Loveland Magazine

LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor

Since 2004

Tag: Baseball

  • Can the Reds Save Their Season?

    Can the Reds Save Their Season?

    by Chris Ball

    Loveland, Ohio – The Reds season isn’t over, but after being swept by the Detroit Tigers this weekend, the outlook certainly felt bleaker than ever. After taking three straight games from the New York Yankees, one of the better teams in all of baseball, expectations were high that this Reds club had perhaps turned the corner (yet again) and could reach .500 or better by the All Star break. Detroit was 1-6 in its last 7 games prior to this series. But once again the Reds showed that they simply were not up to the task and could not string together any sort of momentum.

    The Tigers beat the Reds in a variety of ways. Whether it was the long ball or hammering the bullpen Cincinnati simply could not find a way to close out Detroit and win any of their three games in the series. Multiple Reds comebacks fell short in those matchups which made each losses all the more frustrating, including Blake Dunn being thrown out at home plate in what was ultimately a very questionable call to send him in contact in the bottom of the ninth.

    Hunter Greene pitched another gem (7 innings, 3 hits and he gave up no earned runs) after struggling in his previous two starts only to see Fernando Cruz and his bullpen implode shortly thereafter to take the loss. Cruz has really struggled of late. In his last 26 innings prior to Monday night’s game against the Rockies he allowed 23 hits and 17 earned runs for an ERA of 5.88, going 2-5 in that stretch. He’s gotten the Reds out of some jams that is true and he’s sent in for very high pressure situations, but the performance just hasn’t been there overall recently. He pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning against Colorado which was a welcome relief and something of redemption as he protected a gem turned in by another young Reds starter in Andrew Abbott who went 7 innings, struck out 8, and allowed just 3 hits, giving up no runs.

    Even Graham Ashcraft did his part in his start in game 3 against the Tigers, giving up just one earned run before the Reds relievers once again let the bottom fall out. This time the culprit was Alexis Diaz who allowed three runs (although none of them ended up being earned) which ultimately put the game out of reach on Sunday.

    It’s been one step forward and two steps back for so much of this 2024 season.

    And yet, at this point the Reds have a lot to be optimistic about. Spencer Steer is having one heck of a July. Going into Sunday he had 3 home runs and a 1.214 OPS in July. But he also hit .280 in June and had a .783 OPS.Elly De La Cruz is an All Star and an absolutely electric player at just 22 years old. He has posted a .251 batting average with 15 home runs, 40 RBI and an .804 OPS. He also has 45 stolen bases. Jonathan India is another bright spot. In his last 30 games the Reds second baseman is hitting an insane .369 with a .451 OBP and a .583 slugging percentage. With the potentially season ending injury to Matt McLain, it’s tough to imagine a better scenario than India stepping in to do as well as he has.

    On Monday night we got to see the stellar debut of Reds outfielder Rece Hinds who did nothing less than launch a galactic 449 foot home run after making an athletic play in the outfield and legging out a hustle double. Elly De La Cruz scored a run on a contact play from third base, a series of events that was nearly identical to the out made by Dunn just a few days ago. It’s a microcosm of this season for Cincinnati: two of the same plays, with an entirely different result.

    The concern is that the flaws in this team are growing too large to reasonably ignore. Injuries or not, Stuart Fairchild, Nick Martini, and Will Benson have been staples in the outfield for large chunks this season. Unfortunately they are batting .224, .212, and .187 respectively. There is simply no way to be a serious playoff contender with those numbers in your lineup on a regular basis. Though trading for a reliable outfield bat would be an important way to show fans that this team is serious about trying to contend, but to be honest one bat may not be nearly enough.

    Things have not gone to plan in 2024, that is an understatement. But this season has shown that the Reds cannot win without more help in the outfield/the bottom third of their order, and significant development from their young players. The good news is that there are two more series against the two worst teams in the National League (Colorado and Miami) before the All Star break that could stop the bleeding.

