Nygard helps PCC to lofty ranking

Former Hunt High and Wilson American Legion Post 13 baseball pitcher Justin Nygard is having a pretty good sophomore season at Pitt Community College.

Nygard is 5-0 and has helped the Bulldogs to the No. 6 ranking in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll.

On Wednesday, Nygard was featured as WITN Channel 7's Player of the Week.

Baseball season will be here before Groundhog's Day

Are you tired of winter already? I think I am. If it's not cold, it's wet. Can we get a few 70-degree, sunny days in a row in January? Is that too much to ask?

I shouldn't complain. There hasn't really been any extended cold snaps and no snow — or worse, ice — thus far. But if the post-holiday winter blahs have set in, here's something to warm your heart.

Barton College opens its 2009 baseball in about three weeks. The Bulldogs host Tusculum for a doubleheader beginning at noon Sunday, Feb. 1, at Nixon Field.

Play ball!

2009 Barton baseball schedule

Area well-represented in Omaha

The College World Series will begin Saturday in Omaha, Neb., with a bit of local flavor in Rosenblatt Stadium.

The North Carolina Tar Heels count on Rob Wooten, a 2003 Charles B. Aycock High School graduate, as a key member of its pitching staff. The Tar Heels also have former Wilson Tob Ryan Graepel starting in the infield.

Also, Cliff Godwin, a 1996 Greene Central High School graduate, is the hitting coach for Louisiana State University. Godwin was a standout player for the Rams and at East Carolina University.

Furthermore, LSU's roster has three players who have signed to play for the Tobs this summer — right-handed pitcher Paul Bertuccini, left-hander Ryan Byrd and infielder-outfielder Chris McGhee.

Wolfpack club baseball team has outstanding season, too

The N.C. State University baseball team was eliminated from the NCAA playoffs Sunday but it was still a good year for the Wolfpack. But they weren't the only baseball team at State to have a good season.

The NCSU baseball club team recently finished the season ranked No. 4 in the nation by reaching the semifinals of the National Club Baseball Association World Series in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Wolfpack were eliminated by Penn State, which lost to Colorado State in the championship. It was State's fourth appearance in the NCBA World Series.

State did post the best team batting average and slugging percentage in the NCBA World Series, which it reached by winning the South Atlantic Regional Tournament at USA Baseball Complex in Cary.

The club team at State was founded in 1997 and became an NCBA charter member in 2000. There are now 162 club teams in 39 states, with 120 of those teams located at NCAA Division I schools. Those teams compete in 24 conferences spread across eight regions.

I had no idea that college club baseball was this organized but congratulations for a great season are extended to the Wolfpack, including former SouthWest Edgecombe player Patrick Goodwyn and former Charles B. Aycock pitcher Chris Rook, who had a save in the NCBA World Series

Trojans are Division II national champions

Congratulations to the Mount Olive College baseball team for winning the NCAA Division II baseball championship Saturday.

The No. 1-ranked Trojans scored five runs in the top of the first inning en route to a 6-2 win against No. 4 Ouachita Baptist. Former Wilson Tob Josh Harrison singled in the first of those two runs. Trojans first baseman Erik Lovett played for the Tobs the past two seasons and Jesse Lancaster, son of MOC head coach Carl Lancaster, will join the Tobs this season. Lancaster was selected to the all-tournament team.

Four members of Mount Olive's team have been honored as All-American selections — catcher Jason Sherrer, pitcher Ryan Schect, pitcher Casey Hodges and outfielder Alex Vertcnik.

Mount Olive becomes the first national champion from Conference Carolinas but second in the league's history. Barton College won the Div. II men's basketball championship in 2007 when the league was named Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference.

Mount Olive to play for Div. II championship

A little more than 14 months after the Barton College men's basketball team won the first national championship in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference history, the Mount Olive College baseball team has a chance to be the first Conference Carolinas team to pull off the feat.

