Sports briefs
College baseball
Zach Wright’s third hit of the day, a single through the right side of the infield in the bottom of the 10th inning, scored Joey Coyle and gave West Chester a 6-5 victory over California in the opening game of the PSAC tournament on Wednesday at Point Stadium in Johnstown.
California forced a 10th inning when it scored two runs in the top of the ninth to tie the score at 5-5. The Vulcans (35-14) pulled to within 5-4 on a run-scoring triple by Corey Fogle, who scampered home with the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Ben Maudie.
West Chester (30-13) scored four runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Cal made it a one-run game when Maudie singled to score a run.
Cal starter Nick Riggle gave up five runs over eight innings.
The Vulcans will play an elimination game at 9:30 a.m. today against East Stroudsburg.
Pony baseball
Logan Hatfield hit two home runs, a three-run shot and two-run smash, to power Ace Sporting Goods to a 22-12 win over Washington Hyundai in a Washington Pony League slugfest on Wednesday.
Bodie Morgan, Max Dotson and Gibby Havanis each hit a double to support Hatfield’s big day at the plate.
David Lutz, Nathan Barnhart and Dylan Wilson all doubled for Washington Hyundai.
Cal’s Suazo competes in D-II regional
California University sophomore Sara Suazo shot 10-over 82 in the final round on Wednesday at the NCAA Division II East Super Region Golf Championships.
Suazo finished the event with a 31-over 247 (79-86-82) and tied for 45th overall on the individual leaderboard on Wednesday. She opened play on the back nine in the final round and midway through the round had five pars in a six-hole span. Suazo finished the regional with 23 pars and a pair of birdies.
Men’s tennis
Washington & Jefferson’s Nate Wang and and eighth-year head coach Chris Faulk received major All-Presidents Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis awards Wednesday.
Wang, a sophomore from Venetia,was named the 2019 PAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Year, and Faulk was tabbed as the league’s Coach of the Year after leading W&J to its first conference championship since 1969.
In addition to being selected as the Player of the Year, Wang was named a first team at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. W&J sophomore Sam Bellini also made first team at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles.
Wang had a 13-3 overall record and was 7-0 against league opposition. In doubles play, he was 15-3.
APR report: Athletes’ scores steady
The latest NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores show college athletes are continuing to excel in the classroom – though they may be hitting a peak.
The most recent statistics, released Wednesday, show this year’s overall four-year score matched last year’s record high of 983 and that the four-year scores in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball also matched last year’s marks. Baseball improved by one point to 976 while single-year scores at historically black schools declined slightly.
Women’s basketball players topped out at 982 while men’s basketball came in at 967 and football was at 964.
This year, 22 teams face penalties, including eight facing postseason bans . None is from a Power Five conference and seven of the 11 schools on that list are HBCUs.
Savannah State had four teams impacted – the most in Division I – including postseason bans for the school’s football and baseball teams. The school is in the process of moving to Division II. Detroit Mercy is the only school dealing with a postseason ban, in men’s basketball.