BRADFORD – With at least two weeks left in the 2010 baseball season, Bart McGary of Curwensville was named Male Athlete of the Year at the 2010 University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Awards Night Friday.
The next day at Steubenville, Ohio, the senior right fielder broke the Pitt-Bradford single season record for runs batted in, hiking his total to 44 with six in the second game against Franciscan.
McGary belted a two-run triple and a pair of two-run singles in the Panthers’ 17-1 romp that completed a sweep for a 7-7 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference record.
Earlier in the week, he had two hits and two RBIs in both games against Medaille at Buffalo, N.Y. The Panthers dropped the AMCC twinbill 7-6 and 9-6.
Like his former high school teammate, senior catcher Philip Solley of Grampian also starred in the nightcap at Franciscan. He clubbed his first home run of the season and also singled to drive in four runs.
Solley had two hits and one RBI in the 10-6 opener.
Freshman Ben McGary of Curwensville pitched two scoreless innings in Thursday’s 16-5 non-conference loss to Allegheny at Meadville. He gave up one hit in his 12th appearance of the season.
Bart McGary’s .407 average is tied for 14th in the AMCC. He also leads the Panthers in hits (44) and is tied for third in doubles with eight and runs with 23. His slugging average is .556.
Solley jumped his average 20 points to .372 with a 4-for-7 week. He is 29-for-78 with 29 RBIs in 25 games, including 23 starts.
Ben McGary’s earned run average fell to 4.82 with his good outing.
The left-hander has allowed 26 hits and 10 earned runs in 18.2 innings. He has nine strikeouts and nine walks.
Pitt-Bradford (14-16) still is in the hunt for an AMCC playoff berth as one of two .500 teams trailing two contenders at 8-4 and two at 7-5.
* * * * *
The Clearfield Area High School grad, whose average was .186 just one month ago, was 10-for-18 with four doubles, a grand slam home run, eight runs batted in and six runs scored in five games.
He got off to a great start Monday with the third four-hit game of his career, two singles and two doubles, in a 13-12 non-conference win over Seton Hill at Greensburg. The Griffins were ranked No. 5 in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional poll.
Then, Jury raked Mercyhurst pitching for six hits as The Rock split the important four-game PSAC-West series.
His long home run to left field at Jack Critchfield Park Friday snapped a 5-5 tie in the sixth inning. He also had an RBI-double in the 11-5 victory.
Jury also had two hits, one a double, walked twice and scored four times in Sunday’s 12-7 win.
The Green and White, which lost 4-3 in eight innings and 2-0 at Mercyhurst Saturday, sits in fourth place with a final division record of 13-11 and will make next week’s PSAC Playoffs next week unless Gannon wins at least three games against Indiana this weekend.
Jury, one of three players to start every game this year, leads The Rock (21-20) in RBIs (32) and is second in runs (30), third in at-bats and fourth in hits (45) and average. He has nine doubles, one triple and two homers. He is tied for second in the PSAC with five sacrifice flies.
* * * * *
ERIE – Freshman right-hander Michael Moyer of Clearfield picked up his second victory for Penn State-Behrend with five shutout innings against host Hilbert at Hamburg, N.Y., on April 13.
He scattered five hits with three strikeouts and two walks in his third start, with the Lions rolling to a 15-0 win.
Moyer (2-1) lowered his earned run average to 3.07. He has eight strikeouts and 10 walks in 14.2 innings.
Junior first baseman Kyle Kline of Clearfield was 0-for-3 in two games as the Lions swept Hilbert and split with Mount Aloysius at Cresson Saturday for a 9-3 record that has them one game behind front-running Frostburg (Md.) State in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.
Kline is hitting .209. He is 9-for-43 with three doubles.
Penn State-Behrend is 19-10 overall.
* * * * *
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Walk-on freshman left-hander Corey Bookhamer of Clearfield made his first appearance for Duquesne Sunday, retiring two of three Xavier batters he faced in a 14-5 Atlantic-10 Conference defeat.
The other Musketeer reached base on an error.
The Dukes are 7-29 with a 3-9 conference record.
* * * * * * * * * *
SOFTBALL
WILLIAMSPORT – Lycoming freshman pitcher Holly Lansberry of Curwensville won both ends of a non-conference doubleheader against visiting Juniata last Wednesday.
In the 9-0 opener, she two-hit the Eagles through five innings for her second shutout, striking out three and walking two. She also drove in two runs with her first triple as a Lady Warrior.
