LANCASTER — West Chester scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat Slippery Rock University 5-2 Thursday at the PSAC Baseball Championships.

The loss eliminated SRU (25-22) from the tournament.

M.J. Parsons had a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game at 1.

The Rock then took a 2-1 advantage in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Matt Adams.

West Chester, which stranded 16 runners in the game, tied the score in the fifth before mounting the ninth-inning rally.

Rich Michalek led SRUwith three hits, Parson had two and Scott Bender and Jacob Oswalt had one apiece.

PITTSBURGH — Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis will make a different kind of bus stop at Duquesne University.The running back nicknamed "The Bus" during his Steelers career will speak at Duquesne University's commencement ceremonies at 5 p.m. today.The commencement ceremonies will be held at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

NEW YORK — Rangers forward Sean Avery remained in an intensive care unit Thursday, two days after his spleen was lacerated during a playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.The internal bleeding, that has kept Avery in intensive care, stopped. If that improvement continues, he could be moved out of the unit this morning, Rangers spokesman John Rosasco said.

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Lorena Ochoa felt helpless as too many shots ballooned into relentless gusts that reached 36 mph Thursday, sending her to a 2-over 73 at the SemGroup Championship — only her second round over par this year.Hee Young Park held it together in Oklahoma's notorious wind with a 2-under 69, and Beth Bader also was 2 under as she finished up a tough day for everyone at Cedar Ridge.Two other subpar rounds came from Ochoa's group — Paula Creamer and defending champion Mi Hyun Kim, each with 70s.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Kevin Durant Thursday became the first Seattle player to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award — and perhaps the last. Durant, the national college player of the year at Texas and the No. 2 pick last year, averaged 20.3 points for the SuperSonics.The youngest player in the league at 19 was a bright spot during a dismal basketball season in Seattle. The Sonics won 20 games, and team owner Clay Bennett recently got league approval to move the team to Oklahoma City.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (— David Toms took the first-round lead in the Wachovia Championship Thursday, breaking out of a missed-cut, sore-back funk with a 5-under 67.Playing in the morning when the greens were still soft from the drenching rain earlier in the week, Toms made eight birdies, including a near ace at the 13th hole, to take a one-shot lead over Phil Mickelson and Jason Bohn.Mickelson, in his first tournament since the Masters, showed off his new, longer putter in shooting a 68.