Apr 18, 2003 By The 12 min read

Vulcans win three from Lock Haven The California University of Pa. baseball team did something Thursday few teams are able to do by winning three games in one day. The Vulcans finished a suspended game against Lock Haven, and then swept a PSAC-West doubleheader for the three wins.

The Vulcans were leading 3-1 in the suspended game heading into the third inning and finished strong with nine runs in the final five innings, including an eight-run fourth inning. Mike Larson went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Tim Donnelly had three hits and three RBIs while Lee Petersavage smack three hits for an RBI.

The Vulcans built a 6-2 lead in the first game of the doubleheader before holding off a seventh inning rally for the win. Bob Saddler (5-3) picked up the win while Connellsville’s Dennis Show earned his second save.

Bryan Hartung had two hits, including a solo home run. Justin Pifer also smacked a solo home run.

California’s big run inning was better than Lock Haven’s to give the Vulcans a doubleheader sweep and three wins for the day. Leading 1-0, California scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lock Haven countered with three in the top of the fifth, but Larson shut the door over the final two innings to improve his record to 3-2.

Pifer’s bat continued to spur the California offense with the catcher hitting two home runs to finish with three RBIs.

California improves to 8-4 in the PSAC-West and 19-14 overall. Lock Haven falls to 3-8 in the conference and 12-18 overall.

Penn State-New Kensington 12, Penn State-Fayette 11 – Chad Unufur’s double brought home the tying and winning run with two outs for a non-conference home victory.

Zack Myers (1-0) pitched two innings with four strikeouts and two walks for the win. Kevin McArdle, Dewey Traini, Josh Cosentino and Myers also doubled for Penn State-New Kensington.

Mike Miskanin and Jeff Horell both doubled with two singles for the Roaring Lions. Brandon Firestone and Ryan Gondek also had three hits for the visitors.

Penn State-Fayette falls to 6-8 overall while the home team won for the first time in three games.

College softball

California (Pa.) 4, Lock Haven 1; California (Pa.) 6, Lock Haven 1 – The Vulcans used the strong pitching performances by Amber Riegel and Becky Mezyk for a PSAC-West doubleheader sweep at home.

Riegel allowed eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk in the first game to improve her record to 7-2. Maggie Fricko hit a pinch-hit solo home run. Gabrielle Rendon had a double and two singles.

Mezyk gave up six hits with three strikeouts and a walk to improve her record to 9-0. She benefited from three first inning runs and a 6-0 lead before the visitors were able to score.

Debbie Tedesco drove in two runs for the Vulcans.

California improves to 10-2 in the conference and 17-3 overall. Lock Haven drops to 5-7 in the PSAC-West and 10-16 overall.

High school baseball

Connellsville 14, Ringgold 4 – The Falcons tied the game on Justin Marsinko’s solo home run in the top of the seventh inning, then exploded for 10 runs in the top of the eighth for a Section 2-AAA road victory. Connellsville improves to 3-1 in the section and 6-6 overall.

Chris Pepe started the winning rally with a two-run double to break the tie. Andy Beucher added insurance with a grand slam. All 10 runs were scored with two outs.

Travis Henry, Marsinko, Beucher and Tony Marciante all had two hits for the Falcons. Kevin Bell pitched the final two innings to earn his first win.

Bentworth 4, Beth-Center 2 – The Bearcats built a 3-0 lead after two innings and Shaun Findlay made the advantage stand for a Section 7-A home victory.

The Bulldogs (1-3, 2-7) cut into the lead on losing pitcher Matt Stay’s RBI-single in the fifth and J.D. McCarty’s run-scoring base hit in the sixth. Drew Frost and McCarty double for Beth-Center.

Beth-Center travels to Frazier Monday.

California 8, Frazier 0 – Dan DeMoss went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Parke Bongiorno added two hits, two RBIs and a run scored to carry the Trojans to a Section 7-A road victory. Frazier falls to 0-3 in the section and 2-6 overall.

Shane Tonkavitch and Bryan Dunn double for California. Dunn was the winning pitcher, allowing five hits, striking out nine and walking one.

Steve Erdley went 2-for-3 in his first start of the year.

Belle Vernon 14, East Allegheny 7 – Not a classic pitchers’ duel, the Leopards out slugged the home team to remain atop Section 5-AA in the loss column. Derry, Yough and Belle Vernon (4-1, 5-2) all have one section loss with Derry having a 1/2-game lead with one more win.

