EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a series of recaps of the winter and spring college sports seasons for athletes from the Abingtons.
Lackawanna Trail graduate Nate Rolka did not need to wait long to make his college baseball debut as a pitcher at the University of Delaware, a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I team.
The freshman right-hander turned in a dominant effort in the first game of the season-opening doubleheader Feb. 15 at Florida Atlantic University.
Rolka pitched the final two innings and retired six of the seven batters he faced, striking out four.
Delaware was 8-7 and on a four-game winning streak when the season was ended early because of the coronavirus.
Rolka made three appearances and had the team’s second-best earned run average at 1.80. He gave up four hits, five walks, a wild pitch and two runs (one earned) in five innings.
A recap of how other athletes from the Abingtons did during their abbreviated spring college seasons:
More baseball
Junior outfielder Colin McCreary started 10 games and played in another at Monmouth University, a Division I team which was 5-9.
McCreary had two hits and his first two RBI, driving in his team’s only runs in the final game of the spring, a 5-2 loss to Rutgers.
The Abington Heights graduate finished the season with a .194 average. He drew six walks, scored three runs and stole a base.
McCreary went 3-for-8 with two doubles in 19 games off the bench as a freshman. He played in 37 games, including 33 starts, and had four homers, 17 RBI and a .256 average last season.
For his career, McCreary has a .248 average in 67 games.
Abington Heights graduate Joey Barcia started his first four college games at Bard College, a Division III school in New York State.
Bard lost all four games.
Barcia was second on the team in hits with six while batting .429. The freshman outfielder had a triple, three runs scored and four RBI.
Three former Comets – sophomore pitcher T.J. Lacey, freshman infielder James Meyers and freshman infielder/pitcher Nick Notari – are teammates at Marywood, which went 5-6.
Lacey was second on the team in strikeouts with 12. He was 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in four games, including one start. In 12 innings, Lacey gave up 14 hits and walked four.
As a freshman, Lacey was 1-1 with a 4.02 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings.
Myers played in every game, starting 10 of the 11. He batted .200 with two doubles, three runs and two RBI.
Notari was 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA in four pitching appearances and 1-for-2 with a walk at the plate. He struck out four while giving up five hits and two walks with 6 1/3 innings.
Softball
Meghan McGinley had her first college hits in Mansfield University’s last game before the shutdown.
The sophomore pitcher from Abington Heights made the start in left field in the second game of a doubleheader against Virginia Union and drove in three runs with a pair of triples during the 11-0, six-inning rout.
Mansfield, a Division II team, won its last four games before the shutdown to improve to 6-4.
McGinley was 2-for-4 at the plate in two games with a run and a walk.
As a pitcher, McGinley made two other appearances. She did not have a decision and had a 7.87 ERA while giving up five hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings. She struck out two.
McGinley made six pitching appearances, including two starts, as a freshman and went 1-1 with a 3.87 ERA.
Abington Heights graduates Kaylee DeMatteo and Dominique Emmett are teammates at Penn State Harrisburg, which went 2-6 this season.
DeMatteo led the team in batting average last season.
The junior third baseman/pitcher made her first two college pitching appearances this season and, despite losing both decisions and not having a strikeout, led the team with a 2.63 earned run average.
DeMatteo hit .250 with a double and two RBI.
For her career, she has a .292 batting average with 18 RBI in 58 games.
Emmett, a senior catcher/infielder, hit .154 in eight games with three doubles, two runs and three RBI.
She returned to action after also playing for the team in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
Emmett has six home runs and 32 RBI while batting .256 in 60 career games.
Freshmen Nina Kozar and Samantha Baltrusaitis were part of Marywood’s 4-4 team.
Kozar, a catcher/first baseman from Abington Heights, hit the team’s only home run. She played every game, starting all but one, and hit .350 with a double and four RBI.
Baltrusaitis, an outfielder from Lackawanna Trail, batted .200 with three runs and an RBI while playing in six games. She made three starts.
Men’s tennis
Tarquin McGurrin won his only match of the spring by a 6-0, 6-0 sweep when the University of Scranton defeated Clarks Summit, 8-1, at Birchwood Racquet Club.
The match was the only one in the spring for Scranton.
The Royals also played a fall season.
McGurrin, a junior from Scranton Prep and Clarks Summit, won his first six matches and finished the fall portion of the schedule with a 6-2 record. He also won a pair of matches at first doubles.
The junior from Scranton Prep and Clarks Summit finished in double figures in wins in both singles and doubles in his freshman and sophomore seasons.
