High school baseball: Amherst teammates, friends share Lorain County Mr. Baseball

AMHERST — A friendship that started in kindergarten and a baseball career that began in the Amherst Athletic Association coach-pitch league led Landon Wolf and Harrison Schneider on a journey that ended Monday with the Comets seniors sharing the Lorain County Mr. Baseball Award. Schneider, who is headed to Bowling Green State University to continue his baseball career, and Wolf, an Ashland University signee, were presented with their awards in a ceremony at the team's annual banquet Monday in the school's cafeteria. It was the first time in the history of the award that two players from the same school shared the award and the first time since 2017 that there has been co-Mr. Baseball winners, when Amherst's Xavier Moore and Elyria Catholic's Andrew Abrahamowicz were both honored. "This award means everything, it shows the hard work me and Harrison put in together," Wolf said. "We've been best friends since kindergarten and it means the world to share this award with my best friend." Schneider, a two-time Lorain County Player of The Year and two-time first-team All-Ohio selection, was a dual-threat athlete for the Comets this year, going 7-1 on the mound with a 0.63 ERA while also hitting for a .346 average with 35 RBIs and playing third base on the days he wasn't pitching. Wolf, who graduated as Amherst's all-time career leader in RBIs with 101, hit .370 with four home runs and 30 RBIs. He also split time between first base and catcher, stepping in to fill the role when the Comets' starting catcher went down with an injury. "I got the email that said, 'hey it's time to nominate a Mr. Baseball and I sat there and went back and forth with myself in my head for like a half hour and I could not bring myself to just nominate one of them," Amherst coach Matt Rositano said. "I'm just really happy they were both able to share it as they were both more than deserving." As juniors, Schneider and Wolf were part of the first Amherst team to play for a state title when the Comets lost to Anthony Wayne in the Division II state championship game. "I'm honored to accept this award and I'm beyond joyful that me and (Landon) got it," Schneider said. "It's awesome that I got to grow up with him and experience this award with him. Honestly, I wouldn't want to share it with anybody else. I feel like we both deserve it." Schneider and Wolf are the sixth and seventh Amherst players to win Mr. Baseball since 2004. Wolf, whose father Casey is the Amherst athletic director, grew up around the program, serving as the Comets bat boy when he was in elementary school and saw first-hand the work it took for players like Moore, Justin Mott, Evan Shawver and Martin Polonkay to win the Mr. Baseball Award. "To see all the different Mr. Baseball award winners when I was growing up and was a bat boy and to see the dedication it took to win this award ... it paved the way to get me to where I am today," Wolf said. The Mr. Baseball Award winners were among five Amherst players who were named to the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Division II All-Ohio first-team last week. Three local seniors Aaron Bower (Firelands), Kaiden Vogelpohl (Midview) and Easton Weber (Brookside) were Mr. Baseball honorable mentions. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.