Team Gears Up for Record-Breaking Year
By Jason King
The record breakers are
back! The St. Andrews
baseball team has started
their fall season with aspi
ration of yet another sea
son of successful play,
under head coach, Gary
Swanson. The Knights
finished last season ranked
eleventh in the nation and
just missed a bid for the
NAIA College World
Series.
Many of the players
explained that coach
Swanson's intense desire
to win is the key factor in
their past and future suc
cess's. Senior outfielder,
Todd Rodiguez said re
garding Coach Swanson's
philosophy, "Coach wants
us, as a team, to have a
winning and positive atti
tude; and to use are full
potential...so ten years
from now we can look back
on our college careers
with no regrets."
Rodriguez, (fourth in
the nation last season in
batting...at .489 with 25
sb's)is one of the many
valuable returning players
that will help St. Andrews
toward a winning season.
All conference pitcher
Ronnie Roy is set to do his
fourth year on the mound
for St. Andrews. Roy was
ERA striking out 80 bat
ters in 77 and 2/3 innings.
Mike Bell, the Ricky
Henderson of the NAIA,
will be returning to bum
up the base paths. Last
season. Bell stole 53 of 58
attempted bases to earn
him a spot in the NAIA
record books for most
stolen bases in a season.
The offensive attack
will be lead by all confer
ence thu-d baseman Bret
Katz;all district second
basemanChip
Hodges;outfielder Desi
Williams and major con
tributors Lee Gogol, Brian
Hinson, Mike Poole, Will
Gardner and Ty Coming.
The "depth-
filled"pitching staff will be
highlighted by returners
Tim Whitson, Joe Agee
and Lee Gogol. Newcom
ers Bob Lemay, a transfer
from Chicage. And Bob
Weinmann, atransfer from
Dyer, Ind., are expected to
be a valuable addition to
the pitching staff.
Coach Swanson smiles
with confidence when
talking about all of his
newly recruited players,
(players to watch for are
Alexander Mcdougal,
OF;Todd Reische,C; Trint
Hinshaw.P; and short stop
Jeff DeRossa) When the
game is on the line or a
starting pitcher has tired,
Swanson will probably
call on the "Crafty"left-
hander Jim Buchanan or
the "Fire-balling Giant"
Danny Chlebus to diffuse
the opponents.
After one full week of
practice. Coach Swanson
is praising the teams atti
tude and says, "This is the
best first week of practice
I've had at St. Andrews."
He expects this attitude to
continue for all players to
do their jobs as far as aca
demics, citizenship and
baseball are concerned.
The Knights open their
fall season on Saturday,
September 22 against
Methodist College in Fay
etteville.
a
Players Hail From Trinidad
By Lewis Wemmett
The island of Trinidad
is a long way from Lau-
rinburg and St. Andrews
College. Despite the prox
imity, the tiny island is a
hotbed for skilled soccer
players, and no one knows
this more than St. An
drews' head soccer coach,
Lorenzo Canalis. Canalis,
now in his sixth year, cur
rently has three Trinidani-
ans playing for the Knights
and another as his assis
tant coach. The 1990 St.
Andrews graduate, Colin
McDavid, who hails from
Tacariga, Trinidad, has
joined the staff after a
successful three-yearplay-
ing career. Joining him are
other members of the
"Trinidad
Connection,"incoming
freshmen Ian Pena from
St. Joseph and Damian
Hillaire from Gasparillo,
^ . , and junior Sean Haynes
Trinidad Soccer Players - Four members of St. Andrew s Tacariga.
Soccer Team are from Trinidad. Pictured before game time is j-gcall that
' jassistand soccer coach and former player Colin McDavid, Sean ^ • j j „ focus of
Haynes, Damian Hillaire, and Ian Pena. (Pho.0 by lane Kar- “^^n
July. One week before the
Saddam Hussein show
■ took over the airwaves, a
radical Moslem group
stormed the Parliament
Building and seized con
trol. The coup was eventu
ally thwarted when the
group surrendered. "There
was alot of looting and
stores broken into, but our
families were all safe,"
McDavid said. Trinidad
has a government modeled
after Great Britian. At the
present all is well.
Soccer is the most
popular sport in Trinidad,
and many players are re-
cmited from there to play
in the United States. There
is only one university in
Trinidad and the entrance
requirements are very stiff.
All the better for St. An
drews, which is raoidlv
expanding its intema-
tional student body.
McDavid was playing
for a club team at Hillsbor
ough Community College
in Tampa, Fla., when Ca
nalis discovered him. Pena
came to the States because
in his words, "the U.S.
offers more opportuni
ties.”
Last winter term the
S.A. soccer team went to
Trinidad and competed.
"It offered a good cultural
experience for the guys
on the team," McDavid
explained. McDavid's
coach in Trinidad is also
the coach of Trinidad's
national team, which lost
to the United States in the
last match deciding the
World Cup qualifiers. "A
lot of my friends play on
the national team and it
was really fun watching,"
said McDavid, "Alvin
Comeal is a great man."
Interestingly, this
tropical country has a
multi-cultural society in
which racism is rarely an
issue. Surely the U.S.
could learn a thing or two
from the tiny country.
In addition to
McDavid, Haynes, Pena,
and Hillaire, Rommel
Voisin is a junior who
hails from Tacariga,
Trinidad.