On Campus
Baseball has become routine at Penn State Fayette Campus This weekend marks the midpoint of the season.
Football season, right?
Not at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
The Roaring Lions’ baseball season is halfway over as the first of two 26-game schedules is winding down with the Penn State University Athletic Conference mid-season tournament this weekend.
Penn State Fayette will continue play in the spring for another 26-game schedule, culminating with a state championship at the main campus that the Roaring Lions won last year.
Most of the players on the team had about two or three weeks off from playing summer baseball in the Fayette County Baseball League and in American Legion. In fact, that’s where first-year head coach Ray Smitley recruits a lot of his players.
But aren’t these guys kind of tired of playing baseball by now?
“They would give you a funny look,” Smitley replied if someone would ask his players that.
“You don’t get tired,” said starting catcher Justin Corso. “It becomes routine and it never bores you.”
That’s what is great about fall baseball, according to Smitley. The players’ enthusiasm is as cooperative as the weather. Even nice weather can’t last, especially in the rainy spring months, but the players’ love for baseball is year-round.
“Baseball is baseball (no matter what time of year),” Smitley said. “They wanna play. It’s nice because they talk about it a lot; it keeps them playing and it complements our program pretty good.”
The Roaring Lions (9-4, 15-10) are tied for second place in the conference’s six-team eastern division. This weekend’s midseason tournament, tentatively schedule to be played at Penn State-New Kensington Saturday and Sunday, is mildly important with the winner receiving recognition, but winning the double-elimination state tournament in the spring is the ultimate goal.
“We’ve probably been handed the label (of being the team to beat),” Smitley said of his defending state championship team. “Our kids are set up for a nice spring season.
“We are just about where we need to be with experience and having a lot of young kids getting their first taste of college baseball.”
Corso, a sophomore from Mapletown, thinks this year’s team it playing at the same level if not a bit higher than this time last year much in part to the team’s offensive production.
The 22-player roster consists of 20 players from Fayette and Greene County high schools, led by Albert Gallatin and Connellsville with five each.
Junior Phil Gratchic (.487), a Geibel Catholic graduate, is the team’s leading hitter, followed by three others batting over .400 entering the week. They include freshman Jared Early (.418) of Uniontown, freshman Jim Prosser (.406) from Washington and freshman Bobby Fulton (.403) of Connellsville.
Corso, and sophomore second baseman Jamie Kowalczyk (.362) of Carmichaels, are two other key offensive contributors.
The pitching staff is led by sophomores Justin Coffman (Connellsville), Ricky Wilson (Uniontown), John Pochran (Jefferson-Morgan) and Bobby Madison (Laurel Highlands). The top two freshmen on the staff are Brent Wilson (Connellsville) and Ryan Caringola (Albert Gallatin).
– n –
There’s no rest for the weary as the California (Pa.) football team returns home to face PSAC-West frontrunner Edinboro for Homecoming at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Cal U. dropped last week from having the fifth best rushing offense (288.5 yards per game) in Division II to the 13th best (240.6) in the nation, while Edinboro is tops in the nation against the run (40.8 yards per game).
The Vulcans (3-2, 1-1) are coming off a 28-21 loss at Slippery Rock (2-3, 2-0) last Saturday, in which they managed just 49 rushing yards. Senior All-American running back Antoine Bagwell rushed for 95 yards as the only Cal U. back to touch the ball and made the game interesting with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns after the Vulcans trailed 21-7.
The reason Bagwell outgained the team’s rushing output by 46 yards is a result of Cal U., which entered the game surrendering just one sack, yielding four sacks in the game for a loss of 41 yards.
The Fighting Scots (4-1, 2-0) did not allow Clarion to cross midfield in their 44-0 blowout win last week, limiting the Eagles to minus-8 yards rushing.
– n –
Waynesburg (2-2, 0-1) self-destructed in its Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener last week at Thomas More (4-1, 4-0) losing 13-7. The Yellow Jackets committed 15 penalties (two shy of the school record) for 134 yards.
Junior running back Ryan Abels was able to make up for some of the yardage carrying the luggage 15 times for 156 yards, including the team’s lone touchdown, but that could not prevent Waynesburg from losing its first PAC opener since 2001.
Abels also moved ahead of all-time great Rich Dahar for fourth-place on the school’s career rushing list with 2,417 yards. Dahar led Waynesburg to a national championship in 1966 and remains the school’s scoring leader with 233 points.
Waynesburg travels to Bethany (W.Va.) Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff. The Bison (1-4, 0-3) feature local product Mike Elias. The junior punter/tight end from Laurel Highlands leads the PAC in punting (39.3 avg.) and his team in yards per reception (21.8) having caught nine balls this season for 196 yards.
– n –
Speaking of local products, Kevin “Boo” McLee had another big game for West Virginia (4-1, 1-0) last Saturday in front of a packed house at Mountaineer Field.
The junior linebacker from Uniontown was named the team’s Defensive Champion for a second time this season after the Mountaineers’ 34-17 loss to No. 3 Virginia Tech.
McLee is WVU’s leading tackler with 32 stops through five games, including nine against Virginia Tech, and tying a career high with 11 two weeks ago against East Carolina.
Justin Zackal may be reached online at jzackal@hotmail.com