Las Animas baseball standout Kyle Eck was ranked first nationally last week in slugging percentage, it was reported on the Maxpreps.com prep web site.

    At the same time, he was ranked fifth nationally in batting, with a glossy .676 batting average.

    When contacted at the school Monday Eck didn’t know he was the national leader in slugging percentage, which indicates how many bases a runner advances every time he is at bat. Eck’s SP was 1.38, indicating he advances almost one and a half bases every time he appears at the plate. That number was tops in the nation, from a pool of thousands of prep baseball players.

    Eck has made a lot extra base hits this season while playing for the Trojans.

    At bat 71 times, he got 48 hits. These included eight doubles, 15 triples and four home runs. It was his productive extra-base stats that gave him the top national ranking to this point in late season.

    Last season Eck was in the shadow of Jason Baylor, who has gone on to play college ball as a pitcher. But this year Eck has emerged as the top star on the team.

    Eck was also a strong pitcher on the Trojan staff this season with an earned run average of only 2.172. This sparkling statistics ranked him 18th among all Colorado pitchers this season.

    Eck told the Democrat that he likes hitting more than pitching.

    His post graduation plans are uncertain but he was waiting for Mesa State College in Grand Junction to contact him for a tryout.

    He said he will play baseball somewhere on the college level.

    When asked what he has learned from baseball, the Trojan senior said he has appreciated how to work as a team and the importance of players supporting one another.

    He is the son of Tim Eck and Tina Eck.