The Wild Things will start their season three days earlier than planned.
Because Chillicothe's V.A. Memorial Stadium has been chosen as the site of the Mid-American Conference baseball tournament May 21-24, the Wild Things and Chillicothe Paints have moved up their season opener to Sunday, May 18. The game was originally scheduled for May 21.
The Wild Things and Paints will play a Sunday evening opener (6:35 p.m.) and a Monday morning (10 a.m.) game to begin the season. The third game in the series will be made up as part of a Sunday doubleheader June 29.
The Wild Things will have four days off before playing their home opener May 24 against Traverse City.
The two games against the Paints will come on the heels of two exhibition games between the teams scheduled for May 16-17 at Consol Energy Park.
High school baseball
In a classic pitchers' duel, Peters Township won its Section 3-AAAA opener over Baldwin, 1-0, Wednesday at Peterswood Park.
Each team had one hit in the game. Peters Township's hit came from Jordan Jankowski, whose RBI-single in the third inning scored Pat Gallagher, who walked and was sacrificed to second.
Nick Merich was the winning pitcher for the Indians (1-0, 5-0). He struck out six and walked five. Jeff Greiner was the losing pitcher for Baldwin (0-1, 0-3). He struck out five and walked six.
Mike Huseava doubled for Baldwin's lone hit.
n Alex Frey's RBI-double in the top of the seventh broke a 3-3 tie and lifted Trinity to a 4-3 win over Ringgold in Section 4-AAA.
Trinity (2-0, 3-2) scored three times in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead before Ringgold (0-1, 2-3) tied it in the bottom half of the inning. Frey and Graham Cowieson each had two hits and two RBI for the Hillers. They each doubled along with Joe Haverlak.
Evan Bukowski was the winning pitcher. He struck out seven and walked four. Adam Madar struck out seven and walked three but was the losing pitcher.
n West Mifflin scored a run in the top of the seventh to defeat McGuffey, 4-3, in a Section 4-AAA game.
Matt Czulewicz was the losing pitcher for McGuffey (0-1, 1-1). He struck out seven and walked three. Czulewicz also had two hits including a double.
Scott Grandon also doubled for the Highlanders.
West Mifflin is 1-0, 2-0.
n Josh Morris' bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th inning gave Beth-Center its first win of the season, 3-2, over Fort Cherry in Section 2-AA.
Austin Smith walked with two outs. Grant Looman's hit-and-run single moved Smith to third. Mike Bodnar walked to load the bases before Morris' hit.
Freshmen Matt Sabbatini, Mike Bodnar and Jeff Tarley along with sophomore Charles Bowser, who was the winning pitcher, combined to strike out 16 batters for Beth-Center (1-0, 1-2).
Jeff Tarley doubled for the Bulldogs and Brett Gedman tripled for Fort Cherry (0-1, 0-2).
n Avella scored two runs in the fifth inning and rallied for a 5-4 win over Avella in a Section 1-A contest.
Chris Khouri's RBI-double tied the game for Avella (1-0, 2-1) and Sam Beton gave the Eagles the lead with an RBI-single.
Khouri was the winning pitcher. He struck out eight. Ethan Fernbaugh had an RBI-double for Avella.
Monessen is 0-1, 0-3.
n Cory Minnick hit a two-run homer and Nick Popernack drove in three runs as Mapeltown defeated visiting West Greene, 11-1, in five innings in a Section 1-A opener.
Winning pitcher Ryan Wilson allowed one hit over three innings and Jake Shiflett doubled for Mapletown (1-0, 3-0). West Greene (0-1, 1-2) was held to two hits.
n Frazier made the most of only one hit and beat visiting Bentworth, 3-1, in Section 1-A.
Winning pitcher Justin Berk struck out six for Frazier (1-0, 3-0). It was the first loss for Bentworth (0-1, 1-1).
n Chris Dittmar belted two home runs and pitched five solid innings as Canon-McMillan remained unbeaten with a 5-2 victory at Upper St. Clair in a Section 3-AAAA game.
Dittmar drove in three runs and struck out three for the Big Macs (1-0, 6-0), who were playing for the first time since March 22.
Aaron Wiegel, Charles Murphy and Matt Pierpont hit one double each for C-M, which plays Mt. Lebanon today.
Upper St. Clair (0-1, 5-1) suffered its first loss.
n Anthonie Farrar scored on a Zach Wolfe squeeze bunt, then Wolfe scored on a Chuck Gasti triple as Carmichaels' two-run fifth inning keyed a 6-5 win over visiting Geibel in Section 1-A.
