North Ridgeville’s John McGraw was named as the Ohio Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts during the Yellow Jackets' 34-13 victory over Marietta on Saturday.

McGraw, who earned the Dick Miller B-W Outstanding Player of the Game award, rushed for a career-high 151 yards in 21 attempts, including a 24-yard touchdown.

For the season, McGraw is B-W's leading runner with 221 yards in 37 attempts (6.0 yards per carry) with four TDs. He also is the team's leading receiver with nine catches for 68 yards.

McGraw and the Yellow Jackets travel to Alliance to play Mount Union at Saturday.

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Mount Union’s Pierre Garcon continues to impress, catching one of Peyton Manning’s four touchdown passes, as the Indianapolis Colts blasted the Arizona Cardinals 31-10 Sunday night.

The Colts' quarterback completed 24 of 35 for 379 yards with one interception. His 53-yard TD pass to Garcon gave the Colts a 21-3 halftime lead.

Garcon finished with three catches for 64 yards.

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Lake Erie College red-shirt freshman Adam Beach, of Vermilion, was recently named the Southern Collegiate Baseball League Pitcher of the Year.

Beach pitched for the Carolina Stingers in the SCBL, where he went 4-0 with 47 strikeouts, while posting a 1.19 ERA in 46 innings. He was also selected to the SCBL All-Star game, where he earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief for the South Team.

"I am so proud of Adam for his great accomplishment, it's a great start to his career," Lake Erie manager Brian McGee said through a press release. "He worked very hard to put himself in the situation to excel over the summer and come back stronger for his team this spring. This not only speaks volumes about Adam, but also about our program and the type of talent and people we have here at Lake Erie College ... Players like this are the reason our program will continue to grow and is being put on the map."

The SCBL is one of eight summer leagues sanctioned by the NCAA as part of the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball.

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North Ridgeville’s John McGraw had a college career-high day to lead Baldwin-Wallace over Ohio Athletic Conference rival Marietta College, 34-13 at George Finnie Stadium in Berea, notching its first win of the season today.

McGraw earned the Dick Miller B-W Outstanding Player of the Game award, as he led B-W’s running attack with a career-high 151 yards in 21 attempts, including a 24-yard touchdown run that capped off a 7-play, 91-yard drive to give the Yellow Jackets a 20-6 lead in the second quarter.

On defense, Amherst’s Ryan Kish, a junior outside linebacker, led the Yellow Jackets with nine tackles.

With its victory, the B-W is now 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the OAC. Their next game is Saturday at Mount Union.

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Stawicki heads the ball last Tuesday.

A pair of Wellington Dukes’ graduates, Greg Stawicki and Christian Huelsman, helped lead Ohio Northern's soccer team to a record-breaking weekend by defeating Trine (Ind.) 3-0 Saturday afternoon and Kalamazoo (Michigan) 7-0 on Friday, to win its fifth OAC-MIAA Shootout.

On Saturday, Huelsman sent one into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season to give ONU a 1-0 lead at the 29:27 mark.

Shortly after that at the 35:50 mark, Stawicki beat the keeper one-on-one to score a goal and give the Polar Bears a 2-0 lead and then added an insurance goal when he beat the goalkeeper at the top of the box and tapped the ball into an empty goal for his fourth goal of the season.

On Friday night, Huelsman beat the goal keeper high for a goal at the 51:19 mark to push the Polar Bears to a 4-0 advantage.

Stawicki also added a goal at the 80:26 mark for his third goal in a three-game span.

Stawicki had scored Ohio Northern’s game-winning goal against Wittenberg, as the Polar Bears won it’s third-straight home-opener Tuesday afternoon 1-0 at the ONU Soccer Field.

The game was scoreless until the 39:29 mark of the first half when sophomore Abrim Mueller crossed the ball into Stawicki, who shot the ball and had it blocked. Stawicki then followed his own rebound and hit the ball to the upper half of the net for the goal.

Ohio Northern (5-3-1), who just had its three-game losing streak snapped to Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday, will host Defiance this Tuesday.

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Avon Lake’s Christine Chiricosta advanced to the championship for Bowling Green in top flight singles and doubles play, but lost both matches to notch two second-place finishes at the BGSU Invitational played at Keefe Courts last weekend.

Chiricosta won a pair of matches at the singles top flight on Saturday, defeating Cleveland State's Catrine Bjerrehus, 6-4, 6-1 and Detroit's Carolina Salas Espinosa, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the Sunday’s flight championship against Akron's Zara. She then lost 6-0, 6-4 to notch the second-place finish.

