There were certainly more winners and losers from the Donovan McNabb trade than the two NFL parties involved in the deal, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins. In fact, a few players’ careers are at stake as well in a debacle that affects the entire league. How you ask? Take a moment to consider the two teams in the trade. Both are NFC East rivals. The Eagles made the playoffs at 11-5 while the Redskins tanked at 4-12.
By trading their veteran quarterback, the face of their franchise for the past decade, to the lowly Redskins, the Eagles organization now places their trust in the young arm of Kevin Kolb, a second year player from Houston that has two career starts under his belt. If you reason that the Eagles also have Michael Vick, I wouldn’t consider him to be more of a factor in the Philadelphia offense than he was a year ago. His legs are aging and the Eagles aren’t a team built around the ‘Wildcat’ offense.
Therefore, with an unproven quarterback, I see the Eagles hovering around .500 next year (8-8 anybody?) while the Redskins might see a margin increase in wins to inch near the .500 mark. That means that Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants have a huge opportunity to capitalize on the now offensively weakened Eagles while still beating the tar out of the Redskins. After all, Washington may have McNabb, but without a half-decent offensive line don’t expect miracles.
This trade also benefits other teams in the NFC such as the Falcons, Panthers, and 49ers. All three organizations narrowly missed the playoffs in the 2009 season and with a potential wild card spot opening up via the Eagles, expect one of these three teams to be playing come next January.
Of course with any competition, there are also losers. Oakland, Arizona, and Minnesota, all clubs that needed a quarterback like McNabb, couldn’t pull off the deal. The Raiders needed him the most, and in fact, the Eagles would probably have traded McNabb to Al Davis’s team had it not been for the fact that no one wants to land in Oakland these days. The last 5 years, the franchise has won 20 games, an average of 4 per season. McNabb is getting old and a stipulation of the trade must have been that he be traded to a half-way decent team with a reasonable chance of reaching the playoffs in the next two to three years.
Kevin Kolb now gets his shot, just as Eagles third-string QB A.J. Feely got his five years ago. Redskin’s owner Dan Synder and new Washington head coach Mike Shanahan can rest easy with a franchise quarterback to replace the inconsistent Jason Campbell. Michael Vick could even benefit from this situation if Kolb doesn’t work out or gets injured. The possibilities are endless.
It’s somewhat sad that the two trading parties, the Redskins and Eagles actually seemed to lose from this deal while other NFL teams benefitted. The Eagles did so in a continued purge of their salary structure, but nonetheless one that will weaken the Philadelphia franchise for years to come. The Redskins gain a great player on the roster, but the trade won’t mean anything unless the ‘Skins can put quality players around McNabb.
That’s the high-stakes world of the NFL, winners and losers at every turn. And when the trades involve big-time players, they come with big-time implications.
As Mike Raynor’s team dives head-first into the Atlantic Sun Conference slate of regular season games, pitching should be considered a constant. That’s what happens when you have Jenni Holtz and Kari Chambers on your staff. As for the offense, question marks will undoubtedly hang over their batting helmets until they can consistently score runs. After catching fire in mid-March, the Bears have had their ups and downs in April, splitting doubleheaders with Samford, Georgia Southern, Lipscomb and Belmont will dropping two games to in-state rival Kennesaw State.
Mercer 5 – Samford 0
The scoreboard remained quiet for six innings until a five-run seventh inning catapulted the Bears to a victory in the first game of the series. Jenni Holtz fanned 11 batters and their a complete game shutout to earn another victory for Mercer. The late-game heroics started when pinch-hitter Allison Jones hit a single in the middle gap to score shortstop Sara Stukes from second for the first run of the game. Afterwards, a fielder’s choice from Amanda Santa Maria would plate Lilli Luke while Kristin Marko would tally two RBIs on another single to right field. The scoring ended after Emi Sherrill tagged another hit to right field to score Santa Maria and Marko.
Samford 1 – Mercer 0
After the strong offensive display in the seventh inning, the Bears couldn’t generate any offense to support the superb pitching efforts of junior Kari Chambers. Allowing two hits and striking out seven, Chambers was replaced with reliever Natalie Jones in the seventh who ended up surrendering the game-winning bunt from Samford batter Amanda Jordan.
Kennesaw State 4 – Mercer 3
Mercer came oh-so-close to beating the Owls before a walk-off homerun by Klair Wells sealed the game. Pitching well into the ninth inning, Jenni Holtz once again seemed to hold the opposing batters at bay despite surrendering three runs throughout the course of the game. Sara Stukes walloped her 5th homerun of the season in the top of the second, but Mercer would account for only two hits on the afternoon to fall to the Owls.
