Historic day for Drexel rowing

For the first time in 50 years, the Drexel men's and women's varsity eights won the Bergen and Kelly Cup titles, respectively, on the Schuylkill on Saturday afternoon.

The men's varsity eight boat won the Bergen Cup for the second straight year, crossing the finish line at 6 minutes, 4.0 seconds, with Temple second at 6:09.2.

La Salle, St. Joseph's, and Villanova followed.

Drexel's newly named Lois Krall boat featured coxswain Randall Lee (William Tennent High), stroke Kurt Linton (St. Augustine Prep), Paul Wisniowski (La Salle), Aleksandar Radovic, Lorenzo Albala, Sebastian Ryan (St. Augustine), Vanja Busic, Michael Faust, and bow Will Masters (Mainland).

The Dragons women's varsity eight won the Kelly Cup in 6:56.1. St. Joseph's finished second in 7:00.5, followed by Temple, La Salle, and Villanova. Alex Paulin (Egg Harbor Township) coxed the Marlene Buckley II boat along with stroke Julia Jackson (Holy Spirit), Elizabeth Daugherty, Mollie Cusack (Upper Dublin), Samantha Cowan (Quakertown), Elizabeth Bratton (St. Basil), Emily Coyle, Sierra Baca (Holy Spirit), and bow Alexa Antoniloi (Ocean City).

BASEBALL: Steve Nikorak's two-run homer in the top of the eighth gave Temple a lead it never lost in an 8-4 win over Massachusetts in an Atlantic Ten game at Earl Lorden Field in Amherst, Mass.

Nikorak's blast over the rightfield fence was his second of the series and the third in his last four games. He leads the Owls (16-26, 4-10) with five home runs this season. UMass fell to 15-16 and 8-6.

Austin Bossard's RBI single in the seventh gave Dan Gautieri (4-1) the win in relief as Penn (17-23, 8-12) beat Columbia, 8-5, in the opener of an Ivy League doubleheader at the Lions' Robertson Field. Columbia (21-24, 12-8) won the second game, 11-1.

Jerry Mancuso homered and drove in four runs as St. Louis (28-14, 10-7 A-10) topped La Salle, 11-3, at the Explorers' (17-25, 4-10) Hank DeVincent Field.

SOFTBALL: Laura Bohning and Rachel Faletto hit home runs to lead St. Louis past Temple, 7-5, in an A-10 game at Ambler Field. Billikens starter Julian Austin carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the third before Temple's Christina Sykora singled for the 100th hit of her career. Stephanie Pasquale capped the three-run inning with a two-run homer, her fourth.

Temple (25-20, 10-6) twice tied the game but could never get the lead. St. Louis (20-30, 7-9) earned a split in the two-game series after Temple's 6-5 victory Friday.

Shelby Taylor pitched 112/3 strong innings for Drexel in a doubleheader split with George Mason. The Dragons (21-23, 6-10 Colonial Athletic Association) dropped the first game, 5-3, before winning the second, 4-3. Taylor came in for the final 42/3 innings of the first game and held the Patriots (11-38, 5-12) scoreless. She went on to pitch a complete-game in the second. The Dragons are 11/2 games behind Towson for the fourth CAA tournament berth with four games remaining.