SAVANNAH — The last few weeks have brought a slew of honors to Charles “Trey” Sikes.
The Hinesville native and Liberty County High School alum received the 2014 baseball player of the year award at the Savannah State University Athletic Awards Banquet on April 17 in Tiger Arena.
“When we brought him in, we expected he would bring power to the program and give us quality at-bats,” SSU head baseball coach Carlton Hardy said.
“Sikes worked hard during the fall and it is paying off for him and the team during the season. He is a threat to hit the long ball,” Hardy added.
Sikes is also taking care of business in the classroom, being an honor roll student.
“He is a good student in class as well as a great baseball player,” Hardy said. “He is a typical athlete we like to bring in that can play and excel in class.”
At the time of the banquet, Sikes, the only Tiger to play in all 37 games, had a batting average of .322, 46 hits, seven doubles, one triple and a team-leading five home runs. He also had 29 runs batted in and 22 runs. In addition, he had drawn 12 walks to go with a .382 on-base percentage and a .490 slugging percentage. In the field, he had a 1.000 fielding percentage with 71 putouts, three assists and no errors.
On Monday, Sikes was selected as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the week for the previous week’s action. He batted .650 (13 for 20) with 10 RBIs on three doubles and three home runs for the Tigers.
Sikes, a biology major, is the son of Charles Jr. and Kathy Sikes.
The Tigers (18-26 overall, 9-11 in the MEAC) host Bethune-Cookman (20-26, 12-9) in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Other local athletes were recognized at the banquet  with presentation of their varsity letters. Senior football players Sheldon Barnes (Bradwell Institute) and Jake Durham (Long County High School) each received his fourth letter, while former Liberty County baseball players Aaron Hoffer and Brandon Whitmore each received his first letter.