OSCEOLA, Fla. – Jenna Merchant allowed only three hits and one earned run to help the Maine Black Bears open their softball season Sunday with a 6-2 victory over Pennsylvania.

Brittany Cheney backed Merchant with two singles and two RBIs while Amy Kuhl chipped in with a double and a single. Lauren Dulkis added two singles.

Crista Farrell doubled and singled for Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania 200 000 0 – 2 3 1

Maine 021 201 x – 6 9 2

Ranta and Landolt; Merchant and Tibbetts

St. Joe’s loses two weekend games

At Cape Coral, Fla., St. Joseph’s fell 9-1 to St. Ambrose and 3-1 to Blackburn in a doubleheader on Sunday.

In the first game, Casey Thompson hit a triple and a single for two RBIs help lead St. Ambrose to the win while Ashley Gillis added two singles.

Helene Liaci had a double for St. Joseph’s while Deirdre Regan had an RBI single.

In the second game, Katy Haijlek and Mary Chantos each had RBI singles for Blackburn while Danielle Thompson added two singles.

Darcy Lee hit two singles for St. Joseph’s while Kristen Gaudette helped out with an RBI single.

(First Game)

St. Joseph’s (0-1) 010 000 -1 6 5

St. Ambrose (1-0) 001 521 -9 7 1

Gaudette, Dennis (4) and Bain; Perschbacher and Abbott

(Second Game)

St. Joseph’s (0-2) 000 001 0 -1 5 6

Blackburn (2-0) 120 000 0 -3 5 1

Dowling and Bain; Bachet and Evdy

Baseball

Husson 8, Evangel 5

At Lake Wales, Fla., Jason Folsom had four singles and two RBIs to help lead Husson to the win on Saturday. Husson finished third overall and had a best-ever 3-2 record in the Warner Southern Tournament this year.

Josh Ferguson added two hits and an RBI while Billy Kane had two singles.

Chad Hofman hit a single and a double for an RBI while Frank Tristan had two singles and an RBI for Evangel University.

Evangel (4-5) 010 000 4 – 5 8 0

Husson (3-2) 120 014 x – 8 13 4

Womack, Gatlin (7) and Bobbenstein; Klink, Tripp (6) and Folsom

St. Joseph’s drops pair

At Fort Myers, Fla., the Monks opened its season with an 18-15 loss to Ohio Wesleyan and followed that game with a 16-10 loss to Monmouth.

Against Ohio Wesleyan, Howard Rutherford was 4-for-4 with three RBIs for the Monks. Lucas Hannington also had four hits for St. Joseph’s while Tyler Bryant had three hits and Justin Lambert had two hits and drove in five runs.

In the game with Monmouth, Ben Munize was 3-for-4 with three RBIs including two doubles for the St. Joseph’s. Bryant had three more hits for the Monks while Jake Rodden and Jack Hughes can count a home run among their two-hits each.

(First Game)

Ohio Wesleyan (1-0) 202 630 5 – 18 10 4

St. Joseph’s (0-1) 440 350 0 – 15 27 5

Grady, Dun (2), Burchett ((5), Nice (6), Bush (7) and Schultheis; Kimball, Lambert (4), Beckwith (5), Vasil (7) and McIntosh

(Second Game)

Monmouth 420 900 1 – 16 18 0

St. Joseph’s (0-2) 252 001 0 – 10 15 3

Abner, Myros (2) and Ragar; Buker, Lussier (4), Arno (4), Boles (6), Peck (7) and Rutherford

Men’s basketball

Pittsburgh 56, Villanova 54

PHILADELPHIA – Suspension-strapped Villanova had just seven players in uniform and still gave Pittsburgh a fight.

Brandin Knight, who had 15 points for the Panthers (23-4, 13-3 Big East) missed five free throws over the final 1:15.

The Wildcats (15-14, 8-8) had 12 players suspended Saturday for allegedly making unauthorized telephone calls. The penalties were staggered, allowing Villanova to field a team. And the Wildcats had the ball and a chance to take the lead on a 3-pointer in the final seconds. However, after an errant inbounds pass by Randy Foye, Villanova couldn’t get a shot before the buzzer.