In doubles, Chiricosta teamed with freshman Maddy Eccleston for a convincing 8-0 win over a pair from Youngstown State at top flight on Saturday, and then defeated a pair from Eastern Michigan on Sunday to get to the finals. They then lost to UA’s tandem of Angelina Jogasuria and Zara Harutyunyan in the championship match.

With her four total wins, Chiricosta moved into the BGSU top-25 for career victories. She now has 89 combined career wins, and has moved past Lisa Maloney (87 from 2001-04) and Brenda Conley (87 from 1987-90) into 24th place on the school list.

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The Ball State University football team suffered its third-straight loss, 24-17 to Army Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium.

The Cardinals (0-3) tied the game, 17-17 with 9:57 remaining in the third quarter, but Army's Donovan Travis made the big play in the fourth. Travis returned an interception 18-yards to put Army up 24-17 with 6:41 left to play.

Amherst's Alex Knipp recorded five tackles and forced a fumble in the loss.

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Mount Union's Pierre Garcon caught a short pass from Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and turned it into a 48-yard touchdown with 3:18 remaining to give the Colts a 27-23 win over the host Miami Dolphins last night on Monday Night Football.

Manning had thrown to Garcon the play before, but it was out of reach of the second-year receiver. The next time at the line, Manning called an audible and moments later, Garcon was racing down the sideline for his first NFL touchdown.

The two-time All-American at Mount Union was the first Purple Raider since Corl Zimmerman of Dayton Triangles in 1929 to start an NFL game.

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Avon Lake's Trey Stross caught four passes for 37 yards in Iowa's 27-17 win over Arizona, for the Hawkeyes' third-straight win on Saturday.

Freshman running back Adam Robinson rushed for a career-high 101 yards and two touchdowns and Iowa held Arizona to just eight first downs spoiling coach Mike Stoops’s return to Kinnick Stadium.

Ricky Stanzi added 205 yards passing for the Hawkeyes (3-0), but this win belonged to the defense. The Hawkeyes limited the Wildcats to 253 yards of offense—including just 94 in the second half—and 2 of 12 on third-down conversions, an impressive showing before next weekend’s Big Ten showdown at No. 5 Penn State.

Elyria's Danny Noble says he is ready to rumble at Cleveland Browns Stadium this Saturday.

Noble, who caught his first career college touchdown pass last Friday, is more than ready to take on the No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes.

"This is the game to make my season," Noble said. "I'll be in my hometown. My family is going to be there, everybody I know is going to be there. And again it's Ohio State, one of the top teams in the nation. Our team can't wait to get in the ring with them and rumble."

Noble caught a career-best five passes for 56 yards, which included his first career TD reception at the Glass Bowl in Toledo's 54-38 win over Colorado on Friday. His quarterback Aaron Opelt threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns and also ran for two more. The Rockets out-gained the Buffaloes, 624-451.

"It felt good. That was a highly anticipated game," Noble said. "We wanted to go into this game and play as hard as we could. This game was the one we needed to make a name for ourself and see where we would be at this season. Scoring against them and being able to put up as many points as we did, made it as fun as it possibly could've been."

Noble, a 6-foot-5 236 pound sophomore, didn't expect to grab a starting spot this season. Although he worked hard in the offseason, he never thought it would pay off so soon. He went from tight end to wide receiver, and notched the No. 1 spot going into the season.

"I didn't expect to do as well," Noble said. "I just went into camp and played as hard as I can. The coaches gave me the opportunity to start and so far I'm making it worthwhile. I want to do whatever it takes to help my team win."

He credits his offseason conditioning — sprint school — which helped teach him how to run faster and better. It also gave him endurance to run harder and longer.

"Everybody is way faster and stronger in college," Noble said. "I've also had to block bigger and faster defensive backs. I'm not the biggest tight end or slot receiver, I had to learn how to block technique-wise."

"In practice, we do everything at a high tempo. Our offense is high powered in practice so I expect us to go out in the game and do the exact same thing. We did that last Friday."

The win was also rookie head coach Tim Beckman's first. He also defeated Colorado as the defensive coordinator, while he was at Oklahoma State.

"He's great. I couldn't ask for a better coach," Noble said. "He's a friend when he needs to be friend, but when it's time to step out there on that field, he's the ultimate drill sargeant and that's what I need. That's what our team needs. So far it's been successful."

Noble also said it would be an amazing feat to pull off an upset on the Buckeyes. No Ohio team has beaten the Buckeyes since 1921 when Oberlin defeated Ohio State, 7-6.

