Having your name added to a watch list for a major college sports award is one thing.

Making the first cut for that award is another.

West Liberty junior basketball star Bryce Butler, a Latrobe graduate, was still standing when the 50-player Bevo Francis Award list was sliced in half Wednesday.

The award’s finalists will be announced April 1, and the winner will be revealed April 3.

The prestigious Francis award recognizes the best small-college basketball player in the country.

Butler, a 6-foot-5 guard, has been a key piece in the Hilltoppers’ NCAA Division II Tournament run.

No. 5 West Liberty (31-3) will play New Haven (23-10) in the Elite Eight Tuesday in Evansville, Ind.

Dominating at times, Butler was named the D2SIDA Atlantic Region and Mountain East Conference player of the year for the second straight season. He has led the Hilltoppers in scoring in every postseason game, including a 30-point performance in a 70-53 win over IUP in the Atlantic Region final.

He has three double-doubles in six playoff games.

Butler is averaging 22.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

Baseball

Grove City: Junior shortstop Lucca Baccari (Penn-Trafford) went 4 for 5 as the Wolverines pounded out 16 hits but lost to Hiram, 15-11. Baccari had a run and an RBI.

Mercyhurst: Sophomore outfielder Eric Chorba (Norwin) homered, and sophomore Jake Bazala (Norwin) pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-run baseball to earn his second win of the season, as the Lakers edged Salem (W.Va.), 3-2.

Chorba also doubled, tripled and drove in a run in a 13-0 win over Salem.

Pitt-Greensburg: Freshman James Domer hit a three-run home run, sophomore Jaycob Caseras drove in six runs, and freshman Colin Solinski scored four runs as UPG (6-2) defeated Geneva, 18-8.

Junior Mike Sullivan had three hits and three RBIs for the Bobcats.

Seton Hill: Griffins coach Marc Marizzaldi does not fret when his team goes into extra innings. That is because he has faith in his recruits.

Senior Owen Sabol (Norwin) is one of those players.

Sabol delivered a two-out single to right to lift Seton Hill to a 3-2 win over LeMoyne in 11 innings.

Senior Vince Rauso scored on the walk-off hit.

Rauso, who is hitting a team-best .380, and Sabol had doubles in the win.

The Griffins (9-7) went on to defeat LeMoyne, 5-0, as freshman Jack Whalen (Norwin) had two hits and two RBIs, and senior Kevin Vaupel pitched a complete-game two-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

Rauso scored on a wild pitch in a 5-4 win over LeMoyne in a game that saw senior Jack Oberdorf (Greensburg Salem) hit a solo home run, his second of the season.

Vaupel was named the PSAC West Pitcher of the Week.

Washington & Jefferson: Senior Tyler Horvat (Penn-Trafford) had himself a day in a doubleheader against Geneva.

In the first game, a 14-1 win, he doubled, scored three runs and walked three times.

In the second, he really showed what his game is all about as a true Division III utility man.

He went 3 for 3 with two runs, and also pitched a complete-game one-hitter in a 10-0 victory.

Horvat was named the PAC Pitcher of the Week.

Westminster: Junior second baseman Donnie Shimko (Latrobe) went 2 for 4 with a double, RBI and run scored, but the Titans fell to Bowdoin, 11-7.

He ripped a two-run double in a 9-8 loss to Wheaton.

Men’s golf

Notre Dame: Senior Palmer Jackson (Franklin Regional) tied for 22nd at the Johnnie-O at Sea Island (Ga.) in the team’s second tournament of the season.

Jackson shot an even-par 70 in the third round to close with a 4-over total for 54 holes.

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