A big part of having a winning baseball team is pitching. Thankfully for Thomas Dale High School, they’ve had Karson Jennings on the hill. For his performance as staff ace, he is the Village News Player of the Year.
After bursting on the scenes with a shutout of First Colonial in the state tournament as a junior, Jennings followed that up with an outstanding senior year. The 6-foot 4-inch hurler had a 7-2 record with a 2.29 ERA. His control was excellent. He only walked eight batters over 55 innings, but struck out 58.
The well-rounded Jennings was adept at the plate, hitting .313 with four doubles, a home run and 16 RBI. Defensively, he made just one error.
“Karson set the tone these past two years,” coach Austin McGhee said. “He understood what it took to bring a winning attitude to the field every day. By doing that the team responded in a positive way,” he continued. “When we went to states, he was just on fire. He got everyone on the team pumped up. He motivated the younger guys, and they wanted to play better just because Karson was that fun to play with.”
Jennings’ accolades included being named second team All-Region 6B, being named a Virginia Commonwealth Games player, a VHSCA All-Star player, and a top 100-ranked player in the state by Prep Baseball Report.
Because of his excellent play, will he continue his academic and baseball career at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. The Eagles won 15 games last year but struggled with their pitching, giving up 10 or more runs 14 times. Jennings should be able to step right in and give them a boost.
