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BASEBALL: John Lowery Jr. named head coach at Mercersburg


John Lowery Jr. is familiar with baseball, to say the least.

He has won high school state championships as both a player and a coach and has spent time coaching at the college and professional levels.

Lowery will now bring his talents to Mercersburg Academy, where he served as an assistant coach in 2015. On Friday, he was named the Blue Storm varsity head coach.

"To be able to follow coach (Karl) Reisner and to be part of the tradition Mercersburg has built here is really attractive to me as a coach," Lowery said in a press release. "Mercersburg has always had good players, and we have a lot of great things here to appeal to those kinds of players."

Lowery replaces Reisner, who has at the helm for 24 seasons.

Under Reisner, the Blue Storm won 16 conference championships and four Pa. Independent Schools Athletic Association state titles.

Lowery's son, Beau, was a big part of Mercersburg's success this year. He earned eight victories on the mound in his freshman season.

"John brings an impressive background to the position, but more importantly, he brings a love of the game, and he cares about his players," Mercersburg athletic director Rick Hendrickson said in a press release. "He's familiar with the strong tradition of success that Mercersburg baseball has fostered, and he's committed to continuing that success in all the right ways."

In 1988, Lowery won a state title with Jefferson High School, W.Va., where he was named the West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, and he played one season in the San Francisco Giants' minor-league system.

He has been an assistant coach at the University of Michigan, Ball State University and Ohio University.

In 2009, Lower guided Martinsburg High School to the West Virginia Class AAA state title as the head coach.