    And the Reds big win on Monday night could be the start of some good things for this ball club. It had everything that is electric that the fans love to see: breathtaking speed by Elly, home runs by young players just called up, lights out pitching, and an offense that scored when it counted most. In the end though, Reds fans have seen wins that got Great American Ballpark rocking, and they’ve seen sweeps. But they’ve yet to see a real, sustained turnaround from this club. Let’s hope one still might be in the cards because games like last night’s win against the Rockies was the type of baseball this city and its fans truly deserve on a consistent basis.

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    Hey readers… have an opinion about sports? How about a topic you’d like to see written about in Loveland Magazine or a thought about one of our articles?

    Just need to vent and get out your frustration about the Reds, Bengals, or any other sports issues?

    Feel free to share with an email to lovelandmagazinesports@gmail.com!

    Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.

  • All new episode: The Queen City Sports Podcast by Chris Ball & Mark Raines – Reds Smash the Cardinals, Cleveland Cavaliers Have a Big Week, and Bronny James is Drafted

    All new episode: The Queen City Sports Podcast by Chris Ball & Mark Raines – Reds Smash the Cardinals, Cleveland Cavaliers Have a Big Week, and Bronny James is Drafted

    by Chris Ball & Mark Raines

    Loveland, Ohio – In this week’s podcast episode, we talk more about the Reds and what factors are preventing them from consistently playing as well as they did on Thursday night, beating the rival St. Louis Cardinals 11-4. We also discuss the Cavaliers’ signing of head coach Kenny Atkinson and the challenges he faces in getting the team ready for the 2024-2025 season. We also break down the impact of the Cavaliers’ first round draft pick Jaylon Tyson and discuss what the Lakers’ will do now that they’ve drafted Bronny James, LeBron James’ son.

    All this and more on The Queen City Sports Podcast, take a listen and don’t forget to leave your comments and feedback!

     

    For further reference, the article discussed in the podcast regarding the evolution of pitching in major league baseball can be accessed by clicking here. You can see the post laying out all of the injuries that the Atlanta Braves have suffered, and overcome, by clicking here.

    _______________________

    Hey readers… have an opinion about sports? How about a topic you’d like to see written about in Loveland Magazine or a thought about one of our articles?

    Just need to vent and get out your frustration about the Reds, Bengals, or any other sports issues?

    Feel free to share with an email to lovelandmagazinesports@gmail.com!

    We would love to hear from our readers, and we thank you for your support and engagement.

    Also, don’t forget to follow us at The Loveland Sports Desk at the below links:

    For Facebook, click here.

    For X, click here.

    For Instagram, click here. 

    Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.

  • Special Announcement: The Loveland Magazine Sports Desk!

    Special Announcement: The Loveland Magazine Sports Desk!

    by Chris Ball

    Loveland, Ohio – Loveland Magazine is very excited to announce that we are expanding our sports social media experience to encompass Facebook, X, and even Instagram.

    After you are done browsing our hard-hitting sports articles at Loveland Magazine, head on over to The Loveland Magazine Sports Desk. There, across all three platforms, we will be bringing you some more concise and up-to-the-minute updates on all of the sports teams you follow every day. Whether you’re watching a Reds or Bengals game in real-time and want to weigh in, or if you drop by the day after the game to check in on what happened and give your thoughts, you now have three more ways to get into the game and get the discussion going! We also look forward to bringing you local Loveland sports stories about all your hometown teams, including Loveland football and more.

    We appreciate your ongoing support and comments, so look forward to seeing you across the social media universe!

    To follow The Loveland Magazine Sports Desk on Facebook, click here.

    To get into the game on X, give us a follow by clicking here.

    Instagram is also a great way to post pictures of local Loveland sports, and we hope to have more content there very soon, but for now feel free to check in on our progress and give us a follow at this link.

    However you get in contact with us, we are happy to have you and look forward to a lot of fun together this summer and onward.

    Hey readers… have an opinion about sports? How about a topic you’d like to see written about in Loveland Magazine or a thought about one of our articles?

