Westmoreland County campus clippings: Franklin Regional grad Jake Williams belts walk-off for Yale

Jake Williams took a gap year after he left Franklin Regional and enrolled at Yale.

Now, he is hitting gap shots for the baseball team.

Williams, a junior, was a hero last week for the Bulldogs when he capped a four-hit game with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 14th inning.

Yale won 4-3, with Williams going 4 for 6 with a double and three RBIs. It was a career performance for the second baseman.

Through 17 games, he was hitting .311 with two doubles, a home run, 10 RBIs and 10 runs scored.

Baseball

Mercyhurst: Sophomore Eric Chorba (Norwin) went 2 for 4 with an RBI in a 6-0 win over Clarion.

Sophomore Jake Bazala (Norwin) pitched 5 2/3 innings and struck out nine as the Lakers topped Clarion, 4-3.

Mount Aloysius: Junior James Rice (Greensburg Central Catholic) has played in 12 games, with nine starts. He is hitting .250 with eight runs scored.

Penn State: Redshirt senior Josh Spiegel (Penn-Trafford) had four hits, including a double, and four RBIs, but the Nittany Lions were outslugged by Indiana, 22-11.

Through 13 games, Spiegel had 12 starts and was batting .271 with a homer and five RBIs.

Pitt: Nash Bryan, a grad transfer from Seton Hill, is 4-2 with a 3.12 ERA in 12 appearances for the Panthers. He was leading the team in wins, saves (2) and WHIP (0.92).

Pitt-Greensburg: Freshman Nathan Mankoski moved to 5-0 as he allowed one earned run in five innings, and freshman Ben Aftanas had three hits and three RBIs, while senior Will Thorp went 3 for 4 as UPG defeated Hilbert, 14-7.

Randy Hubbard homered in the second game of the doubleheader, and James Domer went 4 for 5 with three runs and two doubles in an 8-5 win for the Bobcats (14-4).

Mankoski was named the AMCC Pitcher of the Week.

Washington & Jefferson: Senior Tyler Horvat (Penn-Trafford) had three hits, including a double, in a 10-1 win at Saint Vincent.

Waynesburg: Freshman Ethan Erhard (Hempfield) pitched a nine-inning complete game, allowing seven hits and striking out just as many, with no walks, in a 6-1 win to avoid a sweep against Chatham.

Wrestling

Virginia: Grad student Jarod Verkleeren (Hempfield) announced he was granted another year of eligibility by the NCAA.

This past season, Verkleeren finished 18-7 and reached the NCAA Championships at 149 pounds. He went 0-2 at the national tournament.

Men’s track and field

Allegheny: Senior Jacob King (Latrobe) finished fourth in the shot put (12.65 meters), sixth in the hammer throw (45.02) and seventh in the discus (36.72) at the Bob Hahn Invitational.

Slippery Rock: Junior Gabe Dunlap (Penn-Trafford) finished third in the javelin with a distance of 181 feet, 7 inches at the Dave Labor Invitational at Slippery Rock.

Westminster: Senior Ryan Beard (Franklin Regional) ran to a first-place finish at the Dave Labor Invitational at Slippery Rock.

He won the 100-meter dash in 10.75 seconds.

Beard was named the PAC Track Athlete of the Week.

Women’s track and field

Cal (Pa.): Junior Malia Anderson (Greensburg Salem) won the 800-meter run at the Dave Labor Invitational at Slippery Rock. Her winning time was 2 minutes, 23.60 seconds, more than a second faster than second place.

She also took fifth in the 1,500 in 4:55.07, her fastest time at the college level.

Men’s golf

Fairmont State: Sophomore Alex Turowski (Penn-Trafford) was selected as a Mountain East Conference honorable mention.

Turowski tied for eighth in the MEC Tournament at Edgewood Country Club at 4-over-par 146 (75-71).

Grove City: Sophomore Luke Kimmich (Franklin Regional) was named the PAC Rookie of the Week. Kimmich shot 74 to place seventh at the Thiel Invitational.

Westminster: Senior Sam Napper (Mt. Pleasant) held off 66 players to win the McBride-Behringer-Allen MBA Invitational at Grove City Country Club.

Napper shot a 1-under-par 71 to finish three shots clear of the field. The Titans won the team title by seven shots over Cal (Pa.).

Napper had more success at the Thiel Invitational, which the also Titans won, at Avalon Country Club in Hermitage.

He carded a 72 as Westminster shot 300 as a team.

Napper was named the PAC Player of the Week,

Women’s lacrosse

Grove City: Sophomore midfielder Mara Polczynski (Norwin) scored four goals and assisted on three more as the Wolverines defeated host Saint Vincent, 17-7.

Polczynski added eight draw controls in the win.

Seton Hill: Redshirt sophomore Skylar Orlowski was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Week. She scored five goals and added an assist in the Griffins win at Lock Haven.

Waynesburg: Senior Eve O’Sullivan (Latrobe) scored her 14th goal of the season, and senior Rachel Caldwell (Ligonier Valley) chipped in her seventh, but the Yellow Jackets fell to Chatham, 23-3.

Men’s lacrosse

Seton Hill: Sophomore Mark Strunk was tabbed the Great Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week. He won 34 of 55 faceoffs in a pair of wins. He picked up 19 ground balls and had two goals and an assist for as Seton Hill (7-3).