"I couldn't imagine what it feel like," Noble said. "This is our biggest game of the season. I'll be at a loss for words if we win."

Noble is a sophomore after playing in seven games last season. He was red-shirted his true freshman year.

At Elyria High School, Noble was an All-Ohio special mention in Division I, while also notching a first-team All-Northeast Lakes District selection. He caught 26 passes for 506 yards, which included nine touchdowns. He also recorded 67 tackles and four sacks on defense.

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For Avon Lake's Christine Chiricosta, she couldn't be more ready for her junior season at Bowling Green State University.

After just two years at BG, Chiricosta has 42 singles wins, which is just three shy of 24th place in Falcon school history. Her total of 85 overall wins puts her just two away from joining the Top 25 all-time in school history.

Her overall record of 39-16 last season, which was best on the Falcons, earned her a selection on ESPN The Magazine Women's At-Large Academic All-District Team and Academic All-MAC honors. She also earned a second-straight All-MAC Second-Team selection.

"There's going to be some new challenges this year, but I'm definitely looking forward to it," Chiricosta said. "I have a lot to build on, because I set the bar pretty high."

She is focused on this year, but knows it will tough.

"I definitely want to come in and play No. 1 singles," Chiricosta said. "We have a really tough schedule with some Big Ten teams and some top teams in the NCAA. I'm hoping to maintain a winning record and playing well with my new doubles partner."

Winning the MAC is a team goal after coming close last season.

"I'm hoping to win the MAC this year," Chiricosta said. "We were two games away from winning it last year. We have a chance to do that. I think we can have a winning record. We just hope to play strong tennis and stay healthy."

Chiricosta, who played second singles for most of the year, went 3-0 in dual matches at the No. 1 flight and was 9-4 at the No. 2 flight in dual-match play. In doubles, Chiricosta had a record of 19-9.

In the classroom, Chiricosta maintains a perfect 4.00 GPA as an adolescent/young adult/secondary education major.

The Falcons ended the 2008-09 season with an overall dual-match record of 12-7 and a MAC regular-season mark of 5-3. BGSU finished with a winning record in MAC play for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

Chiricosta kept busy this summer, playing the College summer circuit tournaments, including one at the University of Pittsburgh and one at University of Michigan. She also played two national mother-daughter tournaments, winning both of them. Her and her mother Sheila won the "gold ball" in Vancouver, Washington and in Rhode Island, which makes four mother-daughter "gold balls" for her and her mother. Sheila has six total after winning two others with her son during mother-son tournament play.

"That was an amazing experience," Chiricosta said. "The one we won in Rhode Island was at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, so that was really something. It was an awesome experience. She is fun to play with."

Christine also mentioned how important her parents are. Her parents Rick and Sheila met while playing collegiate tennis at Toledo.

"She's made all the difference, both my parents have," Chiricosta said. "She's realistic and doesn't put pressure on me. My parents have been really supportive. They've made all the difference in all our careers. They've been great."

Christine is excited about her sister Nikki, a senior at Avon Lake, who will be joining her at BG next season.

"It's huge," Chiricosta said. "We both were hoping all along that we would have the opportunity to be on the same team again. Playing at a Division I strong tennis program like BG is awesome. My mom used to coach there so we have a lot of family history there. My coach and my teammates can't wait for her to get there."

Winning an elusive state championship in doubles her senior year with her freshman sister Nikki will always be unforgettable.

"It was the highlight of my career hands down," Chiricosta said. "It was really awesome. There's no way to describe what an accomplishment that felt like. I still remember it so well. It brought me tears, it was unbelievable. It was everything that she and I ever worked for. We both always wanted a state title and the fact that we got to win it together in front of all of our family and friends was the neatest thing in the world."

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Avon Lake's Trey Stross nabbed four passes for 69 yards in Iowa's convincing 35-3 win over Iowa State on Saturday.

Iowa has now won two straight in the series and five of the last seven.

Stross and the Hawkeyes are off to a 2-0 start and have won six in a row dating back to last November. They'll host Pac-10 foe Arizona this Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa's defense forced six turnovers - five interceptions and a fumble.

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Elyria's P.J. Mahone led Bowling Green defensively with 13 tackles, despite losing a game they led 20-6 over Missouri on Saturday night.

MU came back to score 21 unanswered points and defeat the Falcons 27-20.

Mahone's 13 tackles was just one shy of his career-high of 14, set against Eastern Michigan last season.

