Each week during the Road to the Alabama High School State Championships, Mark, Lee, and Michael will feature an “Athlete of the Week” right here!
With our Road to the Alabama High School State Championships fully underway, the next stop the Opening Kickoff made was at Cottage Hill Christian Academy where our Athlete of the Week is senior Brannon Andrews!
Brannon is a critical piece of the Warriors’ baseball team both on the mound and in the field as well as at the plate, but pitcher is where he shines most.
In 49 innings pitched this season, he sports an ERA of 3.70 along with a ridiculous 61 strikeouts.
While it has been an up and down year for the team under first year head coach Grant Barber, the Warriors won a huge game against W.S. Neal on Thursday night and will need at least one more win in Friday’s double-header in order to make the playoffs.
In the Thursday must-win, Brannon threw a complete game shutout to keep the Warriors’ season alive.
Barber had high-praise for his ace pitcher who doubles as the cleanup hitter.
“He’s everything for us. He’s our four hole hitter and our ace on the mound. When we give him the ball we expect seven innings of dominant work from him. We’ve relied heavily on him this year, he’s thrown a ton of innings for us. He’s been in the rotation since 8th or 9th grade, we know when we give him the ball no matter who we’re playing we’re gonna have a good chance to win. He competes every single outing,” Barber said.
Brannon spoke about his huge performance on Thursday to keep the season alive.
“There’s almost like a feeling that I get when I know I have the command and I’m hitting my spots. From there it’s just a ride. You stay in that zone and fill it up and get the job done,” he said.
Brannon said he has some offers scattered across the state for the next level, but would prefer to stay closer to home if possible.
You can listen to our full interview with Brannon right here and get all of our on-air content at WNSP Now wherever you get your podcasts:
