Feb 23, 2019 4 min read

College wrestling

For the third-straight season, Waynesburg University will send multiple representatives to the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. Both senior Jake Evans, the defending national champion at heavyweight, and junior Ken Burrs reached the finals of their respective weight classes at the Southeast Regionals to qualify for nationals in two weeks.

Evans, who was the top seed at 285 pounds, breezed through his first three bouts with a pin and back-to-back major decisions. He suffered his first loss against a D-III opponent this year in a 5-4 decision against the No. 2 seed.

Burrs, who hit the mat for the first time this semester because of an injury, opened with a pin and followed it with back-to-back wins by decision that put him in the title bout. Burrs defaulted out of the finals.

Meanwhile, for the first time since 2014, Washington & Jefferson had three wrestlers clinch a spot in the NCAA Championships as Jared Walker of South Fayette, Michael Heinl and Hunter Neely of Bentworth each placed in the top three at the two-day NCAA Southeast Regional.

The 2019 NCAA Championships, which will take place at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Va., stands as the first NCAA appearance for the trio. The last President to qualify was Sonnieboy Blanco, who did so in 2017.

Walker went 3-1 to get second in the 165-pound weight class. He began the event on Friday by pinning McDaniel’s Cole Nagle (4:14). The junior won a 6-2 decision over Austin Bonacci of Thiel to advance to the semifinals.

Walker defeated Daniel Bergeron of Penn College in the semis by major decision (10-2) to clinch his spot in the finals. In the first-place match, Walker pushed Wilkes’ Nicholas Racanelli, the sixth-ranked 165-pounder according to d3wrestle.com, to overtime where he suffered a 5-3 loss.

Heinl took home third place at 149 pounds by going 4-1 at the regional. Heinl beat Bryce Crew of Washington & Lee, 4-2, in the consolation semis and Colin Devlin of Gettysburg, 11-9, in the third-place match.

Neely had a third-place finish at 157 pounds. he went 2-0 on Day 1 to secure a spot in the semifinals. In his first match of Day 2, Neely suffered a 1-0 setback to Averett’s Jared Lough. He rebounded by topping Ferrum’s Collin Saunders, 6-5, and Johns Hopkins’ Dominick Reyes, 7-5, in the consolation semis and the third-place match, respectively.

College baseball

California University split of a non-conference doubleheader against Walsh to close the weekend series on Saturday afternoon at Wild Things Park, posting a 7-3 victory in the opener before falling 11-8 in the finale.

The Vulcans move to 3-1 on the season.

In the opener, winning pitcher Tyler Eritz allowed only one run on seven hits with a career-high eight strikeouts over five innings. Richie Serignese closed out the game.

Jacob McCaskey went 2-for-4, including a three-run homer, for Cal while Thomas Chisam finished 2-for-4 with two RBI. Aaron Previsky went 2-for-2 with one run scored and one walk.

Rockets’ Harden fined $25K

Houston Rockets star James Harden has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for criticizing the officiating.

The NBA announced the penalty Saturday, two days after Harden said he didn’t think official Scott Foster should be allowed to work any Rockets games.

“Scott Foster, man. I never really talk about officiating or anything like that, but just rude and arrogant,” Harden said.

“It’s lingering, and it’s something that has to be looked at for sure,” he said. “For sure, it’s personal. For sure. I don’t think he should be able to even officiate our games anymore, honestly.”