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SportsDay's baseball player of the week: Seth Gardner
10:39 PM CDT on Sunday, April 27, 2008
By GREG RIDDLE / The Dallas Morning News
griddle@dallasnews.com
School: Highland Park
Seth Gardner What he did: Gardner has an extra-base hit in eight straight games and five home runs in his last six games. Gardner homered and had four RBIs in Friday's 14-1 win over Forney – then the No. 7 team in SportsDay's 4A area rankings – as Highland Park (28-5) extended its winning streak to seven and earned the No. 2 playoff seed in District 10-4A. Gardner was 2-for-2 with a double, a triple and one RBI in a 10-0 win over West Mesquite on Tuesday.
The stats: Gardner is hitting .550 with 44 RBIs and 44 runs. He has 11 doubles, six triples and nine home runs.
Who is he? A senior outfielder.
He said it: "I'm seeing the ball really good right now. Coaches always say, 'Never try to hit home runs.' You try to hit line drives, and then the line drives turn into home runs. I wouldn't consider myself a home run hitter."
Coach said it: "He's one of our captains and one of the guys we count on. He's one of our clutch hitters, and he's having a great season." – Sam Roberson
Did you know? Gardner has signed to play baseball for Arkansas. ... In football, he received honorable mention all-state recognition as a wide receiver in 2007 after leading area 4A players in receiving yards (1,491) and receiving touchdowns (21) for 4A Division II state runner-up Highland Park.
HONORABLE MENTION
Name School Cl. Notable
Sean Graves Rockwall-Heath Sr. Hit for cycle vs. Greenville
Bradley Padia Grapevine Sr. 4-for-4, 2 HR, 6 RBIs vs. SL Carroll
Michael Ritter Arlington Sr. 5-for-5, 2 HR, 5 RBIs vs. Lamar
Jordan Swagerty Prestonwood Sr. 31 strikeouts in 2 games
Gustavo Vasquez Kimball So. 17 Ks, 2-hitter vs. Pinkston