BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[NCWC]

Bishops start season 5-0 with two game sweep of frostburg state and three from eastern mennonite.  Pitching was the key. Pearson, Rice, and Robertson did not allow a run and scattered four hits through 18 innings.

http://annex.ncwc.edu/athletics/baseball/index.htm

[NCWC]

Forgot to add this in the last message.

1.) Blake Rice 2nd no-no in as many years, 24th complete game
2.) Chris Pecora 6-6 sb's, 6 rbi's.
3.) Nate West (ss) is one assist away from breaking the schools record (career).
4.) Head Coach Charlie Long is now officialy 40.
5.) New arms look good and will fill the spots of parts of the bullpen who graduated.
6.) When you face a closer make sure to stay in the box.http://annex.ncwc.edu/athletics/baseball/index.htm

[A.G.]

Great hitting team.  Tons of arms.  They kept filing in LHP from the bullpen. 

The one issue they had in the LC series is defense. 

Great parents, too.  Ran a nice concession stand and were quite friendly.  Really enjoyed the weekend at the old ball park.

[Catfishncwc]

Who are the players to watch for Greensboro.  My son's team is playing their opening series against the Pride this weekend.  Thanks.

they have two fringe guys on the team
Jess Maloney
Pat Burgess

[Catfishncwc]

Catfish I think I have seen you up at the Virginia Wesleyan and CNU games the past couple of years.  I think the last time was Matt Smith's freshman year.

Yeah I made it to the VA Wesleyan game last year also.  I will be looking at Chris Pecora and Blake Rice on the 25th and the two guys at Greensboro.   Stop on by and say hello I will be behind the backstop most of the time during the game. 

[NCWC]

WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT:  Baseball's Blake Rice... the epitome of the student-athlete

Rocky Mount, NC - In 2006, baseball pitcher Blake Rice (pictured)accomplished just about everything imaginable.  He was achieved All-American status after posting a 10-3 overall record that included a program-record 12 complete games.  He was named the NCAA South Regional's Co-Most Valuable Player and led his Bishops to their twelfth appearance in the Division III College World Series.  He led the USA South in wins and innings pitched en route to Conference Pitcher of the Year honors.  He finished the season with 2.68 earned run average in 111.0 innings pitched, which including a complete-game no-hitter against Piedmont on February 19th. 

So what could Rice, now a senior, possibly do in 2007 to meet the expectations set by last year's performance?  He began on Sunday by throwing the second no-hitter of his career, a dominating seven-inning complete game performance that saw him face just two batters past the minimum and strike out seven in a 2-0 win over Frostburg State.  His 7th-ranked Bishops, in fact, finished the weekend with a 5-0 record to start the season.

What many people fail to realize, however, is the type of person Rice is off the field.  His academic accomplishments rival those of the most elite students.  A mathematics major, he has been named NCWC's Male Student-Athlete of the Year for the past two seasons and has posted two 4.0 semesters during his collegiate career.  He has been named to the Academic All-District baseball team, as well as the President's List and the Academic All-Conference team on numerous occasions.  Perhaps most impressively, he became the first Bishop male athlete in history to win the USA South's prestigious Don Scalf Award last season, which he accepted this past fall at Wesleyan's football home opener.

It doesn't end here, though.  As a member of Coach Charlie Long's squad, Rice completes at least eight hours of community service each year and has volunteered as a tutor on campus.  His community service includes such projects as raising money for the Rocky Mount area's Relay For Life campaign, helping coordinate a Little League Clinic, and participating in a reading program at Benvenue Elementary.

To many, these accomplishments may somehow make Sunday's no-hitter seem less impressive.  But did you know that there have been only four no-hitters in the storied history of a Battling Bishop baseball program that has two National Championships to its credit?  Four no-hitters... and two now belong to Rice.  What will he do next to further separate himself as the one of the greatest student-athletes to put on a Wesleyan uniform?

I'm sure he'll think of something.



http://annex.ncwc.edu/athletics/news/2006-07/spotlights/20rice.htm

[narch]

great piece on rice...he's a stud - too bad he didn't graduate early with all those academic accolades

gcgullett or psbbg - how is g'boro getting the number of transfers they are getting - i count 13 transfers on their baseball roster, with 2 d1's, 2 d2's and the rest being juco guys - when you couple this with what gc is doing in other sports re: transfer students, it makes me start to wonder what's up

[Catfishncwc]

great piece on rice...he's a stud - too bad he didn't graduate early with all those academic accolades

gcgullett or psbbg - how is g'boro getting the number of transfers they are getting - i count 13 transfers on their baseball roster, with 2 d1's, 2 d2's and the rest being juco guys - when you couple this with what gc is doing in other sports re: transfer students, it makes me start to wonder what's up

That is real high number of transfers for a D3 team.  I came in as a JUCO transfer at Wesleyan in 98, I was one of four and Coach Fox said that was the highest number of JUCO transfers he had at one time in his 15 years at Wesleyan and that was only 4.

[NCWC]

Wesleyan dropped the first one of the season today.  SO. Jon Shearon struggled against the Mount Olive bats and the offense was hitting the ball hard but right at people.  Wesleyan has a trip to the deep south to round out this week.

Congratulations to Nate West for breaking the assists record on a club that has many records set by their legends in the 89 and 99 seasons.

In response to narch's comment about transfers from juco's, Charlie may get one a season.

[narch]

the monarchs have 2 or 3 total transfers on their roster

[Pat Coleman]

How are you doing everyone?  This is my second post.  I found the site last night looking for the pre-season rankings. 

Bet you'll like us even better now.

[narch]

Bet you'll like us even better now.

pat - have i ever told you how much i love you

seriously, thanks for www.d3baseball.com...amazing

[NCWC]

Narch,

Since the "M's" are the only team playing today in the USAS, due to weather I take it, keep us informed on how the "M" team looked today.  CNU and GC aren't playing today.

[narch]

the monarchs pick up 2 wins today vs. sova, 5-2 and 3-1...johnny wholestaff pitched both games of the double header today - hunt went 4-6

game summaries/box scores

[NCWC]

Here are some more early season nonsense numbers:

USAS- (23-5) combined
ODAC- (5-11) combined
GSAC- (0-10) combined
SCAC- (16-5-1) combined
CAC- (0-2)