Local Players Off to Good Start in College Season

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.