YSU

YSU
Baseball
YOUNGSTOWN -- YSU senior Brent Parks and juniors Erich Diedrich, Lucas Engle and Josh Page have been selected as team captains for the 2007 baseball season.
Diedrich and Page were also captains last season while Parks and Engle are first-timers. Parks is one of only three seniors on the squad and the lone returning starter in the outfield.
Diedrich, a catcher and designated hitter, was the team's top hitter last season and one of only four players to play in every game. He posted team-high numbers in average (.357), home runs (9), RBIs (58), total bases (120), slugging percentage (.571) and on-base percentage (.448). He was one of two YSU players to earn first-team all-Horizon League recognition, and his 58 RBIs set the school record for RBIs in a season.
Page, an infielder, also played in every game last season and ranked second on the squad in average (.346) and stolen bases (eight). Batting leadoff for most of the season, he improved his average by 94 points from his freshman year and posted the sixth-most hits in a season in school history (74). Also a standout fielder, he committed only four errors in 262 chances. He started 53 games and appeared in all 55.
Parks, a native of Canfield, hit .287 last season in his first year as a full-time starter. At the plate he hit a team-high 20 doubles and drove in 36 runs, and he committed just one error in 94 chances in the outfield.
Engle, a right-hander, emerged as YSU's workhorse last season, setting the single-season record for innings pitched with 99 and tying the mark for starts with 14. He went 4-4 with a 4.36 ERA as the No. 1 starter in the weekend rotation.
LOCAL
Trumbull HOF
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Sports Hall of Fame will hold its induction ceremony on Nov. 5 at the Golden Gate restaurant.
Inductees are Dave Arnold, Warren, football; Frank Bellino, Liberty, golf; Dave Blaney, Hartford, NASCAR racing driver; Frank Bubba, Warren, Basketball coach; John Delserone, Girard, football coach; Russ Hake, Girard, football; Tony Mason, Niles, football coach; Diane Rappach, Vienna, basketball; Ted Rupe, Maplewood, cross country and track; Mel Staats, Labrae, contribution to sports; Ralph Stringer, LaBrae, football; Lou West, Niles, football and Gene Zorn, Newton Falls, basketball coach.
Tisha Hill, women's basketball coach at YSU, will be the guest speaker for the event.
Tickets are $20. Corporate tables are $140. Call (330) 540-2733 or (330) 637-6910.
Springfield HOF
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Springfield High inducted several athletes into its Hall of Fame. They are Richard Bloomingdale, Danielle Carson, Richard Goist, John Kennedy, Joe Molasky, Dave Ohlin, Frank Parks, Armand Riesen, Elizabeth Sedlar, Dick Smith, John Sznejkart, Ron Sonadecker, the 1930 state runner-up baseball team and the 1938 six-man football team.
Springfield coaches Leigh Klingensmith, John DiRenzo, Susan Latess and Frank Persic; Harry Myers, athlete-coach; Marian Cyrus, contributor and Earl Gallatin, athlete-contributor, were also inducted at a banquet last Friday at St. Paul's banquet hall.
Drag racing
THOMPSON -- Newton Falls' Dave Maynard of the P.A.S. racing team won the Gasser Magazine National drag race event at the Thompson Race-Way Park.
REGION
Prosecutors dropDroughns case
DENVER -- A domestic violence case against Cleveland Browns running back Reuben Droughns was dropped Wednesday as prosecutors cited a lack of evidence.
Defense attorney Harvey Steinberg said prosecutors apparently concluded their case was too weak. Kathleen Walsh, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, in a statement said the case was dropped out of concern "about doing justice when there is not sufficient evidence to proceed."
Droughns, who played for the Denver Broncos until a 2005 trade, had been arrested for investigation of third-degree assault and harassment after a May 12 incident at his suburban Denver home.
An arrest report said Droughns and his wife, Kellie, had been arguing when he threw her to the ground and then on the bed, and she told him she wanted a divorce.
He then carried her on his shoulders to the front door, threw her outside and locked the door, the report said. He eventually let her back in but left the house with her wedding ring, her credit cards and cash, the report said.
Kellie Droughns' name is redacted in the report but she has been publicly identified as Droughns' wife.
Droughns had been free on $2,500 bond.
"It's a big weight off my shoulders -- getting it out of the picture and being able to just think about football," Droughns told The Associated Press in Cleveland.
Droughns had faced six to 18 months in jail if convicted of assault and up to six months in jail if convicted of harassment.
In May, an Ohio jury acquitted Droughns of drunken driving charges stemming from a Nov. 1 traffic stop in Medina in northeast Ohio.
Last season, Droughns rushed for 1,232 yards. Slowed by a shoulder injury this season, he has rushed for 257 yards on 80 carries.
Former Cavalierfinally arrested
CLEVELAND -- Former Cavaliers star Bobby "Bingo" Smith was arrested on a year-old felony warrant accusing him of owing $15,000 in child support for his 11-year-old daughter.
Smith was arrested Tuesday at an apartment in Cleveland where U.S. marshals were looking for another wanted person, U.S. Marshal Pete Elliot said. Smith also had misdemeanor warrants for contempt of court in Fairlawn and Cuyahoga Heights.
Smith, 60, will be arraigned Friday.
Smith was being held Wednesday at the Summit County jail. He does not have a defense attorney listed.
He played for the Cavaliers for 10 years beginning with their inception in 1970. The team retired his jersey in 1979.
Vindicator staff/wire reports