2013 MBA Champions Awarded
Another successful Mountaineer Baseball Association little league season comes to a close as division champion teams and their families gathered for the annual banquet. Sponsored by Gold, Khourey & Turak and Bryan Electric, Inc., the 2013 MBA banquet hosted ten teams at the Wheeling Park White Palace on the evening of Thursday, August 29.
The celebration kicked off with opening remarks made by MBA Vice President, Jonathan Turak. “Our players and coaches have worked exceptionally hard to make the 2013 MBA season one of the best yet,” Turak commented. Guests enjoyed a buffet style dinner as guest speaker, Ricky Szeligo, offered his reflections of baseball based upon two viewpoints: the player and the coach. Szeligo is the Wheeling Legion Post 1 Head Coach. Szeligo was a member of Post 1 Legion baseball from 2004-2006. He is a 2005 graduate of Wheeling Central High School, where he excelled in high school baseball. As a student player at Wheeling Jesuit University, he was awarded the WVIAC All-Conference Award. In 2009, Szeligo had Tommy John surgery then returned to the field in 2011when WJU made their first WVIAC play-off appearance. In May 2011, Szeligo was drafted in the 1st round of the Frontier League Draft held in Washington, PA by the Windy City Thunderbolts of Chicago, IL. He was assigned as a starting pitcher and had his first starting appearance in Rockford, IL. His coaching experience also includes Wheeling Central JV Assistant and Fall Ball Coach.
To conclude the banquet, the following teams were awarded trophies:
Pinto Division, Dallas Pike Athletic Green (15-1) of the American League, Warwood North (14-0) of the National League and Warwood South (14-0) of the Continental League.
Mustang Division, Elm Grove Civics (10-2) of the East League, Co-Champs Wheeling Island Tigers (12-2) and Bethlehem Bandits (13-1) of the West League and Warwood South (13-1) of the Central League.
Bronco Division, Warwood West (14-0) in the National League and Elm Grove Civics (10-2) in the American League.
Pony Division, Pike Cubs Black (17-0) in the National League.