As the snow continues to melt and we have actually seen the sun in Pittsburgh, there are at least two signs that spring is just around the corner. First, March 8 is the first official day of high school baseball practice (don't bother looking in the Post-Gazette or Trib about it). The second sign is that registration information for the 2011 West Penn Baseball Prospects/WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association Showcase is now available on this website under both "WBCA All-Stars" and "Downloadable Forms". Registration does not officially begin until April 1, but you can download the form and information now and be ready to go when registration opens.

Hard to imagine with this snow on the ground, but many colleges have opened up their college seasons and a quick spin around the early results from some Division 1 schools shows some local names off to good starts. Matt Pierpont (Canon McMillan) now at Winthrop is 6 for 9 with a HR. Teammate Max Vogel (Hopewell) hit a HR in his first college AB and is 2 for 3 with a HR. Brett Stackhouse (Chartiers Valley) has his first start of the season under his belt at Gardner-Webb and pitched 5 2/3 innings for a no decision. Scott McGough (Plum) is getting good reviews as a reliever for the Oregon Ducks. Scott is 1-0 with 5 2/3 IP and a 0.00 ERA. Pitt's Joe Leonard (Connellsville) is 8 for 16 with a HR and 11 RBI. Baseball America lists Brian Billigen (Canevin) of Cornell as one of the top five Ivy League prospects for the 2010 baseball draft. Harry Austin (North Allegheny) is off to a good start for Elon going 5 for 13. Similar numbers are put up by Jim Rider (Peters Township) of Kent State, going 5 for 14 in the early going. Cory Mazzoni (Seneca Vallley) made an early start for North Carolina State and notched a win while striking out 7 in 5 innnings. Tarran Senay (South Park), also at North Carolina State has a HR and 8 RBI while going 4 for 8. Chris Murphy (Fox Chapel) is 4 for 8 for Southern Illinois. Kyle Helisek (Seneca Valley) made an early season start for Villanova and struck out 7 while allowing no earned runs in a 5 inning stint. Finally, Mike Devine (Springdale) of VMI earned a save while fanning 2 in a one inning relief appearance.

With the start of high school baseball practice right around the corner, we welcome 15 new coaches into the WPIAL. Let me know at wpabaseball@hotmail.com if I've missed anyone one. Good luck to all the new coaches who are listed below.

Class A

Brady Yevins, Chartiers Houston; Lou Pasquale, Geibel; Bart Donley, Mapletown; Mike Jamison, Sewickley Academy; Jamie Howell,Springdale

Class AA

Jon Pedrosky, Deer Lakes; Jeff Fotia, Ellwood City; Tom O'Connor, Quaker Valley; John Skender, Sto-Rox

Class AAA

Matt Torrance, Hampton; Ray Olszewski, Highlands; Tim Kamnikar, McGuffey

Class AAAA

Steve Bucci, Bethel Park; Joe Bonadio, Connellsville; Brian Junker, Shaler

I'm starting to get emails from people asking about this year's junior showcase. The Showcase will be held on June 12 at Burkett Field in Robinson Township. Registration opens on April1. Showcase forms and an information sheet will be posted on the website on or about March 15. The cost to participate in this year's showcase is $60 if your coach belongs to the WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association and $75 if he does not. We have had to turn players away every year so if you are interested in participating you should get your registration in as quickly as possible (April 1 or after). About 80 colleges were represented at last year's event.

From time to time, I am made aware of new baseball products. West Penn Baseball does not endorse or test these products, but we will pass along information on products we are made award of that you might be interested in. A local guy by the name of Ken DiBucci, who once played baseball for Pitt, has developed a new product called “The Deucemaster”.  The Deucemaster is a training tool that was developed primarily to help high school pitchers of all levels master the 12-6 curveball. DiBucci unveiled his product at the Pennsylvania Coaches Baseball Clinic in January and received positive feedback from a number of coaches. West Penn Baseball Prospects does not endorse products, but if you’re interested check it out at www.deucemaster.com.

