Message from Assistant Director of Sports Information Trevor Wenners: We will be featuring our outstanding student-athletes with a standout-performer series. On every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from June 1 – July 6, we will highlight one special person from LaGrange College athletics. Every Panther program will be featured once during the series. You can see these stories on our Panthers' athletic website or through our social-media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
SETTING THE STAGE:
It did not take long to realize that McKinley Erves of the LaGrange College baseball team was going to be a special student-athlete.
Erves came out of the gates on a mission, as he batted .331, to go along with 55 hits and 37 RBIs during his rookie season in 2018. He appeared in 46-of-48 games, as the Panthers (30-18, 10-8 USA South) hoisted their second-consecutive USA South Championship.
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The Huntsville, Alabama, native filled out the stat sheet, finishing with 37 runs, 10 doubles, nine stolen bases and three triples. Erves maintained marks of .428 and .411, respectively, in slugging and on-base percentage. The first-year collegiate player ranked among the best in the USA South, finishing in a tie for ninth in triples and a tie for 10th in RBIs.
The 5-foot-7 outfielder went 2-for-3, with two RBIs and two runs, in a 12-7 triumph over N.C. Wesleyan in the 2018 USA South title game at Cleaveland Field in Williamson Stadium.
Erves became even more of a complete player in between his freshman and sophomore seasons, making the necessary adjustments to come back stronger than ever. During the 2019 campaign, he batted .385, while maintaining a .500 slugging percentage and a .460 on-base percentage.
Erves recorded 57 hits, 41 runs, 20 RBIs, 10 stolen bases, seven doubles and five triples. He finished in a tie for first in the USA South in triples, fifth in batting average and seventh in hits.
The Panthers (32-12, 17-5) went on to claim their third-straight conference championship, outlasting visiting Greensboro, 7-5, in the title game.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
One aspect about Erves that has become known to all LaGrange baseball followers is that he is never complacent. The young man is always looking for ways to improve and he was sensational during the abbreviated 2020 season.
The junior appeared in all 17 games for the Panthers (12-5, 5-1), leading the team in batting average (.441), slugging percentage (.647), on-base percentage (.531), hits (30), RBIs (24), runs (23) and stolen bases (4). He sat in a tie for first in triples (3) and ranked second in doubles (5).
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In the USA South, he was second in RBIs, tied for second in runs, third in batting average, third in hits, fourth in on-base percentage, fifth in slugging percentage and tied for fifth in triples.
Erves recorded at least one hit in 16-of-17 games and tallied 10 multi-hit efforts. He went 4-for-5 in the No. 2 position, with four RBIs, three runs, a triple and a walk, during a 15-4 triumph over visiting Oglethorpe on Feb. 26.
Erves crushed his first-collegiate home run in a 4-1 victory over then-No. 4-ranked Birmingham-Southern on Feb. 16. Erves has played in 101 career games, totaling 142 hits, 101 runs, 81 RBIs, 45 walks, 23 stolen bases, 22 doubles, 11 triples and one home run. He has been incredibly efficient in terms of batting average (.372), slugging percentage (.495) and on-base percentage (.452).
As a defensive player, Erves has been tremendous. He has not recorded a single error in his three-year career, while tallying 109 putouts and three assists. The versatile student-athlete was named to the USA South All-Conference Second Team in 2019.
Trevor Wenners can be reached at twenners@lagrange.edu.
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