BASEBALL
ALTOONA – Senior right fielder Bart McGary of Curwensville ended his four-year career at Pitt-Bradford in grand style Saturday, blasting three home runs and driving in five runs in an 11-5 victory over Penn State-Altoona at the Stewart Athletic Field.
He belted a two-run homer to center field in the fourth inning to create a 3-3 tie, a solo homer to left field in the fifth for a 7-3 lead and a two-run homer to right center in the sixth to cap the scoring.
Earlier in the afternoon, the 2010 Pitt-Bradford Male Athlete of the Year broke the Panthers’ single-season hits record with three singles and had two RBIs in an eight-inning, 9-6 win.
McGary, who had eclipsed the single-season RBI standard in mid-April, finished with 59 hits and 61 RBIs.
The old marks were 55 hits by Dave Brown of Coudersport in 2002 and 41 RBIs by Jesse Beimel of Kersey in 2001.
Senior catcher Phil Solley of Grampian (Curwensville Area High School) had a single and an RBI in both games against the Lions.
Pitt-Bradford (19-19) was finished 12-8 and tied for sixth place with Medaille in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, but the sixth playoff berth went to the New York team because of its 7-6 and 9-6 wins over the Panthers on April 12.
McGary’s .434 batting average is tied for seventh in the AMCC.
He leads the conference in RBIs and is second in sacrifice flies (6), fifth in hits (59), sixth in total bases (90), tied for seventh in home runs (6) and ninth in official at-bats (136).
Teamwise, McGary was first in hits, RBIs, home runs, total bases, slugging percentage (.692) and sacrifice flies, second in doubles (11), third in walks (13) and tied for third in runs (30). He was one of four Panthers with a triple.
McGary committed only one error in 84 chances for a .988 fielding average.
Solley was second in RBIs (32), fourth in hits (34), tied for fourth in walks (11) and fifth in at-bats (104).
His .327 batting average was sixth for Pitt-Bradford. He had three doubles and one home run, scored 18 runs and stole three bases.
Careerwise, McGary was 144-for-389, a .370 average, with 31 doubles, nine home runs and 120 RBIs, while Solley was 111-for-349, a .318 average, with 10 doubles, three home runs and 87 RBIs.
Ben McGary of Curwensville made 13 mound appearances, tops among Panther hurlers and tied for seventh in the AMCC, in his rookie season.
The left-hander, who lost his only start, worked 21.2 innings with 11 strikeouts, 12 walks and two hit batsmen. He gave up 40 hits and 18 earned runs for a 7.48 ERA.
McGary is tied for fourth in the AMCC with his 12 relief appearances and tied for sixth in games finished with seven.
He also saw action in three games as an outfielder or pinch-runner, scoring twice.
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JOHNSTOWN – Junior shortstop Adam Jury of Bigler had four hits, one a double, and drove in four runs as Slippery Rock split four games in the 2010 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Playoffs at Point Stadium last week.
On Tuesday, the Clearfield Area High School graduate was named to the All-PSAC Western Division second team.
The Rock, which finished fourth in the PSAC-West, survived two elimination games in the eight-team tourney, beating Mansfield 18-9 Thursday and Eastern Division champion West Chester 9-5 Friday after losing 7-6 to West Chester in Wednesday’s opener.
Western Division runner-up California ended Slippery Rock’s season 11-10 Saturday and went on claim the title with a 10-9 win over Kutztown Sunday.
Jury overcame a rocky start to hit .320 and share for the team lead in RBIs with 41 by hitting safely in 30 of The Rock’s last 34 games and closing the season on a 10-game hitting streak.
He was 46-for-119, a .387 average, with 13 multi-hit games and 34 RBIs in the last seven weeks.
Jury, who started every game for The Rock (27-23), had 10 doubles, one triple and three home runs among his 57 hits in 178 at-bats. He scored 38 runs.
His five sacrifice flies were the most for the Green and White, and he stole two bases.
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ERIE – Freshman right-hander Michael Moyer of Clearfield helped keep Penn State-Behrend’s hopes alive for a third consecutive Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular season title with a strong six-inning outing in the first game of the Lions’ 11-3, 9-0 sweep of D’Youville (N.Y.) at Buffalo on April 27.
Moyer surrendered only three hits and logged a career-high nine strikeouts for his third win in five decisions.
He issued two walks and hit one batter.
