Denton RC High School

The Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association released its 2009 all-state baseball teams recently, and a few players from the area landed on the squads.

On the Class 4A team, Guyer's Brad Kottman earned second-team honors as a first baseman. Kottman hit .512 in district play with an .837 slugging percentage. He had a .983 fielding percentage as he committed just one error in district play. He was also 8-0 on the mound in district play with a 1.43 ERA, which helped earn him unanimous District 5-4A MVP honors. The senior will continue his career at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

Ryan was also represented on the Class 4A team, as senior outfielder Ryan Salter landed on the third team after his final season that helped land him on the 5-4A first team. He hit .381 in district play with 10 home runs and 12 stolen bases.

Ponder's freshman phenom Dalton Brown earned second-team honors at shortstop after helping lead the Lions to the Class 2A state tournament. Brown hit .458 on the season with three home runs and 34 RBIs along with 32 runs scored. He was also one of three pitchers the Lions used, going 5-2 with 58 strikeouts in 38 1-3 innings.

UPDATE: Ponder's Micah Easterling also earned all-state honors as a third-team pitcher. We missed him on the list because the press release said he was from Peaster. So props to Easterling, who went 6-2 with two saves off the mound this season. He struck out 88 batters in 60.1 innings of work and only walked 13 batters. Offensively, he hit .424 with 12 doubles, 5 home runs and 35 RBI. He only struck out 10 times in 105 at bats.