Published: July 09, 2009 11:43 pm      

Mike Mastovich | Slugger takes unique path to league

Drew Westover didn’t have the benefit of playing high school baseball.

The Delweld slugger from Flinton continues to learn each day he plays in the AAABA League. His numbers over the past two seasons certainly don’t suggest that Westover is lagging behind. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Entering this week, Westover ranked second in the league with a .414 batting average

(36-for-84) and was first with 29 runs and three homers while tying for third with 21 RBIs.

That’s a pretty impressive follow-up for last summer’s league batting champion.

That’s right, Westover hit an impressive .423 in 2008, once again, accomplishing such a feat without the background most players bring to the AAABA League.

“I went to a really small private school,” said Westover of Faith Tabernacle High School.

“We didn’t have sports there and I wasn’t allowed to play at any other high schools. I never played high school ball. I played Colt and Pony in Johnstown.”

Westover performed well enough in the city feeder leagues to earn a spot with Delweld, consistently one of the top teams in the local AAABA loop.

“Drew is very raw. He’s just starting to find his way and starting to learn to become a hitter,” Delweld manager Chris DelSignore said. “This spring is the first spring that he played organized baseball at UPJ. He just goes up there and is a very aggressive hitter. He’s got a lot of strength and he’s got good speed for his size. He just hits the ball well.”

UPJ coach Todd Williams was so impressed by Westover’s talents that he recruited the outfielder with no high school experience. Westover has been a steady performer as he will enter his sophomore season with the Mountain Cats.

“It was a little different,” Westover said. “Since I didn’t play in high school I didn’t have as much experience as some other guys. I had played on Dee Dee Osborne’s traveling team and saw a lot of good competition there. That definitely helped me. I learned a lot this spring hitting against college pitching. That helped quite a bit going into this summer.”

DelSignore has seen the maturity.

“He goes up there and really gets his money’s worth every at-bat,” DelSignore said. “He’ll make you pay if you make a mistake. He swings out of his shoes all the time. When he gets a hold of it, it’s going to go. He swings the bat very well in terms of bat speed. When he misses it, it’s usually bad, but when he gets it, it’s hit well and it’s hit far.”

Westover plays right field and bats in the cleanup spot for Delweld, which moved within percentage points of first-place Martella’s via a pair of wins over the front-runners on Wednesday.

“A lot of it has to do with the guys that are around him,” DelSignore said. “It helps when you have the defending MVP, Matt Staub, hitting behind him and a guy like George Roberts hitting in front of him. Most of the times you have to pitch to him.”

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Prospect League: Former Johnstown Grays and Martella’s Pharmacy left-hander James Podgorney opened 3-0 with a 2.81 ERA in 252/3 innings with the Butler BlueSox in the new 12-team Prospect Collegiate League with teams from Missouri to Pennsylvania.

Podgorney is a middle reliever at the University of Akron. He graduated from Bishop McCort with the lowest ERA in school history, 0.93.

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Heavy hitters: The top six hitters entering this week based on statistics provided by five of six teams are: Principle Development’s Matt Donaldson (37-for-84, .440); Delweld’s Westover; Delweld’s Roberts (30-for-80, .375); Roxberry Creamery’s Nate Antone (26-for-71, .366) and Delweld’s Nick Barbera (34-for-93, .366).

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Mound work: Principle pitcher Gregg Bandzuh began the week perfect in six decisions. Martella’s Landon Wahl had five wins, including a no-hitter in a 1-0 victory over Roxberry Creamery on June 30. Delweld’s Mike McDermott led the league with seven saves. Martella’s Zach Satira (0.74), Bandzuh (0.99) and the Berkley Hills Renegades’ John Fees (1.00) posted the top three ERAs entering this week.



Mike Mastovich is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.