Somewhere, you have to wonder when Lake baseball head coach Bud Householder will get a breather.
Leading the Blue Streaks to two district championship games and battling through a tough season somewhere down the road must take it's toll on the 37-year-old Householder somewhere down the road.
Actually, it has not. And to make him happier, two standout baseball players under his watch have committed to respective college as Joe Piporo will continue his baseball and academic career at Walsh University, while Kyler King has signed to play at Cedarville.
On top of that, he is also the manager of the Canton Terriers baseball team for players 22 and under. But the proud father of two children is enjoying his time without any signs of wear and tear.
“It was good for Joe to sign at Walsh and continue his career. Anytime you have a guy who has speed and is solid defensively, it will help immensely,” Householder said. “You need to have guys be able to scoop up ground balls without any problem and he has done that.”
“When you look at him and King signing along with Michael Chack (Malone), to get three into colleges where they belong is an accomplishment. At Lake, we do what we can to try and get players in position to sign to a college that will suit them.”
Householder will also be taking on another challenge. Being the manager of the Canton Terriers baseball team is newly anointed territory for him. He was approached for the position by general manager Greg Trbovich, who has been the architect of the Terriers success since their inception in 1999.
Householder's familiarity with Trbovich goes back to when he coached in the Hank Miller baseball classic and that is what made the decision to be a Terrier this summer all the more rewarding.
“I was flattered that he would ask me to coach the Terriers this summer. He knows the Stark County scene very well when it comes to baseball,” he said.
As of press time, the Terriers are 1-5 on the season. But there is still a lot of baseball left to be played. Householder has been down this road before. A great example is his 2008 Lake team that started slow but caught fire and came within a run of consecutive district titles.
Though his team have experienced their struggles, he is confident that the team will eventually find their turning point and obtain some wins that will go a way into helping them qualify for the playoffs.
"We have to adjust our game to playing with wooden bats. The pitching is good and we can get after the ball defensively. But we want to peak at the right time because the top three teams advance to the world series,” Householder said. But right now, we just want to get to the regionals and go from there.”
“Right now, we are feeling out each other through six games but if we can adjust, the wins will come.”
So far, Householder has shown no signs of slowing down and that won't be happening anytime soon.
