By Cort Reynolds

ADA __Two Ada High School baseball players received All-Blanchard Valley Conference honors in voting recently conducted by the league coaches.

Bulldog junior shortstop/pitcher Wes Mowery earned honorable mention all-league notice. Mowery led the team with a .377 batting average. He collected 23 hits, five doubles and 14 runs batted in. He also stole nine bases and struck out 26 batters in 24 innings pitching.

Versatile Ada freshman pitcher/catcher/shortstop Robert Shanks received honorable mention all-conference status. Shanks hit .370 with 18 RBI and 18 runs. 

On the mound, Shanks also won three games with a 2.69 earned run average. He struck out 25 batters in 39 innings.

Liberty-Benton’s Kooper Leatherman was voted BVC Player of the Year. Eagle mentor Matt Rader was named BVC Coach of the Year by his peers.

Ada finished 3-7 in the BVC, good for eighth place in the 11-team league. The Bulldogs ended up with a 9-16 overall record.

Liberty-Benton won the BVC baseball crown with a 10-0 record. Leipsic took second at 8-2. Van Buren, Elmwood and McComb all tied for third at 7-3.

Arcadia finished 6-4, followed by Riverdale (4-6) and Ada. Pandora-Gilboa tied Arlington for ninth at 2-8. Vanlue came in last at 0-10.

All-BVC Baseball All-League Awards: 

1st Team 

Pitchers 

John Dewar – LEIP 

Jackson Knepper – LB 

Kooper Leatherman – LB 

Brayden Gilts – VB 

Infielders 

Marshall Taft – ELM 

Zach Elchert  - LB

LB Will Rampe – VB 

Kahle Drown - MC 

Outfielders 

Reid Irwin – LB 

Luke Kern - MC 

Ryken Zeigler - ELM 

Avery Paris - LEIP 

Catchers 

Grady Schroeder - MC 

Brady Lance - VB 

All-BVC 2nd team:

Isaac Stoner - ARC 

Adam Abke - ELM 

Zach Schafer - ELM 

Colin Niese - LEIP 

Aaron Hazelton - LEIP 

Connor Barbara - LB 

Isaac Schworm - LB 

Brayden Welty - MC 

Nolan Leatherman - PG 

Grady Phelps - RIV 

BVC Coach of the Year: Matt Rader – Liberty-Benton 

BVC Player of the Year: Kooper Leatherman – Liberty-Benton 

BVC Honorable Mention: 

Ada – Wes Mowery, Robert Shanks 

Arcadia – Colin Nusser, Blayne Colman 

Arlington – Hunter George, Zander Collins 

Elmwood – Carter Goetz, Karson Hammer 

Liberty-Benton – Taden Troyer, Grady Latta 

Leipsic – Myles Camareno, Mill Paniagua 

McComb – Grant Schaublin, Cameron Smith 

Pandora-Gilboa – Grady Kempf, Denton Leatherman 

Riverdale – Jackson Armrose, Carter Vent 

Van Buren – Finn Martin, Alex Homan 

Vanlue – Tobias Reed, Brady Hamilton