After helping lead the Salamanca baseball team to a league championship tie with Portville, Salamanca junior Jaxson Ross earned the 2023 CCAA East Co-Player of the Year award.
Ross and Portville senior Michael Cole shared the award for the league’s top player. Ross went 7-0 with a 1.82 earned-run average (ERA) while Cole was 4-0 (0.89). Cattaraugus-Little Valley’s Josh Forster won the Coach of the Year and CLV and Camden Young won the Sportsmanship Award.
Also for Salamanca, sophomore Jake Herrick (.355 batting) and senior Zaron Tucker (.327), both infielders, and senior outfielder Jorden Ambuske (.435) all made the first-team all-stars.
First-team pitchers included Cole, Ross, Portville junior Luke Petryszak (5-1, 0.19) and North Collins junior Derek Ebersole (5-1, 1.166). Portville senior Drew Langdon (.500) and Ellicottville junior Hunter Smith (.300) were first-team catchers while Herrick, Tucker, Randolph senior Payton Slade (.463), CLV junior Nate Wolf (.258), Franklinville sophomore Bretton Blecha (.255) and North Collins junior Matthew Warsaw (.355). Outfielders included Silver Creek/Forestville junior Aiden Piccolo (.400) and senior Kam Sakpal (.365), Franklinville junior Noah Shenk (.283) and Portville senior Mario Pascucci (.314).
Salamanca has two second-team all-stars, senior catcher Jaxon Tarr (.286) and senior outfielder Andy Herrick (.282), and two honorable mentions, sophomore Cory Holleran and senior Jason McGraw.
CLV freshman infielder Payton Bradley (.219) made the second team while juniors Brayden Young and Matt Benzel were honorable mentions.
For Ellicottville, senior outfielder Gian Nuzzo (.250) made the second team with freshman Cameron Mendell and senior Braylon Wyatt honorable mentions.
Franklinville sophomores Matthew Spittler and Isaac Towne (.289) made the second team and junior Beau Bielecki and sophomores Collin Mooney and Tyrnan Farrington were honorable mentions.
Randolph sophomore infielder David Malone (.356) made the second team with junior Elial Bryan and sophomore Wyatt Weaver on the honorable mention list.
Sportsmanship winners included Camden Young (CLV), Corey Bish (Salamanca), Christian Swalcy (Ellicottville), Jacob Dahlke (Franklinville), Kyle Senn (Randolph), Wyatt Golembieski (SC/F), Karsen Padlo (Portville) and Matthew Warsaw and Matthew Sweet (NC).