The Lions traveled to Frostburg (Md.) State Saturday needing another sweep to claim first place, but the hosts settled matters in the opener with a 15-0 victory.
Penn State-Behrend won the nightcap 8-3 to finish second and receive a bye for this weekend’s first round of the AMCC Tournament.
The Lions (26-13) will return to Frostburg May 14 to seek their third playoff crown in a row. They will play third seed Penn State-Altoona or sixth seed Medaille (N.Y.) in the 9 a.m. opener of the four-team, two-day championship round.
Junior first baseman Kyle Kline of Clearfield pinch-hit in the first Frostburg game and now is hitting .224 (11-for-49) in 23 games, including 14 starts. He has five doubles and 12 runs batted in.
Moyer sports a 4.94 earned run average for 27.1 innings. He has struck out 22 and given up 30 hits and 14 walks.
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MEN’S TRACK & FIELD
SALISBURY, Md. – Penn State-Behrend Juniors John Bowman and Michael Johnson of Clearfield earned All-Mason-Dixon Outdoor Track & Field Conference honors at the 2010 championship meet hosted by Salisbury (Md.) University Friday and Saturday.
First team laurels go to the top three finishers in each event, and Bowman qualified in the javelin with a throw of 160-5 (48.89 meters) that was good for third place.
Individuals and relay foursomes placing fourth through sixth rate second-team recognition.
Bowman was fourth in the hammer throw with a heave of 134-1 (40.88m), while Johnson ran the second split for the 4x400m relay quartet that stopped the clock in a season-best 3:29.
Johnson also placed seventh in two individual events, clearing 6-¾ in the high jump and turning in a 58.09 in the 400m hurdles.
Bowman hurled the discus 110-2 (33.59) to place 11th.
The Lions placed fifth in the nine-team meet with 52.5 points.
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SOFTBALL
READING – Pitcher Holly Lansberry went the distance in the circle and catcher Ashley Demchak delivered the game-winning RBI in the top of the 10th inning as the former Curwensville Area High School batterymates, both freshmen, starred in Lycoming’s final win of the 2010 season Saturday.
Lansberry struck out seven and walked six in her longest stint of the season. She scattered 10 hits.
Demchak entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning, singling and scoring one of the four runs that sent the game into extra innings.
In the 10th, Demchak singled to break the 4-4 tie, and the Lady Warriors went on to top host Alvernia 8-4 before bowing 9-2 in the nightcap of the Commonwealth Conference doubleheader.
They finished 4-10 in the conference and 14-24 overall, the program’s most wins since 2005.
Lansberry owns 11 of them, which ties her for fourth in the conference.
The right-hander is tied for second with 21 starts and tied for third with 15 complete games.
Her 129-2/3 innings pitched and 98 strikeouts are the third highest totals, and her 2.87 earned run average ranks 10th.
Lansberry, utilized as an outfielder or designated hitter when not pitching, also was fourth on the team with her .319 batting average. She had 23 hits, including four doubles and one triple, drove in seven runs and scored 10 runs.
In the field, she handled 58 chances without an error.
Demchak also had a hit in the second game at Alvernia and ended the season 14-for-47, a .298 average.
She was second in home runs with three and tied for third in RBIs with 13 despite playing in just 29 games, 16 as a pinch-hitter.
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ALTOONA – Sophomore second baseman Alanna Luzier of Frenchville (Clearfield Area H.S.) collected five hits and freshman utility player Jenessa Stiles of Curwensville had a pair of singles last week for Penn State-Altoona, which clinched fourth place in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference by sweeping LaRoche 7-5 and 3-0 at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
The Lady Lions lost three of four non-conference games to Juniata Thursday and Saturday for a final regular season record of 19-16-1.
They will open the 2010 AMCC Playoffs against fifth place Medaille (N.Y.) in Friday’s 9 a.m. game at Mount Aloysius in Cresson. The six-team, double-elimination tourney continues Saturday and Sunday.
Luzier will take a .324 batting average into the tourney. She’s 35-for-108 with seven doubles, one home run and nine runs batted in.
She has scored 28 runs and ranks third in the AMCC in stolen bases with 15 in 16 attempts.
After 32 games at second base, all but one as the starter, Luzier got her first starts in center field against Juniata Sunday at Huntingdon.
Stiles, who was the designated-hitter in the first LaRoche game and the right fielder in two other games, has 14 hits and a .292 batting average for 22 games. She’s driven in seven runs.
