Warren native awarded Academic All-American Honors

LOCAL
Boardmanhosts tourney
BOARDMAN -- Boardman Community Baseball is hosting this weekend's Pony 13 Regional Tournament at the Fields of Dreams on McClurg Road.
Teams from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland are competing to earn the right to represent the region in the Pony World Series at the end of July in Chino Hills, Calif.
Area teams participating are Boardman Pony All Stars and Mill Creek All Stars. Boardman recently won the Chuck Schafer Scholarship tournament, outscoring their opponents 41-21. Visiting include Butler Township (Pa.), Washington (Pa.), Hagerstown (Md.) and Vesta (Pa.).
In Friday's action, Trevor Jones hit a home run in a losing cause as Mill Creek lost to Butler, 8-1. The Boardman-Vest game was suspended because of darkness with Boardman leading 9-5. The game resumes this morning at 9:30.
Camon Tarantino hit a three-run home run to give Boardman a 6-5 lead in the fifth inning.
Jeff Tarley hit a home run for Vesta in the first inning.
Ohio State'sKing honored
WARREN -- Nate King, a senior on the Ohio State swim team and a 2003 graduate of Warren G. Harding, has been awarded Academic All-American Honors.
King is a construction systems management major.
"The College Swimming Coaches Association annually presents this honor to those who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 and above and have qualified for the NCAA championships," said Bill Wadley, OSU swimming coach
King will be competing at the World Trials from Aug. 1-5 in Irvine, Calif. He already has qualified in three events for the Olympic trials to compete at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. His events are 200-meter backstroke (2:04.24), the 200-meter individual medley (2:06.73) and 100-meter backstroke (56.96).
Mack Tournamentready to begin
STRUTHERS -- Six baseball teams from Youngstown Class B league are among the 34 that will compete as the 44th annual Ohio State Connie Mack (18-younger) tournament begins today.
Games will be play at all three fields at Cene Park plus Boardman High School. Seven teams will advance to the Regional Tournament in Cincinnati.
The local teams are Class B champions R & amp;J Trucking, league runner-up Astro Falcons, Rondinelli Tuxedo, Livi Steel, Wharmby Sports and Mink Financial.
During Friday's kickoff dinner, these awards were presented:
Pro Scout of the Year -- Don Fontanna (Milwaukee Brewers). Umpire of the Year -- Tom Byers
High School Coach of the Year -- Brian Kiser (Windham)
College Coach of the Year -- Joe Spano (Mercyhurst)
Class B ERA Title -- Tom Popadak (Wharmby Sports)
Class B Batting Title -- Ed Rohan (R & amp;J Trucking)
Class B Man of the Year -- Greg Krieger. Following today's 7 p.m. games, fireworks will be shot over Cene Field 1.
Round two of the double-elimination tournament will be played Sunday.
REGION
Penguins hire assistant GM
PITTSBURGH -- Chuck Fletcher, a former executive with the Florida Panthers and Anaheim Ducks, has been hired as the Pittsburgh Penguins' assistant general manager.
Eddie Johnston, a former Penguins coach and general manager who previously served as former GM Craig Patrick's assistant, will stay with the club as a senior adviser for hockey operations.
Fletcher, 39, was a Panthers assistant general manager for seven-plus seasons. He held the same role with the Ducks starting in 2004 after previously being the club's director of hockey operations.
Fletcher's duties will include scouting, player development and contract negotiations. He also will be involved with the Penguins' top farm club, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Pirates reinstate Santos, demote Bayliss
PITTSBURGH -- Right-hander Victor Santos was reinstated from the disabled list Friday by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who optioned reliever Jonah Bayliss to Triple-A Indianapolis. Santos, a starter for the first 21/2 months of the season, has been out since June 18 with a strained right rotator cuff. He is 4-7 with a 4.83 ERA in 15 games, all but one of them starts.
Vindicator staff/wire reports