Up next for the Falcons will be a trip to Huntington, Wv. for a showdown with former Mid-American Conference opponent, Marshall on Saturday.

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Elyria's Danny Noble caught his first career college touchdown pass on Friday night in Toledo's 54-38 win over Colorado at the Glass Bowl in Toledo.

The Rockets netted 624 yards on offense and beat its third-straight Big 12 team. Toledo also defeated Kansas in 2006 and Iowa State in 2007.

Noble, a sophomore, caught a college career-high five passes for 56 yards, which also included his first career TD reception.

Stay tuned in Thursday's Morning Journal for Noble's thoughts on the big Ohio State game at Cleveland Browns Stadium this Saturday.

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St. Paul’s Matt Wilde was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Special Team’s Player of the Week for his play in Heidelberg University’s 42-26 win over Westminster College on Saturday.

Wilde, a freshman playing in his first college game, ran back an 85-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter.

He finished with 114 kick return yards in three returns.

Heidelberg has a week off before opening OAC action at Capital University next Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

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Notre Dame College of Ohio made its long-awaited football debut on Sunday night, and did not disappoint.

The Falcons scored seven touchdowns in a 49-0 rout of the junior varsity of Hiram College at Korb Field, in their first-ever football game.

Notre Dame racked up 301 yards of offense, while its defense held Hiram to 80 yards.
Leading the offense was quarterback Derrick Paster, who went 7-for-9 with 138 yards passing, which included a TD pass and two rushing TDs. He threw a 45-yard TD pass to Marlon Gillis and then ran for a 7-yard score in the first quarter to give the Falcons a quick 14-0 lead.

Andrew Davis then blocked and returned a blocked punt 37 yards for another score, which was followed by a Carter Haynes’ 72-yard fumble return – giving Notre Dame a 28-0 lead after the first quarter.

Paster threw for another TD, a 49-yard bomb to Cory DeChiara, and then ran another one in, a 27-yarder as Notre Dame went into halftime up, 42-0.

In the second half, Steven Bell caught a 33-yard TD pass from Maryland Gillis for Notre Dame’s only other score in the second half.

North Ridgeville’s Shane Friend led the Falcons with nine tackles, including one for a loss.

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Wellington’s Christian Huelsman has helped the No. 11th ranked Ohio Northern men's soccer team get off to a 2-0 start.

In a 7-0 victory over Bridgewater (Va.) in the Roanoke Tournament Friday night, Huelsman scored a goal and assisted on two others.

Last week in the season opener, Huelsman scored a goal in a 2-0 victory at Manchester (Ind.).

Huelsman scored on a penalty kick with 1:05 left in the first half to break a scoreless tie and send the Polar Bears into intermission with a 1-0 lead.

Last year in his freshman season, Huelsman started all 27 games and led the Polar Bears with 18 goals and eight assists. He also helped lead Ohio Northern to its first-ever trip to the elite-8 in the NCAA tournament.

Huelsman and the Polar Bears finished the season with an impressive 20-6-1 record and defeated Marietta, 3-0 in the finals to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

In the first round of the playoffs, they defeated Wheaton (Illinois), 4-1 and in second round action they beat Carroll (Wisconsin), 2-1 in two overtimes, and got by previously unbeaten Hobart (New York), 2-1 to make it to the Elite-8 for the first time in school history. A 4-1 loss to Loras (Iowa) ended their dreams of a Final Four and a national championship.

Huelsman broke the school-record for most goals by a freshman, while being selected first-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference, along with second team All-GLIAC.

Huelsman was originally a ball boy on Wellington’s soccer team before, stamping a legacy as a player by becoming the all-time leading scorer in Dukes’ history.

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Elyria Catholic’s Evann Heidersbach, who is heading to Ohio State on a swimming scholarship, recently became the EC’s first ever All-American in the sport of swimming.

Heidersbach earned All-American status based on her performance in the Northeast Ohio District Swimming Championships at Cleveland State University this past season. The All-American rankings were recently released. Heidersbach was ranked 78th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.63 and 107th in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1:01.41.

“Evann's accomplishment is a great way to cap-off a remarkable high school swimming career,” EC coach Jack Dibee said. “I am very excited for Evann to earn this honor. I know her swimming career is going to continue to excel at Ohio State.”

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Avon Lake’s Trey Stross caught three passes for 61 yards for Iowa as the Hawkeyes escaped with a 17-16 win over Northern Iowa. The game featured back-to-back blocks on two game-winning field goal attempts by Iowa State’s Billy Hallgren to seal the deal.

