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Wednesday, April 18, 2001

Wherever Mark Jackson has coached baseball, he has been a winner. At Point Park College. Then Pitt. And Point Park, again.

The Pioneers are 23-8 this season to boost Jackson's career record to 571-285-6 in 17 years, including 387-81-3 in 10 years at Point Park.

The trademark of Jackson's teams is they always get better. The Pioneers have won 11 of their past 12 games heading into the scheduled doubleheader tomorrow against Malone at Pullman Park in Butler. The Pioneers are 11-3 and in second place in the American Mideast Conference.

Point Park has a .355 team batting average and averages nearly 11 runs per game. The hitting leaders are Don Kelly (.426), a junior shortstop from Mt. Lebanon, and Joe Eisner (.422), a senior outfielder from South Park. James Barndollar (4-1, 2.38 ERA), Brian Melnyk (5-0, 2.77) and Bob Keith (5-2, 4.76) form the nucleus of a solid pitching staff.

PSAC West baseball

California (20-11), seeking its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division title since 1979, is in first place at 9-1, followed by Lock Haven (7-3) and Slippery Rock (7-3). California's leaders are Bryan Hartung (.435, 7 home runs, 39 RBIs), a right fielder from Plum, and Bobby Saddler (3-2, 2.54 ERA), a right-hander from Penn-Trafford.

PSAC West softball

California (20-4, 8-0), winner of 17 consecutive games, is in first place and the favorite to capture its 13th consecutive league title. The team's top hitters are second baseman Gabrielle Rendon (.440) and shortstop Courtney Krueg (.415, 21 RBIs). Pitcher Rose Walsh is 10-1 with an 0.87 ERA. California has outscored the opposition, 159-38. ... IUP sophomore third baseman Lauren Lyle (Hempfield) set school and conference records with nine RBIs in a 22-21 victory against Lock Haven. She was 5 for 5 with two home runs to boost her season totals to .308, 4 home runs, 23 RBIs. IUP (19-5, 8-2) has won 15 of its past 17 games.

PAC baseball

Bethany, behind Max Schimmel (.427, 17 RBIs), a shortstop from Baldwin, and Todd Welsh (3-3, 0.89 ERA), a left-hander from West Mifflin, leads the Presidents' Athletic Conference at 6-1. Bethany, with five freshmen in the starting lineup, has won 10 of its past 12 games to raise its record to 12-15 after starting the season 1-8 on a Florida trip.

NAIA softball

Point Park canceled the final 12 games of the season because injuries depleted a thin roster and the Lady Pioneers couldn't field a team. They were 4-16-2.

Geneva's Ward excels

Erin Ward, a senior from Butler, threw a school-record 130 feet, 4 1/2 inches in the javelin to win the recent Carnegie Mellon meet and become the third woman in Geneva history to qualify for the NAIA national track and field championships May 25 in British Columbia, Canada.

Ward, a two-time National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association All-American, bettered the school record of 123 feet she set last year. She is the school's third all-time scorer in basketball with 1,367 points and second all-time scorer in soccer with 62 goals.

IUP football

Elmarko Jackson (6-1, 200), a senior tailback who transferred from Temple, carried nine times for a game-high 74 yards in IUP's spring scrimmage. Jackson, who played at Sharon High School and Glen Mills, was a top kick-returner at Temple and rushed for 950 yards in three seasons.

Senior tailback Aamir Dew, who rushed for 1,191 yards last season and is fifth on the school's all-time list with 2,379 yards, didn't play.

Tee time

IUP, led by Ryan Sikora (Yough), Sam Verano and Josh Kleck, is favored to defend its team title in the PSAC West golf championships this weekend at Millersville. Verano finished third and Sikora fourth last year. IUP is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division II North Region.

The honor roll

St. Vincent sophomore pitcher Brian Jackowski is the NAIA national pitcher of the week. Jackowski threw consecutive complete-game, 1-0 victories, allowing nine hits and striking out eight in 14 innings. He is 3-1 for the season with a 3.03 ERA. ... Mercyhurst's John Hall (Beaver Falls) is the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week.