Just call it Bryan Cornell's version of the right to bear arms -- and a lot of them.

Cornell is West Allegheny's baseball coach and guided the team to a 20-0 record in the regular season. The Indians were the only team in the WPIAL to go unbeaten and they are the No. 1 seed for the Class AAA playoffs that begin this week.

But the most impressive number with West Allegheny is nine. That's how many pitchers on Cornell's staff have at least one win this season.

This nine lives of pitching is practically unheard of in WPIAL baseball. Most teams have three or maybe four pitchers get a win during the season. But nine good arms?

"I know we've never had anything like this at West Allegheny, that's for sure," said Cornell, who won a WPIAL championship as a West Allegheny player in 1994.

"We always have two kids who pitch a lot and sometimes a third will get some wins. But this year, we've just been very fortunate with having a number of pitchers."

Think of this: Of the 128 teams in WPIAL baseball, 72 (56 percent) had nine wins or less as a team during the regular season.

West Allegheny's ace is Zak Sinclair. But he's only 5-0 and has pitched only 31 2/3 innings.

Ryan Huebner, Ricky Deveraux, and Derrik Zeroski are 3-0. Nick Dymkowski is 2-0 and Vaughn Maraccini, Austin Long, Mike Visloski and Mark Diskin are 1-0.

Five pitchers have worked at least 12 innings and the squad has produced 128 strikeouts in 133 innings.

"I tell our kids that we know they may not be getting the number of innings they want," Cornell said. "But we tell them they're surrounded by all kinds of talent and they all can step up when it's their turn."

Two at a time

In terms of versatility and success, it would be hard to top Seneca Valley's Conor Barrett this spring.

Barrett's story deals with spikes. He wears them on the track and field team and delivers spikes on the volleyball team.

Barrett, a 6-foot-1 junior, has the No. 1 high jump in the WPIAL this season at 6 feet, 8 inches and won the Baldwin Invitational nine days ago. But he also is the starting middle hitter on Seneca Valley's volleyball team that is ranked No. 2 in WPIAL Class AAA.

Many days this spring, Barrett will practice with Seneca Valley's track and field team for 45 minutes, and then head to the gym for an hour or hour-and-a-half practice with the volleyball team.

"The track coaches and myself are fine with it," Seneca Valley volleyball coach Jeff Beavers said. "I think a lot of coaches these days get to the point where they tell a kid, 'Play for me and no one else.' That's not a good thing to do to a kid."

Remember him?

Matt DeSalvo is another example of an athlete who developed after high school.

DeSalvo, a 1998 graduate of Union High School in New Castle, made his pitching debut with the New York Yankees this past week, allowing only three hits and one run in seven innings against the Seattle Mariners.

As a senior at Union nine years ago, DeSalvo had a 6-3 record with 81 strikeouts and was not drafted. He went on to have a fine career at Marietta, but signed with the Yankees as a free agent.

Football recruiting

Add Montour running back/linebacker Christian Wilson to the list of heavily recruited players in the WPIAL.

Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Ohio State, Michigan and Tennessee are some of the schools that have offered scholarships to Wilson (6 feet 3, 225 pounds). Many schools like him as a linebacker, some as an H-back, but Louisville wants him as a running back.

Dig this

It has been said WPIAL girls' volleyball has been on the upswing in terms of individual talent. Here's an indication: Five WPIAL players who are juniors recently accepted scholarships to Division I colleges.

Thomas Jefferson's Renee Tomko and Penn Hills' Tori Akrie both made verbal commitments to the University of Louisville, which won the Big East Conference title last season.

Mt. Lebanon's Katherine Traut committed to Xavier, Trinity's Natalie Abel to James Madison and Seneca Valley's Jennifer Boyd to Ball State.

The five girls play on two different club teams with the Pittsburgh Renaissance.

Where they rank

Ever wonder how the players taken early in the NFL draft were ranked coming out of high school? Rivals.com, a scouting service, researched this year's top 100 draft picks and found 10 had a five-star ranking in high school, and 33 had a four-star ranking. A five-star ranking is the highest ranking a player can attain

No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell, who played in Mobile, Ala., was a four-star and was ranked the No. 6 pro-style quarterback in the country coming out of high school in 2003.

Interestingly, the No. 5 QB was Pine-Richland's Kevin McCabe, who played at Virginia and hopes to finish his career this fall at California, Pa.

Also in 2003, Brady Quinn was ranked the No. 10 QB in the country and offensive lineman Joe Thomas was the No. 18 tackle in the country. They were first-round picks of the Cleveland Browns.

Receiver Calvin Johnson, the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft, had a four-star ranking and was the No. 6 receiver in the country in 2004.

Also in 2004, Rivals ranked Adrian Peterson and Ted Ginn 1-2 as the top high school players in the country. Both were top 10 picks in the draft.

But there is another side to the rankings stuff. Defensive end Jamaal Anderson was the No. 8 pick in the NFL draft. Coming out of Parkview High (Ark.) in 2004, he was nowhere in national rankings.

At that time, Anderson was 6-6, 205 pounds and listed as a receiver. Now, he's 6-6, 279.