‘Yote Notes – May
13, 2002
(To subscribe to ‘Yote Notes, contact Mike Safford
Jr. at msafford@albertson.edu or
208-459-5681
GENERAL
ATHLETICS NEWS:
COYOTES
HONORED AT AWARDS ASSEMBLY: Six
different Albertson student athletes were honored by the department for
outstanding achievement in the classroom and on the playing field. The winners –
Senior
Male Athlete-of-the-Year: Neal
Robertson (Men’s Basketball)
Senior
Female Athlete-of-the Year: Carly Merkel (Volleyball)
Jeannie Thompson (Women’s
Basketball)
Athletic
Director Award: Kris
Cox (Men’s Basketball)
Brian Davies (Men’s
Soccer)
Scholar-Athlete
Award: Scott
Skeen (Baseball)
RECAP
COMING SOON: A recap 2001-02 Albertson
athletic season will be coming soon to ‘Yote Notes.
LAST WEEK: won NAIA Region I Tournament with
7-1 win over British Columbia
THIS WEEK: host NAIA Region I/II Tournament –
Thursday and Friday, 4 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m.
REGIONAL
CHAMPS THROUGH THE BACK DOOR: It wasn’t easy, but it was accomplished, as Albertson won
four consecutive loser-out games to claim their third NAIA Regional title in
five years, stopping British Columbia, 7-1, in the title game. After losing a 10-0 decision to conference
rival Concordia in the opener, the ‘Yotes won games against both Western
Baptist and Concordia on Friday, and swept UBC on Saturday to earn the right to
host this week’s Super Regional.
WHAT
THIS MEANS: Albertson
will play host to Vanguard University of Costa Mesa, Calif., in a best-of-three
game series at Simplot Stadium this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with a
berth to the Avista NAIA College World Series on the line. Vanguard was the NAIA Region II champion,
defeating The Master’s 19-5 in the regional title game.
NATIONAL
BERTHS: Seven
Super Regionals will be held this week, with each of the winners earning a
berth to the CWS, set to take place May 24-31 in Lewiston, Idaho. No. 6 ranked Lewis-Clark State earns an
automatic berth by being the tournament host, while two at-large berths are
available to the highest ranked teams which lose in the Super Regional round.
OTHER
SUPER REGIONALS: Region
3/4 – Bellevue (Neb.) at Mayville State (N.D.); Region 5/6 – Culver Stockton
(Mo.) at Oklahoma City; Region 7/8 – Indiana Tech at Olivet Nazarene (Ill.);
Region 9/10 – Ohio Dominican or Mt. Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) at St. Joseph’s
(Maine); Region 11/12 – Lambuth (Tenn.) at Spalding (Ky.); Region 13/14 – North
Georgia College & State at Embry-Riddle (Fla.)
BULLDOG
EFFORT IN THE TITLE GAME: Tired and hurting – that is how both Chris Rennaker (Darby,
Mont. / Lewis-Clark State) and Taylor Blair (Sacramento, Calif. /
American River CC) felt heading into Saturday. Rennaker, who has been battling stiffness in his throwing arm,
and Blair, who threw 78 pitches in Thursday’s loss to Concordia, were the only
arms available for the championship game against British Columbia. What the duo did was outstanding – Rennaker
went the first six innings, giving up just an unearned run and two hits, while
Blair earned his first save of the season by striking out five T-Bird batters
over the final three innings.
MR.
MAY?: Reggie
Jackson has been coined, Mr. October, and Derek Jeter last year was known as
Mr. November. For Todd Howell (Marysville,
Wash. / Skagit Valley CC), it might be “Mr. May.” Since May 1st, the junior transfer has been on a terror, going
12-for-24 with eight RBI. His biggest
contributions, however, came on Saturday, as Howell smacked a three-run homer
in the 8-5 win over British Columbia, then gave the Coyotes the lead for good
with a two-run single in the five-run fifth inning in the title game. He has seen his batting average climb from
.198 at the end of April, up to .261, heading into the Super Regional.
