Page 6
The Clarion | February 6, 2009
Sports —
BC baseball expecting to bounce back
from last year's injury-plagued season
by Gretchen Allie
Staff Writer
Last season BC baseball was filled with
injuries and not much hitting, resulting in
a record of 10-38. With a healthy team and
several new players, baseball is preparing
to start their 2009 spring season off on the
right foot Saturday.
Head baseball coach Todd Anderson
said that this year’s team has the best
team chemistry he’s seen since he’s been
at Brevard. Older players have stepped
up and taken younger players under their
wing. Coach Anderson said that in the past,
team chemistry has hurt the team, but now,
chemistry is great on and off the field.
“What killed us last year, was our hit
ting,” Coach Anderson said. However, he
says that they have added a lot of power to
the team this year.
There are many new faces on the baseball
team, with eight freshmen and a number of
transfers. Although all the pitchers came
back, there are only three returning players
who started. Because of this, there will be
five or six new starters.
The SAC is very competitive and the
baseball team will go against several highly
ranked teams this season.
“It’s a very good conference for baseball,”
Coach Anderson said.
The SAC includes teams such as Tuscu-
lum and Catawba who are ranked 23rd and
29th in the country, respectively. They will
also play Erskine who is ranked 22nd.
The BC baseball team had one game in
the fall against Young Harris. Young Har
ris is a junior college, and is ranked 3rd
in the nation. NCAA does not permit the
score to be kept during the off season, but
Coach Anderson said that overall, BC did
very well.
The first baseball game will be a double-
header at home on Feb. 7 at noon against
Ohio Valley. Their first SAC game will be
a double header against Newberry on Feb.
21 in Brevard at noon.
Both basketball teams
stumble at Mars Hill
by Johnny 'Stats' Lange
Sports Editor
Women
An early deficit again proved too much for
the Brevard College women’s basketball
team as they fell to South Atlantic Confer
ence rivals Mars Hill College. The loss
drops the Tornados to 5-14 overall and 0-8
in the S.A.C.
With 8:56 remaining in the first half the
Lions held a 25-9 lead, before the Tornados
came storming back. A 24-10 run made
the score 35-33 in favor of Mars Hill at the
intermission.
T
Sam Winn goes up for two other game-high 28 points during the Lady
Tornados' 74-66 loss to SAC-ieading Lenor-Rhyne on Wednesday in
Boshamer Gymnasium.
Early in the second half, the Lions ex
tended the lead to 10 points, and forced the
Tornados to play comeback ball once again.
B.C. was able to fight back to close the gap
to within 3, however Mars Hill was able to
hold on for a 73-61 win.
Junior Samantha Wiim led the Tornados
with 18 points and sophomore Amanda
Whitaker and freshman Holly Flippo each
scored 13 points. Junior Millie Wharton
also contributed with seven points in 16
minutes off the bench.
Men
On Saturday, the Tornados travelled 50
miles to the north to take on South Atlantic
Conference rivals Mars Hill College. On
this day, the Lions were able avenge their
earlier loss to the Tornados, win 95-78. The
loss drops the Tornados to 10-9 overall and
2-7 in the S.A.C.
The Lions came out firing on all cylinders,
starting the game on a 21 -4 mn over the first
5:52 of the game. The Tornados were able
to close the gap within 9 points with 6:56
remaining in the first half, but Mars Hill
extended their lead to 19 at the half, going
into the locker rooms with a 48-29 edge.
In the second half the lead grew to as many
as 34 points with 11:54 remaining, but the
Tornados were able to claw their way back
to within 17 when time expired.
With a career high 16 points, junior Cody
Siniard led the Tornados while classmates
Jonathan Whitson and Darin Dellinger each
scored 15. Fellow junior Shane Galloway
shot 4-6 from three point country and put up
a season-high 14 points on the afternoon.