Toledo Gold Hawks seeking third title in four years
The Toledo Gold Hawks wood bat summer college baseball team will get a chance to win its third National Amateur Baseball Federation College World Series title in four years.

For the seventh time in eight years, the 27th annual CWS presented by Buckeye Cable Sports Network will be played in Toledo.

Playing for the Gold Hawks include 6-foot-2, 190 pound Drew Kuns (Clay/Bowling Green), the MVP of last year’s CWS.

The 2010 NABF College World Series MVP, first baseman Drew Kuns (Clay/ Bowling Green) is returning for this year's event. (Press photo by Scott Grau)

Also qualifying for the CWS is the Toledo Black Hawks, a sister team, with local players including 6-1, 230 Ryan Hotmer (Lake/Owens CC) and 6-0, 165 Oregon resident Jake Rightnowar (Toledo Christian/Trine).

The Gold was winning the Toledo Amateur Baseball Federation League with a 7-0 record and also was first in the Tri-State Baseball League with a 19-6 record, three games ahead of the second place Pittsburgh Pandas. The Black is 6-1 in the Fed league and 12-13 in the Tri-State, good enough for sixth place in the 10-team conference.

The Gold Hawks were previously known as the Ohio Monarchs Gold when it won titles in 2010 and 2008.

In 2010, Kuns batted .509 overall and had four hits and four RBI in the championship game to help the Gold win its second NABF College World Series title in three years.

That summer marked Kuns' first season with the Monarchs, who beat the Alton Indians (St. Louis, Missouri) 13-5 for the NABF championship at Ned Skeldon Stadium.

“It's sweet,” said Kuns, then a sophomore at BGSU. “It felt good just to go out there and win in my first year. There were like three other new kids on the team. They added us and we went out there and won a championship. We had a great team.”

The Monarchs finished with a 41-9 record that season. They also defended their Tri-State title and won the Fed title for the third straight year.

“When you have a group of kids like this who come from winning programs and who have great high school coaches, it makes it easy for me,” Gold manager Ed Mouch said. “The group in general, it's just a loose group and they have fun. They knew we had the capability of scoring runs.”

Left fielder Casey Winckowski, a Clay grad who had played for the Monarchs for three years, batted .500 and was named to the all-tournament team along with Kuns and teammate Ricky Lizcano from Start. Winckowski was a junior at Erskine College in South Carolina.

“If you really had to pick a leader off this team, Casey was the leader,” Mouch said. “Anytime he has an opportunity to come up with a big hit, nine times out of 10 he's going to do it.”

Summer college baseball teams typically consist of varsity NCAA, NAIA, or NJCAA players who find teams to play for during the months of June, July, and August. The NCAA allows up to four players from any D-I or D-II school to play for a single summer team.

The NABF, a member of USA Baseball, is headquartered in Crofton, Maryland and its long time executive director, Charlie Blackburn, has a booth reserved annually at the Major League All-Star Game. The NABF is America’s oldest continuing amateur baseball association, founded in 1914.

This year’s 22-and-under College World Series will be held August 4-7 at various greater Toledo locations including Ned Skeldon Stadium, Owens Community College, Rich Arbinger Field at Bowman Park, and St. Francis de Sales High School. The championship is scheduled for 1 p.m. on August 7 at Fifth Third Field.

The City of Toledo’s Division of Recreation, is hosting this national showcase, which will feature 16 teams from Missouri to New York. There will be 31 nine-inning wood bat games with many games internet broadcast on WRSCradio.com or televised on BCSN.

Two days of pool play will take place on Thursday and Friday. Games will be played at all four facilities at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 4 p.m. those two days. Players will compete in a home run derby, scheduled for 7:45 p.m. on Thursday night at Skeldon Stadium. Quarterfinal play begins on Saturday and the semifinals will be played later that night at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Skeldon.

Daily admission passes are $5 and a tournament pass is $15, but there will be no admission charge for the championship game downtown.

At all sites, batboys are needed (ages 10-16), providing a chance for local youth to sit in the dugout with the college players during the tournament. In addition, fly ball shaggers are needed for the home run derby at Skeldon Stadium Thursday night at 7:45 (arrive by 7 p.m.). Batboys and home run derby shaggers may wear their little league uniforms and get admitted free. Contact Aaron Myers at 419-936-3881 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Shawn Sobel at 419-936-3887 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Gift of Life at Hen’s game
The current Toledo Mud Hens home stand continues on August 1 (Syracuse, first pitch at 7 p.m., gates open at 6 p.m.). Fans can stop by the fourth floor of the Hen’s office from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. to give the gift of life at the Mud Hens Blood Drive.

Come game time, the Hens will be celebrating the legacy of Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first African-American baseball player in the history of the Major Leagues, by giving away a bobble head of Walker to the first 1,000 fans through the gates.  On August 2, the Hens battle the Chiefs in a special noon start time. Gates open at 11 a.m. Both contests between the Hens and the Chiefs can be seen live on BCSN.

Sports Announcements
Oak Harbor Middle School volleyball mandatory tryouts for girls entering grades 7 and 8 will be held August 4-5 from 4-6 p.m.  Tryouts will be held at Oak Harbor High School in the auxiliary gym. All girls must have a physical prior to tryouts. Call Brittany Slauterbeck at 419-410-3167 or Megan Bodnar at 419-356-6199.

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Eastwood boys’ basketball will hold its First Annual Golf Scramble August 27 at Crosswinds Golf Course. Cost is $50 per player and $200 per team. Shotgun start at 8 a.m. To register forms are available at the board of education building or visit www.eastwoodschools.org and click on activities/athletics/high school and then registration link. Call 419-779-1990.

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