home runs and 36 RBIs.
Wilson helped Carroll to the DeKalb sectional title by collecting four hits in two games, including a home run in the 13-2 championship game win over Columbia City. He batted .394 with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs to lead the Chargers to a 23-8 record and co-championship of the Northeast Hoosier Conference with Homestead. Wilson, a left fielder, started on Carroll's state championship teams in 2010 and 2011.
Plasterer played second base for Homestead and batted .481 with 50 hits this season. He scored 41 runs and had 37 RBIs to help the Spartans to a 24-5 record. Homestead, co-champions with Carroll in the NHC, was a fixture in the Top 10 of the Indiana Baseball Coaches Association state poll all season.
Kaplanis had a 7-2 record and played on his fourth straight sectional championship team at Blackhawk Christian. In the Caston Regional championship, he pitched a three-hit shutout and struck out 13 in a 4-0 win over Morgan Township. Kaplanis finished with 84 strikeouts in 59 innings pitched and a 2.14 ERA. The Braves lost to eventual state champion Lafayette Central Catholic 4-1 in the semistate.
Coleman, a first baseman, finished the regular season with three home runs and a .484 batting average. His 46 hits tied Plasterer for the lead in the NHC during the regular season.
