Apr 11, 2018 10 min read

Wild Things

sign outfielder

The Washington Wild Things have signed outfielder Roman Collins, a former Kansas City Royals farmhand, for the upcoming Frontier League season.

Collins was selected in the 5th round of the 2015 draft out of Florida Atlantic University and spent three years in the Royals’ system.

“Roman was heavily sought after this spring and we are happy he chose Washington,” Wild Things assistant general manager of team operations Tony Buccilli said. “During his time with the Royals, he played a dynamic style of baseball: heavy with extra base hits and drawing a fair share of walks. When we hired (manager Gregg Langbehn), we shifted our focus back to the athletic, speed and power outfielders and Roman fits that mold. We expect Roman to be quite impactful for us and have challenged him to be a force driving in runs.”

A Charleston, W.Va., native, Collins played his high school ball and currently lives in Maple Grove, Minn. In the Royals’ system, Collins advanced to Class A Wilmington and had 54 doubles, 15 triples and 21 home runs in his three affiliated seasons.

High school softball

Monessen senior pitcher Dana Vatakis did a little of everything in Monessen’s 8-0 victory over host Jefferson-Morgan in Section 2-A Wednesday.

In the circle, Vatakis threw a one-hit shutout, struck out 18 batters and issued only one walk. At the plate, she went 3-for-4 with a home run, double and three RBI as Monessen improved its record to 2-1 in the section and 3-1 overall.

Hannah Yorty also doubled for the Greyhounds.

Jefferson-Morgan slipped to 0-2 in section and 1-2 overall.

• Kaci Alderson homered, doubled and drove in four runs to help Chartiers-Houston to a 19-0, three-inning victory over Burgettstown in a Section 3-AA game.

Ella Brookman doubled and drove in three runs for C-H (1-1, 1-2). Kasey Scears and winning pitcher Kaitlyn Dittrich each had a double and Karlyn Bayer a triple. Burgettstown fell to 1-1, 0-1 in the section.

• Mapletown’s Maddi Blaker and Taylor Vanata combined on a three-inning no-hitter and the Maples took advantage of 13 walks by Geibel Catholic pitching to defeat the Gators 16-0 in Section 2-A.

Mapletown (1-0, 3-0) had only five hits but four of those went for extra bases. Vanata, who pitched the third inning, had a three-run triple. Macee Chesney hit two doubles and Sara Chory also had a double.

• Logan Hartman threw a two-hit shutout and Frazier took advantage of Bentworth errors to defeat the host Bearcats 5-0 in Section 3-AA.

The game was scoreless until the middle innings, when Frazier (2-0, 3-3) did all its scoring. Four of the Commodores’ five runs were unearned, the result of three Bentworth errors.

Hartman struck out nine and did not issue a walk while limiting Bentworth (1-2, 4-3) to two hits.

• Albert Gallatin remained undefeated and in first place in Class 5A Section 2 with a 14-2 victory over host Ringgold in five innings.

Ally Bezjak went 3-for-4 with two doubles and six RBI, and Harlie Vance was 4-for-4 with a home run and two RBI for Albert Gallatin (3-0, 5-0). The Colonials broke the game open with a seven-run fourth inning.

Jillian Scherer was 2-for-2 for Ringgold (0-3, 1-3) against winning pitcher Maddie Flowers, who threw 4 2/3 innings of relief.

• California used three three-run innings to defeat Avella 10-6 in Section 2-A.

Anna Glawinski was the winning pitcher and was backed by Ashley Gush, Karen Watkins and Marlee Renner, each of whom had two hits.

• Kierra Waywood tossed a three-hit shutout as Yough remained undefeated in Section 2-AAAA with a 7-0 victory over visiting South Fayette.

Waywood struck out 14 and issued only one walk as Yough improved to 3-0 in the section and 6-1 overall. The Cougars play at Belle Vernon Friday in a key section game.

Yough did all its scoring in the first three innings.

Lexi Yates had all three hits for South Fayette (0-2, 2-4).

• Bailee Shimek had a home run and a double as Waynesburg defeated Charleroi 14-8 in a Section 3-AAA game.

The hitting for the Raiders didn’t stop with Shimek.

Lexi Fuqua went 3-for-3 with five RBI. Rachel Elsenheimer also had a multi-hit day for Waynesburg (3-0, 5-2) with a pair of triples.

Charleroi (0-4, 0-5) had 19 hits but failed to score until the fourth inning after it was already trailing, 7-0.

Emily Bauer went 4-for-5 with a triple for the Cougars.

High school baseball

Carmichaels broke open a close Section 1-AA game by scoring eight runs over the final two innings Wednesday to defeat California 10-2 at Malden Yards.

Gavin Pratt hit a three-run double to center field in Carmichaels’ five-run sixth inning, which broke a 2-2 tie. To that point, the game was a pitchers’ duel between Carmichaels’ Matthew Barrish and Cal’s Rich Stimmel. Barrish threw a complete game, scattering eight hits and not walking a batter.

Nathan Broadwater had a double and Al Cree two singles for Carmichaels (1-1, 1-2), which took advantage of seven California errors. The defending WPIAL champion Trojans slipped to 1-2 in section and 1-3 overall.

• Three South Fayette pitchers combined on a three-hitter as the Lions defeated visiting New Castle 10-1 in Section 2-AAAA.

