BUTLER TWP — Chase Rowe knows all about Butler County baseball talent.

The 2001 Knoch graduate used to be part of it himself.

Now in his fourth year as head baseball coach at La Roche College, Rowe has secured a fourth Butler County product for his team in Butler senior pitcher-first baseman Ryan Fennell.

The 6-foot-4, 237-pound Fennell also considered Westminster, Mount Union and Marietta before deciding to join the Pittsburgh-based Division III school.

"Chase is a big reason why I'm going there," Fennell said. "He's an awesome guy and he's put together a solid program."

Knoch graduate Dan Pickard is hitting .400 as La Roche's starting sophomore third baseman this year. Seneca Valley graduate Brett Spagnola is a senior infielder for the Redhawks and Slippery Rock graduate Adam Brydon is a junior infielder on the team.

La Roche is off to a 7-4 start this season. Rowe is 68-58 in his career with the Redhawks.

"Ryan will give us a power arm and a power bat," Rowe said. "We're going to use him both ways. He was flying under the radar among a lot of schools when his father clued me in on him."

When Rowe played at Slippery Rock University, he took a lot of extra hitting practice after hours at Jay Fennell's indoor baseball facility.

Rowe played on the 2003 SRU team that won a school-record 43 games and reached the Division II World Series.

"I've known Jay Fennell for years and I know his kids can play ball," Rowe said.

Ryan Fennell has dropped 25 pounds over the past two years. He hit .300 with a home run for the Golden Tornado last year.

In Butler's second game this spring, he hit three doubles, two of them clanging off the wall near the 385-foot sign at Pullman Park.

"All three of those would have been home runs in most high school ballparks," Fennell said. "I'm looking forward to playing on our new field. Hopefully, I can put up some numbers there."

Butler opens its new on-campus ballpark today against Hampton. The dimensions are 325 feet to left field, 360 to center and 310 to right.

"We want to win our section and move on to the state tournament," Fennell said.

Fennell has been playing organized baseball since age 5. He played on the Butler Township 10-year-old team that won the state championship.

His fastball has been clocked at 89 miles per hour this year. Last year, he threw approximately 80 miles per hour.

"I've worked on my arm speed the past two years and it's paying off," Fennell said.

"He's consistently throwing between 85 and 87," Rowe said. "That's an arm that's going to help us."

Fennell plans to major in business. La Roche is a member of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC).