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Wednesday, April 16, 2003

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

This has been a baseball season on the rise for Slippery Rock, which is ranked 13th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America Division II poll and 16th by Collegiate Baseball Magazine.

The Rock (27-8) is 8-2 with a 2 1/2-game lead over second-place and two-time defending champion California in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division midway through the season.

Slippery Rock plays doubleheaders at Edinboro (6-26, 3-6) today and Friday at home against California (16-14, 5-4).

Coach Jeff Messer has built the team around a core of returnees and two newcomers who have made an immediate impact, shortstop Nathan Statzer and left-handed pitcher Steve Norris.

Statzer, a transfer from Westminster, has a .363 batting average with a home run and 28 RBIs. Norris, a junior-college transfer, is 5-0 with a 1.54 earned run average. Norris has strengthened an already deep pitching staff that includes senior right-handers Mike Sikorski (5-1, 1.25 ERA) of McKeesport and Kevin Dvorchak (2-1, 1.37) of Uniontown.

The team's leading hitters are senior center fielder Joe Neidrick (.400, 28 RBIs, 14-14 stolen bases), junior left fielder Ben Marzullo (7 HRs) and senior second baseman Alan Reichl (.377, 7 HRs, team-high 37 RBIs) of Montour.

Slippery Rock, whose 14-game winning streak challenged the school record of 16 set in 1968, is 4-2 after a 4-1 loss to Lock Haven in the second game of a doubleheader last week.

Dukes aren't bluffing

Duquesne's baseball team is in second place in the Atlantic 10 Conference West Division and in good position to qualify for the playoffs for the first time. The top two teams in each division and the next two teams with the best records reach the playoffs. The Dukes, 17-15 overall and 9-3 in the West, have 12 league games remaining.

Duquesne's most productive hitters are senior outfielder Chad Williams (North Allegheny) with a team-high .392 average and senior first baseman Andy Gallina (Central Catholic) who leads with five home runs and 30 RBIs.

The top pitchers are sophomore right-hander Bob Reifschneider (Burrell) with a 5-2 record and 3.14 earned run average and senior right-hander Jim Popp (Brashear) at 6-3 with a 4.13 ERA.

Edinboro cuts 3 sports

Edinboro will end varsity baseball and the men's and women's tennis programs after the 2003 spring season because of cuts in the athletic budget. The Fighting Scots, a member of the NCAA Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, will continue to compete in six men's sports and eight women's sports. The baseball team currently is 6-26, the men's tennis team 11-7 and the women's tennis team 7-10. A player from these three programs can transfer and be eligible immediately at another school as long as he/she meet the academic qualifications.

RMU recruits

Quarterback Shaun Abkarian and 295-pound offensive lineman Vincent Romo of Citrus (Calif.) Junior College signed national letters of intent and defensive end Ray Gensler of Keystone Oaks plans to play football at Robert Morris this season.

Hardly knew ya

Quarterback Tom Hoderny left Edinboro last month after transferring there from Pitt in January. Hoderny, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound redshirt sophomore, would have had two years of eligibility at Edinboro. Hoderny, a third-stringer who played sparingly in two seasons at Pitt, was projected to have been the starter at Edinboro. Coach Lou Tepper had made some changes in the offense this spring to take advantage of Hoderny's abilities.