Clearview graduate Angel Fletcha has signed his letter of intent to play for Lourdes baseball next year.

"I chose Lourdes because I felt it would help me attain my highest potential," Fletcha said. "I felt it was a place I can grow and expand my learning. It is a great opportunity for me."

Fletcha currently attends Lorain County Community College. Fletcha hit .500 his senior year and was named to the All-Lorain County team three times.

"I am looking forward to helping the team start out," Fletcha said. "It is a new program so there will be no favorites and a lot of good competition for playing time."

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Elyria Catholic's Alexa Rick will continue her cross country and track career at Ithaca College next season.

Rick notched the last All-Ohio spot at this year's Division II girls state cross country meet, finishing 25th in a school-record time of 19:05.2. She broke her own record by seven seconds.

In track, Rick is a two-time regional qualifier in the 800 meters. Last spring, she finished fifth at regionals.

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Firelands graduate Dana Thoms, a Heidelberg University softball pitcher, has been selected as the Ohio Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week.

In a week’s play, Thoms went 2-1 while posting a 1.47 earned run average. Thoms threw three complete games while giving up four runs off 16 hits. She fanned six and walked three. Her wins came against Salem State University (7-2) and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (9-1).

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Wellington teammates Ryan Bliss and Justin Kidd have been accepted by Oberlin College and will continue their education and baseball careers for the Yeomen next season.

Oberlin College is coached by Lorain native Adrian Abrahamowicz.

Bliss and Kidd are both four-year baseball letter winners at Wellington.

Bliss an outfielder and pitcher led the Dukes offensively in doubles (12); total bases (47); stolen bases (16); slugging percentage (.580) and on base percentage (.529).

Bliss tied for the team lead in hits (33) and was second with a .407 batting average. As a pitcher Bliss led the Dukes in appearances (12), innings pitched (52), strikeouts (51) and was second in earned run average (2.56).

Bliss earned honorable mention All-District;1st Team All-Lorain County and 1st Team All-Patriot Athletic Conference and plays for T.J. Staton’s 18U Lorain County Pirates during the summer.

Kidd pitches and can play both infield and outfield. He led Wellington in RBIs (24) and had a .313 batting average with 5 doubles.

As a pitcher Kidd led team with a 5-1 record. Kidd posted a 3.09 earned run average. He was second in innings pitched (34) and strikeouts (31). Kidd earned 1st Team All-Patriot Athletic Conference.

Bliss and Kidd are both members of National Honor Society and earned Patriot Athletic Conference scholar athlete awards.

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Firelands graduate Dominic San Felippo hit a home run, a triple and a double, just missing the cycle by a single, as the Wheeling Jesuit baseball team opened WVIAC play with a two-game sweep of Fairmont State University. The Cardinals claimed the day game by a score of 6-4 and pounded out 11 hits in the nightcap for a 10-3 victory.

San Felippo drove in two RBIs with a single and a solo homerun. He now has three home runs on the season, along with 13RBIs in 11 games started. His batting average is .308. He also has five stolen bases.

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Amherst’s Ryan Rua was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Week, following his season-opening performance on the Storm’s annual spring break trip.

The award was the first of the season presented by the GLIAC and the first weekly honor for the Storm in its inaugural season in the conference.

Rua batted .516 to help the Storm to a 3-4 record in its opening week, including a 3-1 mark at the Winning Inning Academy Invitational in Clearwater, Fla.

He hit his first home run of the season, hit four doubles, scored seven runs, stole two bases, and drove in 14 while starting every game at shortstop for the Storm. Rua went 10-for-14 (.714) with runners in scoring position and 6-for-9 (.667) with two outs.

He had three hits and drove in four runs, including a three-run homer, in a wild 16-14 win over Oakland City University and then recorded a career-high-tying five hits (going 5-for-5) with four RBIs in the final game of the trip, a 12-7 victory over Locka Have University.

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Avon Lake native Eric Mihalik was named the Inside College Hockey National Player of the Week after his and Colgate’s series win over Rensselaer in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Playoffs.

Mihalik was 2-1-0 with a .929 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average in the three games. He became the first rookie goalkeeper in 16 years to win a playoff series in a Colgate uniform. He made 92 saves in the three games with 40 in the double overtime series clincher.

