W. Chester staves off elimination

West Chester's Matt Baer drove an 0-2 pitch to the right-field wall with one out and runners on the corners in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Golden Rams a 5-4 victory over Shippensburg at the 2012 PSAC Baseball Tournament in Butler, Pa., on Friday night.

With the win, West Chester (36-10) advances to a 10 a.m. Saturday rematch with Shippensburg (32-30) in an elimination game. The Golden Rams earlier defeated Slippery Rock, 15-6, in a morning elimination.

Righthanded reliever Matt McAllister (Archbishop Wood) notched 11 strikeouts and scattered four hits over 62/3 innings of shutout ball to improve to 5-0 on the season.

In a 100-pitch gem in which he faced just three batters over the minimum, Temple righthander Dan Moller got the Owls' first complete game of the year - and his first win in over three years - in a 3-1 win over Dayton in Ambler.

Flyers starter Mike Hauschild also pitched a complete game in a losing effort.

Temple's Matt Elko was 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI, while David Hall went 2 for 4.

Xavier opened up a 5-0 lead after six innings with four unearned runs in handing La Salle a 5-1 defeat at home. Jeff Flax, Adam Kammler, and George Smith Jr. all had two hits for the Explorers.

Eric Van Wyk (Garnet Valley) went 51/3 innings, struck out three, and allowed just one earned run, but took the loss.

ACADEMIC STARS: The University of the Sciences, Philadelphia University, Lincoln University, and Chestnut Hill College were among 24 institutions given the Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence, honoring programs with a four-year graduation rate of 90 percent.

The University of the Sciences was second-highest nationally, with a 98 percent graduation rate. Philadelphia graduated 95 percent, Lincoln 93 percent, and Chestnut Hill 90 percent of its athletes.

BASKETBALL: Donovon Jack, a 6-foot-9 forward from Berks Catholic (formerly Holy Name) signed an NCAA letter of intent with Penn State.

Akosa Maduegbunam, a 6-3 guard from Boston, and 6-8 forward Brandon Taylor (Trenton Catholic) signed earlier. They will be joined by 6-3 guard D.J. Newbill (Strawberry Mansion), who transferred from Southern Mississippi.

HONORS: Rachel Dirksen (Abington), a Messiah midfielder; Rachel Coyle (Souderton), a Messiah defender; and Jen Czarnecki (St. Hubert), Alvernia's goalkeeper, were named first team all-Commonwealth Conference in women's lacrosse. Eastern midfielder Courtney Reinhold, attack Jocelyn Paul, and Suzannah McNamara were named first-team all-Freedom Conference.

Softball star Erin Gallagher (St. Basil) and trackman Kevin McDonnell (Camden Catholic) were named recipients of St. Joseph's Class of 1950 Award, as the university's top graduating student-athletes.

St. Joe's junior Casey Robinson was named to the Atlantic Ten women's tennis first team after setting a school record with 23 wins.

Temple's Yana Mavrina also was named to the first team.

Rowan catcher Nicolina Veneziano, leftfielder Jennifer Arcella, and rightfielder Lauren Davis were named to the New Jersey Athletic Conference first team in softball.