(Seahawk Sports
/ 23. 2006 L
February 23,2006
Seahawk men’s baseball ready to take on national powers
Chris Kronmueller
Senior Staff Writer
LTNCW’s baseball team (5-1)
will face its toughest test of the
young season as they travel to
Greenville to play in the Keith
LeClair Classic this weekend.
Not only will the Seahawks
have to contend with host team
East Carolina for the first of three
match-ups this season but also
ACC opponents Virginia Tech and
North Carolina State, the latter
currently ranked in the Top 20.
The Seahawks have momen
tum on their side going into the
tournament following their 10-5
win over Wake Forest on Sunday.
The win was the second in a row
for the Seahawks after Wake hand
ed them their first loss of the year,
9-7, Friday night. A game that saw
seven Seahawks left on base in the
last three innings, all in scoring
position.
The Seahawks turned it around
in a similar situation Saturday, as
sophomore Justin Barefoot blasted
a two-run homer to break an 8-8 tie,
as the team rebounded for a 10-8
win.
“We are glad we could rebound
from that loss,” said senior John
Raynor, “We came out with big hits
when we needed to hit and Adam
(Paul) came in and shut them down.
It was huge to win today.”
Head coach Mark Scalf was glad
for the win, but still saw room for
improvement.
“We feel good about the win
but not the way we played. Little
things are huge in the big picture,”
said Scalf
Sunday afternoon’s series clinch
er was highlighted by a stellar per
formance from junior pitcher Zach
Booker who posted a career-best
nine strike-outs. Booker (2-0) added
a career-long seven and two-thirds
innings and was helped out with an
eight-run fourth inning. Freshman
Steve Halford hit his first home run,
a grand slam, in the rally.
The competition will be tougher
Dan Hacker I THE SEAHAWK
UNCW sophomore outfielder Justin Barefoot makes contact in a
game vs. Wake Forest. The Seahawks took the weekened series from
the Deacs 2-1.
in the LeClair Tournament, but do
not look for the Seahawks to roll
over.
“(Offensively), this club can
be as good as most any around.
Pitching will still be pretty good.
The staff has to get locked in on
what their role is. When they get
a feel for that, we are going to be
much better,” Scalf said.
The Seahawks will open the
tournament Friday against Virginia
Tech (2-0), who is coming off season
-opening wins over Campbell. The
Seahawks will then face rival East
Carolina (4-2), who beat UNCW
12-8 last time the two teams faced
off in Greenville. The Seahawks
round out the weekend with North
Carolina State (8-1) who took two
from the Seahawks last season.
Surfboard industry wipeout causes flying board prices
amiMI I THE SEAHAWK
Surfboards lined up for sale at local shop
Pride could soon see their prices rocket.
Surfers can expect to pay up to $200 more for
Adam Knox
Correspondent
Clark’s Foam, the
producer of 90 per
cent of blank surf
boards worldwide,
closed it doors with
out warning Dec. 5,
citing environmental
and workers’ com
pensation issues.
Clark’s closing has
caused a panic and
uproar in the surf
board industry. Many
shapers worldwide
have been left wonder
ing where they would
get the blank foam
boards they needed
to shape and stay in
business. Retail prices
of boards increased
$100 to $200 a piece,
Mike Barden,
oul lei s tail CApeti lu u|i lu mwi v .v.
I .boards with the shutdown.oCCl^V^Foam., y '
owner of Surf City surf shop in
Wrightsville Beach, has been in the
surfboard business for 15 years and
said this was one of the “top five
changes I’ve seen in the industry,”
citing other major changes in surf
ing like Kelly Slater’s seventh world
title and the invention of epwxy
boards.
Barden said that despite the clos
ing of Clark’s foam, he “did not
increase any of [his] in-stock prices.
There is a glass ceiling on this. I
don’t want to let prices go too high,”
he said.
This industry upset has not
affected the shop’s sales though.
“Sales have been the same,” Barden
said. “Wrightsville Beach is an edu
cated market,” He added that if any
thing, it “generated more interest.”
The biggest effect Clark’s clos
ing has had is on custom boards
and pricing on upper-end California
shapers like Al Merrick’s and
Rusty’s. It’s going to take “more
time and more money for customs,”
Barden said. “Twice the time for
custom boards, four to six months
for a single custom.”
Many in the surfing world fear
that this will be the end of fiber
glass boards, because Clark had
such control over the industry. No
company will be able to make up
the production needs at the quality
Clark produced.
Many fiberglass enthusiasts fear
a switch to epoxy boards. “They just
don’t feel the same,” said 18-year-
old Matt Capone of Toms River,
N.J. He has been surfing since age
6 and is a high-placing competitive
surfer. “1 won’t ride epoxy, it’s gar
bage Clark shut down. Prices went
up at least $100, but I won’t ride
anything but glass.”
Barden isn’t as worried, “It’s not
the death of surfboards,” he said.
“It will level out. Six months and
we’ll know more about it.”
Page 9
Trask Coliseum:
Usually the
toughest place to -
play in the CAA
An editorial by:
Brant Wilkerson New
Sports Editor
Everything about last
Wednesday's game featuring the
UNCW men’s basketball team
against Hofstra, 18-4 at the time,
said must-win for the Seahawks.
Well, everything except the crowd..
The crowd's participation was
about average, for an above aver
age match up of two teams with
postseason aspirations. Half of the
student section was filled with the
loud Seahawk faithful, but the other
half was indifferent students and
the sitting general public.
Ironically enough, Georgia Tech
happened to be visiting Chapel Hill,
on ESPN at the same time. Unless
half of the usual student crowd was
at home studying, one could rea
son that those students were home
watching ‘their’ Tar Heels.
Guess what? As a UNCW stu
dent, they’re not ‘your’ Tar Heels.
They’re also not ‘your’ Blue Devils,
Wolfpack, Deacons or Terps.
It’s a hard idea to swallow
because it’s how most are raised
around here, to follow one of the
area ACC schools. Many of stu
dents’ parents attended those
schools, or they grew up in those
towns. It’s unrealistic to say just
drop all allegiances to them. I’m
still going to follow my team and
watch every game—as long as it’s
not during a Seahawks game.
Those schools became success
ful in large part due to their fan
bases, in a lot more ways than you’d
think.
Fans provide the financial sup
port through ticket sales, merchan
dise and donations. Those dona
tions help to improve facilities, and
recruiting budgets. Those recruits
are swayed by facilities, and per
haps seeing those facilities on tele-
.seftCROWDpageJl