Kennesaw State 9 – Mercer 5
In a wild second game of the doubleheader, Mercer’s pitching staff would give up a grand total of four hits to KSU’s lineup while mustering eight of their own, yet still lost 9-5. Giving up two home runs and a 3 run sixth inning silenced the Bears comeback efforts as they dropped the series to the Owls to return back to the .500 mark. “The offense showed up [in game two] and the defense fell apart,” commented Raynor after the game on MercerBears.com. “We just need to put all the pieces together and we will be alright.”
Georgia Southern 1 – Mercer 0
Striking out 14 batters is a dominate performance, especially considering that most softball contests only last seven innings. Jenni Holtz did just that during the first game of the non-conference doubleheader with SoCon foe Georgia Southern making the trip up I-16 to take on the Bears at Sikes Field. GSU’s leadoff hitter Nina Iduate broke-up Holtz’s shutout-effort in the fifth inning with a double to left-center field to score Kayle Brooks for the go-ahead run. Mercer rallied in the bottom of the seventh, but an infield hit from Stacey Condra turned into the double-play that the Eagles needed to seal the win.
Mercer 1 – Georgia Southern 0
Another defensive effort from both teams almost forced the second game of the double-header into extra innings. GSU starter Megan Smith battled Mercer’s Kari Chambers each inning from the circle until Smith gave up a walk-off home run to Stephaine Canara in the bottom of the seventh inning for a Mercer victory. “It was a great way to end the day and we certainly need that,” Raynor commented afterwards. “It was better than a couple of singles and a bunt or something like that. We needed something to pump us up like that.”
Lipscomb 2 – Mercer 1
Facing arguably the best team in the A-Sun in Lipscomb, Friday afternoon’s pitching matchup of Holtz vs. Whitney Kiihnl was one of the most anticipated this season. Kiihnl eventually secured the win for her team, but in a weird twist of fate it was Holtz’s game to shine. Striking out eleven batters in seven innings, Holtz inched closer to the 723 strikeout mark set by Katie Rosentreter for the most strikeouts in Mercer softball history. With a large crowd on hand for Alumni Weekend, Holly Oglesbee’s leadoff homerun in the first inning brought about a good start for the Bears. Unfortunately, Lipscomb’s Kellie Sirus would hit her own two-run homer in the top of the seventh to give Lipscomb their 32nd win of the 2010 season.
Mercer 3 – Lipscomb 1
The nightcap of the doubleheader started off in bad fashion for Kari Chambers as she walked Kellie Sirus, who would eventually score courtesy of a Christen Campbell single. Surprisingly though, the Mercer offense pulled through producing runs via small ball. Emi Sherrill and Jenny Goodman would record RBIs as they executed a fielder’s choice and bunt respectively. “Hopefully this can be the spark we were looking for,” added Raynor. “I think we are beginning to believe in each other and we needed a win like this to get over the top.”
Mercer 10 – Belmont 0
Eleven hits in five innings did the job for the Bears in Saturday afternoon’s first game, giving Jenni Holtz plenty of support in a shellacking of the Belmont Bruins. Kristin Marko, Sarah Santana, and Stacey Condra each had multiple hits along the way to quickly put away the A-Sun foes from Nashville. The offense highlight of the game was a two-run shot in the fourth inning from Sarah Santana (2-for-3) for her fourth home-run of the year.
Belmont 1 – Mercer 0 Relieving for Kari Chambers in the second game, Jenni Holtz struck out eight batters to finally surpass the all-time strikeout mark near the end of the game in a historic feat at Sikes Field. Offensive woes plagued the Bears again as they accounted for only five hits and their lone run in the first inning. The loss set Mercer back to the .500 mark and dropped the Bears to 3-5 in A-Sun play.
After two days of placing in the middle of the field, the Mercer women’s golf team settled in 8th after the third and final round of the MSU Ocala Spring Invitational. In the team’s final tune-up before the Atlantic Sun Championship Tournament, the Mercer women showed signs of improvement from recent tournaments with two consecutive days of shooting 311 as a team.
Daytona State College (+22) would wind up beating the field with a scorching 288 as a team during the final round, closely followed by Stetson (+29), Florida Southern (+48) and Morehead State (+60). Mercer would finish behind St. Leo (+80) with a cumulative score of +88.
Individually, freshman Kaitlin Marrin (76-74-79) notched the Bears best finish in 12th place at +13 through the three rounds. Marrin’s second round 74 was the lowest round for anyone on the team during the weekend and certainly a testament to the tenacity that she has exhibited on the golf course during her first-year campaign as a Bear.
