Baseball holds end of the year awards banquet
Three teams win at least 63 percent of games; 21 record 3.5+ grade point averages
BY JASON THOMPSON Gulf Breeze News jason@gulfbreezenews.com

Jason Thompson/Gulf Breeze News Varsity baseball award winners Kneeling, from left: Tom Cotton, Brandon Scott, Ashton Vance, Tyler Schumacher and Kolton Hanke. Back (from left): Brad McGuire, Tyler Gross, Greg Tober, Michael Thomas, Kameron Brunty, T.J. Jordan and Derek Jeter.

The Gulf Breeze Dolphin baseball program celebrated a successful season with its end of the year awards banquet May 9 at the First Baptist Church.

The program's three teams all won at least 11 games, with a .674 overall winning percentage. "That's the sign of a program going in the right direction," varsity head coach Randy Renfroe said. "This has been a very successful year."

After the crowd enjoyed a catered meal from Carrabba's, ninth grade coach Jak-y Kohr and junior varsity coach Bobby Clayton introduced their squads.

Tyler McGee was the freshman's team Leadership award winner, while Thomas Dorsey, Cruz Lee, McGee, Nicky Schumacher, Josh Suelflow and Austin Whidby were the team's Academic Award winners.

Each player with a 3.5 grade point average or above was given the award.

Jason Thompson/Gulf Breeze News JV baseball award winners From left: Luke Crooke, Kyle Schnackenberg, Spencer Wiley, Greg Shows, Kris Matsoukas and Daniel Shull. Not shown: Bo Dobson.

Bo Dobson was the JV's Leadership award winner, while Luke Crooke, Kris Matsoukas, Greg Shows, Spencer Wiley, Kyle Schnackenberg and Daniel Shull were the team's Academic Award winners.

Renfroe then introduced his squad, who had wins over state tournament participants Jay and Pine Forest among their 17 wins.

Other stats of note from this year's season included a .358 team batting average, a 3.62 team earned run average, 49 stolen bases (with only seven caught stealing) and 14 home runs, the most during Renfroe's 15 years in the Dolphin program.

"I'm exceptionally proud of the season we had," Renfroe said.

Ashton Vance, Tyler Schumacher, Michael Thomas, Brandon Scott, Kolton Hanke, T.J. Jordan, Tyler Gross, Brad McGuire and Derek Jeter were the team's Academic award winners.

Jordan was the team's Rookie Award winner, while Jeter was the Most Improved.

Jason Thompson/Gulf Breeze News Freshman award winners From left: Thomas Dorsey, Nicky Schumacher, Cruz Lee, Josh Suelflow and Tyler McGee. Now shown: Austin Whidby.

Thomas and Greg Tober were recognized for the Most Wins (seven) and Most Strikeouts (76), respectively.

McGuire was the team's Top Defensive Player, having thrown out an astronomical 78 percent of would be base stealers. He was also honored for being the District 1-4A Player of the Year, despite missing half of the season recovering from shoulder surgery.

Brunty (.506 batting average) was the team's Top Offensive Player.

The ninth grade squad finished the season at 11-6-1, while the JV team went 14-4.