Valley natives picked in draft

By Joe Scalzo

Boardman’s Chris Tremblay and South Range’s Greg Rohan were selected.

On Wednesday afternoon, inside his parents’ house in North Lima, Kent State senior Greg Rohan was sitting on the couch watching “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” when his father, George, looked up from the computer and yelled, “Well, I guess we’re Cubs fans now.”

Within minutes, Rohan’s cell phone lit up.

“Crazy, crazy, crazy day,” said Rohan, a South Range High graduate who was selected by the Cubs in the 21st round of the Major League Baseball draft. “I mean, I can’t really put it into words.

“From the time you’re small, when you first find out you’re playing little league, all you want to do is get drafted and play in the pros someday.”

Rohan (6-foot, 205 pounds), who is the first South Range graduate to be drafted, was the 2008 Mid-American Conference player of the year and was named to the Louisville Slugger All-America team after hitting 20 home runs — the second-highest total in Kent State history. The first baseman started 59 games this spring for the Flashes, batting .349 with 15 homers with a .609 slugging percentage.

“I knew I was facing a ‘Y’ in the road,” said Rohan. “Either I was going to get drafted or I was going to go get a job. It was really nerve-wracking and my mom and dad realized I was just not going to be a nice person today.

“Once I got picked, it was like a huge weight was lifted off. To get that phone call, all I could think was, ‘Thank God.’ I’ve been dreaming about this and I’m ready to go.”

An hour earlier, Rohan’s college teammate, Chris Tremblay, was at his family’s house in Pittsburgh monitoring the draft on his computer when he saw his name pop up in the 19th round as a pick of the San Diego Padres.

“Pretty surreal,” said Tremblay, a Boardman High graduate. “I’m just looking forward to showing what I can do.

“This is the first step to what you dream about, playing in the big leagues.”

Tremblay, who spent just one year at Boardman, is the first Spartan to get drafted since Matt Repec was chosen in 27th round of the 2006 draft by the Colorado Rockies. The infielder batted .347 in 58 games with two homers this spring at Kent.

“I was honestly pretty nervous,” he said. “I had heard a lot of things about the draft last year and I didn’t get picked, then I heard some of those same things this year.

“So that [last year] was in the back of my mind, but I’m really excited and happy that it happened this way.”

Tremblay’s father, Pierre, is a Montreal native and spent time in the Detroit Red Wings’ organization. Chris was born in Montreal before moving to the U.S. as a toddler. Although he was only in Youngstown briefly, he often played baseball here when he was younger and still has a lot of friends in Boardman.

“They gave me a home up there my senior year, so I want to say thanks to anyone who’s given me support,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to showing what I can do.”

scalzo@vindy.com