Lakers battery-mates awarded scholarships

By Mark Ribble

Two members of the 18U Leamington Lakers have been awarded baseball scholarships at Sault College in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, for this fall.

The Sault Cougars will open training camp on August 29 and Leamington pitcher Lucas Ingratta and catcher Curtis Chorba will be there.

The pair have signed a letter of intent to attend Sault College and play for the Cougars in their inaugural baseball season this year.

Leamington resident and baseball coach Derek Tomljanovich is scouting for the Cougars and made a recommendation to the team about Ingratta and Chorba.

A couple of weeks ago, the Sault 18U team beat the Lakers in the final of the Lakers Classic Tournament here and the coach of that team is Mike Lebel, who recently signed on to coach the college team as well.

Lebel was impressed by what he saw from the Lakers’ pair and they became the eighth and ninth players recruited for the new baseball program.

Derek Tomljanovich, left, with Curtis Chorba and Lucas Ingratta. The battery-mates just signed the papers to attend Sault College in the fall on baseball scholarships.

“We’re super excited,” said Chorba. “Looking forward to playing some competitive baseball this fall.”

The Cougars will start their season September 10.

Curtis is the son of Matthew and Sheri Chorba, while Lucas is the son of Jerry and Shelley Ingratta.