Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Oak Harbor’s Brayden Butzin, who hit .491 and drove in 32 runs while scoring 25 times, has been named the offensive player of the year in the All-Press Team.
A senior who is signed with Wittenberg University, the catcher was also named the offensive player of the year in the Northern Buckeye Conference.
Eastwood first baseman Drew Kachmarik earned First Team All-Press honors after also hitting over .400, finishing with a batting average of .414. He also drove in 30 runs and has signed to continue his career at Defiance College.
Joining Butzin on the First Team All-Press Team at catcher is Lake’s Gavin Kohlhofer, who hit .403 and drove in 23 runs.
Other players who hit at least .400 include Lake shortstop Drew Tajblik (.476, 10 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 35 RBI), Eastwood outfielder Kadyn Donnell (.400, 9 2B, 2 3B, 25 RBI, 33 R, 14 SB), and three other outfielders - Gibsonburg's Grant Dawson (.420, 3 2B, 6 3B, 23 RBI, 29 R), Oak Harbor's Cooper Schultz (.435, 5 2B, 1 3B, 11 RBI, 38 R) and Lake's Korbin Adkins (.410, 5 2B, 21 RBI).
Tajblik was also magnificent this season on the mound, going 10-2 with a 1.63 ERA, two saves, and 90 strikeouts in 60 innings of work, earning him All-Press Pitcher of the Year recognition.
The Press Coach of the Year is Oak Harbor’s Nick Lance, who has had a great deal of success with the Rockets, both as a head coach, and before that as an assistant.
"It’s always an honor to be recognized for awards such as this by fellow coaches, but truly this recognition is a product of the kids and families and what they put into this team and program," he said. "We had an amazing group of seniors who led by example and knew how to win.
“Most of them were football players and took that same success and brought it to the baseball field. The kids bought into what the staff was selling during the winter workouts and it paid off throughout the season."
The Rockets earned a share of the Northern Buckeye Conference title along with Lake and Eastwood at 11-3. They saw their season end with a 4-3 loss to eventual state semifinalist Coldwater in a Division V district semifinal.
Lance had high praise for his assistant coaches in A.J. Cecil, Kyle Haas and Brian Schultz.
"Cecil does an amazing job with the pitching staff. He brings a lot of knowledge from his college days at Findlay, and has a tremendous amount of respect from our players and staff," Lance said. "Kyle Haas is our infield guy, and he's helped to change our infield culture. He sacrifices a lot for the program.
“Because of his efforts, we only made 19 errors this season, including outfield play. Brian Schultz does a great job with the outfield. He's one step ahead most times and makes adjustments with our outfielders to help them get into the right position at the right time.
