John Carroll’s Collier uses no-hitter to win ‘Prep Ballplayer’ vote in close contest

Pitching a complete-game no-hitter is impressive enough.

Throwing it against one of the best teams in the area, the Archbishop Curley Friars, is an even loftier accomplishment.

Or at least it appears to be after this week’s ‘Prep Ballplayer of the Week’ vote, which was won by John Carroll senior left-hander Nick Collier (pictured above).

Coming off a 12-strikeout performance against perennial power Calvert Hall, Collier one-upped himself by not allowing a hit, striking out 14 and walking four versus the previously unbeaten Friars.

That performance allowed Collier, a Towson University commit, to win our weekly award in a dogfight with two other outstanding players: North County right-hander LJ Barkley, who recorded 13 of his 14 outs via strikeout versus Meade; and Mount Hebron senior infielder Lake Lloyd, who had two homers and five RBIs in one game against Long Reach.

The trio swapped spots in our poll most of the week, with Collier using a final surge to capture nearly 42 percent of the 34,774 votes cast.

Yes, almost 35,000 votes were recorded, up roughly 12,000 from our first week; Barkley received nearly 38 percent and Lloyd picked up a little over 20 percent.

It’s no surprise the vote was close – those were three excellent candidates.

We’ll have three more to highlight on Monday afternoon.

Then you’ll get to vote – early and often – for the finalist you believe should be our winner. Voting ends every Thursday night and the winner is announced each Friday.

If you’re interested in submitting candidates for our consideration, please send the player’s name, key statistics from the previous week and your contact information by Sunday afternoon to sean@baltimorebaseball.com. We welcome suggestions and your feedback.