The West Virginia State University basketball team signed a pair of new players Tuesday, forward Jayson Hankins and guard Ernest Jenkins Jr.
Hankins, a 6-foot-4 player from Hargrave Military Academy, was a reserve player for a team that went 47-1 and won the national prep school championship. He was the 13th player on the 16-man Hargrave roster to sign a full scholarship.
Jenkins, standing 6-2, comes from Bishop McNamara High School in the Washington D.C. area.
He was second on his team in scoring at 12.3 points per game, led the squad in steals and shot 38 percent from 3-point range. Jenkins also led Bishop McNamara in free throw shooting, hitting 84 percent from the line.
STATE, UC TENNIS
Both the West Virginia State and University of Charleston women's teams qualified for the NCAA Division II regional tournament, announced Tuesday night. The Yellow Jackets, who won the final West Virginia Intercollgiate Athletic Conference tournament title and the first three Mountain East Conference tournament titles, are the No. 4 seed. The Golden Eagles, the MEC tournament runners-up the last two seasons, are the No. 6 seed.
WVSU (16-3) will face fifth-seeded Slippery Rock (13-9) on Saturday at California University (Pennsylvania). The winner of that match will face the region's top seed, California (17-3), on Sunday. The Golden Eagles (16-7) will face third-seeded Mercyhurst (14-5) on Sunday at Indiana University (Pennsylvania). The winner of that match faces the winner between No. 2 seed Indiana (20-4) and No. 7 seed Chowan (25-5) on Monday.
WVSU and UC faced off in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional last season, with State winning 5-2. The Yellow Jackets fell 5-0 to California in the next round.
WVU BASEBALL
The Mountaineers built a four-run lead through five innings and held off a late rally to beat Virginia Tech 5-4 in a non-conference game Tuesday at Monongalia County Ballpark.
WVU scored in each of the first three innings — an RBI single by Ivan Vera, a sacrifice fly by Jimmy Galusky and balk that scored Darius Hill.
The Mountaineers added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings on a Jackson Cramer home run and an RBI fielder's choice by Hill.
Tech made it interesting with three runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by a Tom Stoffel single that scored two runs.
Seven Mountaineer pitchers took the mound, with Braden Zarbinsiky (2-0) earning the win with four shutout innings.
WVU will begin a three-game home series against Texas on Friday, with the first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m.
POWER MOVE
West Virginia Power right-handed pitcher Tate Scioneaux has been promoted to the Pittsburgh Pirates' Class A advanced-level Bradenton Marauders.
Scioneaux, a 39th-round draft pick in 2015 out of Southeastern Louisiana, was 1-0 with three saves and a 1.13 ERA in seven relief appearances for the Power. Scioneaux allowed just five hits and two earned runs while striking out 24 in 16 innings.
No moves have been made to fill Scioneaux's spot on the Power's roster.