XENIA — With his dad, John, celebrating the occasion with him, recent Legacy Christian Academy grad Josh Rutan was recognized as the 2018 Greene County area baseball batting champion, Oct. 4, at the Xenia Pizza Hut location on 354 W. Main St.
Rutan, who lives in Fairborn, was presented with a certificate commemorating his batting achievement, and Pizza Hut General Manager Brandon Beatty presented him with $50 in gift cards good for pizza at any Pizza Hut location.
Despite the Legacy Christian Knights playing a rain-shortened 13-game season, Rutan led the Metro Buckeye Conference in on-base percentage (.667) and batting average (.559) for batters who competed in nine or more games during the season. Rutan tied for 20th in runs scored (11), was 13th in hits (19), tied for fifth in doubles (5) and placed fifth in stolen bases (20) in the MBC, despite playing only half as many games as some other league schools.
Rutan was named as a first-team All-Metro Buckeye Conference selection along with teammate Ashton Burke. The Knights finished fifth in the six-team MBC with a 4-9 overall mark, 2-7 in the conference.
Rutan is attending Wright State University and pursuing a degree in business economics. He does not plan on playing for the Raiders baseball team, however, opting to focus on his studies.
The Greene County News, which features the Xenia Daily Gazette and Fairborn Daily Herald daily newspapers, and the Beavercreek News-Current weekly, hosted the inaugural Greene County Batting Championship for both softball and baseball for the 2018 seasons. The hope was to bring more attention to the area’s softball and baseball talent, while recognizing the top batters with a fun contest.
The second annual Greene County Batting Championship contest is planned for the 2019 high school baseball and softball seasons, and Pizza Hut has already offered to once again sponsor the 2019 Spring event.
Area high schools Bellbrook, Beavercreek, Carroll, Cedarville, Fairborn, Greeneview, Legacy Christian, Xenia and Yellow Springs were involved in both contests.
Current Bellbrook junior Kaley Clark won the 2018 softball batting title with a .684 batting average. She was presented with her certificate and pizza in September.
