2009 NCAA Division II Softball Tournament

December 4, 2002
Lock Haven Grapplers Travel to Lehigh for Sheridan Duals

On Rider University: The Bald Eagles will have to be focused and ready to wrestle on Saturday, as a tough Rider team will challenge for the dual meet victory. The Broncs captured second-place honors at the Keystone Classic and scored a 22-13 win over Indiana in their opening dual meet of the season. Rider posted wins in seven out the ten bouts to nab the win versus the Hoosiers. The Rider squad is headlined by three nationally ranked grapplers. The list is headed up by senior 157-pounder and No.-11 ranked Derek Jenkins, who captured a first-place finish at the Keystone Classic and is currently undefeated at 5-0. Ranked 19th nationally, heavyweight Vinnie D’Agostino is 4-1, placing second at the Keystone Classic. Bob Pizzuto at 174 pounds and No. 20-ranked Nick Harrington at 165 pounds are both 5-1 on the season, each scoring a dual meet win against Indiana along with a pair of third-place finishes at the Keystone Classic.

|
Mike Maney (left); Justin Owens (right)

On Rutgers University: The Scarlet Knights have had two strong outings in early season tournament action (5th at Brockport/Oklahoma Gold Tournament; 5th at Navy Classic) and opened up their dual meet schedule with a 19-17 win over Indiana last Saturday. No. 19-ranked Ryan McGrath (6-2) has come on strong at 197 pounds, winning the Navy Classic title along with the dual meet win. At 149 pounds, Greg Austin (9-2) wrestled to a third-place finish at both tournaments, and also helped give Rutgers the bonus points it needed to defeat Indiana with a 14-1 major decision over Matt Cooper. Bolstering their upperweights, Andrew Roy at 174 pounds (7-2) was third at the OK Gold tournament and fourth at the Navy Classic. 

On Drexel University: The Dragons competed at the Cornell Invitational last weekend, placing sixth overall. Drexel is led by No. 13-ranked junior Chris Jones. Jones, at 7-1, captured the individual title at 197 pounds with three wins including two over ranked opponents. The Dragons’ 125 pounder Rob Rebmann (7-3) was second at the invite, as was 174-pounder Carl Schmidt (4-1). Drexel has also been able to depend on its heavyweight senior Mike Carroll, who is currently 8-2 overall after earning a third-place finish at the invitational this past Saturday.

Below is the LHU weight-by-weight preview:

125: Red-shirt freshmen Leslie Morrow (Canton, Ga./Sequoyah) and Jim Collins (Jonestown/Northern Lebanon) will both make the trip this weekend to help out the Bald Eagles at 125 pounds. Neither Morrow nor Collins placed at last Saturday’s Mat Town USA Invitational, and the two actually met in an elimination round with Collins emerging the 5-3 victor. Morrow is 1-4 overall, his only win coming in the first round of the consolations on Saturday, a fall in 3:50 over Purdue’s Adam Moreno. Collins owns a 3-4 overall mark, and went 2-2 at Mat Town with wins coming in a 15-3 major decision over Franklin & Marshall’s Trent Dixon and the 5-3 win over Morrow.

133: Senior Justin Owens (Morrisdale/West Branch) is the starter for LHU at 133 pounds, carrying a 4-4 season mark including a 1-1 ledger in dual meets. Owens finished sixth at Mat Town, winning his first three bouts to advance to the semifinals before fighting his way through the consolation bracket. Blair Tugman (Lincroft, N.J./Middletown South) could also step in for the Bald Eagles here. Tugman also went 3-3 at Mat Town, placing eighth. 

141: No. 4-ranked Mike Maney (Clarence/Bald Eagle Area) will carry The Haven at 141 pounds. Maney finished third last weekend, advancing to the semifinals before a loss to the eventual champion knocked him into the lower half of the bracket. He went 5-1 on the day, including two major decisions and a first-period fall, and is 7-1 on the season. 

149: Senior grappler James LaValle (East Hanover, N.J./Hanover Park) did not place at Mat Town, going a quick two-and-out. On the year he is 1-3, with his one win coming in the season’s first dual meet, a 10-6 win over Buffalo’s Ryan Bentley.

157: The Bald Eagles’ other third-place finisher at the past weekend’s tournament is junior 157-pounder Charlie Brenneman (Hollidaysburg/Hollidaysburg). Brenneman went 4-1 on Saturday, moving through the bracket to the semifinals, where he lost to the eventual champion Clovis Crane of Purdue by just one point, 5-4. He won his two bouts in the consolation bracket, including a 1:59 pinning of James Pummel of Nebraska for third place. On the season, Brenneman is 5-2.

165: Jason Gilligan (Brookville/Brookville) and Chris Haines (Gettysburg/Gettysburg) both placed at the Mat Town Invite, Haines garnering a fourth-place finish while Gilligan finished fifth overall. Gilligan went 4-2 on the weekend and is 5-2 on the season. Both of Gilligan’s losses were by one-point deficits, and he defeated then-No. 8 ranked Doc Vecchio of Penn State, 9-6, for fifth place. Haines lost his first bout, 9-2, to eventual champion Oscar Santiago of Purdue, then bounced back to win his next three matches to get into the consolation finals. His wins included a 7-6 victory over Vecchio and a 8-5 decision over third-seeded Luke Larwin of Oregon. Haines is currently 4-2 on the season.

174: Mike Greenberg (Canton/Canton) and Eric O’Connor (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown) will both be present this weekend to do battle at 174 pounds. Greenberg is 3-3 while O’Connor is 6-4 overall. Greenberg was seventh at Mat Town, going 2-2 with both wins determined by major decision. O’Connor was 3-2 at the weekend tourney, including one major decision over Franklin & Marshall’s Isaiah Hankel.

184: Morgan Horner (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J./Hasbrouck Heights), a red-shirt freshman, and sophomore Dan Riggs (Hanover/Delone Catholic) will represent Lock Haven at 184 pounds. Horner, the starter for LHU in the opening two dual meets, is 1-4 overall after going 1-2 at Saturday’s tournament. Horner won his first bout (F 4:19) over John Opfar of Slippery Rock, but fell in close matches in his next two. Riggs placed sixth in his first Mat Town USA invitational, and is now 5-5 overall. An 8-3 first-round win over Ohio’s Travis Smith led him to the eventual champ in Penn State’s Mark Becks and a 6-2 loss. He won his next two matches, however, putting him into the position to wrestle for placement in the top six.

197: Junior Tim Boetsch (Lincolnville, Maine/Camden Rockport) placed fifth at the Mat Town invite, and is 5-3 on the season. He opened the tournament with Kyle Cerminara of Buffalo, dropping a 4-1 decision to the familiar opponent he had faced one week earlier in the squad’s first dual meet. Two wins followed, including a 2-1 tiebreaker victory over Bryan Kapp of Purdue. A 4-2 decision over Ohio’s Joel Weimer gave him the fifth-place medal.

HWT: Steve Itterly (Bethlehem/Nazareth) is 3-4 on the season after going 2-3 at the Mat Town Invite. Itterly placed eighth overall in his first showing at the invitational.

UP NEXT: The Bald Eagles will travel to the Clarion Duals on Sunday, Dec. 15. Lock Haven will face the University of Findlay (1 p.m.), American University (3 p.m.), and Kent State University (5 p.m.).

###LHU###