The Leopards were behind after three innings, 6-3, but exploded for 11 runs through the middle innings. John Timko smacked a two-run home run in the third inning with the big blow coming on Doug Ivill’s grand slam in the fourth. Ivill finished with three hits, two runs scored and four RBIs. Timko went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Ryan Kelly drove home three runs.

Brian Green pitched 2 1/3 innings for his first win of the season. Jim Fretts held on for his second save.

Losing pitcher Steve Nash hit for the cycle, including a home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning. He went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBIs.

Jefferson-Morgan 9, West Greene 3 – Brian Balazick clubbed a key two-run single in the sixth inning as Jefferson-Morgan downed West Greene in Section 1-A action. West Greene falls to 0-5 in the section and 1-8 overall.

The Rockets loaded the bases twice to no avail, but Balazick stepped up to the plate and came through with a line drive to add insurance to the J-M victory. He went 3-for-4.

John Pochron picked up his third win on the mound while Joey Welch took home the loss for West Greene. Pochron went the distance, struck out 10 and walked three.

“We were down 3-2 at one time and we came back and nipped away at them,” said Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis.

A.J. Wilson, Jamie Wilson and Justin Allen all doubled for West Greene.

Jefferson-Morgan (6-4, 1-3) will travel to Avella on Monday for a 4 p.m. start.

Mapletown 9, West Greene 3 – Justin Corso went the distance for the Maples, striking out eight, walking one and helping his own cause with a double as Mapletown rolled to an easy win over West Greene.

Andy Latusek and Cory Dillinger doubled for Mapletown (3-1, 9-3) while Drew Denham went 2-for-2 with three walks. Matt Brown also had a strong offensive game with three hits.

Losing pitcher Justin Allen struck out four and walked five. Tom Golacinski and Tyler Smith doubled for West Greene (0-4, 1-7).

The Pioneers will play another doubleheader today against two West Virginia teams, Cameron and Clay-Battelle.

High school softball

Connellsville 3, Laurel Highlands 0 – The Fillies mustered six hits against Kerri Hiles, but weren’t able to put up any runs in a Section 3-AAA home loss. Connellsville improves to 4-0 in the section and 9-0 overall. Laurel Highlands drops to 2-2 in Section 3-AAA and 3-5 overall.

Connellsville scored single runs in the first, fifth and seventh innings. Hiles drove in the first run, Rachel Means had the second RBI and Dena Leighty collected the final RBI.

Stacey Batovsky and Jessica Pento doubled for the Fillies.

Rockwood 7, Turkeyfoot Valley 6 – The Lady Rams rallied for three runs and had the tying run on first in the bottom of the seventh, but winning pitcher Trish Gusbar struck out the next two batters to preserve the West-Pac South road win for Rockwood.

A fielder’s choice scored the first run, and Lacrisha Reihle drove the next two runs home before getting stranded at first. Brittany Barefoot (4-4) took the loss, striking out two and walking three.

Turkeyfoot falls to 2-3 in the section and 6-4 overall and will host Shade on Tuesday in another section game.

McGuffey 6, Beth-Center 4 – The visitors needed 10 innings and had to hold off several Beth-Center rallies for a non-section victory.

McGuffey trailed 3-0 after two innings, but scored a single run in the third and two in the fifth to tie the game. Nicole McDonough’s two-run triple was the key hit in the three-run outburst in the top of the tenth.

Courtney Kurowski’s RBI-double got one of the runs back in the bottom of the tenth. Lacey Roach rose to the occasion to stop the rally. The Lady Bulldogs had an excellent chance to end the game in the ninth, but had runners stranded at second and third after no outs.

Lesley Kurjanowicz went 3-for-5 with a run scored.

Waynesburg Central 12, Jefferson-Morgan 2 – Melinda Henderson went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Lady Raiders in a five-inning, 10-run rule non-section home victory. Autumn Minor (3-0) struck out six and walked no one for the win. Brittany Coles doubled for one of the Lady Rockets’ two hits.

Geibel Catholic 7, Mapletown 2 – The Lady Maples scored two runs in the third, but the Lady Gators rallied for four runs in the bottom of the inning to carry on to their second consecutive victory. Geibel Catholic improves to 2-7 overall.

Carrie Gessner (2-5) struck out two and allowed only one hit in seven innings. She helped her own cause with a double and two RBIs. Jessica Zamiska added two doubles to the Geibel attack.

Frazier 13, Monessen 12 – The Lady Commodores outlasted the visiting Lady Greyhounds for a Section 6-A victory. Frazier (1-2, 2-5) trailed heading into its last at-bat, but scored four runs for its first section victory.

