Connor Watkins pitched a gem on the mound for Warren Central, and then another in The Vicksburg Post’s Athlete of the Week contest.

Watkins, a senior pitcher and infielder for Warren Central’s baseball team, received 1,239 of the 3,368 votes cast in an online poll of The Post’s readers.

Watkins had a late surge in the polling to edge Vicksburg High baseball player Kealon Bass by less than 100 votes. Bass finished second, with 1,146 votes.

Porter’s Chapel Academy baseball player John Wyatt Massey finished third, with 789 votes, and St. Aloysius baseball player Laken Bradley was fourth with 234.

Watkins led Warren Central to two wins in three games last week. He pitched all eight innings, allowing two runs and one walk while striking out eight, in a 3-2 win vs. MHSAA Region 2-6A rival Neshoba Central on March 26.

On March 30, he was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored in a a 14-0 rout of Raymond.

Congratulations to Connor and the other nominees, and thank you to our readers for voting.

The nominees for the Athlete of the Week award are announced each Sunday, and voting is open until midnight Tuesday. Links to the poll will be posted on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X pages, as well as vicksburgpost.com.