    Just need to vent and get out your frustration about the Reds, Bengals, or any other sports issues?

    Feel free to share with an email to lovelandmagazinesports@gmail.com!

    Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.

  • The Reds Drop Another Series but are Still In Contention

    The Reds Drop Another Series but are Still In Contention

    by Chris Ball

    Loveland, Ohio – The Reds have had a difficult time closing out the month of June. Since their 7 game winning streak they are just 4-8. They have lost winnable games against the Brewers, Pirates, and most recently the Boston Red Sox for a variety of reasons. Whether it was a cold offense or base running mistakes Cincinnati has once again found several different ways to lose a baseball game.

    Even with the tough losses there have been bright spots. Elly De La Cruz was 2-5 against Boston on Sunday and is now hitting .320 with a 196 wRC+ over his last 30 plate appearances. Jeimer Candelario had another RBI against the Red Sox and and he’s also playing well, in his last 46 plate appearances he is hitting .333 with a 202 wRC+ over that span.

    Though Nick Lodolo took the loss on Sunday the Reds have had so much production from the top 3 spots in their rotation, including Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott that there is so much to be exited about. Against the Red Sox, Abbott looked very good, pitching 5.2 innings while allowing only 4  hits and amassing a career high 10 strikeouts. Over his last 7 starts, Hunter Greene is 4-0 with a 3.32 ERA and 45 strikeouts in just 43 innings.

    Reds fans should undoubtedly have patience with this young team. It is peppered with young players who have the potential to lead Cincinnati to the playoffs or beyond, given the right amount of time and experience. It will take time to get them the right amount of innings and at bats to mold them into a consistent contender. And so the failures in June of 2024 are not necessarily the portents of doom that many would make them out to be. This team, for all their struggles, remain just 2.5 games out of contention for the wild card spot with more than half the season left to play.

    Tonight, the reds begin a crucial 3 game series against the Pirates. It is a perfect opportunity for this team to reverse course and get back on the right track heading into the July 4th holiday, especially since it would appear that they will not have to face the Pirates’ fireball-throwing ace, Paul Skenes. The first pitch tonight is at 7:10 PM, and the pitching matchup is below:

    ———————-

    Hey readers… have an opinion about sports? How about a topic you’d like to see written about in Loveland Magazine or a thought about one of our articles?

    Just need to vent and get out your frustration about the Reds, Bengals, or any other sports issues?

    Feel free to share with an email to lovelandmagazinesports@gmail.com!

    Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.

  • OHSAA Board of Directors Approves Expansion Proposal

    OHSAA Board of Directors Approves Expansion Proposal

    Soccer, girls volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball adding divisions starting in 2024-25

    A Press Release from the Ohio High School Athletic Association

    After months of discussion and meetings around Ohio to gather feedback, the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Directors unanimously approved a proposal Thursday morning to utilize a new formula to determine how many divisions will be offered for postseason tournaments. The change affects OHSAA General Sports Regulation 17 and will result in girls and boys soccer now having five divisions, while girls volleyball, girls and boys basketball, softball and baseball will all have seven divisions. In those sports, Division I and Division II will only include 64 schools.

    The new divisions will go into effect with the fall of 2024. The board will continue to discuss additional sports, noting several recent meetings regarding track and field. There are no changes to the number of football divisions, which is already at seven. In addition, any changes to the current deployment of the Competitive Balance process would need to be voted upon by OHSAA member schools during the annual referendum voting process.

    Doug Ute, OHSAA Executive Director, praised the board’s decision as a step toward to level the playing field of OHSAA tournaments.

    “It’s the right thing to do for the student-athletes who have been competing at this disadvantage,” said Ute. “For too long, the largest schools in our divisions have been so much larger than the smaller schools in the same division, which has resulted in many schools accepting that they realistically have little chance at making a run in the tournament. In some of our sports, there have been more than 200 schools competing for a state title in that division, which is significantly more than what most other states do, and what we do in many of our own sports.

