Penn Charter's Siani on national under-18 baseball team
Mike Siani continues to turn heads on the diamond. The junior centerfielder from Penn Charter was selected Thursday to USA Baseball's 20-man roster for the 2016 under-18 national team that will compete in the COPABE Pan American "AAA" Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, from Friday to Oct. 9.
Mike Siani continues to turn heads on the diamond.
The junior centerfielder from Penn Charter was selected Thursday to USA Baseball's 20-man roster for the 2016 under-18 national team that will compete in the COPABE Pan American "AAA" Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, from Friday to Oct. 9.
Siani, of Glenside, first had to make the cut from 108 to 40 players in a weeklong tryout at the USA Baseball national training complex in Cary, N.C.
The trials continued at the Houston Astros Urban Youth Academy, with the roster trimmed from 40 to 20. In addition to Siani's hitting, the USA Baseball coaches were impressed with the 17-year-old's strong throwing arm.
In an intrasquad scrimmage between Team Stars and Team Stripes last weekend, Siani played at the Astros' Minute Maid Park.
Siani will continue to practice with the team in Houston until it leaves Thursday for Mexico. Penn Charter's administrators are sending him his course assignments while he is away.
Last season, Siani batted .492 with 22 RBIs and 21 runs while earning Inquirer first-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania honors. He was also first-team all-Inter-Ac League.
Siani's brother, Sammy, is a promising sophomore rightfielder for Penn Charter.
Major bout
Malvern Prep junior Michael Beard will get a chance to solidify or improve his national wrestling ranking when he competes in the prestigious Who's Number One event on Oct. 2.
Beard, ranked No. 2 in the country by FloWrestling.com, will square off against No. 3 Jelani Embree at 5 p.m. at Lehigh University. Embree, who won Michigan's Division 2 state title at 170 pounds last season, has committed to Michigan.
Beard went 55-3 last season, was a national prep champion, and claimed gold at 85 kg at the Pan American Cadet Championships in Peru in July.
Beard, with a 165-19 career record (.855 winning percentage), is a two-time Ironman placer, Beast of the East runner-up, and Escape the Rock titlist.
Beard is the first Malvern Prep wrestler to be invited to compete in Who's Number One.
Butler honored
John Butler, who is in his third season as secondary coach with the NFL's Houston Texans, was inducted into La Salle's Hall of Athletics on Saturday.
Butler excelled as a savvy defensive back, earning all-Catholic honors in 1990 for the Explorers. He was part of the 1989 squad that beat Roman Catholic, 13-0, at Villanova for the Catholic League crown.
Before joining the Texans, Butler spent two seasons at Penn State with current Houston boss Bill O'Brien. The Philadelphia native was the Nittany Lions' defensive coordinator in 2013.
Butler, who played football at Catholic University, also played basketball (point guard) and baseball (second baseman) at La Salle.