PITTSBURGH (AP) - A former high school baseball coach has pleaded guilty to charges related to the theft of over $90,000 from a charity for terminally ill children that he founded in the memory of a player who made national headlines in his effort to play sports while dying of cancer.

Steven Wetzel, 39, entered the plea Friday in federal court to charges of mail fraud and filing a false income tax return and is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

Wetzel established the Hero Program after 18-year-old John Challis died in August 2008. Challis realized his dream when he was used as a pinch-hitter by Wetzel for one game in April 2008 at Freedom High School in Beaver County. Challis, who was 5-foot-5 and 93 pounds, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer two years before.

Prosecutors said Wetzel solicited donations from businesses and foundations from September 2009 until December 2014 and said "100% of donations and grant monies" would be used to meet the needs of terminally ill children. Instead, prosecutors alleged, he used the money for such things as home utility bills and remodeling projects as well as spending $5,000 at restaurants, $1,500 for Starbucks coffee and $3,600 for Pirates tickets.

In all, Wetzel spent about $91,000 of the money while providing about "$10,000 to the intended recipients of those grant and donation moneys," prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Steven Toprani said last month that Wetzel was "very remorseful and sorry that he damaged the trust of those who gave." He said his client "was naive in the way funds should be handled and he's accepted responsibility for that."