    “We know that there is a lot of work to do in the coming months to prepare for additional divisions this fall,” Ute said. “We have already started working on the details to accomplish this, but one thing we know for sure is that having two or three more state champions in these sports doesn’t water them down or diminish winning a state title. And we anticipate that this new format will be revenue neutral, since every school makes the tournament already.”

    Each year, the Board of Directors would still have final authority in determining how many divisions to be used that school year, but the proposal calls for the following scale to be used to guide the board’s decision on the number of divisions for girls volleyball, football, soccer, basketball, softball and baseball, however note that the sports of lacrosse, field hockey, ice hockey and boys volleyball would not change from their current division numbers:

       199 or fewer teams: 1 Division

       200 to 299 teams: 2 Divisions

       300 to 399 teams: 3 Divisions

       400 to 499 teams: 4 Divisions

       500 to 599 teams: 5 Divisions

       600 to 699 teams: 6 Divisions

       700 and more teams: 7 Divisions

    For girls volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball and baseball, the largest 64 schools would be placed into Division I. The next largest 64 schools would be placed into Division II. The remaining schools would be divided as evenly as possible into the remaining divisions. The OHSAA already does something similar to this in football, in which the largest 10 percent of schools are placed into Division I and the remaining schools are divided evenly in Divisions II through VII.

    The proposal does not call for a change to the formula that the OHSAA uses for individual sports to determine the number of student-athletes required for team designation, which includes five in bowling, five in cross country (who score for their team at the district tournament), four in golf, three in girls gymnastics, seven in swimming and diving, four in tennis, nine in track and field and seven in wrestling.

    The proposal calls for the following number of divisions to be used for individual sports:

       200 or fewer teams: 1 Division

       201 to 450 teams: 2 Divisions

       451 to 700 teams: 3 Divisions

       701 and more teams: 4 Divisions

    OHSAA member schools vote to determine any changes to the bylaws or constitution via the referendum process each spring. Member schools also vote for representatives for their District Athletic Boards, who are then selected to serve on the State Board of Directors on a three-year term. The Board of Directors are then charged with reviewing and approving the General Sports Regulations on behalf of the OHSAA membership. The OHSAA General Sports Regulations do not go to the member schools for voting and are posted at: https://ohsaaweb.blob.core.windows.net/files/Sports/GeneralSportsRegulations.pdf

    The OHSAA will announce structural and dates changes for future state tournaments at a later date.

  • LHS Grad Waddell Named Academic All-District at Georgia Tech!

    LHS Grad Waddell Named Academic All-District at Georgia Tech!

    by Cassie Mattia

    Loveland, Ohio – Another LHS Student-Athlete that committed to playing collegiate sports has been recognized as part of the nation’s top student-athletes for his combined performance on the field and in the classroom! The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday that Georgia Tech baseball junior, Luke Waddell was selected to the 2020 Academic All-District First Team.

    The Yellow Jackets were one of just two Atlantic Coast Conference baseball teams to have multiple Academic All-District selections. Eight Yellow Jacket Juniors were selected overall. This was the first time since 2012 (Brandon Thomas and Sam Dove) and fourth time overall since 1979, that Georgia Tech earned multiple All-District selections.

    Waddell had another stellar year of competition with the Yellow Jackets, as he is now recognized as one of the nation’s top shortstops and table setters. From the leadoff spot, Waddell hit .300 through 16 games, recording 18 hits, including four extra-base knocks, and nine RBI’s. He drew seven walks to average a .419 on-base percentage during his Junior campaign. Out of the nine RBI’s that Waddell earned, none proved more clutch than the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of Game 2 during the ACC’s opening weekend against Virginia Tech!

    Waddell is one of the many Yellow Jackets performing in the classroom as the team overall had a banner year academically averaging a program-record 3.40 team GPA! The Georgia Tech Baseball Team was one of eight sports to record program bests in the classroom.

    Those student-athletes that were selected to the First-team Academic All-District squad will advance to the Academic All-American ballot. Those selected to First, Second, and Third Team will also advance to the Academic All-American selections which will be announced in June.