RECAP OF
TOURNAMENT: Albertson dropped its opener to
Concordia, 10-0 on Thursday, the worst Coyote loss since a 15-5 decision to
Western Oregon in the 2001 regional. Dustin Garcia (Reno,
Nev. / Feather River CC) had the only two hits for
the ‘Yotes. Friday was a better day, as
Albertson stopped Western Baptist, 11-0, and Concordia, 21-4. Nick
Williams (Poulsbo, Wash. / Lower Columbia
CC) was the man-on-the-spot for
Albertson against WBC, throwing a seven-inning shutout, and hitting a three-run
homer. In the late game, Matt Bergstrom (Hermiston, Ore. / Hermiston HS) and Sam
Hackett (Boise, Idaho / Bishop Kelly HS)
limited Concordia to just four runs in eight
innings as the Albertson offense erupted.
Patrick Gonzalez (Ontario, Calif. / Riverside CC) went 2-for-3 with four RBI, including a three-run
triple which put the Coyotes up for good.
Darren Uranga (Homedale, Idaho / Homedale HS) also went 3-for-5, as the victors pounded out 18
hits. Saturday’s doubleheader was
exciting, as Albertson opened up a big lead in game one. RBI singles by Cory Acklus (Everett, Wash. /
Alabama-Birmingham) and Uranga, and a
Williams sacrifice fly made it 3-1.
Howell belted his three-run homer in the sixth, and Gonzalez followed
with a two-run single in the seventh for an 8-1 lead. Starter Chris
Eggleston (Chewelah, Wash. / Grays Harbor
CC) ran into trouble in the eighth,
as five walks led to four UBC runs. But
Hackett and Ben
Frank (Paul, Idaho / North Idaho CC) shut the door on the Coyotes win. Game two saw the ‘Yotes wait until the fifth
to record a hit, but it paid off. A
Gonzalez RBI single made it 1-1, and Howell lined a ball through a drawn in
infield to score two more, and the Coyotes wouldn’t look back.
ALL-CONFERENCE
HONORS: Six different Albertson players
earned All-Cascade Conference honors as selected by the five coaches in the
loop. Chris Eggleston was named
Pitcher-of-the-Year, with Darren Uranga, Patrick Gonzalez, Taylor Blair, and Scott Skeen (Bend,
Ore. / Oregon State) each earning first-team
honors. Cory Acklus was an honorable
mention selection, and head coach Shawn
Humberger was named CCC Coach-of-the-Year.
REGIONAL
HONORS AS WELL: To go along with the
All-Conference team, both Chris Eggleston and Scott Skeen were selected to the
All-NAIA Region I team, as voted by the eight regional coaches. Outside of Lewis-Clark State, which had five
selections, no other team in the region had more than two players honored.
DON’T CALL ME SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE: Claiming
their first NAIA Region II title, Vanguard University (26-24-1) will be
making the trek up from the Los Angeles area.
Formally Southern California College, the Lions have not made an
appearance at the NAIA College World Series since 1985, when they placed
fourth. Head coach Kevin Kasper has
seen his team win eight of their last 11 games, thanks in part to the big bats
of Chad Chop (.403, 14 HR, 66 RBI) and Joe Carnahan (.335, 10 HR, 38 RBI). Vanguard has a pair of starting pitchers who
have thrown the majority of the innings – Marcus Harris (7-3, 3.64 ERA, 99 IP)
and Britt Echols (5-7, 5.13 ERA, 101 IP).
The two teams met last season, with Vanguard defeating Albertson,
9-8. However, the Coyotes have won 11
of the previous 14 meetings between the teams.
RADIO AND INTERNET BROADCASTS: The NAIA
Region I/II tournament will be broadcast live in one of two ways. All regional games will be broadcast either
live on 1450-AM KIOV (www.kiov.com) in the
Treasure Valley, or live via the Albertson athletic website (www.collegeofidaho.edu/athlete/mbasketball/profiles/0102/AthleticsLive.asx)
with Mike Safford Jr. calling the action.
Check out the baseball homepage for information as the week goes on.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: For updated information and
statistics, visit the official website of the Coyote baseball team at www.collegeofidaho.edu/athlete/baseball.htm.