BW Baseball Online Almanac

Baldwin-Wallace College student assistant coach Mike Turchan ’05 was presented with his 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America award during the Yellow Jackets’ Senior Day doubleheader against Otterbein College at Heritage Field on Saturday, April 29, 2006.

The award was presented by B-W sports information director Kevin Ruple between the second and third innings of the day’s opening game, and several Yellow Jacket baseball alums were in attendance, including Carl Mieyal ’80, Jon Hopkins ’81, Pat Campbell ’84 and former assistant coach Eddie Klaehn.

Mike was a great all-around player for the Jackets at third base and on the mound. He finished his career with a stellar .385 batting average, and his 23 home runs are second on B-W’s all-time list. In his sophomore year, he set a school record by hitting four straight doubles over a two-game stretch. As a pitcher, he was 12–8 with a 4.23 earned run average and struck out 122 batters in 164 innings.

In addition to his Academic All-America award, Mike won a spot on two Academic All–Ohio Athletic Conference teams and two Academic All–District IV squads. He was also the Yellow Jackets’ 2004 Outstanding Scholar-Athlete.

Before the opener, seniors Kevin Brown, Mike Farrell, Matt Green, Dan Melito, Derek Skapes, Ryan Stassinis and Matt Wilson were introduced to the the Senior Day crowd and applauded for their leadership and their legacy to the B-W baseball program. On the diamond, they’ve compiled an 80–61 (.567) four-year record, including 24 wins and an OAC playoff berth in 2003. In the classroom, their hard work and scholarship has boosted the Jackets to the highest team GPA of any sport at B-W.

The Yellow Jackets’ class of 2006 will play their final game Saturday at Wilmington College, when they go after their fourth straight winning season.

B-W Baseball Academic All-America Selections »

Senior second baseman Kevin Brown took one for the team in Saturday’s doubleheader at Marietta College and earned another spot in the Baldwin-Wallace College baseball record book.

Brown was hit by a pitch from Marietta freshman Alex Sedam during a six-run rally in the second inning of game two at Pioneer Park. It was the 11th time this season that the Yellow Jackets’ lead-off hitter has been caught by a pitcher, and it set a new school record. Brown has now been plunked 19 times in his career at B-W — another school record.

The career record had been held by two-time All–Mideast Region first baseman Pat Shannon, who was drilled 18 times from 2000 to 2003. Academic All–District IV third baseman Todd Bratz ’02 set the previous season record in 2002, when he was hit by a pitch 10 times.

Brown, who’s hitting .319 with a .496 on-base percentage, leads the Ohio Athletic Conference in the hit by pitch category. He’s also tops in the league with 35 runs scored and third with 23 walks.

[ B-W Baseball Batting & Baserunning Records ]

Senior second baseman Kevin Brown tied a Baldwin-Wallace College school record yesterday with three doubles in a 16–6 rout of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Brown led off the game with a double to right–center field and scored on a two-run home run by senior left fielder Mike Farrell. He followed that with another two-base hit to right-center in the second inning. Two innings later, he hustled his way into the Yellow Jackets record book by stretching an RBI single to center field into his third double of the game. He finished the day with three doubles in three at-bats, a walk and three runs batted in.

Brown shares his record for two-baggers in a single game with Phil Stringer ’90, Brian Johnson ’01, Pat Shannon ’03 and B-W student assistant coach Mike Turchan ’05.

Brown is now hitting .326 and leads the team with 33 runs scored. He has 19 RBIs from the lead-off spot in the line-up and is a brushback away from breaking B-W’s season and career records for being hit by a pitch.

[ B-W Baseball Batting & Baserunning Records ]

Eddie Uschold became the winningest baseball coach in Missouri Baptist University history on March 25 when his club swept a doubleheader against Ashford University. His career record is 256–138–1 (.650) since taking the helm of the Spartans in 2000.

Eddie was a backup first baseman and designated hitter at Baldwin-Wallace College in the late 1980s. After graduating from B-W in 1990, he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kent State University. He moved up the coaching ranks with assistant coaching stints at Tyler (Texas) Junior College and Manchester (Ind.) College, and a head coaching job at Olivet (Mich.) College, before being hired at Missouri Baptist.

In seven seasons at MBU, Eddie’s teams have won three American Midwest Conference championships. He was named AMC Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2004, and NAIA Region V Coach of the Year in 2003. Last year, he led the Spartans to a school-record 40–24 mark and a runner-up finish in the AMC. They qualified for the Region V playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons, but were eliminated in two close games.

So far this season, the Spartans are 26–6 and ranked 23rd in the latest NAIA poll. They are third in the nation with a .385 batting average and a .588 slugging percentage.

For the second time this month, the Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team has swept the Ohio Athletic Conference Players of the Week awards.

Senior second baseman Kevin Brown was named Hitter of the Week on Monday after going four for six with a double, six runs and five RBIs last week. He collected four of his five RBIs in the Yellow Jackets’ 12–5, home-opener win against Notre Dame College on March 22.

Junior pitcher Brian Pille picked up his first collegiate victory in the Notre Dame game, and was rewarded with Pitcher of the Week honors. In six innings of work, he allowed just one earned run and racked up seven strikeouts.

Two weeks ago, senior outfielder Mike Farrell and junior pitcher Clayton Kynkor won Player of the Week awards for their performances at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla. The Jackets went 6–3 at the Classic, outscoring their opponents 60–43.

Farrell hit .423 with three doubles and three home runs at the Classic. In nine games, he scored eight runs and knocked in eight. Kynkor won both of his starts on the trip, allowing only a single earned run in 13 innings and striking out 11 batters.

