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OVAC Athletes Show Off Their Baseball Skills

Annual showcase marks its 10th year

Photo by Kyle Lutz Paden City’s Matt Saxon fields a ground ball during the infield portion of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Baseball Showcase Tuesday night.

WHEELING — The 10th annual Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Baseball Showcase was held Tuesday at the I-470 Fields at the J.B. Chambers Complex. A large number of players showcased their skills in front of college coaches and a handful of high school coaches in five different areas.

OVAC Baseball Commissioner Steve Wojcik was pleased to see the conference well represented at the event.

“I would say we had anywhere in the neighborhood of 45-55 kids from a good representation of schools within the OVAC,”î Wojcik said. “We had kids all the way from Wellsville and Beaver Local, all the way down to Paden City and all the way out to Meadowbrook. So we encompassed the whole geographical area of our OVAC.”î

The athletes were evaluated in five different aspects: outfield, infield, 60-yard dash, along with catchers being evaluated along with pitchers.

For the outfielders, they had the opportunity to showcase their arm. They were given three throws from about 250 feet with the ideal throw of hitting the cutoff man on the throw to home plate.

The infield had four grounders hit to them: one straight at them, one to the left, one to the right and a charge. They threw from deep shortstop to first base. The first basemen would then have to throw to third.

The catchers received three pitches and they were timed on how fast they caught the ball and how fast the ball traveled to get to second base.

The final event was for the pitchers. They had a total of 10 pitches (five fastball and five breaking pitches) all of which were recorded on a radar gun.

“It was the idea of Perry West, our baseball director,”î Wojcik said. “Number 1, to showcase our kids and at the same time to raise some money. And all the money we raised from this will goes into our baseball scholarship fund, which this year was named after Perry West.î

Five colleges were at the showcase as West Liberty, Wheeling Jesuit, Bethany, West Virginia Wesleyan and Salem University took advantage of the opportunity to see what young Ohio Valley talent had to offer.

West Liberty coach Eric Burkle is no stranger to the event or to recruiting from the Ohio Valley. Last season, 38 of 48 players on the Hilltoppers roster went to a high school in the OVAC.

“It’s the biggest high school conference in the country,î” Burkle said. “For me, if I miss opportunities like this, it’s my fault. That makes me a bad coach. I have to find the best talent in the valley and just run with it. Even if it’s a kid that we have to develop, it’s right here in my backyard. I canít pass it up.î”

The event is also is an ideal and convenient situation for Wheeling Jesuit coach Dan Abbenante, who just finished his first year with the Cardinals.

Wheeling Jesuit also has a handful of OVAC talent on its squad.

“This is really good. You get to see what the Ohio Valley really has and what it brings out,î” Abbenante said. “I think it’s just a really good opportunity where it’s hard especially during our season because we play at the same time, to really get to see what the Ohio Valley region really has.

“This event and the same thing with Monday with the (OVAC All-Star) game is really going to allow us to see what it has and be able to recruit out of that because it is in our backyard. We want the kids to stay at home. We don’t want the best players to go out of region. So weíre trying to keep them here and that’s what these events allow us to do.”î

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