Lansberry went the distance again in the 5-3 nightcap, giving up eight hits. She had two strikeouts.
On Saturday, Lansberry hurled a four-hitter against Elizabethtown but got no support in a 3-0 Commonwealth Conference loss. She struck out six but walked five.
Lycoming also dropped the second game, 11-3, to fall to 2-8 in the conference and 10-22 overall.
Freshman catcher Ashley Demchak of Curwensville was hitless in three pinch-hitting appearances and now is 9-for-37, a .243 average. She has two doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs.
Lansberry, the designated hitter when not pitching, slipped to third on the team with a .321 batting average after a 2-for-12 week. She is 18-for-56 with four doubles and six RBIs.
* * * * *
ALTOONA – Freshman right fielder Jenessa Stiles of Curwensville had five hits in eight trips to the plate and drove in three runs in two games while sophomore second baseman Alanna Luzier of Frenchville (Clearfield Area H.S.) was 4-for-11 as Penn State-Altoona won three of four games last week to level its Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference record at 7-7.
Stiles singled three times and had two RBIs in a 13-run first inning of a 17-0 rout of Pitt-Greensburg and followed with two hits and one RBI in a 14-9 loss at Hilbert (N.Y.).
Luzier singled and doubled in a 10-2 win over Pitt-Greensburg and drove in two runs in a 7-4 victory over Hilbert.
Penn State-Altoona (12-13-1) is one of three .500 contenders for two AMCC playoff berths.
Stiles raised her average from .289 to .353 (12-for-24). She has six RBIs in 15 games.
Luzier, who has started every game, is hitting .282, up from .269, with 22 hits in 78 a-bats. She has scored 18 runs and driven in eight.
* * * * *
LOCK HAVEN – Junior first baseman Brittany Pataky of Clearfield had hits in four of the five games she played last week for Lock Haven, which qualified for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Playoffs by finishing third in the Central Division.
The 19-18 Lady Eagles were surprised twice by last place Clarion Saturday after splitting with runner-up Indiana Monday. They also swept a non-conference twinbill from West Chester Thursday.
Pataky is hitting .276 and is third on the team in hits (29) and official at-bats (105). She has four doubles, one home run and 11 RBIs.
Her fielding average for 35 games, all but three as the starter, is .987 for 238 chances.
* * * * * * * * * *
MEN’S TRACK & FIELD
NEW WILMINGTON – Juniors Michael Johnson and John Bowman of Clearfield were point-getters for champion Penn State-Behrend at the Westminster Invitational in Harold Burry Stadium Saturday.
The Lions overcame the cold temperatures, light rain and snow showers to accumulate 229 points and outdistance the other five teams, Carnegie-Mellon taking second with 164.5 and Westminster finishing third with 112.5.
Johnson claimed second place in the high jump, clearing 5’10¾” (1.80m), and ran on two Lion ‘A’ relay teams that were second.
He anchored the 4×100 quartet that was timed in 44.50 seconds and ran the second leg for the 4×400 foursome that posted a 3:31.92.
Bowman fired the javelin 161 feet (49.07m) to earn fourth-place points and wound up ninth in the discus with a throw of 112-6 (34.29m).
Freshman Grier Walker of Clearfield placed third in the 800 meters in 2:10.95 and 13th in the 1500 in 4:39.48. He also anchored the Penn State-Behrend ‘B’ 4×400 relay team, running exhibition, to a 3:41.82.
* * * * * * * * * *
MEN’S GYMNASTICS
WEST POINT, N.Y. – An injury prevented Penn State freshman Scott Rosenthal of Clearfield from competing in the 2010 National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships last week.
The No. 8 Nittany Lions were one of 12 teams whose final national qualifying average was high enough to contend for the national title, but their below-average 345.550 score wasn’t good enough to get them to the team finals. Penn State finished fourth in Session I and only three of the six teams moved on from each of the two sessions.
Rosenthal had Penn State’s high score, 15.050, on the still rings in team competition at the Big 10 Championships and was fifth overall to qualify for the individual finals, where he placed 10th with a 14.250.
Rosenthal had top-three finishes in six dual meets, including firsts with a 15.050 against Army and 15.100 against Minnesota and Temple.
He also was runner-up in the West Point Open individual competition.
SLIPPERY ROCK – Junior shortstop Adam Jury of Bigler was named Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Co-Player of the Week with Lock Haven’s Mark Strouse after going on a hitting binge that drove up his batting average 35 points to .324 for Slippery Rock.
BASEBALL
