Three East Central College men’s soccer players were recognized with “high honors” following the 2020-21 season.
ECC Athletic Director Dr. Jay Mehrhoff noted that the Falcons finished the season 8-4 and ended the season ranked No. 16 in the final National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DII Men’s Soccer poll.
“Despite a postponed and shortened season, excitement was proven by hard work and determination by some of the top players on the team,” he said. “Several Falcons were recognized with high-level postseason honors.”
Joseph McInnes, Airdrie, Scotland, was named to the NJCAA DII Men’s Soccer All-American Second Team for the 2020-21 season. He led the Falcons in scoring with 10 goals and five assists.
“His offensive output and tenacity in attacking the opposition’s goal helped garner the honors, with support from a skilled cast of teammates,” Mehrhoff added.
Diego Navia, a sophomore transfer from Lincoln College and hailing from Guayaquil, Ecuador, was named to the United Soccer Coaches, Scholar All-American team.
In addition, Navia and fellow sophomore teammate Guy Baskerville, London, England, were recognized with United Soccer Coaches Distinction Award Players for Junior College in 2020-21.
The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is warning member colleges across the country about fake or scam social media pages claiming affiliation with the athletic organization.
Many colleges across the country, including East Central College, have been “tagged” in fraudulent events to acquire credit card information from fans in exchange for access to NJCAA digital streams of athletic events.
That includes ECC volleyball and softball games. The college has been tagged in events and asked to co-sponsor the fake events. There has been an influx of fake events mentioning ECC games and matches for several weeks.
ECC encourages fans and spectators to not give out any credit card or financial information to these pages and to report and block the fake pages.
The scammers use NJCAA logos, or graphics that resemble the logo, to obtain credit card information.
In addition, many of the events that the college is tagged in are not actual games that involve ECC teams, but instead they are colleges with similar names.
East Central College alumnus John Moroney has an affinity for baseball.
His relationship with the sport has taken him to the mound of Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, to throw out the first pitch in game No. 1 of the 2011 World Series.
A more painful experience, Moroney said, was the time he was in the stands while the Cardinals played the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., when he was struck by a Lance Berkman foul ball, sending him to the emergency room of a D.C. hospital.
But Moroney’s latest brush with America’s pastime is right here at ECC — the naming of the Falcons’ Baseball field “Taco Bell Field,” where the ECC team will begin play in the Spring of 2022.
Moroney is the president and owner of W & M Restaurants, Union, which owns Taco Bell restaurants in St. Clair, Union and Washington, and more than a dozen fast-food restaurants in the region.
Late last year, Moroney committed to donating $25,000 to the ECC Foundation, purchasing the naming rights of the baseball field.
John and his family, including wife, Jeannine, and son, Patrick, were on hand Friday, Jan. 15, for a “groundbreaking” ceremony recognizing his contribution to the college.
“I am so honored to be able to do this. It is exciting, and there is baseball tradition here, obviously,” Moroney said.
While Moroney attended ECC in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the college had a baseball team. ECC had a baseball squad take the field from 1975 to 2001.
During that stretch, Major League Baseball standout Tom “The Terminator” Henke, former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays; and Omir Santos, former catcher for the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians played for the ECC team.
The team set to begin play next year will be coached by Coach Brandon Rains.
“When I was here the baseball team was pretty good,” Moroney remembered. “We had some great players.”
“There is a lot of interest in baseball locally,” he added. “We have Little League teams in all of the towns in the areas — the people around this community are excited for ECC’s baseball team to take the field next year.”
When the Falcon Baseball team takes the field next year, Moroney said he will be there to watch the crew during its inaugural season.
“It will be so neat to be able to come and watch games,” he commented. “I think it is incredible that ECC has done this.”
ECC President Dr. Jon Bauer, who also is an avid baseball fan, said there were vital components that were necessary to reintroduce baseball at ECC.
“When we first talked about doing this, it was very critical that we had a few things in place,” he said.
“We knew the only way that this would work is if we had interest from local players, support of local coaches and support of local individuals and businesses,” Dr. Bauer added.
Moroney played a very important role in the plans for the return of baseball at the college, according to Dr. Bauer.
“To have John step up like this as an alum, individually, and as a business leader getting this off the ground was extremely important to the success of this program,” he further added.
Dr. Bauer noted that Coach Rains already has signed local players and he is working on signing more from the area.
“This is really just an exciting development for East Central College, and it could not be done without local support,” he said. “That’s what a community college is about and that’s what this day is about.”
To learn more about baseball at ECC or donate to the campaign, visit the ECC Foundation.
East Central College is looking for local players to tryout for the first Baseball Falcons squad that will take the field next year.
Coach Brandon Rains will check out the local talent this Saturday, Nov. 21, and Sunday, Nov. 22, to fill out the first baseball team at ECC in 20 years.
Any local high school seniors who would like to tryout contact Coach Rains via e-mail at brandonrains@eastcentral.edu.
The tryouts will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days at the Union High School Baseball Field, located at 1217 W. Main St., in Union.
Players should bring a current high school physical exam, their own water, turf baseball shoes, metal cleats and all other equipment.
For the tenth year in a row, the East Central College Athletic Department has received the prestigious Harold Oetting All-Academic Award by the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference (MCCAC).
“This is unprecedented by any community college in Missouri,” said Dr. Jay Mehrhoff, athletic director. “Our student athletes in women’s volleyball and softball, as well as men’s soccer, had a combined 3.099 GPA last academic year. We are incredibly proud of their hard work and dedication.”
The award was first established in 1995 as an All-Sports Award – with academics as one component. In 2003-04, the award was renamed to honor longtime conference president Harold Oetting, who retired as athletic director at Jefferson College in 2003. The award is now based on overall athletic department academic achievement.
“Many of the student athletes continue their athletic careers at the four-year level. While many receive athletic scholarship money, a much higher percentage receive academic scholarships. The formula for success starts with recruiting quality student athletes,” added Dr. Mehrhoff.
Dr. Mehrhoff believes the key is setting the tone early. From the beginning, his staff and coaches emphasize the importance of academic performance and give the students the resources they need to thrive.
