Two Clovis baseball players earn USA Today honors

CLOVIS — A pair of seniors from the Clovis High baseball program received spots on the All-USA New Mexico Baseball Team, as selected by USA Today High School Sports.

Jace Piepkorn was a first-teamer at catcher, while Connor Langrell was named to the second team as a pitcher.

The organization, which released its New Mexico team Friday, named a team for each state with players selected for athletic achievements in the 2017-18 season.

The player of the year was Manzano's Mitchell Parker, who was taken by the Chicago Cubs in the 28th round of the MLB draft. The lefty posted a 1.87 ERA with 126 strikeouts in 60 innings, and also hit .382 with 10 RBIs.

The team was mostly players from Class 6A schools, with a few 5A and 4A schools represented as well. Class 6A champ La Cueva, which saw Gerard Pineda win coach of the year honors, had four of the total 22 selections.

Outside of Clovis and La Cueva, four other schools had multiple selections — three each for Piedra Vista and Carlsbad, and two each for Goddard and Artesia.

Piepkorn hit .365 on the season with five extra-base hits — four doubles and a triple — and 21 RBIs. Behind the plate, he threw out 13 of 19 baserunners on steal attempts.

Langrell was 7-2 on the mound with a 1.10 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings. He also hit .411 on the season.

Both Piepkorn and Langrell are planning to play college baseball at Division II Newman University in Wichita, Kansas.