TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team lost 3-2 to Wooster in the elimination game of the NCAA Division III championships at Rose-Hulman on Thursday.

The Lions, who rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning but fell short in their comeback bid, finished their successful season with a 30-12 record.

Vinny Rice paced Behrend’s offense with three hits, including a two-out, two-run single in the ninth. Evan Bukowski  also had three hits for the Lions.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The Penn State Behrend baseball team saw firsthand Wednesday night why Marietta is a longtime power in NCAA Division III baseball.

The Lions (30-11), coming off a tremendous offensive performance in the AMCC tournament, had just six hits Wednesday in an 11-1 loss to the No. 14 Etta Express in a Mideast Regional opener on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Behrend starting pitcher Ryan Jacobs (8-2) took the loss despite allowing just three earned runs on 10 hits in seven innings. He struck out nine and walked two. Marietta pulled away with six runs in the eighth against two Behrend relievers.

Jordan Weinzierl had two hits and Matt Bittner drove in the Lions’ run with a single in the ninth.

The Lions must beat No. 27 Wooster today at 1:15 p.m. to avoid elimination from the tournament. Wooster lost to Thomas More 20-4 Wednesday.

Former Mercyhurst University baseball coach Joe Jordano has the University of Pittsburgh baseball team on the verge of a Big East title.

No. 16 Pitt  (40-12, 18-3 Big East) will take on No. 10 Louisville this weekend in a three-game series. If the Panthers win two games or sweep, they win the title. If the Panthers win once, they share the title with the Cardinals (43-10, 17-4 Big East).

No matter the outcome this weekend, Pitt has a good shot at an NCAA berth.

Jordano, who has 467 wins in 15 years at Pitt, has 750 career wins after logging 283 victories in 10 seasons at Mercyhurst.

Here’s Jordano talking about Pitt’s chance this weekend:

The Gannon women’s basketball program reached its goal of $17,000 raised at the sixth annual Pink Zone event.

It  was announced this week that the program had reached its goal for the Feb. 16 Pink Zone doubleheader against Clarion at Hammermill Center. With nearly 2,000 fans in attendance, the event honored breast cancer survivors while raising funds for breast cancer research.

The funds raised will stay in the area as $8,500 was donated to the Erie chapter of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer/American Cancer Society and $8,500 was given to Linked by Pink.

The Gannon women’s basketball program has raised $85,000 during its six Pink Zone events.

Seven Penn State Behrend baseball players and coach Paul Benim were honored by the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference today.

Benim was named AMCC coach of the year for the fifth time, while Ryan Jacobs was selected as pitcher of the year and John Hlavinka was newcomer of the year.

Benim led the Lions (30-10) to AMCC regular-season and tournament titles. Jacobs, a senior right-hander, went 8-1 and became Behrend’s career wins leader with 28. He also threw the first perfect game in Behrend history. Hlavinka, a freshman outfielder, hit .347 with nine doubles.

Jacobs was joined on the first team by senior catcher Evan Bukowski (.308, 25 RBIs), senior first baseman Vinny Rice (.382, 24 RBIs) and senior outfielder Ryan Kragnes (.398, 44 runs, 25 stolen bases). Kragnes was a third-time first-team selection, while Bukowski and Jacobs made it for the second straight year.

Senior third baseman Matt Bittner (.314, 42 RBIs) made the all-AMCC second team, along with Hlavinka. Junior relief pitcher Chad Zurat (six saves, 2.25 ERA) landed a spot on the third team.

Corry graduate Aaron Cressley, a sophomore pitcher for Pitt-Bradford, made the all-AMCC second team.

Penn State Behrend’s Ryan Kragnes, right, rounds second base on a hit-and-run play against Pitt-Greensburg during an AMCC tournament game May 9. Behrend won the tournament to advance to the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional. GREG WOHLFORD/Erie Times-News

The Penn State Behrend baseball team will face Marietta (Ohio) in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., Wednesday.

Behrend (30-10) is the No. 7 seed in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament after winning the AMCC tournament Saturday at Behrend. Marietta (29-12) is seeded No. 2. The teams will meet in the fourth and final game of the regional’s first day at 7:45 p.m.

The other six regional teams are No. 1 Manchester, Ind. (35-5), No. 3 Wooster (32-10), No. 4 Illinois Wesleyan (32-12), No. 5 Washington & Jefferson (30-11), No. 6 Thomas More (29-14) and No. 8 Mount Union (23-16).

