Tribe Skipper Acta Talks about Interleague Baseball, Twitter

His first love was basketball, till his dad explained the facts of life.

Former St. Edward Stars Catch Up on Long Road to the Majors

For seasons, Stetson Allie and Alex Lavisky faced the best Ohio had to offer. For one night, they faced each other.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — When Alex Lavisky stepped in at home plate and stared out toward the mound, he wanted to smile, to laugh, to maybe give a hug to the kid out there in the middle of the diamond with the heater hiding in his powerful right arm. Lavisky had stepped in 252 times already this season, in Ohio and Michigan and Kentucky, in Indiana and Wisconsin, even right here in Pennsylvania, but this one was a little different. He was looking out at Stetson Allie, his old friend, his old teammate. But 60 feet and six inches away, Allie had no plans to smile or laugh or trot in and give a hug to the young man who reined in his fastballs on the way to a state championship. Allie had already blocked out the music that blared over the speakers…

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St. Edward Baseball Prepares for Another Long Postseason Run

After state championships in 2009 and 2010, the Eagles look forward without three of their top players.

The state championship banners are the same as always, one green, one gold, both in the rafters high above the gymnasium. Many of the names on the roster and the faces in the dugout are the same, too. And the record is almost as good as it has been during so many recent seasons. But even with so much so similar, there is little doubt this has been a season of change for the St. Edward High School baseball team. There is a new ace on the mound for the Eagles, a new slugger behind the plate, new leaders everywhere. Gone are some of the more recognizable names from the 2009 and 2010 Division I state championship teams, some of the more recognizable names in recent team history.  Ross Kivett.  Alex Lavisky.  Stetson Allie. “Obviously, those …

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Lakewood Baseball Aims for Some Wins Now, More Later

The Rangers have struggled for much of this season, but rookie coach (and Lakewood alum) Mike Ribar has a plan.

Baseball is a perfect game for patient men. The mornings blur into the afternoons blur into the nights blur into the mornings. The seasons string together, one after another, from the first practices to the last games. Coaches scratch out lineups and rotations, always jotting down notes, always evaluating players, always preparing for what might come next. Baseball is a perfect game for Mike Ribar, even though Ribar is not a patient man. Ribar played four seasons for Lakewood High School and four more for Kent State back in the 1980s. He has coached college players and high school players and youth players. Now he is back in the dugout with the Rangers, a coach on the same patch of land where he played decades back. On Saturday night, he …

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The Games Will Go On ... Eventually

Rain has washed out hundreds of high school sports events across Northeast Ohio during the last month. Here's how one local school has dealt with the weather woes.

Nicole Pieffer receives dozens of phone calls every day in the athletics offices at St. Edward High School. Parents and alumni and friends of the Eagles always want to know all about their favorite high school teams or raffles or just how they can be more involved. But during the last couple of weeks, Pieffer, the athletics assistant at the school, has received more calls than ever before about when, exactly, the Eagles will be playing. Day after insufferable day, the teams are never on the fields or the courts or the diamonds. The rain has quickly developed into the surprise MVP for all spring sports teams. And the problems are the same at almost every high school across Northeast Ohio. “The best thing,” Pieffer told yet another …

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Lakewood Native Steps Up to the Plate

St. Edward alum Alex Lavisky starts first season in Indians organization

Alex Lavisky cheered for the Cleveland Indians before he even understood everything that was unfolding on the diamond in front of him. He grew up in Lakewood, a child of the 1990s, a renaissance of sorts for the team. How could he not like baseball? But Lavisky carried his passion for the sport from the bleachers to the backstop. He played in elementary school, in middle school, in high school. He traveled the region to play in showcase tournaments. He helped lead St. Edward High School to a pair of state championships. And, last summer, less than a month after graduation, he was selected in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. By the Indians. Lavisky has already been cast as the hometown kid with big …

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