The Trojans, ranked No. 1 among NCAA Division II clubs, defeated No. 7 Central Missouri 5-3 on Thursday afternoon to advance to the championship game of the Div. II national tournament. MOC (57-6) will play either No. 2 Sonoma State (Calif.) or No. 4 Ouachita Baptist (Texas) in Saturday's final at 1 p.m. The Trojans defeated Ouachita Baptist in the first game of the tournament.

Members of the Trojans include first baseman Erik Lovett, who played for the Wilson Tobs the past two summers, and outfielder-pitcher Jesse Lancaster, who will play for Wilson this summer.

Conference Carolinas, for those who don't know, is merely the renamed CVAC with all the teams the same.

Mount Olive moves on to NCAA Division II championship

For those of you who may have forgotten that the NCAA Division II baseball season is still going on, the campaign is especially alive for Mount Olive.

The top-ranked Trojans earned their first trip to the national championship tournament today by defeating University of South Carolina-Aiken 8-3 in the completion of Sunday's suspended South Atlantic Regional championship game at Scarborough Field.

Mount Olive (54-6) had to win three straight elimination games, including two against USC-Aiken. The Trojans were beaten by USC-Aiken 6-5 on Saturday morning. Mount Olive then outscored Columbus State and USC-Aiken twice by a 33-7 margin.

The Trojans, which won the Conference Carolinas championship in Fleming Stadium last month for the third straight year, will play Ouachita Baptist on Sunday in Sauget, Ill. The other first-round pairings in the double-elimination tournament are Sonoma State vs. Shippensburg, Central Missouri vs. Franklin Pierce, and Tampa vs. Ashland.

Congratulations and good luck to head coach Carl Lancaster, his son Jesse, an outfielder and soon-to-be Wilson Tob, first baseman Erik Lovett (a former Tob) and all the Trojans!

Dail's hits record about to be toppled

An item of interest comes our way from Charles Alston in Rocky Mount regarding the imminent dethroning of Wilson's Rusty Dail as the N.C. Wesleyan College baseball program's all-time hits king.

Dail, a member of the NCWC and Fike High School athletic halls of fame, collected 251 hits in his time in a Battling Bishops uniform. But that number was matched by center fielder Matt Smith in the Bishops' doubleheader sweep of Shenandoah University on Sunday.

Smith has a chance to pass Dail on Friday when Wesleyan travels to Lynchburg (Va.) College for a doubleheader.

But all is not lost for Dail, who was a guiding force on Wesleyan's 1989 NCAA Division III World Series champion. The 1985 Fike High graduate and current Wilson American Legion Post 13 baseball head coach is still tied for first in career triples with 15. Dail's 220 at-bats in 1987 is still a Bishops season standard and he is second all-time in runs scored with 206.

Another Wilson native, Charles Simpson, is Wesleyan's all-time home run king with 47 from 1982-85. Simpson was a standout third baseman at Hunt High School from 1979-81.

So while Smith should pass Dail very soon, the left-hander's record stood for nearly two decades and that's not too shabby.

By the way, the Bishops are doing pretty well this year with a 23-9-1 mark and are in second place in the USA South Conference standings with a 9-3 ledger. Wesleyan has three games remaining before the USA South tournament in Burlington from April 17-20. Then Bishops return to Rocky Mount for their final home date, a doubleheader against University of Mary Washington on Sunday, May 4, beginning at 1 p.m.

As has been the case throughout much of the Wesleyan history, there is a distinct Wilson influence. Junior catcher Justin Batts. a Wilson Christian Academy graduate, leads the club in RBIs with 39 and is third with a robust .376 batting average.

Also seeing action for the Bishops has been Greenfield School product Tony Whitehead and Bradley Taylor, a member of Charles B. Aycock High School's 2007 3-A state champion as well as a two-year performer for Post 13.

Rankings and kudos to Bulldogs

Almost everyone has a poll of some sort these days. Maybe I should start one here.

Until that happens, here are some recent rankings of interest to Barton College fans.

The men's basketball team — make that the NCAA Division II men's basketball team — stayed at No. 8 in the Div. II East Region rankings. The Bulldogs remain on the bubble for one of the eight regional berths but a win tonight at Queens would likely put them a little higher up should a team above them stumble.

