Jeff Hehr leads EMU baseball

Jeff Hehr of Boardman, a 2004 Mooney High graduate, is helping the Eastern Michigan University baseball team make a strong challenge for the Mid-American Conference championship.

Hehr, a junior in his third season as the starting shortstop, led the team in home runs (8), RBIs (35) and runs scored, to help the Eagles to a 30-22 regular-season record, including 21-4 in MAC, which gave them the West Division championship.

EMU is the No. 1 seed and the host school for the MAC Tournament which began Wednesday at Oestrike Stadium.

In the Eagles’ tournament opener Wednesday, Hehr hit a two-run homer to help EMU beat Toledo, 6-5, for their first MAC meet win since 2004, to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal game against Central Michigan.

The son of Don and Marna Hehr, Hehr entered the MAC tourney with a .299 batting average (50-for-167) with seven doubles and one triple.

Hehr also is selected
to all-academic team

Hehr also is an academic standout as an accounting major with a 3.93 grade-point average that earned him a berth on the 2007 ESPN⁄CoSIDA Academic all-district first team. He had the third-highest GPA on the first team.

Last year, Hehr made the All-MAC academic team and was named the EMU team’s scholar-athlete of the year with a 3.94 GPA.

Hehr got off to a strong start at EMU. In his freshman year, he batted .301 with 56 hits, two homers, 26 RBIs and 29 runs scored.

Then last year, he led the team in stolen bases with 16-for-17 while batting .240 with 44 hits, four homers and 27 runs scored.

Also with the Eastern Michigan team is Kevin Sikora, a freshman right-hander from Boardman who was 3-0 in 11 regular-season appearances, with a 2.82 ERA and two saves over 221⁄3 innings.

Ashland’s Rowland
All-GLIAC selection

Tyson Rowland of Warren, in his second year as the starting center fielder for the Ashland University baseball team, leads the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association in runs scored and was selected to the All-GLIAC second team.

Rowland, a sophomore and a graduate of Warren Harding, scored 70 runs while batting .343 (70-for-204) with 29 RBIs and 10 doubles.

Rowland helped Ashland to a 38-19 record, including 27-5 in the GLIAC for the league’s regular-season championship and No. 17 ranking in the NCAA Division II national rankings.

In the GLIAC meet, Ashland placed second to Grand Valley State but qualified to the Div. II North Central regional tournament in Akron, where the Eagles were eliminated.

Five area football
players academic picks

Five area college football players made the 2006 GLIAC Football all-academic team, including three players from Mercyhurst College — senior Dan Schuler (Springfield) junior Mitch Phillis (United) and redshirt freshman Bryan Boyce (Hubbard).

The other selections were redshirt freshman Frank Cardon (Fitch) of Ashland and junior Adam Snyder (Warren JFK) of Findlay.

Schuler is majoring in mathematics, Phillis in education, Cardon in Sports management and Snyder in health sciences with a 3.45 GPA. Boyce is an undeclared major.

Ashland’s Miller wins
100 dash in GLIAC meet

In women’s track at Ashland, senior Amber Miller (Ursuline) won the 100-meter dash in 14.33 seconds at the GLIAC outdoor track and field championships, to help the Eagles take runner-up honors. Ashland had 144 points behind Grand Valley State (249) in the 10-school meet.

Mount Union’s Prince
is All-OAC selection

Carissa Prince, a senior shortstop for the Mount Union College softball team from Lakeview High, was selected as an honorable mention to the All-OAC academic softball team.

Prince, a history major, led Mount Union in triples this year with five while ranking fourth on the team in batting average with .327.

Prince helped the Purple Raiders to a 26-10 record and to their 15th season with 20-plus wins.

XJohn Kovach covers local colleges for The Vindicator. Write to him at kovach@vindy.com.