As one of five inductees in this year’s class with a tie to the diamond sport, this year’s inductee was one of the finest area scholastic baseball players ever to lace up a pair of spikes.
Born November 30, 1969, he graduated from Ursuline High School in 1988, earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Cincinnati in 1992 and was drafted in the 43rd round of the 1992 MLB Amateur Draft by the Colorado Rockies.
A four-year letterwinner for the Fighting Irish, he was a two-time team “Most Valuable Player” honoree, two-time all-Steel Valley Conference selection and helped UHS to the 1988 OHSAA Class AA state championship.
That state championship season, he went 8-2 on the mound as he led UHS to a 29-5 overall mark, going 12-2 in the tough Steel Valley Conferenced where they finished as co-champions. He was the winning pitcher in their state semi-final game – he defeated Hebron Lakewood, 14-7, pitching all seven innings, scattering seven hits and allowing four earned runs while striking out seven opposing batters – while leading the team with a .494 batting average and 40 total hits.
He graduated as Ursuline’s leader in career wins and strikeouts and was inducted into the UHS Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.
He earned a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati where he was a four-year letterwinner (1989-92) for the Bearcats.
While at UC, he was a two-time team captain and as a senior was named to the all-Great Midwest Conference team.
At the time of his graduation, he ranked first all-time in Bearcat program history in complete games – he was tied with former Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants twirler, Bill Faul, each of whom completed 20 games in which they started – and was first and fourth in complete games in a season, finishing 11 contests his senior season to hold down the top spot by himself, closing eight starts as a junior the year before to tie for fourth with Bob Rechtin and Carmine Lemma.
His 101.2 innings pitched as a junior remain tied for third best for a single season, his eight wins his senior season tied for third while his 15 starts in 1991 remains tied for fifth all-time.
He was third all-time – he is now sixth – in program history in career wins (18) at the time of his graduation and ranked second all-time – he is now tied for third – in wins in a single season (9).
After he was drafted by the Rockies, his Minor League Baseball career included two seasons (1992 and 1993) with 42 total appearances for the Bend Rockies and Rockies-Cubs Rookie Class teams in 1992, and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the Rockies’ Class AAA affiliate and Class A Central Valley Rockies of the California League in 1993.
His Minor League composite line reads 42 total appearances, 82 innings pitched and a 3-4 overall mark with a 6.15 earned run average.
He returned to the area and served as a baseball coach for his alma mater from 1998-2015, helping them to the 2000 OHSAA state championship.
The Fighting Irish also won six regional championships, were state runners-up twice (2001 and 2006) and state semi-finalists on three other occasions (2003, 2007 and 2013) during his tenure with the program.
He is married to the former Dawn Gray and they are the proud parents of four children, daughters Sydney, Sabrina and Samantha, and son Ryan.
He has worked with Canfield Industries for the past 25 years and currently resides in Poland.
