BASEBALL
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Back-to-back losses by Penn State Behrend (30-12) in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional last week prevented senior pitcher Mike Moyer (Clearfield) from getting another start for the 2013 Allegheny Mountain  Collegiate Conference regular season and tournament champion Lions.
Moyer was 3-0 with a 2.67 earned run average for his fourth year on the Penn State Behrend mound staff.
He pitched 27 innings with 21 strikeouts and 19 walks in seven games, six as the starter, while surrendering 23 hits and eight runs, all earned.
For his career, Moyer had an outstanding 15-4 record with a 3.83 ERA, 109 strikeouts, 63 walks, 21 hit batsmen and 164 hits allowed in 166.2 innings.
Junior relief pitcher Chad Zurat (Clearfield) worked 2-2/3 innings in the season-ending 3-2 loss to Wooster (Ohio) on Rose-Hulman’s Art Nepf Field last Thursday.
The Lions, who fell 11-1 to two-time defending national champion Marietta (Ohio) in their opener the previous day, were trailing 2-0 when Zurat was pressed into action after starter Dante DeSantis (DuBois/DuBois Central Catholic High School) suffered an injury trying to field a bunt in the seventh inning.
Zurat allowed Wooster’s final run in the ninth on a walk, a wild pitch and a two-out single, and that proved decisive when the Lions, who stranded 13 runners, rallied for their two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Zurat struck out one and gave up two hits in his team-high 14th appearance of the season.
Zurat finished his third season in the Penn State Behrend bullpen with a 3-1 record, six saves and a 2.37 ERA for 26.2 innings. He piled up 32 strikeouts, walked only eight batters and hit five. Opponents were limited to 19 hits and 10 runs, seven earned.
His career totals show an 8-5 record, 17 saves, a 2.46 ERA, 113 strikeouts, 32 walks, 10 hit batsmen and just 56 hits allowed in 80-1/3 innings.
Marietta was denied a third consecutive trip to the national tourney by Manchester (Ind.). The Heartland Conference champion defeated Marietta 10-5 in the winner’s bracket final of the double-elimination tourney and again 8-5 in the title game and will carry a 39-5-1 record and a 16-game winning streak to the this weekend’s nationals.
