Sports in brief: PSU baseball players successful in summer; State College garners No. 56 national rank

State College garners No. 56 national rank

The Sporting News has released its 2006 list of the 99 best sports cities in the United States, and State College, Pa., home to Penn State's University Park campus, is rated No. 7 among cities that do not have a professional sports franchise.

State College is the top ranked college town in the Big Ten Conference, is ranked No. 56 overall and is one of only three Pennsylvania cities to make the list, along with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

During the 2005-06 academic year, a school record six Nittany Lion teams won Big Ten Championships, bringing Penn State's total to 47 conference titles in 13 years as a full member of the Big Ten. During the 2005 fall season, a Big Ten-record five teams won conference titles, compiling an incredible 49-1 record during regular season Big Ten competition. All five teams finished in their respective Top 10 national rankings.

Penn State finished No. 15 in the 2005-06 NACDA Directors' Cup standings. Penn State has placed in the Top 20 12 times in the 13 years of the Directors' Cup, finishing in Top 25 all 13 years. The Nittany Lions have earned seven Top 10 finishes.

Also during 2005-06, Penn State hosted three NCAA Championship events that drew fans to State College from across the nation.

PSU baseball players successful in summer

Coppell, Texas -- Three members of the Penn State baseball team will play in the Texas Collegiate League playoffs, which begin tonight. Senior Matt Cavagnaro, junior Scott Gaffney, and sophomore Cory Wine, all members of the McKinney Marshalls, will take the field tonight in the first game of a best-of-three series for the Tris Speaker Division title. The winners of each divisional best-of-three playoff series will then advance to the championship series this weekend.

Individually, Cavagnaro leads the Marshalls in hitting and is second in the TCL batting race. He is hitting .345 entering the playoffs, nine points behind Denton's Aljay Davis, who will also be competing in the playoffs for Denton against Graham for the Rogers Hornsby Division title. Entering the playoffs, Cavagnaro has 60 hits, 37 runs, seven doubles, five triples, two home runs, 23 RBI, and has drawn 31 walks, contributing to his .552 on-base percentage.