Pine Creek’s Justin Olson was stellar on the diamond, and Tuesday his baseball career was capped with one of the most prestigious honors for high school athletes.

Olson was selected as the 2017-18 Gatorade Colorado Baseball Player of the Year.

“The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Olson as Colorado’s best high school baseball player,” Gatorade said in a release Tuesday.

Pine Creek was a favorite to win the Class 5A state title before an early exit in quarterfinals. Olson led the Eagles throughout the regular season. His .525 batting average and 1.423 slugging percentage is among the best in 5A.

He also had 14 home runs to lead Colorado, and had 34 RBIs.

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On the mound Olson had a 1.77 ERA with 46 strikeouts through 23.2 innings pitched.

“Justin’s a big, strong guy who you might expect would only hit for power, but he’s got good plate discipline, too,” Fountain-Fort Carson coach Andrew Johnson said in the release. “Being in Colorado my whole life and coaching against some great players. Justin’s that type of player. Just a phenomenal player, and they relied on him a lot.”        

Olson has signed his National Letter of Intent to play baseball at Kentucky.  

Olson is the second Pine Creek player to be selected Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year, following Ryan Warner who was honored in 2011-12. Lewis-Palmer’s Paul Tillotson was the most recent Colorado Springs-area baseball selection in 2015-16.

In the fall Palmer Ridge's Ty Evans was honored as the Colorado Football Gatorade Player of the Year.

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