Richie Dell allowed three hits and one unearned run over five innings and Tyler Bedillion and Nolan Vertullo followed with scoreless relief for South Fayette (2-1, 2-1). Dell and Christian Gabriel hit consecutive run-scoring singles in the fifth inning to give the Lions a 6-1 lead. Dell was 3-for-4 with three RBI and Gabriel drove in two runs.

Zach Weis, Mitch Dunay and Joey Alcorn each had a double for South Fayette. Dunay had three hits.

New Castle is 0-3, 0-4.

• The baseball was flying in Jefferson as Jefferson-Morgan defeated West Greene 17-7 in a five-inning Section 2-A.

The teams combined for 23 hits, including seven for extra bases. Jefferson-Morgan’s Zack Gamble went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a triple, three runs and three RBI. Colton Davdison belted a home run, winning pitcher Jake Broadwater went 3-for-3 with five RBI and two runs, Cole Tretinik doubled and Ayden Pratt had three hits, two runs and two RBI.

Broadwater improved his record his record to 3-0, striking out six as the Rockets moved to 2-1 in the section and 3-1 overall.

Christian Fox had a double for West Greene (1-1, 1-1).

• Zach Southern pitched into the seventh inning and Chartiers-Houston used a five-run fifth inning to defeat host Frazier, 9-3, in Section 1-AA.

Southern struck out seven and allowed only four hits over 6 1/3 innings. Matt Whitfield drove in three runs for the Bucs (2-1, 2-2). C-H led 2-1 before scoring five times in the fifth.

• Sevin Schoeneweis did not allow a hit in Moon’s 12-0 victory over Trinity in a Section 2 game in Class 5A that went five innings.

Schoeneweis struck out four and walked one. Nick Maue homered and Juston Jones doubled for the Tigers (1-0, 1-2).

Trinity fell to 1-3, 1-2 in the section.

• Seth Arnold went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs to lead Burgettstown to an 8-6 win over Bentworth in Section 1-AA.

Jon Baronick picked up the win for the Blue Devils (1-1, 2-1). Andrew Wiltrout went 2-for-4 with an RBI for Bentworth (0-2, 1-3).

• Jeannette scored seven runs in the third inning on the way to a 16-4, six-inning win over Mapletown in a Section 1-A game.

Drake Petrillo had a double and three RBI for the Jayhawks (2-1, 4-1). Tre Cunningham and Nick Miller each drove in two runs.

Losing pitcher Ethan Carter had a 2-run single for the Maples (0-2, 0-4).

• Fort Cherry won a 10-8 slugfest over Beth-Center in a Section 1-AA game.

Winning pitcher Cam Schaub hit a 2-run home run, Hunter Terpack went 3-for-3 with a double and Jacob Baird went 3-for-4 with a double for the Rangers (3-0, 3-0).

Ryan Ross doubled for Beth-Center (2-0, 3-1).

• Brownsville scored nine runs in the first inning and eventually went on to defeat Washington in four innings, 16-1, in a Section 3-AAA contest.

Trevor Stewart and DJ Zimcosky each had a double for Brownsville (3-0, 4-0), which scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend its lead to 15 runs.

Caleb Olesko had five strikeouts to earn the win for the Falcons.

Jordan Swart had a double for Washington (0-2, 0-4).

• Josh Hoffman hit a two-run double with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Belle Vernon a 5-4 victory over Ringgold in a key Section 3-AAAA game.

Ringgold (3-1, 4-1) had taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh when Nick Kolano drew a bases-loaded two-out walk. Chase Angotti had two hits and a pair of RBI for the Rams.

Belle Vernon is 2-0 in the section and overall.

College baseball

Washington & Jefferson used a 15-hit attack to rout Muskingum 14-6 Wednesday in a nonconference game at Ross Memorial Park.

The win moves the Presidents’ record to 15-9 while the Muskies fall to 11-13.

W&J scored 10 runs over the first three innings to forge a commanding seven-run advantage. That was enough support for Presidents starting pitcher Ben Marsico and three relievers. Marsico improved his record to 3-1 by allowing four runs (two earned) over six innings.

Ryan Sciullo had three hits, Dante Dalesandro drove in three hits and leadoff hitter Mullen Socha belted a home run to lead the W&J offense. Sciullo, Mark Merlino, Spencer Howell and Joey Bolick each had a double.

WVU to play in new tournament

Wake Forest and West Virginia will compete in the inaugural Myrtle Beach Invitation college basketball tournament next November.

ESPN announced the new eight-team tournament on Wednesday. The tournament will take place Nov. 15-16 and Nov. 18 at the HTC Center at Coastal Carolina.

Other schools participating in the early season event include Cal State Fullerton, St. Joseph’s UCF, Valparaiso and Western Kentucky. ESPN says an eighth team will be announced at a later date.

Myrtle Beach hosted last year’s Puerto Rico Tip-Off after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria. ESPN said in a statement the Myrtle Beach event does not replace the Puerto Rico event. The company is still evaluating and working with partners on the island to determine the next steps for the Puerto Rico event, according to ESPN spokeswoman Anna Negron.

ESPN college sports executive Pete Derzis says after collaborating with organizers and city leaders, it was determined Myrtle Beach was an “ideal location for college basketball.”