    For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on Twitter (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball), or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com. Stay tuned for the latest Loveland and Ohio Sports updates!

  • Loveland High School’s Hanna Wenger and Zach Segal Grab Top Post-Season Awards

    Loveland High School’s Hanna Wenger and Zach Segal Grab Top Post-Season Awards

    Editor’s Note: The photos in the original version of this story were not of Hanna Wenger. The story was corrected on 6/12/19

    by Cassie Mattia

    Loveland, Ohio – The Loveland Tigers have developed quite the reputation in the world of athletics this year, grabbing once again several post-season honors. Now Junior, Hanna Wenger, one of Loveland’s top Women’s Lacrosse players, received The OSLA Division 1 First Team All-State Honors and 2019 Loveland High School grad Zach Segal, a member of the Tigers Baseball Team, received Honorable Mention, SWOBCA All-City Honors. Below are a few tweets from the Eastern Cincinnati Conference congratulating Wenger and Segal on their honors.

    @ECC_Sports
    (1 of 2) POSTSEASON AWARDS: OSLA DI awards recipients in girls’ lacrosse: ALL-STATE: Loveland’s Hanna Wenger (1st Team)…
    @ECC_Sports
    (3 of 3) West Clermont’s Gavin Pitts (Second Team) and Bailey Bravo and Trevor Conley (Honorable Mention); and Loveland’s Zach Segal (Honorable Mention). Congratulations!

        Segal ended his senior season as a Loveland Tiger with a bang placing very high in the ECC with his individual statistics. Segal pitched 9 games with a 3 and 5 win-loss record, a 46.1 IP, which earned him 3rd place in the ECC, and a 1.5 ERA. Segal earned 3rd place in the ECC for strikeouts as well totaling out with 58 for the season. Segal also received First Team All ECC Honors. Other Tigers who grabbed awards were Carson Deer, who earned Second Team All ECC and Matt Westley, who received Honorable Mention Honors.

        Wenger had an incredible sophomore season as a Loveland Women’s Lacrosse player as the Tigers came in second in the ECC with a 4-1 record in ECC matches and a 13-3 record overall. On top of Wenger’s First Team All-State Honors, she grabbed ECC Player of the Year and OSLA Division I First Team All-Region Honors along with her teammate Carly Wilhoite. Wenger’s teammates Josey Storm earned All-Region Second Team Honors and Maggie Nance received All-Region Honorable Mention.

    Loveland Lacrosse head coach Ryan Hanson

        “Hanna is a phenomenal athlete and has a tremendous passion for the game. The number one thing that everyone always notices about Hanna is that she always has a smile on her face while playing lacrosse. This isn’t an I am goofing off smile, or I am just out here to have fun and not try hard smile. This is the most genuine I love this sport smile,” Loveland head coach Ryan Hanson told Loveland Magazine.

        Wenger was ranked among the top Women’s Lacrosse athletes in the ECC with her offensive statistics. Wenger totaled 44 goals and 26 assists for the season averaging 3.67 goals per game and 2.17 assists per game. Wenger ranked 3rd in the ECC in assists.

        Head coach Hanson also said that Hanna Wenger is the ultimate competitor and whenever given the option at practice she wants to continue playing. He said that the coaching staff jokes that although the practice is “only” 2 hours a night, they don’t think Hanna would complain if they practiced four hours each night. He added that her love for the sport and desire to always want to improve herself shows every moment she steps on the field. “She isn’t just talented in one facet, Hanna is one of the most complete lacrosse players we have ever coached. She doesn’t work to be good in just one area, she wants to master every skill. When you have natural talent, a drive to be the best, and a passion for the game, you get Hanna Wenger.” He said it was no surprise that she was named ECC Women’s Lacrosse MVP, 1st Team All-Conference, 1st Team All-District, and 1st Team All-State both her Freshman and Sophomore years.

        Last December, Zach Segal, signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball at the University of Cincinnati.