By the way, Mount Olive, the No. 1 team in Conference Carolinas and the East rankings, climbed from 16th to No. 11 in the Div. II national coaches poll this week.

NCAA Division II men's basketball regional rankings
NCAA Div. II coaches poll

The Barton golf team grabbed a spot in the national rankings per the Golf World/Nike Div. II coaches poll. The Bulldogs of head coach John Hackney tied for the 25th and final spot with Rollins (Fla.) College and St. Cloud (Minn.) State University.

Barton tied for third at the Johnny Palmer/Pfeiffer Intercollegiate tournament earlier this week.

Golf World/Nike college golf polls

Finally, a word of praise for the Barton baseball team, which started the season 0-4 but has won 7-of-9 including four wins against No. 30 Kutztown (Pa.) and Wednesday's 7-5 defeat of No. 9 Francis Marion.

Bulldogs have to protect leads with arms, gloves — and bats

As was pointed out to me during Barton College's 12-11 loss to Wingate in the Bulldogs' 2008 baseball home opener Tuesday, there are still a lot of games left in the season.

Forty-nine to be exact, which is a comforting thought given the Bulldogs are 0-4.

But the nature of three of those defeats is what is troubling.

Barton entered the season with 26 pitchers which might be too many — or not enough. Bulldogs starters have done a credible job, working 17 1/3 innings while yielding just 11 earned runs. But the bullpen hasn't done its job, giving up 19 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings while blowing three leads, including an 11-2 bulge Tuesday.

That means Barton starters have a respectable 5.71 earned run average by my calculations, even though they are a bit skewed due to the seven-inning games in Saturday's doubleheader loss at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. The formula for ERA here is based on nine-inning games so, technically, I'm a little off but close enough.

The relievers' ERA is 16.03 and the team ERA comes in a 8.71. Now, to be fair, the three blown leads haven't all been due to poor pitching as erratic defense has played a role.

Barton head coach Todd Wilkinson pointed to defensive lapses on Tuesday as a culprit in the collapse. One such lapse didn't even involve an error, just a near double play the Bulldogs couldn't convert that preceded a seven-run Wingate outburst in the seventh inning.

Baseball is a game of details and Wilkinson, as sharp a baseball mind as one will find in these parts, is well aware.

"That would have been big and it’s something we do in practice every day," Wilkinson said of the missed chance to turn two. "Evidently, (we had) some bad coaching and we’ve got to coach better to pull it off."

Better coaching might not be the Bulldogs' biggest need right now. Certainly some more efficient relief pitching and defense in latter innings would be a start. However, more offense might also help.

Barton grouped all 11 runs over a three-inning stretch and when Wingate reclaimed the lead, the Bulldogs didn't answer.

"We scored 11 runs but we didn’t score after the fifth inning," noted senior center fielder Travis Holloman. "If we’re going to score (like that), we should pace them out."

Or, as Wilkinson said: "You gotta keep scoring."

From the Hot Stove to the cold field

Did you know the Barton College baseball season is nearly upon us?

Less than two weeks after the annual Wilson Hot Stove League banquet, baseball is back on the field.

The Bulldogs open their 2008 campaign Friday, Feb. 1, in sunny Boca Raton, Fla., as the guest of Lynn University for a three-game set. The home opener will be Tuesday, Feb. 4, against Wingate. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

As usual, Todd Wilkinson has enlisted a sturdy list of non-conference opponents for his Bulldogs, including Kutztown (Pa.), Francis Marion, Catawba, USC-Aiken and UNC-Pembroke.

2008 Barton baseball schedule

Look for a season preview on the Bulldogs in the Wilson Daily Times early next week.

Sticking with the summer game in the dead winter, Fike will be one of high school baseball teams playing the IMPACT Baseball Invitational on March 1 in Cary.

The IMPACT field has doubled since four teams, including eventual N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A champion Charles B. Aycock, played in Fleming Stadium last March.

Joining the Golden Demons at the USA Baseball National Training Complex will be their 3-A NEW 6 Conference rivals Northern Nash and Rocky Mount.

IMPACTBaseball.com has the schedule for the 2008 Invitational.