—   Trevin Sonnier and Austin Stone, Mid-County's two best high school shortstops, have enjoyed an unforgettable summer. Both attended a Perfect Game Showcase in St. Petersburg, Fla. where the top prep players are invited to be poked and prodded by hundreds of professional and collegiate scouts and coaches around the country.

   Both players shined well enough to grab the attention from a number of major Division I schools. Sonnier, a Nederland senior to be, pledged to Texas Christian on Monday night. Tuesday night, Stone, a Port Neches-Groves senior to be, made his verbal commitment with Baylor.

   Both Baylor and TCU are thriving in baseball. TCU advanced to the NCAA World Series this past season.

   Former PN-G manager of 13 seasons, Jay Stone said Baylor first took notice of his son at a pre-season tournament in Lufkin this year. Jay said they followed him more in the playoffs, where Austin really hit his stride in the field, at the plate and was most impressive on the mound.

   He posted a 5-3 record for the season with a 0.99 ERA and fanned at least one batter per inning. He was 4-2 in the postseason and mounted a complete-game shutout in his final start. As a hitter, his average eclipsed the .350 mark for the 2010 campaign, which was highlighted by a game-winning, base-clearing triple during an 8-5 victory in the first game of their regional quarterfinals playoff series with Magnolia.

   He also launched a grand slam in Game 3 of their regional semifinals matchup with Friendswood. PN-G finished the year with a 25-12 overall mark and placed second in District 20-4A behind Sonnier's Bulldogs.

   Nederland manager Cody Robbins said Sonnier made his first splash with recruiters in their second round playoff loss to Buda Hays. Sonnier was one of the few bright spots in the Bulldogs lineup in that series sweep. Sonnier, who started at third base as a sophomore, hit .405 this season and plated 15 base runners as the team's lead-off man.

   Sonnier impressed recruiters in Florida with a 60-yard dash time of 6.4 seconds as well as an 86 mph fastball across the infield. When pen hits paper in November, Sonnier will join 2010 graduates Kirby Bellow (University of Texas) and Cody Laird (Lamar) as the third Bulldog to sign with a Division I school in the last year.  

   Robbins and Stone gave most of the recruiting success to the opportunities both young men have had in summer ball. Both play for travel teams that make stops across the southern states. Stone said Austin's coach, Chris Fackler, makes it a point to put their team in front of as many scouts as possible.

   Jay Stone said Fackler deserves a lot of credit for getting Austin into the Perfect Game Showcase. Austin also represented the Texas all-stars team at the Junior Sun Belt Classic in Oklahoma earlier this summer.

   After the trip to Florida, however, Jay Stone said the phone was constantly ringing. He said at least 30 universities have called at one time or another. Along with Baylor, Austin also received offers from schools such as Louisiana-Lafayette, Florida Atlantic, Missouri, Coastal Carolina, Air Force, the University of San Diego, and Lamar.