        Here are photos of Hanna Wenger in her game against Mason on May 20.

    If you would like to see just what the Loveland Tigers Baseball team is up to you can visit https://lovelandtigers.org/index.aspx?path=base or visit the team twitter page at https://twitter.com/LHSTigersBase.

     

    To learn how you can follow the Loveland Women’s Lacrosse team success visit https://lovelandtigers.org/archives.aspx?path=glax or visit the team twitter page at https://twitter.com/LovelandLax.

  • Former Loveland Baseball Stand-Out Luke Waddell Drafted by the Diamondbacks

    Former Loveland Baseball Stand-Out Luke Waddell Drafted by the Diamondbacks

    Loveland Magazine file photo of Luke Waddell playing for the Loveland Tigers – ©2017 by David Miller

    by Cassie Mattia

    Loveland, Ohio – It’s no secret that here in Loveland there is no shortage of phenomenal athletes. A 2017 Loveland High School grad and nationally recognized baseball player, Luke Waddell, received the news on June 5th that he was drafted in the 32nd round of the MLB Draft to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Many celebrated the news voicing how excited they were for Waddell on twitter and facebook, but no one celebrated more than the Loveland Tiger supporters! Below were some of the tweets posted after the 32nd round draft results were released.

    The Assistant Principal at Loveland High School said…

    Matthew Buis

    @LHS_MrBuis

    Congrats Luke! @lucas_wadd07

    The Georgia Tech Baseball Team said…

    Georgia Tech Baseball

    @GTBaseball

    DRAFTED! Congratulations on Luke Waddell hearing his name in the 32nd round of the @MLBDraft by the @Dbacks

    The Loveland High School Tigers Baseball Team said…

    LHSTigersBaseball

    @LHSTigersBase

    Always knew this day was coming since he was 8, but bigger and better things always on Luke’s horizon.

    Luke Waddell as a Loveland Tiger in 2017. Loveland Magazine © File Photo by David Miller

    Waddell, who was born and raised in Loveland, excelled in baseball, football, and basketball at Loveland High School. Waddell racked up a number of accolades with the Tigers some of the most prominent being baseball honors. In 2017, Perfect Game rated Waddell as the number 3 shortstop and the number 11 overall prospect in Ohio. Waddell also received an All-American Honorable Mention nod in 2017 in addition to becoming the ECC Baseball Athlete of the Year. Waddell, a 4 time ECC first team all-conference selection and 2-time all-state selection, still holds the Loveland High School Baseball record for career games played, hits and doubles.

    Waddell did not shy away from other sports in high school just because he was so gifted in one sport, which in his case was baseball. He also lettered in football and basketball at Loveland. In 2013 when the Loveland Tigers Football team grabbed the state championship title, district title, and the ECC conference title, Waddell aided in the Tiger’s success tremendously setting records in career rushing yards, receiving yards, touchdowns, points scored, and the most rushing yards and touchdowns in a single season. In fact the day Waddell broke Loveland High School’s 49-year-old, single-game rushing record he didn’t even realize he did it until record keeper and facilities manager, Kevin Taylor told him after the game. He told Loveland Magazine at the time, “I was honestly shocked. I knew I had a good game, but didn’t know I broke any records. So, it was pretty exciting.” 

    Luke Waddell as a Loveland Football Tiger. Photo by David Burig © 2015

    Waddell was also named by MaxPreps, second-team freshman All-American in 2013 and first team all-conference by the ECC for all for 4 years of his high school football career. 

    The Midland Redskins summer baseball team got the pleasure of having Waddell for 3 seasons before he took off to play collegiate baseball at Georiga Tech. In Waddell’s freshman season with GT in 2018 he played in 42 games starting in 31 of those games. Waddell had quite the impressive stat sheet as a freshman hitting a .283 batting average and posting an on-base percentage of .348. In 2019 Waddell had an even more successful year playing in 57 games hitting a .328 batting average. Waddell’s on-base percentage also improved to a .442. The 2019 results Waddell brought in for the Yellow Jackets earned him 20th best batting average in the entire ACC. 

