Cobden’s Logan Spalt named player of year
<p class="p1">Cobden High School’s Logan Spalt has been named as The Southern Illinoisan newspaper’s 2015 baseball player of the year.</p><p class="p1">Spalt, who is entering his senior year in high school, was a standout on the mound, in the field and at the plate during the Appleknockers’ run to a 2015 Illinois High School Association state Class 1A baseball championship.</p><p class="p1">The Southern Illinoisan announced Spalt as the high school baseball player of the year in its Sunday, July 5, issue.</p><p class="p1">Spalt was featured with a photograph on page one of Sunday’s paper.</p><p class="p1">The story announcing Spalt’s selection for the honor featured a headline which read “Two-Way Threat,” and a subheadline which declared: “Spalt dominated on mound, at plate for Appleknockers.”</p><p class="p1">As a pitcher, Spalt fashioned a 14-1 record which was accompanied by a 0.49 earned run average.</p><p class="p1">Spalt’s stellar pitching record was noted on Max Preps, an Internet site which tracks records of high school athletes throughout the country.</p><p class="p1">Statistics posted on Max Preps showed that Spalt’s 14 pitching victories tied with two other high school players for the most in the nation. The other pitchers with 14 wins were from Florida and Alabama.</p><p class="p1">A California pitcher was at the top of the list with 15 wins.</p><p class="p1">At the plate, Spalt had a .456 batting average, two home runs and 42 runs batted in.</p><p class="p1">In Cobden’s two wins at the state tournament finals, Spalt was 7-for-9 at the plate with 4 RBIs. </p><p class="p1">Spalt did not allow an earned run in a 6-2 victory over Fulton in the first round of the 2015 state finals in Peoria.</p><p class="p1">Spalt and teammate J.T. Moore were recently named to the Class 1A all state team. </p><p class="p1">The Southern Illinoisan has recognized high school baseball players of the year since 1993.</p><p class="p1">Seven of the previous players of the year were from Union County high schools.</p>