Ashley Thorpe earned the win while Deanne Liptak, Nicole George, Brittany Giovanelli and Michelle Shanaberger all finished with a triple.

Boys track

Washington 90, Brownsville 51 – The Falcons had some fine individual efforts in a Section 5-AA road loss, winning six individual events and the 400 relay.

The team of Joe Cardine, Brian Gates, Mike Piccolomini and Doug Patterson won the 400 relay in 46.3 seconds. Cardine picked up individual first places in the 110 high hurdles (17.1) and 300 intermediate hurdles (42.7). Barry Davies won the discus (117-5) while Patterson picked up 10 points by winning the long jump (20-61/2) and triple jump (39-9).

Uniontown 95, Derry Area 55 – The Uniontown boys track team continued their winning ways as they defeated Derry at home in Section 2-AAA action.

The Red Raiders claimed 10 first-place finishes as they handed Derry (3-2) their second section loss.

“It was a big win for us,” said Uniontown coach Joe Everhart. “The last two years Derry has beat us soundly. Anytime you win against them, it’s a definite plus for your season,” added Everhart.

The team of Jasper Hawker, Jon Guth, Kevin Monaghan and Andy Gleason kicked things off for Uniontown with a win in the 3,200 relay. Gleason also picked up an individual win the in 800 (2:11).

Chris Moore took home first-place finishes in the 100 hurdles (17:08) and 300 intermediate hurdles (44.4) while Jacob Hoone won the 1,600 (4:57) and the 3,200 (10:40) for Derry.

Uniontown (6-1, 5-1) will travel to Laurel Highlands next Thursday with a 5 p.m.

Waynesburg Central 133, Jefferson-Morgan 16 – The Raiders had no problems with the visiting Rockets to remain in contention for the Section 5-AA title. Waynesburg improves to 6-0 in the section and 7-0 overall.

Waynesburg won all 18 first places with Scott Cree winning the 100 and 400. Eric Conklin won the 110 high hurdles.

Girls track

Washington 121, Brownsville 21 – The Lady Prexies won all 17 events for an easy Section 5-AA home victory. Ali Briggs won the 1,600 and 800 for Washington in addition to running the anchor legs on the victorious 3,200 and 1,600 relays.

Brownsville falls to 1-6 in the section while Washington improves to 7-0.

Derry 93, Uniontown 57 – The Lady Raiders couldn’t keep up with the visitors in the jumps, winning only seven out of 27 points in a Section 2-AAA loss on Senior Night.

Rebecca Geisel picked up wins in the 100 (13.3) and 200 (29.2). Scarlett Graham was a steady performer once again by winning the 1,600 (5:30) and 3,200 (11:51). Jill Monahan won the 800 and was the anchor of the victorious 3,200 relay team.

Uniontown (3-3, 3-4) returns to action next Thursday with a Section 2-AAA meet at Laurel Highlands.

Waynesburg Central 104, Jefferson-Morgan 45 – Shanna Yourchik won the 100 high hurdles, 300 intermediate hurdles, triple jump and high jump for the Lady Rockets, but the Lady Raiders had too much depth for the visitors in a Section 5-AA victory.

Waynesburg evened its section mark to 3-3 with an overall record of 3-4. Helen Higgins won the shot put and discus for the Lady Raiders

Boys tennis

Connellsville 4, Mount Pleasant 1 – Eric Snyder’s victory at No. 3 singles over Connellsville’s Randy Richter was the Vikings’ lone win in a non-section road loss.

Josh Martin dropped only two games at No. 1 singles, though Gene Cunningham needed a second set tiebreaker to win at No. 2 singles. Matt Ratai and Steve Haines won a 6-0, 6-2 decision over Pat White and Mike Whipkey at No. 1 doubles.

Joe Teets and Scott Campbell completed to victory at No. 2 doubles with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Kurt VanHorn and Dan Vikartosky. Connellsville (10-1) returns to Section 5-AAA action next Wednesday at Trinity.

Brownsville 5, McGuffey 0 – The Falcons breezed through McGuffey, needing only 11 sets for a Section 1-AA home win. Brownsville (5-2) remains atop the section standings with a 4-0 record.

Ryan Minor started things with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles. Neil Chafin kept things rolling at No. 2 with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Josh Seelye made it a clean sweep with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles.

Aaron Crable and Ian Glumac defeated Adam Weinstock and Josh Stollar at No. 1 doubles, dropping only one game. John Marcolini and Colin Ryan lost the second set, but rallied for a 7-5 decision in the third set.