Page 10
The Lance
November 2,1989
Baseball Team Expected to
Contend Under Swanson
Louie Wemmett
The grand old game of
baseball has been alive and
well at St. Andrews since
the arrival of coach Gary
Swanson fouryearsago. The
Knights come into the 1989-
90 season looking to im
prove on last year's 32-12
record. The Knights came
within one game of making
the Carolina's Conference
district playoffs last year,
and this year's squad is well
aware that close doesn't
count in baseball.
After a great recruiting
year, this year's team ap
pears to have all the ingredi
ents for a successful season.
Likelast year’s team, the new
faces arrive from all over the
map: Canada, South Africa,
Iowa, Las Vegas, and Min
nesota. Many of the recruits
have come from winning
high school and junior col
lege programs.
Players expected to con
tribute to this year's team
include Todd Rodriguez, a
junior transfer from Tampa
Bay, Florida, who played on
a team which won the Junior
College World Series in
1988. Other new faces in
clude: Cory Larson, a fresh
man from Newton, Iowa;
Lee Gogol, a freshman from
Saskatoon, Canada; and Jim
Glaskow and Brett Katz,
both Juniors from Las Ve
gas, Nevada.
Returning players in
clude: Pete Balke, a senior
from Chicago; Chad
Lindaman, a senior from
Windom, Minnesota; Ron-
rue Roy, a junior from Fay
etteville, N.C.; and Dave
Owens, a sophomore from
Martinez, Georgia.
The Knights hope to blend
speed and power this year,
to go along with a solid
pitching staff, anchored by
Roy, Balke, and Scott Peder
son. Expected to contribute
this year's squad are
Dane Gordon, Chip
Hodges, Jim Isenhart, Dave
Owens, Dave Wise, Sheldon
Swastisky, and Brian Hin
son.
The Knights are 5-2 thus
far in the Fall, which is a
warm-up for the actual sea
son, which begins in Febru
ary. The depth of this year's
team had already paid huge
dividends, with many play
ers contributing in victories
over Methodist College and
Pembroke State.
Coach Swanson is taking a
low key approach to this
year. "If we stay away from
injuries and work hard, we
should have a good year.
We have a lot of talent this
year, and hopefully our
experience will help us
improve over last year."
The St. Andrews baseball
program produced its first
player chosen in the annual
The Knights will field a strong pitching staff.
draft last June, when Iowa
native Tim Wilson was
picked in the tenth round by
the Milwaukee Brewers.
Wilson, a right-handed
pitcher, recently finished his
first year in the minois,
going 3-4 for the Breweis'
minor league team from
Mount Helena, Montana.
Coots Finish Second
Michael Roberts
The St. Andrews Volley
ball team finished its season
on a high note by making it
to the finals of the CIAC
Conference Tournament.
The tournament was dedi
cated to the memory of the
late JoAnn Williams, and
coach Laurel Smith believes
that this was a factor in the
team's inspired perform
ance. She also stated that
heading into the toumma-
ment, the team was begin
ning to show more consis
tency.
Smith credits the slow.
inconsistent start to the use
of different combinations,
and the injury in preseason
to Senior Loma Biagiloi.
"We had a good nucleus go
solid players, but Loma is
definitely a key ingredient,"
said Smith.
Smith stated that she was
pleased with the team's p>er-
formance in the tourna
ment, since that was what
had been stressed through
out the season.
Smith gives credit to Sen
ior Kristin Mosher and first
yeap player Rinni Dumile
for leading the team w
Biagioli's absence. "Kristin
was called on to do a lot of
things, and responded
well," said Smith. Smith
added that she looked for
ward to future years coach
ing here, and though Wil
liams'shoes are hard to fill
things will get easier.
Mosher and - „
earned Q AC All^o ^
ence honors for this
effort. They werealsoonthe
All-tournament team.