Senior Monica Kelsey (+18) finished close behind in 22nd after recording three rounds in the 70s as well (79-77-78). Kimberly Graff (+26) put two promising rounds of golf together during the first half of the weekend, shooting a 79 and 76 during the first two rounds before an eventual 37th place finish while teammates Alicia Poole (+39) and Kayli Wicker (+40) rounded out the field.
With the final regular season tournament complete for Gary Guyer’s squad, the Belle Bears head to New Smyrna Beach, Florida to play in the season-ending Atlantic Sun Championship Tournament. Held at the Venetian Bay Golf Club, the tournament will mark the last campaign for senior Monica Kelsey (a Florida native) as well as the team for the 2010 spring season.
With the most eagerly awaited Masters in recent memory about to commence, there is only one question on everybody’s lips: Will Tiger Woods take the title?
But this year’s tournament heralds the dawn of a different Tiger. What remains to be seen is if the new Woods will storm up the leaderboard as fast as each new version of his self-titled video game storms up the charts.
Augusta National is where it all began for the original Tiger, who won his first Masters in 1997 at age 21 by 12 shots and began to turn himself into the most famous athlete since Muhammad Ali.
Woods isn’t trying to win a major on a dodgy knee this time though, the way he did at the 2008 US Open. He is trying to come back from a compound fracture of his own reputation. From now on, he will only be judged as a golfer, not a creation of marketing about as real as the Tiger of the video game.
Golf fans will only believe what he does on the course this time, not what he or his various minions says off it. If he tears up courses all over the world as he did before, he will make headlines all over again for the right reasons.
The fact is, we love champions, even when we find out they acted up. Their fantastic achievements trump their misdemeanors on almost every occasion.
So even with the way Woods has been banging away about his good name, he counts on winning to carry him through.
Woods isn’t a politician. He didn’t cheat voters and he didn’t cheat his sport the way steroid abusers do. The best thing for him now is to stop talking about everything but golf and just play, not try to sell himself like some rehabbing politician. Or turn this whole thing into a religious experience.
“I think Augusta is the place where I need to be,” said Woods last week, suddenly getting all hippie on us.
“After a long and necessary time away from the game,” he continued, “I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta.”
The setting is perfect. Before Woods’ world exploded on Thanksgiving, we had merely seen the Tiger Woods he wanted us to know.
Can he win the Masters after not playing competitively since November? You bet he can. Within two weeks of Michael Jordan’s return to the NBA, he came to New York and dropped 55 points on the Knicks. Yes, 55. If Jordan can do that, Woods can win another Masters.
Just don’t make him out to be a hero if he does. This isn’t an athlete overcoming adversity. This is a guy going back to his job after the job he did on his personal life.
Now it is time for Woods to let his game do the talking.
The Mercer men’s golf team’s exploits at the Linger Longer Invitational ended in disarray due to a scorecard error in the aftermath of the first round.
Freshman Matt Kocolowski mistakenly signed for a false score on the 17th hole and the Bears were disqualified from competing in the final two rounds of play as a team. They were, however, allowed to continue to take part as individuals.
Fellow freshman William Meason lead the Orange and Black in fifth place overall after 36 holes thanks to a second day 71.
Meason, Kocolowski and senior Matt Tribby all recorded two-over 74’s in the final round of the event held at Reynolds Landing in Greensboro, Ga.
Dropping a few places from his previous day’s finish, Meason tied for 13th place with Georgia Tech’s Chesson Hadley while Tribby placed 19th in the 93-golfer field. The Bear’s scoring was rounded out by senior Matt Smith and freshman Thomas Holmes. Smith notched a 76 in the final round while Holmes concluded with a 78.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances of the disqualification, Mercer was one of seven teams at the event to post multiple sub-300 rounds – an impressive feat on what was a tricky course.
As a team, the Bears posted a cumulative score of 298 on the final day. College powerhouse Oklahoma State clinched the title, posting a three-day total of 865. Southern rivals Alabama finished just off the pace in second with an 867 while Texas A&M took third with a team total of 874.
Mercer head coach Andrew Tredway remained philosophical after the tournament. “I’m excited about how the team played amidst a hard situation,” he said. “We put together two of the better rounds of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Tredway was also impressed by Meason’s contribution: “William played absolutely phenomenal this week. He should be really proud of the way he played and he has really turned himself into a good player.”
The Bears are now entering the final section of their season with only one regular season event remaining before the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships begin in April. They will return to action on April 3rd at the Irish Creek Intercollegiate in Charlotte, NC.
