Leatherneck Baseball Lends Helping Hand to Lincoln Elementary School

On Saturday, September 6, Western Illinois baseball student-athletes gathered at Macomb's Lincoln Elementary to give back to the community by weeding the playground and painting new lines in the parking lot. The project was a special one for head baseball coach Ryan Brownlee.

"I come from a family of educators so most of our community service projects are about helping kids," said Brownlee. "My daughter Norah graduated from Lincoln last year and had a great experience there.  Mr. Horrell is a tremendous person who has a lot of school pride for Lincoln."

In just two hours 34 Leatherneck baseball players cleared weeds from the playground and painted fresh lines for stalls in the parking lot. Two projects that eliminated hours of work from the school district's "to-do" list.

WIU's Mascheri Signs with the Normal CornBelters

Departing senior left-handed pitcher Rich Mascheri signed to play with the Normal CornBelters of The Frontier League, which is part of The Independent Professional Baseball Federation on Wednesday.  

Mascheri collected Second All-Summit League honors on Wednesday as well following a season which saw him post the sixth lowest ERA in The Summit League at 3.39 and struck out 72 batters, which was the fourth most in the league, in a team-high 90.1 innings with three victories. Mascheri is the first Western Illinois pitcher to be recognized since Travis Tolsma collected second team honors in 2008.

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WIU Names Shane Davis Assistant Baseball Coach

Shane Davis has been named assistant coach for the Fighting Leatherneck baseball program. He comes to Western Illinois after two seasons as an assistant coach at Cleveland State.

Davis assisted with Cleveland State's recruiting efforts, focusing primarily in the Midwest. He also helped with summer ball placement and worked to arrange the team's travel plans and future scheduling.  Following Cleveland State's baseball program being dropped in May of this year, Davis served as an associate scout for the Texas Rangers prior to this appointment.

Davis was a four-year letterwinner as a catcher for Eastern Michigan and earned his Bachelor's degree in secondary education in 2007.

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