FROM STAFF REPORTS

A pair of high school baseball standouts from Shelby County shined in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s All-Star Sports Week baseball doubleheader July 9 at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery.

Briarwood Christian School rising senior Daniel Robert and Spain Park High School rising senior Josh Close helped their North squad battle to a 6-6 tie with the South before the North team dropped the nightcap to the South, 15-3.

Robert, an Auburn University commitment, split his time at shortstop and designated hitter in the series opener and finished 2-for-3 at the plate. Robert drove in one run and scored one run.

Robert also pitched two innings in relief in the series opener and gave up one earned run on three hits with one strikeout and one walk. Robert didn’t see any action on the mound for the Lions in his junior season at Briarwood Christian.

Close, who split time in right field and designated hitter in the first game, went 2-for-2 at the plate and scored a pair of runs.

Close reached base on a walk and Robert singled and stole second base before the pair scored the game-tying and go-ahead run on a two-run single by Will Bishop in the top of the seventh inning. The South plated the game-tying run in the bottom half of the inning.

Robert, splitting time at shortstop and second base, reached base on a walk and drove in one run in the North’s 15-3 loss to the South in the nightcap. Close, playing left field and designated hitter, went 0-for-1 at the plate with a walk and scored a run in the second game.