    After years of hard work and dedication to improving his craft, Luke Waddell was selected last Wednesday in the 32nd round of the MLB draft to join the Arizona Diamondbacks.

    Although Waddell is thrilled with being drafted he has made the decision to return to Georgia Tech for his junior year season. Waddell’s former coaches, teammates, and classmates are still very excited to hear about Waddell being drafted. Included below are thoughts from Brian Conaster, Loveland High School Athletic Director, and Ken Reed, Waddell’s former high school baseball coach, about Luke Waddell.

    “Luke is an incredibly talented player who was a pleasure to coach at LHS. Not only was he one of the most productive players in the state of Ohio, but he was also a great teammate. The Loveland community should be very proud of how well Luke has represented the town,” Ken Reed said.

    “Luke Waddell was not only a record-breaking high school stand out multiple sport athlete, but a person of high character in and out of the classroom. Luke always embodies the Loveland core values of respect, responsibility, integrity,  and pride,” Brian Conaster said.

    If you would like to follow Luke Waddell’s journey with the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets you can go to the Georgia Tech’s baseball twitter page at https://twitter.com/GTBaseball, their website at https://ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/, their FB page or Loveland Athletic’s twitter page at https://twitter.com/LovTigers_AD. The Loveland Magazine team will also be following Waddell’s progress if you would like to check out our Facebook page or Twitter page at https://twitter.com/lovelandmagazin.

  • M/INT PTSA address The Culture of Youth Sports with FREE seminar

    M/INT PTSA address The Culture of Youth Sports with FREE seminar

    Loveland, Ohio – This school year, the Loveland Middle and Intermediate School PTSA is advocating for social and emotional health. Every month, a newsletter is sent out to ALL parents of the 1500

    John O’Sullivan, the author of the Best-Selling book, “Changing the Game.”

    students at the buildings on one specific topic that faces our kids today. After an initial message to “Start Talking,” in August, they have addressed internet safety, Juuling and nicotine, anxiety, empowering girls, and suicide/depression. During the month of February, their focus is, “The Culture of Youth Sports Today.” All of their newsletters and mental health resources can be found at www.lovelandmintptsa.org.

     
    On February 21st, there will be a FREE seminar open to ALL members of the community given by John O’Sullivan, the author of the Best-Selling book, “Changing the Game.”
     

    The Loveland Youth Sports Council is sponsoring the author’s visit (along, in part, by the M/INT PTSA). Youth organizations in Loveland (baseball, fast pitch, soccer, lacrosse, football, and basketball) have formed a coalition to address some of the problems that are negatively impacting their players. M/INT PTSA President Megan Graff said, “Extracurricular activities should be the source of stress relief, rather than the cause of it. It’s time to change the culture of youth sports.  Be engaged, start talking about how to create a positive environment for our kids, and attend the seminar.”

    Please reserve your FREE seat here to attend:

  • [Gold Glove finalists announced] White Sox/Loveland Tiger Adam Engel is one

    [Gold Glove finalists announced] White Sox/Loveland Tiger Adam Engel is one

    Rawlings announced the American and National League finalists for the 2018 Gold Glove Awards on Thursday, spelling out many of the game’s premier defenders. Read more about the awards at MLB.com. Winners will be announced on Nov. 4.

    “Engel, who notably robbed three home runs in the span of a week in August, led all AL outfielders with 17 OAA.”

    Center field
    National League:     Lorenzo Cain, Brewers; Billy Hamilton, Reds; Ender Inciarte, Braves

    American League: Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox; Adam Engel, White Sox; Mike Trout, Angels
    Inciarte tied St. Louis’ Harrison Bader for the MLB lead with 21 OAA, followed closely by Cain with 19. Engel, who notably robbed three home runs in the span of a week in August, led all AL outfielders with 17 OAA.

    Jarvis Global is an investment advisory firm in Symmes Township, Ohio which offers private portfolio management and retirement services to high net worth individuals.