Having spent Spring Break resting and recuperating, the Mercer Cycling team sped back into action with an impressive showing at the Georgia Tech Intercollegiate.
Racing in the rural suburb of Newnan, Ga., a total of seven riders competed for the Bears in the team trial, individual time trial and road race portions of the event.
Saturday’s early morning session saw Mercer’s team time trial entry of Evan Ayoub, Jason Glow, Kevin Roberts and Andrew Lockwood take first place in the ‘C’ category with a time of 28:16 around the 11 mile course. The team hit top speeds of 39mph on the downhill section before strongly climbing the middle section of the course to finish just over three minutes ahead of North Georgia.
In the individual time trial, the Orange and Black’s Gabe Denes finished in 7th with a time of 32:19 while freshman Alex Lockwood placed 9th with a 34:46 mark.
The afternoon road race shifted to a nearby 8 mile course on which the ‘C’ race consisted of four laps. As a climber-friendly course, Mercer’s riders worked near the leaders for most of the race in the most epic event of the weekend. Gaining more than 2,100 feet of elevation over the course of the race, the peloton of 32 riders was split into a much smaller group of 12 by the end of the race with Andrew Lockwood and Kevin Roberts working with several teams near the front.
Robert’s attack at the base of a steep ladder climb halfway through the race helped set him up for a last minute sprint to the line at the top of a hill to finish 6th. Lockwood then came in just 5 seconds behind the sprint group after suffering from cramps for the last half-mile to register a top-10 finish in 9th. Evan Ayoub would follow up the peloton in 15th, crossing the line in fine style.
“I saw there was a steep climb coming into the race when we drove the course and I wanted to use that climb to my advantage. Out of the two courses, I loved the Saturday course the most because of the uphill finish,” commented Roberts after the weekend of racing.
Sunday’s race proved even more exciting as well as almost the entire peloton finished at the same time. Attacks from College of Charleston, Clemson and Georgia Southern throughout the 33 mile race were unsustainable, setting up the group for a wild finish at the end. Georgia Southern’s Matt Gentry blazed into the lead coming into the final turn. But despite crossing the line first, Gentry was later disqualified for crossing the yellow line on a hill during the final sprint.
Going into the SECCC’s Furman race weekend, Mercer Cycling hovered at fifth of the 16 teams in the Division II SECCC Conference standings despite only racing 3 of the 5 events this spring. Hoping to have a strong showing in their final SECCC team event of the spring, Mercer Cycling answered with another team time trial victory, three Top-10s in the men’s ‘C’ road race (including one in the women’s A race), and a Top-3 finish during the rain-soaked Criterium. Traveling to Pelzer, South Carolina, about 30 minutes south of Greenville, the team time trial was a held on a surprisingly tough 15.5 mile course that exposed teams to plenty of elevation, head-winds, and chilly weather for a Saturday morning.
Mercer’s first entry (Jason Glow, Andrew Lockwood, and Kevin Roberts) posted the fast time in the ‘C’ team time trial at 41:53, only 21 seconds ahead of 2nd place King College. Mercer’s second entry (Gabe Denes, Paul Rush, A.J. Sholly) came in minutes later at 46:26 to finish in 4th. Saturday afternoon’s road race event was the longest for the ‘C’ riders thus far in the season, stretching to nearly 44 miles as the peloton completed three laps on a course that provided more than 3,000+ feet of climbing during the 2 hour race. With a field of 53, odds were that no attack at the front would survive for very long (as no attack during the course of the race had survived for more than 5 minutes at the previous three road races).
However, the dynamics of the race changed when eventual winner Brooks Bostick (College of Charleston) would blow up the field only 10 miles into the race, holding off the peloton for another 7-8 miles before being caught on the hill section of the course. Soon after, Mercer rider Kevin Roberts followed the lead of Brian Arne (CoC) in another attack that lasted the longest (nearly 14 miles) during the midsection of the race. Several teams worked up front to help the peloton reel in the attack groups. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida State, Clemson, King College, and ETSU all did work to stay in the front 1/3 of the field. With two miles to go, the Mercer team started to work as a team up front but a costly official ruling sent team member Andrew Lockwood to the back of the peloton with only minutes to go (Lockwood passed a rider on the yellow line instead of squeezing into the peloton when the field slowed). Nevertheless, the Bears worked up to the top-10 for the final sprint. Lockwood would lead out Gabe Denes and Kevin Roberts to outstanding finishes at 4th and 6th respectively while he’d finish tenth. Jason Glow had a quiet, but consistent day in the peloton and stayed out of trouble to capture 20th while A.J. Sholly and Paul Rush dropped out of the race after the 2nd lap after falling off the back of the lead group.