Elyria’s Danny Noble caught two passes for 18 yards for Toledo, as the Rockets were blasted by Purdue, 52-31 in West Lafayette, Indiana.

On Thursday night, Elyria’s P.J. Mahone and his Bowling Green Falcons took it to the Troy Trojans, winning 31-14 at Hoyt Perry Stadium. Mahone finished with eight tackles.

Also on Thursday, Amherst’s Alex Knipp led Ball State with 13 tackles on defense in its 20-10 loss to North Texas.

In Division II, Lake Erie College won a thriller in overtime, defeating Fairmont State University, 27-24. Brunswick’s Sean Bedevelsky threw the game-winning TD to Mentor’s Brandon James in the front right corner of the endzone in LEC’s home opener played at Jack Britt Memorial Stadium. Midview’s Scott Given was in on eight tackles, while Admiral King’s Cameron Bryant added four.

Notre Dame College of Ohio football will make its football debut on Sunday at 1 p.m. when they take on Hiram College on Korb Field in Lyndhurst.

In Division III action, North Ridgeville’s John McGraw scored a touchdown in Baldwin-Wallace’s 38-31 loss to Franklin at Berea. McGraw scampered from 9 yards out to score his first TD of the year, which happened to tie the game at 28 in the third quarter. He finished with 24 yards on six carries and he also caught four passes for 44 yards. Amherst’s Ryan Kish recorded a game-high 11 tackles on defense. Avon Lake’s Scott Nealon punted twice, averaging 42 yards a punt.

Midview’s Bobby Bott, a Division III All-American last season, helped 16th-ranked Case Western Reserve University get off to a good start, defeating Kenyon College, 33-21. The Spartans win is their 22nd straight regular-season victory and their eighth-straight season opening win. Bott recorded six tackles on defense and also returned a punt for eight yards.

Oberlin College lost to Washington and Jefferson, 35-9 in their opener. Amherst’s Shawn Chrapczynski recorded five tackles. Wellington’s Cory Kidd caught one pass for four yards and also punted eight times. Three of his punts were inside the 20-yard line.

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For Elyria's P.J. Mahone, bad pre-season rankings and a new coach with a new system don't faze him.

Despite his Bowling Green football team being picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference East Division — and having a new coach in Dave Clawson — Mahone is expecting big things for the Falcons when they start their season against the Troy University Trojans tonight at Doyt Perry Stadium.

"I wanna go out my senior year with a MAC Championship," said Mahone, Lorain County's 2005 Golden Helmet Award winner. "That's our ultimate goal is to make it to the MAC Championship. I'm expecting big things from this team."

The Falcons return 11 starters from last year's 6-6 team that tied for second in the MAC East Division. Buffalo is favored to repeat in the East with Temple (2nd), Akron (3rd), Ohio University (4th) picked to finish ahead. Only Kent State (6th) and Miami of Ohio (7th) were picked to finish worse.

The last time BG was picked to finish fifth was two years ago when the surprising Falcons went on to capture a share of the MAC East and advance to their third bowl game in five years. Can they repeat?

"I'm driving to do the best I can do to help my team win," said Mahone, a defensive back/safety. "We've had a lot of catching up to do with putting in a new system on defense. I think I fit in good. I've worked on my technique and my open field tackling in the off-season. I worked hard in my summer conditioning program and I watched extra film during the summer with my position group."

He also said there is closeness on this team that he's never seen.

"We have really come together as a team," Mahone said. "There aren't any cliques or small groups that hang out. It's all of us. We all collectively hang out and we get along with each other."

Mahone is not only expecting big things for the team, but he wants to have a big year and possibly move on to a bigger stage.

"I definitely have a dream to play in the NFL," Mahone said. "That's a dream of every college player to get to the NFL. If I have the opportunity, I'm going to take the most of that opportunity. I would have to have a better year than last year. More like I did my sophomore year when I had seven interceptions, I only had three last year."

Last year, Mahone started all 12 games and led the team with 95 tackles. He recorded at least 10 or more tackles in four games and nabbed three interceptions.

As a sophomore he was named second team All-MAC after recording 90 tackles and had a conference-leading seven interceptions, which tied for third in school history for interceptions in a season. He returned those interceptions for 220 yards, which is a BG school record. He was also named the MAC Defensive Player of the Week twice after a 10 tackles, two interception performance against Akron and Toledo.

