All-State honors for Albion diamond duo

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s duo of John Warne, left, and Connor Barleben have both earned Class A All-State baseball team honors.

Two key members of Albion’s Niagara-Orleans League and Section VI Class A championship baseball team, the senior battery of pitcher Connor Barleben and catcher John Warne, have been named to the Class A team of the annual All State baseball squad.

Barleben was named to the third team and Warne to the sixth team.

Interestingly Barleben and Warne, who both recently earned first team All-Western New York honors, will continue to be teammates this fall as members of the Genesee Community College baseball squad.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Connor Barleben

Barleben hurled Albion to three sectional victories posting an earned run average of just .328 with 26 strikeouts in 21 innings. He also hhit .312 with three doubles, one home run and five RBIs.

For the entire season, Barleben was 6-0 on the mound with 70 strikeouts in 44.3 innings with an era. of just .97. At the plate, he hit .406 with 11 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 31 RBIs.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – John Warne

Warne, a four year varsity starter at catcher, hit .533 in the sectionals with two doubles, one triple, one home run and seven RBIs.

On the season Warne hit .485 with 8 doubles, three triples, two home runs an 26 RBIs. Defensively, he had a fielding percentage of .995 and threw out eight runners and picked off six more.