Skurko efforts behind winning season
pleted an associate degree pro
gram at New Kensington, says
Skurko. “Capitol is one of the
One Capitol Campus student few campuses which enable me
has been showing that high to build on that degree.”
grades and athletic achievement As an upper division campus
can go together. Capitol offers undergraduates
Last season Mike Skurko led coursework only on the junior
his team both in homeruns with 4 and senior levels. This structure
and in runs batted in with 23. He enables students like Skurko to
also placed third on the team in work toward a baccalaureate
hits with 27, and finished the degree after receiving an -
season with a .320 batting associate degree at another cam
average. pus. Capitol’s athletic programs
Skurko, a senior from are structured to give such
Brackenridge, Pa., did all of students the opportunity to play
this, even though his class sjports, according to the athletic
schedule didn’t permit him to at- director Bud Smitley.
tend baseball practice. “It’s go- “A student holding an
ing to be tougher to keep my associate degree who goes on to
grades up this season,” says a traditional four-year college
Skurko, who maintains a 3.9 often finds it impossible to par
cumulative grade-point average ticipate in sports. Sports
in the Electrical Design • preparation at such schools
Engineering Technology cur- usually is begun in the freshman
riculum. “I’ll be attending two year, and teams are built on a
hours of baseball practice every four-year plan,” he said. “This is
day, in addition to classes.” not the case at Capitol, where
The 6’3 senior started his Penn students arrive on campus as
State baseball career at the New juniors. Our program is built
Kensington campus, where he around such students.”
led his team in homeruns with 4. Head baseball coach Ron
He also was among the team Melchiorre feels that Skurko was
leaders with his .345 batting a major contributor to Capitol’s
average. baseball program, which com-
Skurko came to Capitol to pur- pleted its best season ever last
sue his bachelor’s degree in year.
engineering technology. “I com- “If Mike duplicates last season
By Rob Rejmaniak
Photo by Joe Hart
Mike Skurko tries to beat out throw to first base.
at the plate and works on his was a sub-par season.’
fielding, he has the potential to Skurko is a key contributor to
be the All District third the success of this year’s team,
baseman,” says Melchiorre. Through the first seven games of
Skurko is confident that his the season Skurko’s average
fielding will improve. “I know stood at a sturdy .400, with 2
. I’ll do better in the field this homeruns and 10 runs batted in.
year,” says Skurko, “last year ,
Lions continue winning
os season progresses
By La-Verna Fountain
The double header between
Capitol Campus and Philadelphia
College of Pharmacy and
Science on April 23 ended with
both teams walking away with a
victory.
Coach Ron Melchiorre said
“The second game was a tough
one to lose, but we grabbed the
first one.” Indeed, the first game
was grabbed out of Pharmacy’s
hands.
Trailing Parmacy by a score
. of 3-0, the sixth inning saw
Capitol rally together and score 8
runs. With superb pitching by
Greg Livingston and great
defense, Pharmacy was unable
to score in the 7th inning. This
gave Capitol its eleventh win of
the season.
Pharmacy’s coach, Bob Bun
nell, said “They (Capitol) got the
base hits when they needed
them. The second game was ours
basically because of all of the
walks. I believe we had about a
dozen walks. It was a big corn
back for us, we needed it.” e
That statement about sums up
the second game. Capitol came
out strong in the first three inn-
ings scoring 3 of their 5 points,
but experienced some pitching
difficulties in the last four inn-
ings. The sixth inning saw 3 dif
ferent pitchers, Bob Hulsizer,
Gary Torasco, and Scott
Johnson.
Appearing to tire, Capitol held
their lead until the seventh inn
ing. Pharmacy was able to
squeeze ahead with a final score
of Pharmacy 6, Capitol 5.
The other two losses experienc
ed by the Lions occurred on
April 11 against Messiah College
and on April 1 against Juniata
College.
The Lions will play a double
header against Alvernia College
at home on April 26 at 1:00 p.m.
Penn State Capitol’s baseball
team remains in top position for
team pitching according to the
April report of National Associa
tion of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Gary Torasco, a junior at
Capitol, is among nine players
vying for first place in individual
pitching, and in the same
category, Bob Hulsizer, a senior,
ranks 11. Also ranking 4th in the
national statistics for runs-
batted-in is Ben Danilowicz, a
junior.
Photo by Joe Hart