De La Salle baseball star Blake Burke, the runner-up in last week’s voting for Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week, held off Bellarmine basketball standout Ryan Kiachian for this week’s honors in a race that narrowed significantly until the voting officially ended.
Burke had 7,744 votes (31.82%) to Kiachian’s 7,393 (30.38%) when our counting stopped at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The poll was removed at the deadline from the story that listed the candidates, but “unofficial” votes continued to pour in after the cutoff point.
Burke went 3 for 4 with a double, home run and three RBIs in a victory over Monte Vista and also had two hits and an RBI in a win over Elk Grove.
Kiachian scored 28 points and played dominant defense in the Bells’ victory over Serra and also had 16 points in a win over Sacred Heart Prep.
Congratulations to both standouts and the others who were in the running.
Candidates for next week’s voting will be released Monday, May 10.
If you would like to nominate an athlete, email highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com by Sunday, May 9.
Winners are announced each Friday on the Mercury News & East Bay Times websites.