In 2005, the year he won Lorain County's Golden Helmet award, he was also a first team All-Ohio selection, along with All-District Offensive Player of the Year and the MVP of the Pioneer Conference. He scored 30 touchdowns and recorded 2,600 yards of total offense, leading the Pioneers to their first-ever playoff appearance, a 21-9 win over Toledo St. John.They advanced to the regional semifinal, before losing to Canton McKinley, 35-9.

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Amherst's Ryan Rua and Vermilion's Adam Beach wanted to do something different this summer.

And it has paid off.

For the first time in their baseball careers, Rua and Beach took to lumber — playing in a premier wooden bat summer league sanctioned by the NCAA.

The pair played on the Carolina Stingers in the Southern Collegiate Baseball League, where they even earned all-star recognition and helped their team make the playoffs.

Beach went 4-0 with a 1.19 ERA in 46 innings, only allowing five runs all season. He also struck out 47 batters. That earned him all-star honors, where he even earned the win in the SCBL All-Star Game in South Carolina, after pitching a hitless inning with a strikeout.

"I had a good defense behind me," said Beach, whose fastball tops out at 91 MPH. "They made a lot of spectactular plays, more than I have ever seen. The competition overall was tremendous. I never expected to do as well as I did. For me and Rua to make the all-star game was pretty special."

That's pretty good for not playing this past college season. He wasn't eligible at Lake Erie College because of a misunderstanding with his paperwork, causing him to have to red-shirt. He decided to get some game experience in the summer and thought a wooden bat league would be a good experience.

"I was pretty upset about not being able to play," Beach said. "It actually helped me more than I ever imagined by just getting stronger and developing more as a player. (Coach McGee) has helped me get some exposure and experience. Coach has helped make me a better overall player."

Rua was hitting .367 from the three-hole when getting the call for the all-star game, and finished with a .300 batting average for the season. He had just came off a phenomenal freshman season at Lake Erie College, where he batted .320 in 47 starts. He led the team with 11 home runs, 37 runs scored and 47 RBIs. His 11 homers set the LEC single-season home run mark. The Storm finished its season with a 16-35 record, in its first year of playing Division II.

"Offensively, it's a big difference with the wooden bats," said Rua, who didn't homer, but hit three triples, eight doubles and plated 25 RBIs. "The pitching was a step-up from the college game. The pitchers are more accurate and more consistent. This should help me when I get back to college ball. Going down there was definitely a great experience."

Admiral King's Matt Toth and Southview's Cameron Castro, who are also on the Lake Erie team, also played in wooden bat leagues. Toth was also on the Stingers this summer, while Castro played on the Ohio Titans, before getting the call to join the NorthCoast Knights, to finish out the season.

"A lot of college programs will send their players away for the summer in order to develop them better and give them more experience," Lake Erie Coach Brian McGee said. "As young as we were, it was evident that we had to send them away to make sure they were at their best for next year — since they will be two major contributers to the team."

Rua and Beach look forward to their sophomore season at Lake Erie College, which is managed by McGee, an Amherst native. McGee, who just finished his second season as manager of LEC's baseball team, is a 1996 graduate of Amherst and a 2000 graduate of Tiffin University.

"The future is bright at Lake Erie College," McGee said. "Despite being 16-35, I feel that we handled the transition very well, especially for as young as we were. And now that we have another year of experience under their belt, we're going to be very competitive — much more competitive than we were last year. It's an exciting time for us."

His first year at the helm, he led the Storms to the most wins (17) in a season in school history. The team also earned its highest Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) finish of third place and earned its first bid to the postseason, winning twice in the first round of the AMCC Tournament in order to make it to the semifinals.

McGee's early coaching stints include a head position at Lorain Catholic High School in the spring of 2003, an assistant position at the University of Toledo from 2001-02 and an assistant varsity and head freshman position at St. Frances High School in 2001. He also served as the assistant varsity and head junior varsity coach at Greensboro College from 2003-07.

Elyria Catholic's Kyle Koberna and North Ridgeville's Dan Dowdell are also locals that played on LEC this past season. Dowdell appeared in 40 games, which included 15 starts and hit .279 with two doubles, five RBIs and 11 runs scored. Koberna made 10 relief appearances, pitching 9 2/3 innings and struck out six. His ERA was 8.38.

Toth started 28 games and finished with a .321 batting average, which included two doubles, a triple, six RBIs and 17 runs scored. Castro appeared in 18 games with one start. He finished with a 2-1 mark with 15 strikeouts and a 6.85 ERA.

Keystone's Tyler Minnich and Southview's Rey Carrion are incoming freshman that will join the Storm next season.

swalker@MorningJournal.com