Sports
March 4, 1993
Page 10
Baseball team
splits a big
doubleheader
Erick Gill
The Pendulum
The Elon College baseball
team won two out of three games
this weekend against 12th ranked
Shippensburg University.
Elon, 5-2 overall, hosted
Shippensburg, 1-4 overall, for
one game on Saturday and a
doubleheader on Sunday. *
Saturday’s game was hard
fought for Elon, but they made a
comeback in the ninth inning to
win it 4-3.
Elon’s starting pitcher, Tony
Mattos, pitched almost the entire
game, giving up only three runs.
Then in the ninth inning, pitcher
Todd Bechtold was brought in and
pitched a no hitter inning.
Elon was down 3-2 until
Rolando Soler hit a double that
brought in two runners to win"
the game.
On Sunday, Elon split the
doubleheader 8-7 and 0-5.
Again the Fightin’
Christians were forced to rally
Grubbs resigns as
Sports Information Director
*■ .
Scott Hildsbrand/The Pendulum
Elon found the win they needed Saturday that might give them a ranking
back in the last inning. Going
into the seventh, Elon was down
6-5. Pitcher, Brain Cobbler gave
up a run to make it 7-5.
Then once up to bat, Elon
grabbed onto a hitting streak and
scored three runs to shut down
Shippensburg.
However, Shippensburg was
the one who did the shutting
down on Sunday’s second game.
Shippensburg pulled out their
first win this season by shutting
out Elon.
Only three Elon batters were
able to get hits off of
Shippensburg’s pitcher.
Shippensburg scored their
five runs off pitcher Rod
Gorham. Three of their runs
came early in the first inning and
the other two were scored in the
fifth.
Elon, not ranked in any pre
season polls, hopes that by
taking down a 12th ranked
division II team they will get a
national ranking in the next poll.
Elon will get their first taste
of conference play this weekend
at home against Presbyterian
College.
Softball team starts out
season strong in home opener
Krick Gill
The Pendulum
Last week Elon’s women’s
softball team opened up its
season with a doubleheader win
against St Andrews College.
Since fast pitch softball
games are played so fast, schools
usually schedule back to back
games.
Head coach Sue Leonard’s
team ran into trouble during the
second game against St.
Andrews. Elon was down by two
runs until the seventh inning
when they found their hitting
streak and finished up the game
7-3.
Elon’s pitcher Susan French
also stumbled during the second
game, when the fi..it basemen
fired the ball at a runner going to
third and accidentally hit French
in the side of the face.
According to Coach Leonard,
French chipped six teeth and cut
her lip. French’s face is still
swollen, but she should be back
by this weekend, Leonard said.
The Lady Fightin’ Christians
finished first during the regular
season in the South Atlantic
Conference last year, but lost to
Carson-Newman in the playoffs.
In a pre-season poll, Elon
was picked to finish 20th in the
nation and second in the
conference.
Even though the team lost
two seniors last year, Leonard had
little trouble replacing them.
“We have a lot of experience.
We have the same pitcher and
catcher as last year. Even our
freshmen help out a lot with
. „ , _ ^ ^ . J I
speed,” Leonard said.
While Leonard said they have
a strong pitching and hitting
team, she feels one weakness is a
lack of aggressiveness.
“We are not quite as
aggressive with the bat swing,
but it is early and I hope that will
eventually come around,” Leonard
said.
Even though it’s early the
Lady Fightin’ Christians look to
breiJc last years record of 37-10,
which was Elon’s most wins in
one season.
Elon will get a true test of
how they will fare this season,
when they travel to Catawba
College this weekend to
participate in the Catawba
Kickoff Tournament.
Erick Gill
The Pendulum
Elon Athletics has
announced that effective March
15, 1993, Bill Grubbs will resign
as Sports Information Director.
During Grubbs' seven years
as Sports Information Director,
he has won 15 national
publication honors including two
Best in the Nation awards.
Grubbs also helped to advance
Eton's Computer statistics
programs.
"In addition to his
publication honors, Bill
completely updated the system of
statistics and record-keeping for
Elon's program," said Director of
Athletics, Dr. Alan White in
statement released February 12.
Grubbs' other achievements
include putting together three
consecutive second place finishes
with Elon's football game
programs for the 1987-1989
seasons. Grubbs’ 1991 football
program won a third place spot in
CoSIDA Division B, which
includes NAIA and NCAA
division II schools.
As far as Grubbs' future
plans, he said he is "still
finalizing his options". "I'm still
waiting on some pending offers,
but I plan to take a few courses at
NC State in the fall," Grubbs
Bill Grubbs
said.
"Elon has been a great
experience for me," Grubbs said.
"I have been able to prove
myself in several critical areas
and feel that my time at Elon has
not only allowed me to grow as a
person, but it has afforded
me a priceless professional
experience."
Dr. White also said, "A lot
of a sports information directors
work goes unacknowledged as it
is often a 'behind the scenes'
effort.. I appreciate what he has
done for our {rogram."
No replacement has been
named at this time. Until a
replacement is found. Assistant
Sports Information Director
Mike Gaynor will take over
Grubbs' duties.
Men's basketball suffers
worst loss in twenty years
Erick Gill
The Pendulum
Elon men’s basketball team
suffered its worst tournament loss
in 20 years against Gardner-Webb
this weekend, 111-64.
Overall Elon finished fourth
in the regular season behind
Presbyterian College, Lenoir-
Rhyne and Gardner-Webb.
The Fightin’ Christians were
hoping to advance to at least the
second round, but the Bulldogs
defense had other plans.
Gardner-Webb held Elon to
only 38 percent shooting from
the floor, while G-W shot 65
percent
Elon’s seniors Cornelius
Muller, Len Silvia and Steve
Walker all turned out to be the
team’s top three scorers.
Muller racked up a total of
23 points, while Silvia also
chipped in with double digits for
13 points. Walker finished up
with eight points total.
'With the 1993 season
brought to a sudden halt, Elon
players will look on to next year.
Junior Mike Tinsley said
next year’s team should look
stronger than this year’s.
“We should have a good
squad next year. We have four
seniors coming up and we plan to
start out the season with set team
goals,” Tinsley said.
While Elon plans to rely on
their upper classmen, the team
expects to get two strong
freshmen players next year.