RAY SWANSON | Keystoner Former Titans play in pro ranks

Four men with ties to Westminster College are playing professional basketball this summer.
Three of the players were members of 2000-01 Titans team.
Former Titan forward Chad Phillips (Warren JFK High) and swingman Andy Wormsley (Sewickley/Quaker Valley), both 2001 Westminster graduates, have joined 1992 graduate and point guard, Kevin Siroki (Howland) as members of the BTL Nets in the Belize semi-professional league in South America.
Phillips and Siroki played huge roles in the Nets 91-73 victory over their archrivals, the Data Pro Phoenix Rainers.
Phillips connected for 19 points and eight rebounds in the game which was his first for the Nets.
Siroki, who has played professional ball in Belize for several years, dished out a team-high five assists in the win. Wormsley has yet to play for the Nets.
Maszczak in NRL: In addition, another 2001 Westminster graduate, J.P. Maszczak (Canfield) is a member of the Delaware Destroyers of the National Rookie League (NRL). The NRL is a five-team semi-pro league with teams located on the East Coast. Maszczak played but did not score in the Destroyers first game of the season, a 104-83 setback to the Philadelphia Force.
Phillips, Wormsley and Maszczak were seniors on the 2000-01 Titan basketball team that finished 19-6, with a 9-1 record against teams from the NCAA Division III Presidents' Athletic Conference under Jim Dafler.
Siroki is a former Titan assistant coach who is now the top assistant for the men's basketball program at Tiffin University.
Good guys now: The Pittsburgh Pirates came under some heavy fire during the last several months when they voted thumbs down to permitting the three PIAA District 7 championship baseball teams to stage their title games in PNC Park, a priority that had prevailed at the recently imploded Three Rivers Stadium.
The Pirates relented, however, permitting the Triple A game to be played at PNC, on an off-day in late May.
The Pirates most recently pulled in their horns and are now the good guys. Steve Greenberg, the Pittsburgh Pirates vice president of ballpark development and communications, announced the club's new decision to permit all future WPIAL title games to be played on the surface of PNC Park.
Before changing their policy (a move that was highly welcomed by the WPIAL), the Pirates had stated that the games would interfere with field maintenance.
Greenberg said the high school leagues would be contacted about when the games can be scheduled after next year's Pirates' schedule is finalized at the end of July. After all, how many high school teams can say that they played their championship games on a major-league field?
Allegheny's best: Two men and two women are the 2001 recipients of the most prestigious awards presented by the Allegheny College Department of Athletics, the Senior Athletic and Scholar-Ahtlete of the Year.
The honors went to: cross country and track and field star Alyssa Mack, Female Athlete of the Year; golf standout Nathan Smith, Male Athlete of the Year; soccer's Meredith Stone , Female Scholar Athlete; and cross country's Brett Zook, Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.