News Releases

Owens Express Baseball Opens Home Season Against Ashland University JVs, March 14

PERRYSBURG TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Owens Community College men’s baseball will open its 2012 home season against Ashland University JVs on Wednesday, March 14. The game will begin at 3 p.m.

All home games will be played at the College’s Baseball Complex on the Toledo-area Campus. Owens is located on Oregon Road in Perrysburg Township. Admission to all home games is free.

Owens men’s baseball program finished the 2011 season with a 25-13 overall record and in second place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (9-5 record). The Express lost to Vincennes University in the NJCAA Sub-Region XII Baseball Championships.

Early in the 2012 season, Owens has a compiled a 0-6 overall record following games played in North Carolina and South Carolina. The Owens baseball program is led by Head Coach Del Young. His Assistant Coaches are John Parisho and Scott Tesluck.

“I am very optimistic about the season,” said Young. “We have a great group of veteran returners from last year’s team and a very talented incoming class of first-year student-athletes. Our strengths will be putting the ball in play as well as being aggressive on the base paths. We also have depth on the mound, both in our starting and relief pitchers. Our schedule will be challenging as we face some of the best teams in the country. However, that does change our expectations of competing for a conference title.”

The Express has 10 players returning from last year’s team, including Joe Sickler of Bowling Green (Bowling Green H.S.), Ryan Hotmer of Walbridge (Lake H.S.) and Zak Esposito of Sandusky (Sandusky H.S.).

In 2011, Sickler, a sophomore infielder, earned First Team OCCAC All-Conference and NJCAA All-Region XII honors and was named the recipient of the team’s Co-Outstanding Offensive Award. He collected 33 hits and 20 RBIs and compiled a .377 batting average. Hotmer, a sophomore first baseman and pitcher, collected 33 hits, three home runs and compiled a .379 batting average. On the mound, he posted a 2-0 record with a 1.98 earned run average. Hotmer also was named First Team OCCAC All-Conference. Esposito is a sophomore pitcher and was named the recipient of the team’s Outstanding Pitching Award. In 2011, he posted a 3-1 record with a 5.67 earned run average.

Owens baseball also returns Jeff Davis of Toledo (St. Francis de Sales H.S.), Andrew Joseph of Sylvania (Sylvania Southview H.S.) and Jordan Basinger of Kalida (Kalida H.S.). Davis, a sophomore pitcher, went 1-1 with a 2.75 earned run average last season. In 2011, Joseph, a sophomore pitcher, posted a 4-2 record and a 4.18 earned run average. Basinger is a sophomore pitcher and went 4-2 with a 5.64 earned run average last year for Owens.

In addition, Express returning players include Michael Louis of Parma, outfield/catcher (Normandy H.S.); Daniel Heatherly of Trenton, Mich., infield/pitcher (Trenton H.S.); James Moore Jr. of Farmington Hills, Mich., infield (Southfield-Lathrup H.S.), and Travis Tackett of Vevay, Ind., catcher/first base (Switzerland County H.S.).

First-year players to the Express men’s baseball program are Logan Shullick of Norwalk, infield/outfield (Norwalk H.S.); Ryan Horvath of Madison Heights, Mich., infield (Lamphere H.S.); Nate Manis of Port Huron, Mich., infield/outfield (Port Huron Northern H.S.); Trevor Ozenbaugh of Elwood, Ind., outfield/pitcher (Elwood H.S.); Nick Collins of Chicago, Ill., infield (Rich Central H.S.); Justin Elder of Trenton, outfield (Edgewood H.S.); Dane Davis of Romeo, Mich., pitcher (Romeo H.S.); Jesse Castilleja of Oregon, pitcher (Clay H.S.); Austin Legate of Strongsville, catcher/third base (Strongsville H.S.); Alex Juday of Elwood, Ind., pitcher (Elwood H.S.); Adam Jones of Columbus, Ind., pitcher (Columbus North H.S.); Clayton Ruch of Pemberville, pitcher/outfield (Eastwood H.S.); Sean Koerber of Harper Woods, Mich., pitcher (Grosse Pointe North H.S.); Myles Debol of Saline, Mich., pitcher/infield (Saline H.S.); Chris Ward of Brunswick, pitcher (Brunswick H.S.); Aaron Peoples of Perth, Australia, pitcher (John Septimus Roe Anglican C.S.); Garrett Scott of Genoa, pitcher (Genoa H.S.), and Jose Leal of Fremont, pitcher/outfield (Clyde H.S.).

Owens Community College is an accredited two-year, state-assisted institution of higher education that has served Northwest Ohio since 1965. With a commitment to providing small classes, personal attention and unmatched affordability, the College serves the diverse academic needs of credit and non-credit students on the Toledo-area and Findlay-area campuses, as well as at the Arrowhead Park Learning Center in Maumee and the Learning Center at The Source in downtown Toledo. Owens offers associate degrees that transfer to baccalaureate degrees in the Arts and Sciences and over 130 technical program areas in Agriculture, Business, Health Sciences, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Skilled Trades, and Engineering and Transportation Technologies. Owens students also can earn the first two years of a bachelor’s degree with a smooth transfer to any area four-year college or university. For more information, visit www.owens.edu.