Diamond Stars: Mikes, Pioneers lead GCM All-County Baseball Team
Carmichaels鈥� Drake Long fires a pitch in a WPIAL Class AA first-round baseball playoff game against Apollo-Ridge at Greater Latrobe High School on May 17. Long is the Greene County Messenger All-County Baseball Team Player of the Year. (Photo by Jim Downey)
West Greene coach Lenny Lohr has a chat with the home plate umpire during a WPIAL playoff game against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at Burkett Field. Lohr is the Greene County Messenger All-County Baseball Team Coach of the Year. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Carmichaels and West Greene all had stellar baseball seasons and were thus well represented on the 2022 Greene County Messenger All-County Baseball Team.
The Player of the Year is Carmichaels senior Drake Long who was 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA while batting .462 with 24 runs. Long had 54 strikeouts against just 11 walks in 39 innings pitched during the regular season. He also threw a one-hit shutout in the first round of the playoffs in the Mikes鈥� 12-0 win over Apollo-Ridge.
Carmichaels鈥� senior Nick Ricco was a strong candidate as well with a .545 batting average, 20 RBIs and 20 runs as was Waynesburg Central蘑菇视频 Lincoln Park who hit .527 and scored 18 runs.
The Coach of the Year is West Greene蘑菇视频 Lenny Lohr, who guided the Pioneers to their first ever outright section title and only their second playoff victory in program history.
Also worthy of consideration were Carmichaels鈥� Dickie Krause and Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 John Curtis whose Rockets played their 33rd playoff game in his 38th year as coach.
The complete GCM All-County Baseball Team follows:
Player of the Year: Drake Long, Sr., Carmichaels.
Coach of the Year: Lenny Lohr, West Greene
First Team
Nick Ricco, Sr., Carmichaels
Lincoln Pack, Jr., Waynesburg Central
Jacob Fordyce, Jr., Carmichaels
Cory Wise, Sr., West Greene
Hunter Hamilton, Sr., West Greene
Trenton Carter, Sr., Carmichaels
Dalton Lucey, Sr., West Greene
Landan Stevenson, Jr., Mapletown
Matt Ankrom, Sr., Waynesburg Central
Patrick Holaren, So., Jefferson-Morgan
Second Team
West Greene: Morgan Kiger, So.; Mapletown: Dan Fox, Fr., AJ Vanata, So. Jefferson-Morgan: Ethan Hanko, Sr.; Liam Ankrom, Sr. Carmichaels: Liam Lohr, So. Waynesburg Central: Alex Van Sickle, Fr.
Third Team
Jefferson-Morgan: Mason Sisler, So.; Brody Ross, Jr.; Brock Bayles, So. West Greene: Casey Miller, Sr. Waynesburg Central: Mason Switalki, Jr.
Honorable Mention
Jefferson-Morgan: Brenton Barnhart, Fr. Carmichaels: Chris Barrish, Sr.; West Greene: Johnny Lampe, So.; Kaden Shields, Jr.