The Engineers scored three times in the first period of Game 1, and then totaled just four goals over the next nine and a half periods, as the teams played about 30 minutes of overtime in the series finale.

Since he took over as the goalkeeper he has started in 16 games. He is 6-8-2 with a 6-3-1 record in his last 10 starts. After getting his first collegiate win against Clarkson on Feb. 5, he has a 2.45 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. He has given up 26 goals on 302 shots.

Mihalik and his teammates will be facing Union in the ECAC Hockey Quarterinals, who is the top seed in the tournament and the fourth-ranked team in the nation. It is another best-of-three series, beginning on Friday night at Messa Rink.

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Westlake graduate Rosa LaMattina scored a team-high 19 points, while also adding three assists and three steals, but Mount Union’s nationally-ranked team fell to No. 1-ranked Thomas More (Ky.), 76-63 in an NCAA Tournament second round matchup on Saturday.

Trailing 61-59 with 5:55 left, the Purple Raiders hit a scoring drought. The Saints scored nine straight points while Mount Union (26-4) shot 0 of 5 with one turnover over a period of 4:45.

LaMattina finally ended the dry spell with 1:10 on the clock, but by that time, the Raiders were behind, 70-61.

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No. 23-ranked Louisville overcame a two-run ninth-inning deficit to force extra innings, ruining Western Reserve graduate Andrew Chafin’s outstanding pitching performance, in a 3-2 come-from-behind win for the Cardinals last night.

Chafin, a redshirt sophomore, hurled a career-high seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball for the Golden Flashes (5-3) and had a no-hitter going through five innings. Chafin struck out a career-high 10 batters and became the first Kent State pitcher to strike out 10 or more since Robert Sabo recorded 11 in a 9-2 victory over Miami on May 27, 2010, at the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

"It’s great to see Andrew back at 100 percent," said head coach Scott Stricklin. "His slider was really working today, and threw a lot of strikes. He was very aggressive in the strike zone. It was good to see him have that kind of outing. We’re going to win a lot of games with him out on the mound, no question."

The contest was a classic pitcher’s duel between Chafin and Louisville sophomore right-handed starting pitcher Matt Koch, who went eight innings for the Cardinals and gave up one earned run on five hits and struck out two. Chafin sat down seven batters in a row between the third and fifth innings.

Chafin’s no-hit bid was broken up by a two-out single up the middle by Louisville junior infielder Ryan Wright in the bottom of the sixth, but Kent State junior third baseman Travis Shaw struck back with a leadoff home run to left center in the ensuing frame.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Monroeville graduate Logan Stieber had his wrestling season cut short after eight matches during his freshman season at Ohio State.

Stieber broke his hand and had to sit out the rest of the season, after going 5-3.

He won his first five matches, defeating Nebraska’s Shawn Nagel, Pittsburgh’s Anthony Zanetta, Cal State Bakersfield’s Tyler Iwamura, Illinois’ Logan Arlis and Hofstra’s Steve Bonanno. He lost three straight matches, all by decision, to Oklahoma’s Jarrod Patterson (2-1), Oregon State’s Jason Lara (5-0) and Cornell’s Frank Perrelli (9-8).

His brother Hunter Stieber just came off his fourth-straight state championship, while wrestling at Monroeville. He’ll be joining Logan next season.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Perkins graduate Cierra Bravard was named to the 2010-11 All-ACC Women’s Basketball First Team after an outstanding season at Florida State.

Bravard led FSU in several statistical categories, including points per game (14.4) and rebounds per game (7.3), shooting percentage (.545) and free-throw percentage (.839).

Behind Bravard’s play in the post, FSU finished the regular season with a 23-6 overall record and 11-3 conference mark.

She finished seventh in the league in scoring, 11th in rebounding, fifth in field-goal percentage and sixth in free-throw percentage.

"Cierra has always had incredible potential and she has worked so hard to bring that potential out this season," FSU head coach Sue Semrau said. "She stayed on campus this past summer and really focused in on her strength and conditioning and that in turn helped her become a more dominant player in the post for us.

"As a coaching staff, we are so proud of the player that she has become and will continue to turn in to."

Bravard is the fifth player in FSU women’s basketball history to earn-first team honors.

swalker@MorningJournal.com