College notebook: Cole is award winner at WVU spring game
West Virginia wide receiver C.J. Cole, a redshirt sophomore and McGuffey High School graduate, was the winner of the 2023 Tommy Nickolich Memorial Award.
The Nickolich Memorial Award is given each year at the Mountaineers’ spring game to a walk-on team member who has distinguished himself through his attitude and work ethic. The award is presented in memory of Tommy Nickolich, a former WVU player (1979-82) who died of cancer in 1983.
Cole is in his third year as a member of the Mountaineers’ football team and has made a mark as a valuable member of the special teams. He played in nine games in 2022 and saw action on more than 50 special teams plays. Because of his hard work, Cole saw his playing time increase last season. He was used on a season-high 11 snaps at Oklahoma State and was named the offensive and special teams scout player of the week for the Virginia Tech game.
Cole earned All-Academic Big 12 First Team honors in 2022 and has earned spots on WVU’s Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll and the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
“C.J. is a guy who is very, very respected on our football team,” said WVU head coach Neal Brown. “We always say there are three ways you become a leader. No. 1, you’re one of the best players. No. 2, you’re one of the best people, and No. 3, you’re one of the hardest workers. There is no doubt that C.J. is one of the best people on our team, and he’s also one of our hardest workers.”
At McGuffey, Cole was a three-sport athlete who excelled in football, basketball -he scored more than 1,000 points in his career and was named the Observer-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year in 2019 – and track. He won the WPIAL triple jump gold medal.
Cole is the second local athlete to receive the Nickolich Award. The first was Rob Keys (Jefferson-Morgan) in 1995.
In softball
George Mason junior second baseman Marlaina Bozek, a Trinity graduate, had her 100th career hit April 16 against St. Joseph’s.
Bozek also was George Mason’s female Patriot of the Week for the week that ended March 13, when she batted .615 (8-for-13) with three doubles, an on-base percentage of .667 and slugging percentage of .846 in a series against Binghamton.
For the season, Bozek, who bats leadoff for the Patriots, is hitting .356 with seven doubles, three triples, one home run and eight stolen bases.
Waynesburg’s Jasmine Demaske, a Jefferson-Morgan graduate, has been one of the top freshman players in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference this spring and was the league’s Rookie of the Week for the period April 3-9.
Demaske hit .538 over a 4-0 week for Waynesburg as she went 7-for-13 with three doubles, a triple, a home run, six runs and five RBI. In addition, she slugged 1.154 and sported a .571 on-base percentage. Demaske hit a double, triple and home run and drove in four in a win over Franciscan. In a sweep of Washington & Jefferson, Demaske had a double and single in each game, driving in one and scoring twice and stealing two bases.
Demaske has a .403 batting average for the season with six doubles, six triples and four home runs. She has a team-leading 27 runs and is 14-for-15 in stolen-base attempts.
Brin Hunter, a senior catcher at Waynesburg, was the school’s Female Athlete of the Week for the period March 27-April 2.
A West Alexander resident and McGuffey graduate, Hunter went eight-for-12 at the plate over four games in helping Waynesburg to a 4-0 record in the week. Hunter logged two doubles, scored five runs and drove in six more. Hunter slugged .833 and boasted a .692 on-base percentage.
Hunter ranks fourth in the PAC in batting average at .455 batting. She has 13 doubles and has thrown out 22 percent of opposing base stealers.
Saint Vincent freshman and Chartiers-Houston graduate Nicolette Kloes was named the PAC Rookie of the Week for March 19-26.
Kloes split time between first base and catcher and batted .450 (9-for-20) over the Bearcats’ 4-2 week, hitting safely in all six games with three doubles, six RBI and nine runs. In a doubleheader sweep of Penn State-DuBois, Kloes went 3-for-6 with three walks and four runs. After going 1-for-3 in a doubleheader opener at Juniata, she went 3-for-4 in the nightcap with two doubles, four RBI and two runs. In a PAC doubleheader opener at Chatham, Kloes had an RBI double before going 1-for-3 with a walk and a run in the second game.
Kloes is batting .325 for the season with seven doubles.
Waynesburg junior first baseman Ella Brookman, a Chartiers-Houston graduate, was named the PAC Hitter of the Week for March 5-12.
Brookman helped Waynesburg go 5-1 in their six games in Myrtle Beach, S.C., by batting .579 (11-for-19) with seven extra-base hits, seven RBI and seven runs. Her biggest performance was in a win over Penn State-Abington when she went 3-for-4 with two triples, three runs and four RBI. She had two hits in three other games, including a 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and two runs in a victory over Eastern Nazarene. Brookman ended the week with a 1.105 slugging percentage and .600 on-base percentage.
Brookman is 11th in the PAC in batting average at .411. She 11 doubles, three triples and one home run.
In golf
Washington & Jefferson sophomore Matthew Lacek, a McDonald resident and Fort Cherry graduate, was named the PAC Men’s Golfer of the Week for April 3-9.
Lacek shot a round of 74 and was the medalist at the Westminster Invitational held at the Avalon Field Club in New Castle. The individual title was the first of Lacek’s collegiate career. He won by two strokes and helped the Presidents finish first as a team by two shots.
In swimming
Wheeling’s Gabby Baiano was named the Mountain East Conference Women’s Swimming Co-Freshman of the Year, making the South Fayette graduate the first Cardinal to win the award.
Baiano got off to a late start to her swimming season, after running with the Wheeling cross country team in the fall. She was the Cardinals’ main distance swimmer throughout the season, regularly swimming in the 500 and 1650 freetstyles. Her first big swim of the year came against Salem on Jan. 13, when she challenged the pool record, finishing fourth in school history with a time of 18:34.31, and just missed the pool record by 12 seconds. She would come back in the team’s final regular season meet against Bethany and broke the pool record in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 18:21.64.
Baiano entered the GMAC/MEC Championships as one of the top distance swimmers in the MEC and looked to put those skills to the test against the GMAC. Overall, Baiano earned two individual MEC honors at the event and helped the Cardinals’ 800-yard relay team bring home All-MEC honors. Her top individual honor came in the 200 freestylewhen she earned Second Team All-MEC with a time of 1:59.59. Her other honor was in the 1650, where she swam the third-fastest time in school history at 18:07.71 Her final All-MEC honor came in the 800 a she finished third.
Baiano is currently in her third sports season of the year, competing with the Wheeling outdoor track and field team.
In baseball
Gannon’s Ian Hess was chosen as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division Baseball Player of the Week for the period March 20-26.
Hess, a redshirt senior first baseman and a Canon-McMillan graduate, played in five games during the week and went 9-for-18 with five runs and eight RBI, including multiple hits in three games. Hess had two doubles, a triple and two home runs for a slugging percentage of 1.056. He hit a three-run homer against Pitt-Johnstown as Gannon rallied for a 6-5 win in eight innings and added a two-run home run in the seventh inning of the third game of the series against UPJ.
Hess has hit a school-record 35 career home runs.
Jack Kail, a freshman second baseman from McMurray and a Peters Township graduate, has started all 33 games this season for Columbia. Kail is batting .243 with three doubles, two triples, three home runs and 26 RBI. Kail’s three home runs came in consecutive games against Monmouth and Cornell.
Kail is one of two former Peters Township players on the Columbia roster. Sam Miller is a freshman infielder and pitcher. He has played in 14 games and is hitting .353 with two home runs and eight RBI. On the mound, Miller has appeared in six games as a reliever with an 0-0 record, 3.12 ERA and five strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings.