Vanaman off to fast start at Parkland College

Hall graduate Brant Vanaman is taking a liking to playing baseball at Parkland College.

Vanaman, who transferred from Kent State University this year, went 4-4 with a double and a triple in a 12-0 win over Kankakee Saturday in Marion, Ill. In the Cobras’ second game there, Vanaman stole five bases after drawing three walks in a 14-7 win over Carl Sandburg.

Pitching in the game for Carl Sandburg was Princeton alum Garrett Allen, who was making his return from a torn labrum.

Vanaman blasted a home run last week to help the Parkland College baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Muskegon at Edwardsville.

He is teaming up with former Hall teammate Jimmy DeAngelo, who is a freshman pitcher for the Cobras.

• Hall graduate Ty Rybarczyk got a no-decision in the University of Illinois baseball team’s 4-2 win over No. 23-ranked Oklahoma State at the Frisco (Texas) Classic last weekend.

Rybarczyk, who is in his first season with the Fighting Illini after playing at Parkland College last year, allowed one earned run on five hits with no strikeouts and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Rybarczyk had a 1.29 ERA with 11 strikeouts and four walks in 14 innings pitched in his first three appearances with two starts.

• Fellow Hall graduate Cam McDonald went 1-for-3 with a double in Illinois’ 1-0 win over No. 13 Texas A&M.

The Illini also lost 14-1 to No. 1 UCLA to finish 2-1 on the weekend. Illinois is 5-4 on the season.

• St. Bede alum Jarret Olson went six innings for Michigan State Saturday against Louisiana in Pensacola, Fla., scattering six hits while striking out eight, one shy of a career high. He departed with a 3-1 lead, but the Spartans lost the game, 6-3.

On the season, the senior southpaw stands 1-1 with a 1.68 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 1-1 record in four starts.

• Former Princeton teammates Josh Reinhardt and Jett Wedekind teamed up for Aurora University on their spring trip to Florida, helping the Spartans post a 6-2 record. In their last game, both had one hit, Wedekind a double, with Reinhardt adding an RBI, in a 5-0 win over Webster University.

Reinhardt got selected to serve as bat boy for a Philadelphia Phillies spring training game in Clearwater, Fla.

Reinhardt’s brother, Jake, was also in the area, playing for North Park University.

SOFTBALL

• St. Bede graduate and University of Akron freshman Maggie Sons went 1-for-7 last weekend as the Zips went 0-5 at the Jacksonville/North Florida Tournament. Sons has appeared in 18 games with 11 starts for the Zips (6-19).

TRACK

• St. Bede graduate and University of Illinois sophomore Bret Dannis tied his personal best with a 7.97 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to place eighth in the event at the Big Ten Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships last weekend in Geneva, Ohio.

• Josh Gross of LaMoille is a senior member of the Monmouth College men’s track and field team. The Scots’ outdoor season will begin April 3-4 at Washington University in St. Louis.

• Carthage senior Elizabeth Willis of Mendota was named the CCIW Field Athlete of the Week for the second time this indoor season. She picked up her seventh and eighth first-place finishes in the shot put and weight throw at the Midwest Elite Invite.

VOLLEYBALL

Two local volleyball players from IVCC received recent awards.

Gertie Savitch, a freshman from Hall High School, was selected to both the Region IV All-Region Team and the Arrowhead Conference All-Conference Team.

Kaitlyn Edgcomb, a sophomore from Putnam County High School, was selected to the Arrowhead Conference All-Conference Team.