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

Amherst’s Ryan Rua is coming off a stellar freshman season at Lake Erie College.

Rua set the Lake Erie College single-season home run mark with 11 while playing for Lake Erie, who finished its season with a 8-1 win over Columbia Union College and finish the season at 16-35 in its first season in NCAA Division II.

Rua led the Storm with season record-setting totals in home runs (11), runs (37) and RBIs (47). He also finished with a .320 batting average, which includes 11 doubles, three triples and four stolen bases.

Freshman Matt Toth (Admiral King) started 28 games and finished with a .321 batting average, which includes two doubles, a triple, six RBIs and 17 runs scored.

North Ridgeville’s Dan Dowdell, a sophomore, appeared in 40 games, including 15 starts and hit .279 with two doubles, five RBIs and 11 runs scored.

Southview’s Cameron Castro appeared in 18 games with one start. He finished with a 2-1 mark with 15 strikeouts and a 6.85 ERA in just his freshman year.

Elyria Catholic’s Kyle Koberna, also a freshman, made 10 relief appearances, pitching 9 2/3 innings and struck out six. His ERA was 8.38.

Vermilion's Adam Beach was a red-shirt freshman this season, but expects to make a big impact on the team next year.

Amherst grad and head coach Brian McGee is excited about this team, which will also add locals Rey Carrion (Southview) and Tyler Minnich (Keystone).

Last season in 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.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

PAINSVILLE, Ohio - The jump from Division III to Division II isn’t always easy.

Just ask Amherst graduate Brian McGee, who is entering his second season as manager of Lake Erie College’s baseball team.

Although McGee, a 1996 graduate of Amherst and a 2000 graduate of Tiffin University, is struggling through a 2-13 season. Thursday night’s home-opening 22-1 win over Case Western Reserve snapped an 11-game losing streak.

“It‘s a tremendous jump,” said McGee, who has 21 freshmen on the team. “We’re playing a real tough schedule and we’re challenging the guys. Even with the enormous jump, we’re at the front end of it . ... I always tell the guys, ‘If we want to be the best team — we gotta be able to beat the best teams.’”

After 15 games, the Storm are far from the best team, but McGee believes in his team that they will turn it around.

“I’m a tough guy to play for,” McGee said. “I’m not the kind of guy that is going to sugarcoat anything. I’m not the kind of coach that’s always going to be there to pat them on the back. My expectations of these guys are extremely high. I don’t care if they’re freshmen or seniors — they’re the guys that I believe in and I believe they can get the job done.”

Last year in his first year at the helm, he led the Storm 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.

“This is the place where you want to be,” McGee said. “This is a program on the rise. We have exceptionally good talent on this program and they’re going to learn and build together. Right now people may be laughing and saying ‘They’re not as good as people were saying they were going to be’, but the jokes going to be on them in the next couple years.”

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.

“I‘ve always felt that Lorain had a lot of players that were overlooked,” McGee said. “Lorain County is an untapped resource. I’ve always thought about two things when I got out of college and I got my own head coaching job. One — I wanted to give back to the community that gave me the opportunity to excel to play the game of baseball that I love; and two — I wanted to be the first one to come in and tap into those resources.”

Freshmen Ryan Rua (Amherst), Cameron Castro (Southview), Matt Toth (Admiral King), Kyle Koberna (Elyria Catholic) and Adam Beach (Vermilion), along with sophomore Dan Dowdell (North Ridgeville), are locals that made the team this year.

Rua is batting .373 and has started all 14 games and sports a .967 fielding percentage from his shortstop position. He has also hit four homeruns, two triples, four doubles and has 17 RBIs, which all lead the team. He has also pitched 2 2/3 innings and has four strikeouts.

“Ryan has been a tremendous asset to this program,” McGee said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the type of character he holds and the ability and the way he’s performed on the field for us. He’s playing at a higher level than I thought he would be, starting off at, but it does not surprise me — because he works really hard.”

Castro has made six pitching appearances and is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. He has pitched 8 2/3 innings and has allowed just three earned runs.

“Cameron is academically very sound, coming in with a 4.0 GPA or close to,” McGee said. “He’s very smart and fields his position very well. On the pitching side of things, he’s been a go-to guy therefore he leads the team in appearances.”

Toth has started 11 games and is batting .231 (9 of 39) with a double, triple and three RBIs.

“Matt’s working real hard,” McGee said. “He is a little tough on himself right now — he’s not hitting the way that he’d want to, but he’s making a lot of hard outs. A batting average doesn’t dictate to me how well a guy is swinging a bat. He’s a total team guy. He’s contributed in more ways than people would understand.”

Dowdell, a sophomore, splits time in the outfield and is batting .261 with three RBIs. Koberna, a left hand pitcher, who is battling with arm troubles has made three appearances. Beach is a red-shirt freshman that McGee is excited about — even saying he might just be his best arm on the team.

“I try to stay positive with them as much as possible,” McGee said. “I’m hard on them, but at the same time, I give them a lot of love and a lot of respect. They know that I care about them.”

McGee himself was a four-year letter winner as a starting third baseman and outfielder at Tiffin. He was a team captain, earned all-conference and was selected to Team USA to compete in Austria, Czechoslovakia and Germany.

Tyler Minnich (Keystone) and Rey Carrion (Southview) are also two local prospects that McGee is pursuing for next year.

“I want to represent my alumni well and the community I was raised in and grew up in,” McGee added. “I’m very proud of where I’m from.”

swalker@MorningJournal.com