The Shelbyville Daily Union Athlete of the Week, sponsored by the Prairie National Bank, is part of a team that has a winning streak that just happens to correspond with his rising batting average.

Clayton Brandt, freshman catcher and shortstop for the Stew-Stras Comet baseball team, has been a spark plug for the Comets, playing much older than he appears and proving he can hunt with the big dogs. Brandt is the leading hitter on the Comets, who went 7-of-11 at the plate during a 4-game winning streak last week.

Brandt went 2-of-3 against Meridian with a run scored in a 3-0 win, 2-of-2 against Newton in a 5-1 win, 2-of-3 against Teutopolis in a 1-0 win, and 1-of-3 against St. Anthony in a 3-1 win. As of the St. Anthony game, Brandt has a team best .341 batting average.

Brandt’s contributions were key in a stretch of games where the Comets outscored their opponents by a slim 2.5 runs per game margin and brought the Comets from two games under .500 (4-6-1) to two games over .500 (8-6-1).

Brandt used to hit in the 7th slot, until top hitter Steven Thomas was injured and knocked out for the season. Brandt was then moved up into the #2 slot. Brandt, as well as four other freshmen, had to grow up quickly. They are all making great strides helping the veterans on the club, beating the likes of Teutopolis and St. Anthony, but none have showed more strides than Brandt.

In his last 20 at-bats, Brandt has reached base 13 times. He has scored seven times (third on the club) and Brandt has the most hits on the club (14).

Clayton Brandt is the son of Franklin and Marla Brandt of rural Strasburg.

Against Meridian, Brandt hit his second single in a row and scored what would-be the winning run in the third inning. Again, against Newton, Brandt gave the Comets an early lead. He drew a his second walk of the game and went to second base on a wild pitch. He scored the first Comet run on the next hit.

Against Teutopolis, Brandt smacked two of only four hits and was part of manufacturing the first score against St. Anthony with a single, moving a teammate into scoring position by hitting to the right side of the field for base hit.

Clayton Brandt is the son of Franklin and Marla Brandt of rural Strasburg.