L-B's Leatherman, Rader earn top all-BVC honors

FINDLAY – Liberty-Benton earned an outright Blanchard Valley Conference baseball title this season and added a few more awards with Kooper Leatherman being named 2026 BVC Player of the Year and Matt Rader tabbed Coach of the Year in voting by league coaches.Leatherman was first-team all-BVC as a pitcher and is considered an excellent catcher as well. On the mound, the 6-foot-2 sophomore right-hander was 4-1 with one save and a league-leading 1.11 earned-run-average. He struck out 37 batters in 31-2/3 innings. Offensively, he batted .403 with 18 doubles and 30 RBI.Rader went 21-21 his first two years as L-B head coach, but (unofficially) is 135-40 since and this season achieved his 150th career win. Since sharing the 2021 title with Leipsic, the Eagles have gone 46-0 in league games, including this season's 10-0 BVC record.Liberty-Benton's Jackson Knepper (pitcher), Zach Elchert (infield) and Reid Irwin (outfield) were also first-team all-BVC selections.Knepper was the ace of the L-B staff, going 10-0 with a 1.81 ERA and 45 strikeouts. Knepper had two wins and a save in the three tournament games that earned the Eagles their first district championship since 1997.Elchert batted .404, led the BVC with five home runs, drove in 27 runs and scored 30. Irwin had a .449 batting average with 15 RBI and 13 stolen bases.Connor Barbara (.375, 15 RBI, 31 runs) and Isaac Schworm (.378, 15 RBI, 20 runs) were second-team picks for L-B.Leipsic, runner-up to L-B in the league standings, had four all-BVC selections. Pitcher John Dewar (2-2, 4.91 ERA, 29 Ks) and outfielder Avery Paris (.349, 22 RBI) were first-team picks for the Vikings. Colin Niese (2-1, 1.75 ERA; .377, 15 RBI) and Aaron Hazelton (2-5, 4.67 ERA; .350, 15 RBI) were second-team picks.Van Buren, McComb and Elmwood all went 7-3 in BVC games and ended up tied for third in the final standings.Pitcher Brayden Gilts (6-3, 3.91 ERA, 55 Ks), who shared the league lead for strikeouts, catcher Brady Lance, who hit .421 and drove in a BVC-best 35 runs, and infielder Will Rampe, who hit .437 with two homers, 18 RBI and 39 runs scored, were all first team for Van Buren.McComb also had three first-teamers in sophomore outfielder Luke Kern, who batted .500 and led the league in runs scored (40) and stolen bases (34), infielder Kahle Drown, who hit .380 with 27 RBI and 27 stolen bases, and catcher Grady Schroeder, who hit .530 to edged Kern for the BVC batting title while driving in 33 runs and scoring 25. Brayden Welty, 5-2 with a 4.88 ERA, was a second team pick for the Panthers.Senior infielder Marshal Taft (.383, 24 RBI) and junior outfielder Ryken Zeigler (.457, 28 RBI, 21 SB) were first team all-BVC picks and Adam Abke (.337, 22 RBI) and Zach Schafer (.33. 13 RBI) were second-team for Elmwood.Arcadia's Isaac Stoner, who went 4-4 with a 3.85 ERA and 55 strikeouts as a pitcher while also batting .385 with 20 walks and 31 stolen bases, was second-team all-BVC, along with Riverdale's Grady Phelps (.368, 16 RBI)) and Pandora-Gilboa's Nolan Leatherman (.333, 27 SB). ALL-BVC BASEBALL FIRST TEAMPITCHERS – John Dewar, Leipsic; Jackson Knepper, Liberty-Benton; Kooper Leatherman, Liberty-Benton; Brayden Gilts, Van Buren.INFIELDERSMarshall Taft, Elmwood; Zach Elchert, Liberty-Benton; Will Rampe, Van Buren; Kahle Drown, McComb.OUTFIELDERSReid Irwin, Liberty-Benton; Luke Kern, McComb; Ryken Zeigler, Elmwood; Avery Paris, Leipsic.CATCHERSGrady Schroeder, McComb; Brady Lance, Van Buren.PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kooper Leatherman, Liberty-Benton.COACH OF THE YEAR: Matt Rader, Liberty-Benton. SECOND TEAMIsaac Stoner Arcadia; Adam Abke, Elmwood; Zach Schafer, Elmwood; Colin Niese, Leipsic; Aaron Hazelton, Leipsic; Connor Barbara, Liberty-Benton; Isaac Schworm, Liberty-Benton; Brayden Welty, McComb; Nolan Leatherman, Pandora-Gilboa; Grady Phelps, Riverdale. HONORABLE MENTIONADA – Wes Mowrey, Robert Shanks. ARCADIA – Colin Nusser, Blayne Colman. ARLINGTON – Hunter George, Zander Collins. ELMWOOD – Carter Goetz, Karson Hammer. LEIPSIC—Myles Camareno, Mill Paniagua. LIBERTY-BENTON – Taden Troyer, Grady Latta. McCOMB – Grant Schaublin, Cameron Smith. PANDORA-GILBOA – Grady Kempf, Denton Leatherman. RIVERDALE – Jackson Armrose, Carter Vent. VAN BUREN – Finn Martin, Alex Homan. VANLUE – Tobias Reed, Brady Hamilton.