Wednesday, November 25, 2009
BLAIRSVILLE -- Two local high school seniors will continue their baseball careers at the collegiate level.
Scott Dixon, of Derry Area High School, has signed with Division I program Penn State while Chase Wallace, of United High School, has signed with Division II school Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
For Wallace, the choice to attend IUP came down to the coaching staff as well as education.
"The main thing is I really like coach (Jeff) Ditch," Wallace said of IUP's head coach of the last four seasons, "and there's the education. IUP is very well known for safety science, and that's what I'm going to study. It wasn't a very hard choice."
Wallace will have a chance to play for a program that appears to be on the rise under Ditch. In the coach's first season in 2006, the Hawks finished 3-17 in the PSAC but improved to 13-7 by 2008 before a slight drop-off to 11-13 last season.
Wallace, of New Florence, is the son of Rob and Cindy Wallace. While at United, he has been coached by Greg Mytrysak, who said he hopes Wallace has a successful career at IUP.
The 6-foot-3 right-hander has played pitcher and the outfield at United and has been recruited by the Crimson Hawks to be a pitcher.
"Pitching is what I wanted to go for," Wallace said. "That's the main thing I like to do."
After playing for United in the spring, Wallace competed for the Berkley Hills Renegades in the Johnstown All American Amateur Baseball Association (AAABA) in the summer and then played for the ERA Elite team in a fall travelling league.
Wallace credited AAABA coaches Dave Tataliba and Roland Black as well as ERA Elite coach Rick Roberts for helping him with the recruiting process.
IUP became interested in Wallace while he was pitching for the Renegades.
"We certainly liked his athleticism, and the way he competes in that league," Ditch said. "There are a lot of college guys in the league, and it speaks a lot of him for being able to play in that league even though he was still in high school."
Ditch said his coaches have seen Wallace pitch in the 85-86 miles per hour range with a good breaking ball.
"That's a pretty high ceiling for a high school guy to come in and compete in college," Ditch said.
Wallace is one of 12 recruits that the team announced signing in a news release this week. Wallace, who was the first of those players to commit to IUP, will have plenty of competition for playing time as nine of those recruits are listed as pitchers. The Crimson Hawks will be replacing 13 seniors after this spring.
Dixon, of Blairsville, is the son of Joe and Joni Dixon and has been coached by Bob Slezak and John Flickinger at Derry.
Earlier this week, the Nittany Lions announced on their Web site that Dixon was one of seven recruits to sign with the Big Ten school.
The 6-foot-2 right-hander has pitched and played the outfield and first base during his time at Derry, but he has been recruited by Penn State primarily to be a pitcher.
"They said I would be able to do both pitch and play the field," Dixon said, "but it's extremely hard for a pitcher to do both positions. I might try it in the fall to see what will happen, but I will probably just end up being a pitcher."
As a junior at Derry, Dixon went 1-4 with a 4.06 ERA. He struck out 35 batters in 31 innings and held opposing batters to a .231 batting average.
At the plate, Dixon led the team with a .386 batting average, 15 RBIs and a .526 slugging percentage. His .455 on-base percentage was second on the team.
During the summer, Dixon competed for the Pittsburgh Bulldogs of the Western Pennsylvania Elite Baseball League, an 18-and-under summer league that features some of the top high school players in Western Pennsylvania.
Penn State first contacted Dixon in July while he was pitching for the Bulldogs, and he also received interest from two other Division I schools, Duquesne and St. Peter's, at that time.
"My velocity came up to around 87 to 89 miles per hour a couple games, and that's where (the schools) kind of saw me right away," Dixon said. "I never really got into the high 80s until the middle of summer baseball, and that's when (schools) started contacted me for pitching."
Penn State sent its pitching coach down to see Dixon in one of his starts on the mound, and it just so happened to be one of his best performances of the season as he allowed just two hits in six innings in leading the Bulldogs to a victory.
Dixon said the Penn State coaching staff had told him before the game that they would be visiting.
"I was a little bit nervous," Dixon said, "but I was getting used to it at that point. There were a lot of kids on my team that were being looked at by colleges, so there were colleges at pretty much every game."
By the middle of August, Dixon decided that he was officially going to Penn State, where he plans on studying business management.
"They have one of the nicest baseball facilities in the country," he said. "I just loved the campus when I visited."
Dixon said what he really liked about the campus is that there is a lot to do, but the area right outside State College is rural and reminds him of the Blairsville area, where he enjoys outdoor activities such as hunting.
Next year, Dixon will try to improve a baseball team that finished eighth place in the Big Ten last year with an 8-16 conference record. The Nittany Lions finished third in the conference the previous year.
Dixon will play for head coach Robbie Wine, who has coached for four years at Penn State.
On the Penn State baseball Web site, the coaching staff had the following to say about Dixon: "Scott is a big, strong physical kid. He is athletic and has both a good fastball and breaking ball. He will have a chance to come in as a freshman and compete for innings."
After finishing his final season at Derry this spring, Dixon is excited for the possibility of playing time as a freshman.
"No matter what, I wanted to make an impact as soon as I came in," he said. "That was one of my big goals."