Carmichaels (1-0, 3-1) outhit Geibel (0-1, 1-2), 17-3, but the Gators cleared the bases on a bases-loaded single and throwing error in the third inning.
Marcus Robinson went 4-for-4 for the Mikes, while Gasti went 3-for-4 with the triple and a double. Winning pitcher Joby Lapkowicz also went 3-for-4 with a double.
Mick Betler doubled for Geibel.
High school softball
Kristen Zelenka struck out 13 Baldwin batters and pitched a three-hit shutout in Trinity's 2-0 win over the Highlanders Wednesday in Section 4-AAAA.
Zelenka also had an RBI-single in the second inning. Shannon Falleroni had a RBI-single in the seventh for the Hillers (1-1, 3-3).
Kristen Lauterbach was the losing pitcher for Baldwin (0-1, 0-1). She struck out 10 and walked one.
n Sophomore third baseman Emily Bosworth hit a three-run homer in the first inning and that was all pitcher Lauren Minor needed as Waynesburg blanked Ringgold 5-0 in Section 4-AAA.
Rachel Rohanna drove in two runs with a second-inning single and Minor fired a two-hit shutout with five strikeouts as Waynesburg (3-0, 3-0) remained undefeated.
Kaylie Barger tripled and Breanna Morris doubled for the Raiders.
n Sara Stepp's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the eighth gave Jefferson-Morgan a 3-2, non-section win over Brownsville.
Siara Meca tied the game in the bottom of the seventh for Jeff-Morgan (2-2) with a RBI-single. She, along with Julia Guthrie each had two hits for the Rockets.
Emily Cottle was the winning pitcher. She struck out 12 and walked one. Stacy Knox was the losing pitcher for Brownsville (3-2). She struck out 11.
n Katie Bednarski's second double of the game in the bottom of the seventh resulted in the game-winning run scoring as Avella overcame eight errors to beat Fort Cherry, 4-3, in a section 1-A game.
Bethanie Kern picked up the win for Avella (3-0, 3-0), scattering six hits.
Jackie Relihan took the loss for the Rangers (0-3, 0-3).
n Jaci Timko homered for the third time in the past two days, while Brittany Jones had two doubles and drove in six runs, as Chartiers-Houston rolled to a 12-0 win in five innings over California in Section 1-A.
Kiersten Conwell picked up the win for the Bucs (3-0, 6-1).
Ashley Toya took the loss for California (0-2, 0-3).
n Shaylee Ianno fired a five-inning no-hitter with nine strikeouts and no walks, as Peters Township topped Upper St. Clair, 13-0, in Section 4-AAAA.
Alicia Johns doubled and tripled, driving in four runs, while Juliann Taylor and Kelsey Cunningham also doubled for PT (3-0, 7-0).
USC is 0-2, 0-3.
College baseball
Sam DiMatteo hit two home runs, including a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 8th inning of the first game, lifting California to a 6-4 win and doubleheader split Wednesday against Seton Hill at Consol Energy Park.
Despite picking up five runs in the sixth inning, the Vulcans fell short in the second game, losing 10-6.
In addition to his two homers, DiMatteo had a triple and single on the day. Jon Selby hit a three-run homer in the first game.
Kevin Abraham pitched allowed one run over 42/3 innings to get the win in the opener.
College softball
California bounced back from a 7-2 nine-inning loss to Wheeling Jesuit by bouncing the Cardinals 8-0 in the second game Wednesday and earning a doubleheader split.
Cal's Nicole Bellevance went 3-for-3 in the nightcap and backed winning pitcher Maria Greco, who struck out 11 in five innings.
n Carlow swept a doubleheader at Waynesburg, beating the Yellow Jackets 4-1 and 8-2.
In the opener, Carlow's Becca Roland struck out 15 and allowed four hits, one a home run by Autumn Minor.
In the nightcap, Carlow (9-3) took advantage of three errors by Waynesburg (4-8).
PSU player charged
Penn State basketball player Stanley Pringle was charged with lewd and disorderly conduct, stemming from an incident at a university library last week.
Coach Ed DeChellis says he's aware of the charges, which a police log listed Wednesday. The coach said the junior-college transfer has cooperated with police.
The team said Pringle had no comment. A message left with the player's lawyer was not immediately returned.
Pringle just completed his first season at Penn State. The guard averaged 6.9 points and was a key contributor.