Baseball season is slowly sneaking up on us. With the season around the corner, I wanted to remind everyone about the importance of putting together a video that can be seen by college coaches. It is a great way to get exposure in advance of the showcase season. With the limited budgets of most baseball programs, it is also a great tool for college coaches as both the cost factor and overlapping schedules makes it difficult for them to get to see as many players as they would like.

The video should be short (a couple of minutes is fine) and they certainly don't need to be fancy. There are some helpful hints on our website about making your own video. If you would rather have it done by someone else there are three alternatives you could consider. Dan Alderson, the former head baseball coach at Chartiers-Houston, makes player videos. He can be reached at dan.alderson@chartiers-houstonsd.com. Two other good alternatives are to have the videos made at either the All-American Baseball Center in Trafford or at the Bianco School of Baseball. For both All-American and Bianco, you do not need to be taking lessons in order to have a video made. All three alternatives listed know what they're doing in making the videos and will do a good job for you.

Once the video is made you can have it placed on our website for free. College coaches regularly check our videos and it is an excellent way to maximize your exposure. The best way to get your video on the website is to send it to me at 63 Stancey Road Pittsburgh PA 15220

Last year the WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association established The John Challis Memorial Award to help keep John’s message and memory alive. As I am sure most of you remember, John graduated from Freedom High School in 2008 and died of cancer two months later, ending a two-year battle with the disease. Before his death, he helped to start the Courage for Life Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to provide life encouraging sporting experiences and community support for high school athletes with life threatening illnesses. Contributions to the Courage for Life Foundation can be made by visiting its website at www.courageforlifefoundation.org.

The winner of the 2009 John Challis Memorial Award was Brandon Chamberlain of Springdale High School. We were honored to have Scott Challis, John's dad, on hand to present the award at the WBCA Awards Banquet. Brandon gave a fine speech and it was especially touching to hear him talk about how John served as an inspiration to him.

If you know someone who should be considered for the 2010 award please email Tony Villiotti at wpabaseball@hotmail.com . An individual must satisfy the following three criteria to be considered for the John Challis Memorial Award: be a current high school student who is either on or associated with his high school baseball team; have overcome or to currently be battling a physical, medical or other significant obstacle; and to serve as an inspiration to his fellow players and coaches.

This year's winner will be honored at the 2010 WBCA Awards banquet on June 11 at the Airport Marriott.

It might be hard to think about baseball when you've just finished shoveling snow, but the scholastic baseball season is right around the corner (if the snow ever melts). Here are some important dates to remember:

March 8 First day of practice

March 13  First scrimmage allowed

March 26  First game played

April 7 First date for section play

May 12 Last date for section play for playoff teams

May 14 Committee meets for playoff scheduling

May 17 Playoffs start

June 1/2   WPIAL Championship Games

June 11 WBCA Awards Banquet

June 12 Underclassmen Showcase

June 13  WBCA All-Star Doubleheader

June 18 PIAA Championship Games

This year's WPIAL Baseball Coaches All-Star Weekend will be held on June 11, 12 and 13. The Awards Banquet will be held on Friday evening June 11 at the Airport Marriott. The event honors selected to play in the All-Star games as well as the Players, Pitchers and Coaches of the Year as selected by WPIAL coaches. The second annual John Challis Memorial Award will also be presented. About 275 people typically attend the banquet. On Saturday June 12 the Underclassmen Showcase, co-sponsored by West Penn Baseball Prospects, will be held at Burkett Field in Robinson Township. The event is limited to 2011 grads who are varsity starters (though exceptions to the starter rule are made for extenuating circumstances). The event has sold out in each of its first five years. Last year 79 colleges were represented at the showcase. On June 13 an All-Star Doubleheader will be played at Burkett Field in Robinson Township. The teams, consisting of seniors only, are selected at a meeting of WPIAL coaches held in early May. Selecting the teams are always difficult as there are more deserving players than available slots.

Welcome to West Penn Baseball Prospects' new blog. This blog is going to take the place of our newsletters and will give us the ability to report daily on matters of interest to the local baseball community without the space limitations inherent in our "headlines" feature. If there is anything we would like me to address in the blog just drop me a line (wpabaseball@hotmail.com) and I will do my best to subjects of interest.