By Matt Browning

Clay Center’s Jace Brownell knew he had the ability to throw any pitch in his arsenal, but it was the trust in those pitches that he had to grow.

“As that goes for offseason prep, it was mostly just knowing coming into my senior year and being a leader on my team,” Brownell said. “I want to go out with a bang and have confidence on the mound for my team to feed off of on both the defensive and offensive sides of the game.”

With two games remaining in the regular season, Brownell carried an ERA of 1.15, with 19 strikeouts in 18.1 innings.

There were two specific games that stood out to him: against Abilene, where he allowed no runs and no walks in 4.2 innings and then against Marysville, where he threw a complete game, three-hit shutout.

“A memory from this year that stands out to me would probably be my performance against Abilene,” Brownell said. “I came into the game with runners in scoring position and being able to shut a good hitting team like them down. Also, mostly with being a senior and going out there with confidence for my teammates to feed off of to go on to win that game.”

Brownell plans on continuing his baseball career next year at Cloud County Community College.