JOHN KOVACH | Colleges Hiram's Joe Marzano to see the world

HIRAM -- Joe Marzano of Youngstown is getting an opportunity to become a baseball ambassador for the United States to The Netherlands this summer.
Marzano, a senior outfielder for the Hiram College baseball team from Cardinal Mooney High, has been selected to the USA Athletes International baseball team for a 10-day good-will tour to Apeldoorn, Netherlands, to compete in an international tournament.
He will be joined by 15 other U.S. players on the team that will compete against baseball squads from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Netherlands and Russia.
Players must have a blend of outstanding baseball ability and character to be offered an invitation to represent the U.S. on the tour.
"Whoever recommended me must have thought highly of me," said Marzano, one of 11 area players on the Hiram team, who last season made the All-North Coast Athletic Conference first team and the NCAA Division III All-Mid-East Region second team.
This year, he leads the team in hits (17-for-48) in 14 games (8-6 record), shares the lead in runs batted in (13) and ranks No. 3 in batting average (.354). He also has scored 10 runs and has two homers.
"My coach [Howard Jenter] got a letter from the [USA] organization and he gave it to me," Marzano said.
"I called them and found out more information, and I decided I wanted to join the team," Marzano said. "It is just a good opportunity to go play overseas to showcase your talent and to compete over there."
Has to raise funds
But Marzano, the son of Janet and Nick Marzano, still has to come up with a portion of the money needed for the team's expenses during the trip, and toward that end will hold a fund-raising spaghetti dinner on April 22 from 4-7 p.m. at St. Matthias School.
Marzano is a graduate of St. Matthias School (1994) and Cardinal Mooney (1998), who transferred to Hiram from Youngstown State.
The dinner, which costs $6 per person, is being sponsored by Marzano's friends and family, and is being catered by Carolyn Yurak. All proceeds will be donated to USA Athletes International.
Marzano will leave from Pittsburgh on July 4 to meet the rest of the USA team in New York, from where they will depart for the Netherlands to stay from July 5-13, returning home July 14.
"I think we have one or two practices there," Marzano said. "We play a regular schedule the first 5-6 days and then get into the medal round which is the tournament."
Heard good things
Marzano said he has heard good things about the international baseball tour.
"I talked to one kid on [Hiram's recent] Florida trip and he said his friend played and thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime," Marzano said. "He said there are scouts there and you can hook up with European teams. They are always interested in Americans to come there and play. It's an opportunity. [The European countries] all have leagues."
But overall, "It will be a learning experience for me and it should be fun," Marzano said.
Marzano said that if he is offered a contract to play European baseball for the rest of the summer, he might accept it even though it would mean leaving his Bud's Pub and Sub team in the Youngstown Class AA League.
Marzano will be in his third year as the general manager and coach of Bud's, which before last year was known as Pal Joey's; and his sixth year overall in the Class AA League. He started when he was 19.
But if he elects to stay in Europe, he said Mike Mascola will replace him running the team.
Likes being GM-coach
Marzano said he likes heading a sandlot team, "just so I can get kids in college to play ball."
He expects five members of the Hiram team -- Dante DeLiso (Mooney), Hoagie Walley (South Range), Shaun Hall (Struthers), Matt Ruby (Jackson-Milton) and student-coach Dom Yazbek (Chaney), a former Hiram player, to play with Bud's this summer.
"I usually get about 5-6 guys from Hiram and 2-3 from Thiel and some [others from] area colleges or guys that have graduated that want to go on and play," said Marzano, who would like to continue playing baseball after college as a professional or amateur because he loves the game.
He has a 3.0 GPA in communications and is planning to graduate in December.
kovach@vindy.com