NEWARK, N.Y. — The Section V baseball playoffs are underway and one of the favorites in Class B is top seeded Newark.

The Reds are led by senior shortstop Ben Cowles who has a team best .426 batting average.

He's knocked in 26 runs in 20 games and gone 19 for 19 in stolen base attempts. Cowles, a starter since he was a freshman, won Finger Lakes Player of the Year honors last season. He eventually started catching the attention of college coaches and received a scholarship to play at Division I Maryland next season.

"It was mainly my summer ball team I played for PAC trains up in East Rochester," Cowles said. "We went to a couple Perfect Game tournaments. That's where coach Vaughn me, that's the head coach there. They liked how I hustled and played hard, play every game like it's my last. They liked me on the left side of the field, third or short and they liked how I hit the ball."

Cowles and the Reds host a second round sectional game on Tuesday.