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By  Sean McClelland, Staff Writer 1:43 AM Saturday, May 30, 2009

Tyler Paschal was a productive tailback as a junior at Trotwood-Madison, dreaming of Division I football opportunities.

When Michael Shaw transferred from Alter and won that job on his way to a University of Michigan scholarship, a lesser Ram might have sulked or quit, but Paschal instead turned himself into an All-Greater Western Ohio Conference receiver.

Now Paschal is a tailback again, projected to start for the University of the Cumberlands, an NAIA school in Williamsburg, Ky., after mainly returning kicks there as a freshman.

It’s not Michigan. It’s not big time. But it’s football, and Cumberlands won its conference last season, making Paschal the only member of Trotwood’s prolific 2008 graduating class to play on a championship college team to date.

“It’s every kid’s dream to play D-I and play on TV on Saturday, but just the offer to go play ball, I had to take it,” said Paschal, who has a partial scholarship. “It’s a real good environment.”

Paschal could have walked on at Miami University, and Buffalo and Central Michigan had kept in touch, but at 5-foot-8 and lacking the speed big schools require of a back that size, Cumberlands quickly became his best option.

On the second play of the school’s recent spring game, Tyler took a handoff, changed direction a couple of times and went 35 yards for a touchdown. He scored again on a short run after taking a pitch. Later, his 15-yard run set up the game-winning field goal.

“He always puts the team before himself,” said Fred Paschal, Tyler’s dad. “(Cumberlands head coach) John Bland told me Tyler is a coachable kid, a great kid. He said they have a lot of good kids, but he’s special, different, a man among boys. As a father, that makes you feel good.”

Jordan Paschal, Tyler’s brother, is a Trotwood defensive back and track standout. He has a football scholarship offer from Louisville, but Ohio State and Tennessee are also “real high on his radar,” Fred Paschal reports.

Louisville was Jordan’s first offer. He learned of it from Trotwood football coach Maurice Douglass at the GWOC track meet, where the junior sprinter was part of the winning 800-meter relay team.

Bashore’s stock soars

Baseball America, the bible of such things, projects Indiana University junior pitcher Matt Bashore (Tippecanoe) as a likely first- or second-round pick in the June 9 amateur draft.

In the magazine’s latest online draft tracker, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound lefty is identified as a prospect whose stock is soaring.

Aiding Bashore’s cause has been his strong finish this season. He was named Most Outstanding Player in the Big Ten tournament, helping Indiana win it for the first time since 1996 and earn an automatic NCAA bid.

Bashore is 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA with 101 strikeouts in 902/3 innings.

Scouts like him “because he’s a lefty with size, velocity (low-90s fastball peaked at 95 this year), a pair of solid breaking pitches and an effective splitter/changeup,” BA said. “Bashore has an easy delivery and has improved his control this year.”

Campus tour

• Domonick Britt, the former Trotwood quarterback who signed to play at Jackson State in Mississippi but left before his freshman season, has surfaced at Urbana University and figures to start for the Division II school next season.

• Ohio State left fielder and leadoff hitter Zach Hurley (Springboro) was batting .353 with six home runs and 50 RBIs heading into Friday’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Georgia in Tallahassee, Fla. He finished second in the conference with 82 hits this season.

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