Baseball’s best
Raiders’ VanSickle headlines GCM All-County Team
Waynesburg Central, Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan all had successful baseball seasons and all three teams headline the 2025 GCM All-County Baseball Team.
One reached a WPIAL final, one won a section championship and one had a 13-game winning streak that included a coaching milestone.
The team that won a section crown was the Raiders, who were 16-4 overall and 11-1 in Section 4-3A.
Leading the way for Waynesburg was IUP recruit Alex VanSickle who was the county’s top hitter with a .567 batting average during the regular season.
On a team stocked with talent, the lefty-hitting senior infielder not only led the Raiders in hitting but also paced them in doubles (10), triples (4), home runs (3), RBIs (20), runs (30), hits (34), stolen bases (12), on-base percentage (.653) and slugging percentage (1.017).
VanSickle also sported a 1.15 ERA in eight appearances on the mound as Waynesburg’s No. 3 pitcher.
VanSickle was a clear choice as the GCM Player of the Year.
The Coach of the Year wasn’t so easy to decipher in the battle between Waynesburg’s Perry Cunningham, Carmichaels’ Dickie Krause and Jefferson-Morgan’s John Curtis.
The final decision was to have all three share the honor as Coaches of the Year.
Cunningham, in his first season with the Raiders, not only won a section crown but sported the county’s best record, which included a 10-game winning streak, and guided his team to a 6-2 WPIAL playoff victory over Freeport.
Krause guided the Mikes to a second-place finish in Section 1-A (9-3) with a 15-6 overall record and a nine-game winning streak that included playoff wins over Union, 9-1, No. 3 Leechburg, 6-3, and No. 2 Eden Christian, 4-3, before falling to top-seeded Serra Catholic in the WPIAL championship game. Eden Christian would end up as the PIAA runner-up. Carmichaels was the lone county team to qualify for the state playoffs.
Curtis, in his 41st season at J-M, recorded his 400th career victory with a 3-0 home win over playoff qualifier Avella on April 9. He would up that total to 411 by season’s end. Jefferson-Morgan split its series with Carmichaels, losing 4-3 on the road and winning 8-1 at home, to tie the Mikes for second place at 9-3. The Rockets reeled off an impressive 13 consecutive victories, including an 11-4 playoff win over Winchester Thurston, before also losing to top-seeded Serra Catholic. J-M finished at 14-4.
The Pitcher of the Year was Raiders senior Tyler Groves who was 9-1 with a 1.76 ERA and 69 strikeouts and 23 walks in 51 ⅔ innings.
The Player of the Year runner-up was Rockets junior John Woodward who batted .455 with seven doubles, three home runs, 25 RBIs and a .745 slugging percentage while also going 6-2 on the mound with a 2.35 ERA and 45 strikeouts.
Also in the running for Player of the Year were Mikes seniors Colin Andrews and Robbie Wilson-Jones. Andrews, who was Carmichaels’ pitching ace, was 6-1 with a 2.29 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 58 innings, and he also drove in 13 runs. Wilson-Jones, who played shortstop and was the Mikes’ closer, batted .446 with 18 RBIs and 21 runs.
Other members of the All-County team for Carmichels were senior pitcher Jase Zdravecky (4-1, 1.38 ERA), senior center fielder Dayton Reynolds, junior catcher Brayden Andrews and freshman third baseman Jordan Davis (team-leading 21 RBIs).
Other members of the team for Waynesburg were junior pitcher Austin Surber (5-0, 1.85 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 30 ⅓ innings), senior outfield Jake Stephenson (.441, 17 RBIs, 11 stolen bases), junior outfielder C.J. Corwin (.357, 1.37 ERA) and senior infielder Derek Turcheck (.442, 19 RBIs, 11 stolen bases).
Other members of the team for the Rockets were junior outfielder Jaymison Robinson (.300, 27 runs, 20 stolen bases), junior pitcher Drew Adams (6-1, 2.77 ERA, 50 strikeouts) and versatile junior Dayten Marion (.381, 21 stolen bases).
Also chosen for the team were West Greene senior Lane Allison, who batted .310 and led the Pioneers in runs, hits and stolen bases, and juniors Xavier Lucey (.370), Darren Knight and Jackson Grimes, and Mapletown seniors Spencer Yeager and Carson Vanata, and junior Ashton Walker.