Norwin notebook: Former Knights provide boost to Seton Hill baseball, softball

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, March 27, 2021 | 10:01 AM

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Through eight games, sophomore shortstop and Norwin alum Owen Sabol was hitting .346 with 10 runs and five RBIs for the nationally ranked Seton Hill baseball team.

The Griffins (7-0) remained perfect with a come-from-behind 8-7 win at Ashland as Sabol hit his first home run of the season.

Seton Hill is ranked 17th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II Top 25.

Senior Luke Whalen, another Norwin product, also plays for the Griffins.

Seton Hill softball also is off to a fast start (11-3) and grad student Christiana Skrabak, a shortstop from Norwin who began her college career at Ohio, leads the team in home runs (4), RBIs (14) and runs (10).

In a recent series against Pitt-Johnstown, Skrabak homered and tripled in a 4-2 win, and delivered a grand slam in a 10-1 victory.

College scene

Youngstown State football player Gianni Rizzo (Norwin), a redshirt freshman linebacker, has played in four games and has three tackles for the Penguins (1-4).

La Roche freshman Nate Petrarco (Norwin) had a goal and seven ground balls in the Redhawks’ 10-3 victory over Hiram in men’s lacrosse.

Iced down

Norwin hockey dropped five straight after a win over Wheeling Catholic was in third place in the PIHL Class A Southeast Division at 8-10, behind Indiana and Greensburg Salem.

The league playoffs are set to begin April 5.

The Knights are 1-6-0-1 against division opponents.

Double trouble

Backed up by a strong back-end push from its doubles teams, Norwin rallied to get past Gateway in boys tennis, 3-2.

Brady Johnson won at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 6-4 over David Clark, while Mitch Kenney and Bret Vilage topped Ryan Tandoc and Adam Almoukamal, 6-1, 6-3, while David Emro and Nicholas Cormas defeated Joshua Burns and Zane Almoukamal, 6-2, 6-0.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

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