Apr 21, 2018 9 min read

College baseball

California University head coach Mike Conte won his 600th career game Saturday as the Vulcans swept a PSAC West Division doubleheader against Gannon, 8-5 and 9-0, at Wild Things Park.

The Vulcans improved their records to 20-17 overall and 9-11 in the division. Gannon is 23-14, 12-8.

Conte becomes one of four active head coaches in the PSAC to reach the 600-win milestone. Already the all-time winningest coach in program history, Conte is the first Cal head coach of a men’s sport to total at least 600 career victories.

Cal’s Garrett Brook went 3-for-3 with a double, three runs and three RBI to spark the Vulcans in the opener. Tyler Eritz pitched the first five innings for the win.

Carter Krick threw a two-hit shutout in the nightcap. He struck out five and walked two. Brooks, ben Maudie and Bobby Thompson each hit a home run for the Vulcans.

• With 4-1 and 16-7 wins Saturday at Geneva, Washington & Jefferson clinched a berth in Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament.

The sweep also reduces the Presidents’ magic number to one to clinch the top seed in the tournament. W&J’s overall record is 21-10-1 with a 13-1 conference mark, the program’s best 14-game start in the PAC since the 2010.

In the opener, winning pitcher Matt Heslin and Will Bower, who earned a save, combined on an eight-hitter and did not allow an earned run. Heslin walked six and did not walk a batter in 8 2/3 innings.

Dante Dalesandro drove in two runs and Spencer Howell had a double.

W&J erased a 4-3 deficit by scoring five runs in the fourth inning of the second game. Dalesandro doubled and drove in three runs, Mullen Socha had three hits and two RBI and Garrett Harstine was the winning pitcher in relief.

• Waynesburg swept a PAC doubleheader at Chatham, 13-3 and 4-3.

The Yellow Jackets (5-9, 9-19) used a 4-for-5 performance at the plate by Tyler Reis and a strong start by Jonny Kutchman to win the opener, then scored three runs in the sixth inning to rally for the win in the second game.

Reis had four RBI in the opener and Kutchman allowed only one earned run over six innings. Tyler Godwin hit a two-run single to give Waynesburg a 4-3 lead in the second game. Colton Uzzel was the winning pitcher in relief and Tyler Srbinovich got the final three outs for a save.

Men’s lacrosse

A run of five consecutive goals, crossing the second and third quarters, led Washington & Jefferson to a 10-8 Ohio River Lacrosse Conference win over Westminster Saturday afternoon.

The Presidents improve to 6-9 overall and 5-3 in league play. The Titans are 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the ORLC.

Westminster led 3-2 with 4:36 left in the second quarter when the Presidents strung together five consecutive goals to take a 7-3 lead in the third quarter. Pat Heidecker scored four of the five goals.

Westminster closed to within one with three goals late in the third quarter, but goals by Patrick Brunner and Heidecker pushed W&J’s lead back to three.

High school baseball

Joe Sabolek pitched a complete game and host Belle Vernon broke a tie when two runs scored on an error in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 3-2 victory over Uniontown in Section 3-AAAA.

The win keeps Belle Vernon (6-1, 6-1) tied with Ringgold for first place in the section. The Leopards play Friday at Ringgold.

Sabolek scattered eight hits but did not issue a walk and struck out four. Belle Vernon was locked in a 1-1 tie in the sixth when an error by the Uniontown third baseman allowed Jake Rathway and Josh Hoffman to come around to score.

Uniontown (4-4, 6-5) closed to within 3-2 in the seventh and had the potential tying run at third base when Sabolek induced a groundout back to the mound to end the game.

Uniontown pitcher Brandon Swaney threw a four-hitter and did not give up an unearned run. Garrett Greco had two of Belle Vernon’s four hits.

• Bob Boyer homered and drove in five runs, Koby Bubash also homered and Ringgold scored eight runs in the top of the first inning en route to a 19-2 thumping of Elizabeth Forward in a four-inning Section 3-AAAA game.

Boyer, who drove in four runs in Ringgold’s win Friday over West Mifflin, was 2-for-2 and scored twice against EF (0-7, 3-9).

Ryan Varley was 3-for-3 with a double, triple, three runs and three RBI for Ringgold (6-1, 7-1), which had a 13-hit attack. Bubash also had three hits, including a double, and drove in two.

Bo Haines was the winning pitcher.

• Frazier scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra frames, but Burgettstown pushed across three runs in the eighth to defeat the Commodores 5-2 in Section 1-AA.