Each team will play once Wednesday, and the tournament will continue through the weekend. The finals will be played Saturday, but if two teams have one loss through that game, a winner-take-all championship game will be played Sunday.

The NCAA D-III field features 56 teams competing at eight regionals. The winner of each regional will advance to the double-elimination NCAA championship tournament May 24-28 at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis.

Iroquois graduate Becky Zill finished her college softball career in memorable fashion.

Becky Zill

Niagara University catcher hit a walk-off home run in her team’s regular-season finale. She finished her four-year career with 26 homers for the Purple Eagles, who finished the season going 1-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.

Read about Zill’s accomplishments in this week’s On Campus notebook.

Also this week, find out about Edinboro senior guard Kiara Brown claiming another honor to add to her standout basketball career for the Fighting Scots.

The two-time All-American will have her No. 12 jersey placed on display at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. The jersey will hang in the Hall’s Ring of Honor display alongside jerseys of high school and college All-Americans from around the nation.

Also, Cathedral Prep graduate Tommy Steele and Iroquois grad Rachael Ragen earned the Most Improved Award for their respective University at Buffalo men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams.

Read more in the On Campus notebook.

Kiara Brown’s No. 12 jersey will hang in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame “Ring of Honor.”

Penn State Behrend won its fifth AMCC baseball championship by beating La Roche 9-5 today at Behrend Field.

Behrend (30-13) took advantage of four La Roche (29-14) errors in the game, including three during the Lions’ seven-run third inning.

Center field Ryan Kragnes went 2-for-4 with two runs scored to lead the Lions, who had five hits in the game.

Tylor Williams (5-2) picked up the win, giving up six hits and four runs (three earned) in six innings.

Right fielder Jon Watson went 3-for-4 with an RBI to pace La Roche’s eight-hit attack. Watson had the game’s only extra-base hit, a double.

Check out the full box score from the game here.

La Roche advanced to the final by beating Mt. Aloysius 11-1 Saturday morning in the completion of a game suspended beacuase of inclement weather Friday.

Iroquois grad Becky Zill went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI to help the Niagara University softball team to a 6-3 victory over Siena today in an opening-round game at the MAAC tournament in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

The game was completed today after being suspended Thursday with Niagara leading 3-2 in the fifth inning.

Zill, a senior catcher, led the Purple Eagles with a .346 average, 8 home runs and 34 RBIs during the regular season.

Niagara (16-28) will take on Marist this afternoon.

Update 2: Marist 2, Niagara 0:  Marist limits Niagara to two hits. Iroquois grad Becky Zill goes 0-for-3 for Niagara (16-29). The Purple Eagles will play an elimination game later today against either Siena or Fairfield.

Update 3: Fairfield 2, Niagara o: The Purple Eagles saw their season end at 16-30. Zill went 0-for-3. She closed her career with 26 homers and 116 RBIs, both of which rank third on Niagara’s career list.

The Gannon baseball team will attempt to stay in contention in the PSAC baseball tournament when it faces Millersville today in Johnstown. Visit the On Campus blog for updates:

Update 1: Millersville 3, Gannon 0, 2nd inning: Millersville strikes for three runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Update 2: Millersville 5, Gannon 0, 3rd inning: Gannon will need to rally to stay alive. Millersville scores twice in the bottom of the third to take a five-run lead.

Update 3: Millersville 5, Gannon 0, 6th inning: Gannon has no hits through five innings.

Update 4: Millersville 5, Gannon 1, 8th inning: Gannon’s Shayne Herold breaks up no-hitter with double in eighth and later scores first run.

Update 5: Millersville 5, Gannon 1, 9th inning: Gannon has hope after loading the bases with one out on a single and two hit batsmen.

Update 6: Millersville 5, Gannon 3, 9th inning: Nico Baldelli hits a ground-rule two-run double with two outs to keep Gannon alive.

Update 7: Millersville 5, Gannon 5, 9th inning: Aaron Cox hits a 2-out, 2-run single to tie it. What a comeback. Gannon had no hits and no runs with two outs in the eighth inning.

Update 8: Millersville 5, Gannon 5, 9th inning: Millersville coming up in bottom of ninth. McDowell grad Matt Wilwohl pitching for Gannon.

Update 9: Millersville 5, Gannon 5, 9th inning: Millersville has runner on 3rd with one out in 9th.

Update 10: Millersville 6, Gannon 5, final. Zach Stone’s two-out single to right field brings in the winning run, giving Millersville the win. The loss spoils Gannon’s dramatic comeback and ends the Golden Knights’ season.