Area standouts set for District 9 All-Star game

The District 9 senior All-Star baseball game will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Cedar Point Sports Force in Sandusky. A total of eight standouts from Huron County are slated to appear in the game. Norwalk's Cooper Smith, Bray Malson and Nick Lukac will represent the Truckers. In 25 games, Malson hit .303 with one double, two triples, eight RBIs and 23 runs scored. He also stole 10 bases for the Truckers (8-17, 4-8). He earned first team SBC Lake and District 9 this past season. Smith — who was District 9 first team in Div. I and second team SBC Lake — batted .286 with six doubles, one triple and 20 RBIs with 11 runs scored. He also finished with a 2.29 ERA with 62 strikeouts and 18 walks in 45 2/3 innings. Lukac batted .253 and had four doubles, one triple and 15 RBIs for Norwalk. For St. Paul, All-Ohio first team (Division IV) catcher Thomas Zuccaro is scheduled to participate. In 27 games this season for the Flyers (16-11, 10-4 Firelands Conference), Zuccaro batted .536 (45-for-84) with 10 doubles, four triples, two home runs and and 27 RBIs. He stole 29 bases and scored 45 times from the leadoff spot. Among the hundreds of schools reporting statistics to MaxPreps, Zuccaro's .536 batting average ranked 10th across all four divisions in the state. There were 200 players listed on the leaderboard. The Firelands Conference Player of the Year also ranked fourth on the MaxPreps state leaderboard in runs scored, 12th in on-base percentage (.644) and 16th in slugging percentage. Other area players include Western Reserve's Logan Wiegel, South Central's Karl Ferber, along with New London's Peyton Gatzemeyer and Steven Justavick. Also an All-Ohio first team selection (Div. III), Wiegel batted .500 (32-for-64) with nine doubles, one triple and 21 RBIs for the Roughriders (13-11, 7-7). He also stole 13 bases and scored 17 runs. Ferber also joined Zuccaro as an All-Ohio first team selection in Div. IV. A standout pitcher who was unable to throw this season because of shoulder surgery, Ferber still made the most of his final season with the Trojans (9-13, 8-6). The first baseman batted .474 (27-for-57) with eight doubles, one home run and 21 RBIs. The NCAA Div. II Lake Erie College commit also stole 15 bases and scored 14 runs. An honorable mention selection in the FC, Gatzemeyer batted .333 (16-for-48) with six doubles, one triple, one home run and six RBIs for New London (5-16, 2-12). A pitcher, Justavick was 2-5 with a 2.37 ERA for the Wildcats. He struck out 44 batters and allowed six earned runs in 38 1/3 innings on the mound. Joining the Huron County standouts on the roster include Bellevue's Ty Ray, Zayne Clause and Carter Ruffing; and Ashland's Jon Metzger and Kamden Mowry.