Seth Arnold hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth and Jon Baronick added a two-out, two-run single to give the Blue Devils (2-5, 3-5) a three-run advantage. That was enough for winning pitcher Blaine John, who threw a complete game four-hitter. He struck out six.

Ryan Lounder was 2-for-3 for Burgettstown.

• Trey Rohanna homered and Tyler Switalski threw four strong innings of relief as Waynesburg rallied for a 12-7 victory over visiting Washington in Section 3-AAA.

Washington (2-3, 2-6) led 5-3 in the third inning but Switalski’s relief pitching quieted the Prexies’ bats while Waynesburg (3-2, 3-2) rallied with a six-run fourth inning.

Kyle Shriver and Nick Zator each drove in two runs for the Raiders.

Jordan Swart and Alex Crawford each had a double for Washington.

• Lance Stevenson threw his first career shutout, for his first victory, and had four hits as Mapletown rolled over host Geibel Catholic 14-0 in a five-inning Section 2-A game.

It was the second win over Geibel in as many days for Mapletown (2-4, 2-6).

Stevenson threw a five-hitter and issued only one walk. He benefitted from a 21-hit attack by Mapletown. The Maples collected 21 singles as their only extra-base hit was a triple by Dylan Rush, who had three hits, scored three times and drove in two runs. Brian Bogden had three hits and drove in two runs.

• Payton Conte went 3-for-4 with an RBI as California held on to defeat Bentworth, 7-5, in a Section 1-AA game.

The Trojans had a 6-0 lead after five innings until Bentworth (0-7, 1-8) scored three runs in the sixth. The deficit was too much for the Bearcats, who scored a pair of runs in the seventh inning but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Justin Kisner suffered the loss for Bentworth.

California starting pitcher Jacob Swartz pitched six innings and struck out five for the win. The Trojans (5-2, 5-3) have won four straight games.

High school softball

Salena Jaquay had three hits and scored two runs, Taylor Dadig hit a go-ahead single in the fifth inning and Baldwin rallied for a 6-3 victory over visiting Canon-McMillan in a battle for first place in Class 6A Section 1.

Canon-McMillan (3-1, 4-1) had forged a 3-0 lead through three innings. Erica Haught led off the game with a home run and Lindsay Schmidt began the third inning with a home run. Olivia Uram hit a run-scoring double in the first inning.

The Big Macs’ went silent after the third inning and Baldwin (4-1, 4-2) scored three times in the fourth to tie the game and won it with a three-run fifth.

Katelyn Greaves and Kylah Kubiczki each doubled for Canon-McMillan. Five of the Big Macs’ six hits went for extra bases.

College softball

Washington & Jefferson had its three-game winning streak snapped with a pair of losses at Saint Vincent, 5-0 and 9-1, Saturday in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

The Presidents fall to 5-9 in the conference and 9-17 overall.

Saint Vincent pitching held W&J to only eight hits in the doubleheader.

• Waynesburg and California each split conference doubleheaders. Waynesburg lost 7-4 at Geneva before bouncing back to earn the split with a 4-3 victory in the PAC. Cal was blanked at Gannon, 7-0, but won the nightcap 3-2 in the PSAC. No details were reported by press time.

Women’s lacrosse

Washington & Jefferson scored the first five goals of the match Saturday and cruised to a 9-4 victory over Hanover.

Rae LaRochelle scored three goals for W&J, upping her totals to 49 for the season. Caroline Kallos and Kayla Boulas each had a pair of goals for the Presidents, who improved to 8-1 in the Ohio River Lacrosse Conference and 11-3 overall. They have won five in a row.

Men’s golf

Washington & Jefferson, led by medalist Jake Darr, won the team title at the Doug Rogers Memorial Tournament at Champion Lakes Golf Resort and hosted by Saint Vincent.

The Presidents won in the nine-squad field by five strokes over second-place Grove City as W&J shot 313 to the Wolverines’ 318. It is W&J’s second tournament team title of the spring.

Darr led the field with a 1-under par 70 to win the individual title by four strokes over Ben Mullins of La Roche.

Casey O’Korn was second for W&J at a 80, good for an eighth-place tie.

High school basketball

Canon-McMillan High School senior basketball player Jason Fowlkes scored 22 points to be named the Most Valuable Player for the WPIAL Class 6A team in Saturday night’s Roundball Classic loss against WPIAL Class 5A, 134-131, at Metheny Fieldhouse at Geneva College.

Fowlkes, a Slippery Rock recruit who was named the Observer-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year, made four three-pointers.