Logan Lutz To Continue His Baseball And Education Career At Alfred State

Above Photo: Logan (seated) with his parents, Todd and Diane Lutz. In back (L-R) Clarion-Limestone Athletic Director Brad Frazier, Head Coach Bill Smith, Assistant Coach Drew Beichner and Assistant AD Emily Lubas.

Logan Lutz, a three sport standout from Clarion-Limestone recently signed his Letter of Intent to continue his baseball and academic career at Alfred State College, in Alfred, New York.

In addition to baseball, Logan, the son of Todd and Diane Lutz, also competes in basketball and cross-country. This year the C-L cross-country team joined in a co-op with Clarion Area, to form the Central Clarion Wildcats program. Logan competed in the Clarion Little League and various travel ball teams, locally and beyond.

Some of the High School Sports honors Logan has had so far:

Baseball (March 2022) Third Team Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference (KSAC) All-Conference, Outfield – 2022 (9th grade); All-District Nine Second Team, Relief Pitcher (9th grade); Tri-County Weekend/Courier All-Star Team, Honorable Mention (9th grade); Second Team All-Conference, Outfield 2023 (10th grade); First Team All-Conference, Outfield 2024 (11th grade); All-District Nine Second Team, Outfield (11th grade); Tri-County Weekend/Courier All-Star Team – Second Team, Outfield (11th grade).

Cross Country: KSAC First Team All-Conference – 21-22 Season (9th Grade); State Qualifier 21-22 Season First Team All-Conference – 22-23 Season (10th Grade), State Qualifier 22-23 Season; KSAC Boys Team Champions 23-24 Season (11th grade); KSAC Boys Team Champions 24-25 Season (12th grade); Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) State Qualifier 24-25 Season (12th Grade).

Varsity Basketball 22-23 Season (10th grade), Keystone Shortway Athletics Conference Champions and
District 9 Champions.

Logan is also well known around the area for wearing the Number 42, in honor of Jackie Robinson. He has made it a mission to do what he can to help perpetuate Robinson’s legacy (as well as Roberto Clemente’s and the Negro Leagues’ legacies.)

(Follow the link at the bottom of the article for a CSZ article from 2020 – as Logan shared, in his own words about his mission – the photo and commentary about receiving a ball signed by Jackie Robinson is priceless.)

Alfred State is an NCAA Division III program, playing in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC).

Teams from ten schools make up the AMCC. competing with Alfred State are: Carlow University, Hilbert College (Hamburg, NY), La Roche University (Pittsburgh), Mt. Aloysius College (Cresson), Penn State Behrend, Penn State Altoona, Pitt Bradford, Pitt Greensburg and Wells College (Aurora, NY).

Alfred State is led by head coach Mike Armstrong, who took over in 2017 and is just the third coach for the Pioneers since the team was brought back to campus in 1994. He has led the Pioneers to the AMCC postseason four times. The Pioneers advanced to the AMCC Semifinals for the first time in 2021, and in 2022 they finished third overall in the AMCC reaching the Championship Tournament for the first time.

In 2023, the Pioneers sported a 12-2 conference record and went 26-14 overall, winning the AMCC Regular Season Championship. Coach Armstrong was awarded the AMCC Coach of the Year award that season. During his tenure at Alfred State, Armstrong has produced ten professional players, two All-Americans, and six All-Region players.

Coach Armstrong had this to say about Logan, “We are thrilled that Logan decided to be a part of our baseball family here at Alfred State. He has a live arm and a strong bat that will certainly impact our team for the better.

“We cannot wait for him to help our program on and off the field.”

Logan, who plans to major in Sports Management, shared about his decision.

“I chose Alfred State because it gave me a chance to play at the next level for baseball and a great education for my future.

“The coaches are a big part, as they are offering me a spot to start as a freshman if I put in the work needed.

“The culture of the team is great as everyone is on the same page and working to get the win and have fun.”

And beyond college, “My future plans are to excel at baseball and hopefully get a chance to get drafted. If not I would like to work with Chad Miller to help kids with the sport of baseball.”

Logan shared several shoutouts.

First and foremost. “A big thank you to my parents for giving me a chance to play college ball. They’ve done so much for me as opening doors for me to make it to the next level.”