[ B-W Baseball OAC Players of the Week ]

Senior right fielder Dan Melito broke the Baldwin-Wallace College school record for doubles in a career during yesterday’s 16–6 victory over Walsh University in North Canton.

Melito led off the fifth inning with a double to right–center field, bringing his career total to 37 and breaking the previous record of 36 held by Phil Stringer ’90, Joel Nichols ’96 and Pat Shannon ’03. His record-breaking double followed a three-run home run in the third inning that put the Yellow Jackets ahead 11–1. He finished the game with two of the Jackets’ 17 hits, four RBIs and a pair of runs scored.

Melito leads the Jackets with seven doubles so far this season. He led the team with ten doubles last year and 13 in 2004.

[ B-W Baseball Batting & Baserunning Records ]

Yesterday’s Akron Beacon Journal reported that “seven former area high school baseball players are contributing to the Baldwin-Wallace college team for the 2006 season.”

They are: Kevin Brown and J.D. Fullerton, both of Cuyahoga Falls; Brandon Fredericks of Revere; Nick Haught of Walsh Jesuit; Shaun Slater of Norwayne; Zach Hoffman of Crestwood and Steve Miller of CVCA.

Brown, an Academic All-OAC and Academic All–District IV second baseman, is off to a great start in his senior season. He leads the team with a .421 batting average and a .564 on-base percentage. Fullerton, a junior pitcher, is 1–0 in four appearances as a long reliever. Slater, last year’s Outstanding Freshman, is hitting .333 with nine RBIs in 11 games as an outfielder and designated hitter.

Miller is a sophomore pitcher who transferred to B-W from West Palm Beach (Fla.) Community College, and Hoffman is a sophomore third baseman. Haught, a catcher, and Fredericks, a pitcher, are both promising freshmen who made the varsity roster for the Yellow Jackets’ spring trip to Fort Myers, Fla.

Erik Young ’89 was inducted into the Baldwin-Wallace College Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, November 4, 2005. His teammate Mark Massey ’93, president of the B-W Lettermen’s Association, presented him with his hall of fame plaque at the induction ceremony in the Strosacker Hall ballroom. He is the 45th Yellow Jackets baseball player or coach admitted to the hall of fame.

Erik was a four-year starter and letterman for the Yellow Jackets from 1986 to 1989. He was one of the best all-around players to ever wear the Brown & Gold. His .381 career batting average is the 11th-highest in B-W history, and his 51 stolen bases rank second all-time. He also ranks in the top ten in on-base percentage (.483), slugging percentage (.610) and fielding average (.957). He made the All-OAC team and the All–Mideast Region team in every one of his four seasons, and he earned Academic All-OAC honors three times.

He was a key player on B-W’s 1986 and 1988 OAC regular season championship teams that made it to the NCAA Mideast Region playoffs. His .393 batting average in 1986 won him the team’s Outstanding Freshman award, and his play at the 1988 regional earned him a spot on the all-tournament team. His best season was 1987, when he led the Jackets in hitting with a .410 batting average and stole 19 bases in 21 attempts. He won the team’s “Big Stick” offensive MVP award that year, and was named to the Academic All-America first team.

The B-W record book is a testament to Erik’s place in B-W baseball history. He holds career records for at bats (480), hits (183), runs scored (136), triples (11) and walks (84), and he had more home runs (18), doubles (34) and runs batted in (130) than any other player in the ’80s. During his 1989 MVP season, he tied a school record when he hit three home runs in a single game against John Carroll University.

Erik was presented for induction by his father, who recalled Erik’s decision to return to B-W for his senior year instead of signing with the Cleveland Indians when they drafted him in the spring of 1988. The Indians tried to convince him that he could finish his degree as a part-time student in the offseason, but Erik wanted to graduate with his classmates. “If they think I’m that good,” he told his father, “they’ll draft me again next year.”

He was right. The Tribe drafted him again in the June 1989 draft. This time he signed, and he played his rookie season with the Watertown Indians in the New York–Penn League. He was one of only five players in the league to go five-for-five in a single game that summer. In 1990, he went to the Indians’ minor league spring training camp and was later released.

Today, Erik lives in Chicago with his wife, Karen (Mellaci) Young ’90, and their four children. He is the Midwest senior account manager for Novelis Inc., and he volunteers as a coach for his kids’ sports teams.

B-W Baseball Athletic Hall of Famers »

We’re now accepting registrations for the 2005 B-W Baseball Holiday Skills Camp!

This year’s camp will be held from Tuesday, December 27, to Thursday, December 29, at the newly-renovated Lou Higgins Recreation Center.

The B-W Baseball Holiday Skills Camp is a three-day commuter camp where boys and girls ages 9–16 can learn the fundamentals of baseball in a fun, well-supervised environment. Our campers are coached in small groups and one-on-one by B-W coaches and players. They participate in a variety of action-packed drills and practice routines, and they get to pitch off of our indoor mounds and take live BP in our batting cages.

The Skills Camp is the main fundraising event for the baseball team’s annual spring trip to the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla. Under the direction of B-W’s hitting and catchers coach, Joe Kilburg, the camp has grown every year, and we hope to have over 60 campers this time around. We’re especially happy that the children of several B-W alums have become regulars over the last few years.

If you know a young ballplayer who’s looking for something fun to do over Christmas break, we’d love to see them at this year’s camp!

They can learn all about the camp, meet our coaching staff and download registration forms at the B-W Baseball Holiday Skills Camp website:

http://camp.bwbaseball.com/