Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Feb. 26, 2004, edition 1 / Page 24
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Thursday, February 26, 2004 THE PENDULUM • Page 24 Baseball 3-5 as SoCon play starts Andrew High Sports Editor The Phoenix Baseball team rebounded from three consecutive losses to North Carolina State University over the weekend to beat visiting UNC-Wilmington 5-4. The game lifted the Phoenix to 3-5 head ing into a weekend series against Appalachian State. Baseball head coach Mike Kennedy said the win was important from a confidence standpoint. The Phoenix were ouLscored 26-8 in its three games against NC State. “NC State is ranked 22nd in the country,” he said. “They’re a good ball club. We could’ve won two of those games. We’re not as bad as people make it out to be. That was a good win today and obviously beat ing Wilmington twice is huge for us. We recruit against those guys. We needed something positive going into conference play.” MattMcSwain, a freshman right- handed pitcher, controlled the first half of the game for the Phoenix. He went five and two-thirds innings, giv ing up two runs. McS wain also struck out nine batters on 110 pitches and gave up two walks. “He was outstanding,” Kennedy said. “We knew coming in that he was going to be pretty good for us. It’s just a matter of getting our guys some mound time, with the weather.” Kennedy said even though McSwain’s performance was excel lent he doesn’t expect to leave him— or other starting pitchers— in too deep into ballgames saying that their arms must gradually adjust to the strain of long outings. Kennedy, how ever, said he was impressed by McSwain’s nine strikeouts. “He’s got good stuff,” Kennedy said. “His breaking pitch is very good and today he had a great change-up. If he throws those in there, he’s got a chance to strike out a lot of guys. In high school he threw a perfect game. So, he’s got good stuff.” In the Phoenix half of the fifth inning, the team scored three runs on no hits. After walking the bases loaded, the Seahawks walked in a mn. The Phoenix scored again when junior catcher Grant Rembert was hit by a pitch. The team got its final run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Tyier Stevens. Kennedy said that inning exem plified a new mle the team put in after manufacturing only eight runs in its series against NC State: Be patient “We felt like NC State had a great approach,” he said, “They took a lot of pitches and ended up getting walks. So, if they got a knock, they’d get a few runs in where we’d have to string a bunch of hits together because we haven’t been getting any body on base.” Kennedy said he and the base coaches were actively telling batters to take pitches. “We had some rules in today for about six of our hitters,” he said “They had to take until they got a strike. There was a purpose for that and it paid off. Five runs on three hits is pretty impressive and that’s what we’re trying to get across to our kids.” Heading into the three game series against Appalachian State, Kennedy said he expects to leave the rule in place. •A Jeff Heyer I Photographer Freshman Matt McSwain pitches during the Phoenix's game against UNC- Wilmington. McSwain struck out nine in what baseball coach Mike Kennedy called the best performance of the year. “It’s an approach that we’re trying to get our kids to buy into,” he said. “If we change based on who we play, it’s not going to work for us down the road. We’ll probably have four or five guys that we’ll have take pitches until they get strikes, and if there’s a guy in scoring position we might lift that because we’re going to try to make some guys throw some pitches.” Despite success at the plate, field ing woes have plagued the team. Kennedy said he expects his team’s defense to get better as the season goes on. The team has made 19 errors in eight games. “I just think it’s concentration,” Kennedy said. “I think they’re start ing to think about the errors instead of just going out and playing. We’re tiy- ing to tell those guys ‘jast play the game. Mistakes happen but, don’t make them because you’re worried about something else or the last [error].”’ Contact Andrew High at pendii- lum@elon.edu or 278-7247. Softball tops Akron, NC A&T, Robert Morris in Elon Invitational Andrew High Sports Editor The slap of ball against leather, the ping of the bat on a fouled off pitch and the sunflower seeds spitting out of the mouths of spectators; these are the sigas of spring. All these and more were present last weekend as Elon’s softball team played host to four other colleges in the third annual Elon Invitational. The Phiwnix compiled a 3-2 record in the tournament, notching wins ovtT Akron, North Carolina A&T and Robert Morris College. The Phoenix fell to Campbell University and Virginia Tech. After beating Akron 3-1 in the first day of action, the Phoenix went on to beat NC A&T 11-0. The Phoenix piled up 15 hits and got a five inning, complete game performance from pitcher Whitney Meeks. Meeks gave up only one hit in the game which was called after five innings because The Phoenix softball team prepares College. The Phoenix won the game Bridgette Guedri / Photographer for its game against Robert Morris 7-3. of the mercy rule. “We had solid defense,” Elon coach Patti Raduenz said. “Whitney [Meeks] pitched a great game. We were just aggressive hitters. If they brought it in the zone we jumped on it” The Phoenix dropped its first game of the round-robin tournament to Campbell. The Phoenix tried to close the gap in the bottom pf the sev enth, loading the bases with one out, but two straight outs ended the Elon rally. “We made a rim for it toward the end game.” Raduenz said. “I want to see our team, as far as being success ful in the future, making a run in every inning. I just want to see us make that adjustment a little bit sooner.” Raduenz said she thought the team was thrown by the difference in the NC A&T and Campbell pitchers. “When she brought some pitches in the zone, she’s not that fast so we were just a little ahead of the game,” Raduenz said. “lather than keeping our hands back and waiting a little bit IcMiger, we were jumping early and not getting as solid contact as I would’ve liked to have seen.” A bright spot for the Phoenix in the game against Campbell was the pitching of senior Jennifer Lamb. Lamb pitched four scoreless innings, giving up two hits. She also recwded the win in the team’s game against Akron. “She’s going to be one of our starters,” Raduenz said. “She’s in the rotation. We’ve got such a well-bal- anced staff that whoever’s not starting could possibly crane in to be a reliev er for us. We really dcai’t have any pitchers that are strictly closers or relievers.” Raduenz also said stamina isn’t a concern for her pitchers. “Our pitch ers could go 14 innings,” she said. ‘They couM go two games. They could pitch the first game and come back and relieve again. That’s proba bly something we can do that’s a little different than baseball. They go seven to nine innings and they’re done for the next three or four days.” Contact Andrew High at pendu- lum@elon.edu or 278-7247. £lon Results 2/20 Elon 3 Akron 1 2/21 Elon 11 NC A&T 0 2/21 Elon 0 Campbell 2 2/22 Elon 7 Robert Morris 3 2/22 Elon 0 Virginia Tech 7 RIon Invitational Final Standings Virginia Tbch 5-0 Akron 3-2 Campbell 3-2 Elon 3-2 North Carolina A&T 0-5
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Feb. 26, 2004, edition 1
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