And some others.

“Chad Miller gave me a chance to get in contact with the Alfred State Coach, so I say a huge thank you to him and everything he has done for me baseball wise. A thanks to Coach Minich and Coach Harrison for coaching me through past summer ball years with the KSAC Oilers.

(Coach Harrison also runs The Garage training facility.)

“A thank you to Coach Bednar for giving me lessons on pitching and helping me take a huge stride in my pitching game. 

“Another big thank you to Ed and Jon Kemmer for helping me take strides with my hitting game as they’ve helped me for years with hitting. A big thank you to Coach Bill Smith as he was another travel ball and high school coach, that helped me gain confidence throughout my year of baseball.”

Todd Lutz said, “Diane and I couldn’t be more proud and excited for Logan and his choice of Alfred State to further his education and athletic career.  

“Once Logan  decided he wanted not only to go to college but pursue playing college baseball, he sought after advice from coaches that he played for and worked with to figure out what he needed to do as a player to reach the next level. With the advice Logan received he put the work in to put him in the best position he possibly could to make this dream a reality. 

“We can’t wait for his time at Alfred State to start and are excited to see what his future holds. 

“There are so many people who played a role in this journey who deserve a lot of thanks for helping Logan. We would like to thank Chad Miller, Bill Smith, Coach Bednar, and everyone at The Garage training facility.”

Coach Smith had this to say about Logan’s drive, “I’ve had the privilege of coaching Logan for the past 8-9 years. He is by far one of the hardest working players I have ever coached. He has an amazing drive to make himself and everyone around him a better baseball player.

“He has gone from being one of the smallest kids on the team to someone who is going to be one of the more dominant pitchers in the league this coming season.

“Logan will excel at the next level because of his work ethic and willingness to be the best player he can be.”

And some words about a special bond that has developed.

“A lot of credit needs to go to his dad, Todd, as well. He has been there all along for Logan and also for me as someone I could always count on to help when I needed it. Todd’s relationship with Logan and my son Tommy has made them all good friends. As teammates they always pushed each other to be better.

“I can’t wait to see what the future brings.”

Chad Miller, is a founder at Louisville Slugger Hitting Science Center co-founder at Peak Neuromonitoring Associates.

He had these fine words.

“I have been working with Logan since Little League.

“Logan has tremendous dedication and discipline that has helped him develop into one of the top players in Western Pennsylvania. It is going to be extremely exciting to see where Logan takes his career.

“Because of Logan’s incredible work ethic he will be successful in life both on and off of the field.”

Jon Kemmer, a player who grew up in the area and played professional ball, and has coached at the Garage over the years, with his father, Ed shared, “Logan is one of those players that every coach dreams of. Most players that I have worked with throughout the years have the urge to get better, but Logan consistently put the work in to actually get better.

“I can honestly say that I haven’t trained with many kids that work as hard as Logan. He didn’t just work on the throwing or hitting, he worked on being a student of the game. There aren’t too many kids that study the game like that.

“The one thing I respect most about him is how coachable he is. At a very early age he was told he wasn’t good enough, most kids would have quit after that; but Logan went right back to work to prove them wrong, and he did.

“Logan said from day one that he wanted to go to college and there was never a doubt in my mind that he would play college baseball someday.

“Alfred State has gotten not only a great ball player, but an even better person. To say I’m proud of him is an understatement.

“This honor wasn’t given, it was earned. I can’t wait to see what the next chapter in his career brings and I’ll be cheering him on the whole way.

“Congratulations to a great ball player that I respect a lot!”

(Note: Jon advanced all the way to Triple A. He was a Spring Training call up for the Houston Astros.)

Ed Kemmer has experienced Logan’s drive big time. “We first started working with Logan when he was around seven. “h”e was just a little on the shy side.. until we started to poke fun at him.. it didn’t take long and he started to poke back…and then the fun started

“…We both looked forward to the next season.

“From the word go, he would always go over and above what we asked of him. When the times were over he never wanted to quit. 

“That drive and work ethic has a great deal to do with the great young man a the ball player he has become.

“So proud of him and proud to call him a friend today.”

(Congratulations to Logan and your family, Clarion-Limestone, Alfred State College, and everyone who has helped you along this wonderful journey!!!!)