Sunday, June 30, 2002
Sharon heavyweight Willie Phillips certainly boosted his ring stock recently when he came up with a very impressive showing at Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort.
Phillips was in control from the opening bell and gave his opponent, Jeremy Bates from Covington, Ky., a lesson in boxing. The scheduled eight-round bout was stopped 1 minute, 46 seconds into the sixth round of a scheduled eight-round co-feature of the evening, after Phillips had opened a cut under the eye of Bates. Phillips' hand speed and combinations were too much for the Kentuckian. The ring doctor, after checking the eye, called an end to the bout.
Both men had been billed as knockout artists. Phillips improved to 21-2 with 19 knockouts while Bates is now 14-5-1, with all of his wins coming by knockout. He had not faced the caliber of competition that Phillips had encountered.
The feature event of the evening pitted Angel Manfredy against Antonio Ramirex of the Dominican Republic in a 10-round lightweight clash. Manfredy worked out an impressive decision over his challenger.
One thing that Phillips won in the bout, other than erasing Bates, was exposure. He proved he is capable of putting on a good show, and his talent leaves little to be desired. We're sure you will hear more about this 34-year old (he's 6-foot-3, 240 pounds).
Boyle named MVP
Westminster College pitcher Pat Boyle, a product of Lincoln High School, Ellwood City, Pa., was recently named the team's Most Valuable Player for the 2002 season.
Only a sophomore, Boyle made the Titan baseball record books by cranking up an 11-2 record, the mark the best ever for the amount of wins in a season.
All other spring sports MVPs were announced at the Winter/Spring Sports Banquet in May, but baseball did not name an MVP at that point due to its selection to the ECAC Division II playoffs.
Boyle was the Titans' top pitcher for the 2002 season. To go along with his superb 11-2 season, he compiled a 2.09 earned run average with 24 walks and 111 strikeouts in 82 innings. He also went the distance in five games with two shutouts while adding one save. He led the team in every pitching category with the exception of the ERA.
The Titans, under the direction of third-year coach Sean Kelly, finished with an overall record of 23-9, marking the second-most wins in the program's history behind the 1982 team, which finished at 27-8.
Westminster was defeated by Franklin Pierce (N.H.) for the 2002 ECAC Division II Championship.
More honors
Boyle was one of four Westminster College spring athletes selected for recognition by the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II South Region for their accomplishments.
Selected to the ECAC Div. II South baseball all-star honorable mention list were Boyle, sophomore shortstop Nathan Statzer, Seneca Valley High School; while senior outfielder Kristie Perrotte, Vincentian High School, and junior pitcher Darcy Sutton, Fox Chapel High School, each were named to the ECAC Division II South softball honorable mention team.
Statzer batted .400 while leading the team in hits, at-bats, runs scored (37) doubles (nine), homers (four) and stolen bases (27); Perrotte batted .295, leading the team in hits, at bats, doubles (10), while adding 14 runs scored; Sutton earned the pitching decision in all but one game for Westminster recording a 17-11 mark and 2.35 ERA with 27 walks and 103 strikeouts in 195 1/3 innings. She also batted .253 (22-of-87) with two doubles and 11 RBIs.