“It was a long-grueling, painful end to the race. It was quite a challenge for me with all the hills but our team was certainly outstanding today,” said Denes after his best collegiate finish this season. Not known as a climber, Denes did the work he had to in order to position himself in the peloton for the final sprint. It was certainly a testament to the hard work the freshman has put into his training this spring.
In the women’s ‘A’ field, Elizabeth Lee repeated another strong showing, perhaps her best collegiate performance yet, with a 4th place finish.
The Criterium held on Sunday morning on Furman’s campus was perhaps the most technical race of the season as it featured seven turns on a rain-soaked 0.8 mile course. Part of the course was composed of a 270 degree loop of cobblestones while several 90 degree turns came into play. The field of approximately 50 started out fast and furious again, so much so, that sophomore Kevin Roberts was unable to work his way up front after a late clip-in at the start line.
Gobbling up attacks that went off the front, Andrew Lockwood rode a safe race, staying within the pack until the last few laps in order to position himself near the end. In eighth place with one lap to go, Lockwood passed all seven riders in front of him on the wet cobblestones to lead the pack out of the final turn. A Lees-McRae rider attacked to the right out of the final turn but had both wheels slip out from underneath him en route to his second wreck of the day (he wrecked midway through the event over his handlebars after his tire popped, cracking his helmet).
CoC’s Brooks Bostick found himself in the victory circle again with another Criterium win holding off South Carolina’s Eric Cash at the line. Lockwood would finish third after nudging out Furman’s Michael Bingham by only two inches. Despite the tough luck at the start, Kevin Roberts would record an 11th place finish while Jason Glow and A.J. Sholly barely missed the cut-line at 23rd and 26th respectively. In total, there were 6-7 wrecks during the 37 minute, 14 mile affair as the precipitation came in spurts.
“That was quite a race,” said Lockwood following Sunday morning’s event. “My bike felt extremely loose in the turns with the slick pavement and I was just fortunate not to get caught up in a wreck today as two happened right in front of me and one behind me. I was extremely proud of our team’s efforts all weekend long.”
Elizabeth Lee would endure constant rain in her 30 minutes + 3 lap event to finish 6th in a talented women’s ‘A’ field.
“This was probably the most fun and relaxing weekend of racing we’ve had,” said Roberts. “This weekend showed how strong our team really is and we worked together to use our strengths to post top results in the team time trial, road race and Criterium.”
A special thanks goes to Jason [Mercer Alum 1995] and Amy Daly of Greenville, South Carolina for providing lodging and delicious meals all weekend long.
Kevin Roberts and Gabe Denes interview post-race [Road Race]
In mid-February each year, the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues swing into full gear in one of the best kept secrets in all of sports – spring training baseball. It’s the simplest form of the game as the big leaguers go back to practicing the fundamentals of the baseball while the games are often a cornucopia of players young and old.
Many of my best sporting event memories occurred during the warm, spring months in Florida as I chased big leaguers down for autographs or pictures before or after a game. Only in spring training baseball can certain, special things occur:
• Only in spring training baseball can you carry on a conversation with the first base coach for more than an inning. At a Houston Astros game in Kissimmee, I vividly remember the fans in our section right on the field bantering back and forth with the Astros first base coach Jose Cruz, Jr. He’d exchange thoughts on certain players and the game while trying to amuse the crowd at the same time. It was neat to just feel that close to the game without being a professional baseball player yourself.
• Only in spring training can a city embrace a team from so far away. This is especially true in the Grapefruit (Florida) League in which certain teams have called specific towns their spring training ‘homes’ for decades. The Tampa area loves the Yankees (sometimes even more so than their hometown Rays) while Vero Beach (Dodger-town) had an intimate love affair with the Los Angeles Dodgers before they recently relocated to Arizona. Perhaps the most intriguing town-team combinations are those of the smaller-market teams. For example, the town of Bradenton loves the perennial cellar dwellers of the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Only in spring training can you see a professional baseball game with less than 3,000 people in attendance. Yes, the Florida Marlins struggle to put even that many people in their stadium during the hot months of July and August in Miami, but the real appeal of spring training is the fact that you don’t feel like you’re a number in the crowd. The stadiums are often very simple ballparks (as they often double as minor league ballparks during the summer months), thus the atmosphere is composed of more of the game itself rather than the jumbotron in centerfield and the ‘kiss-cam’ every half-inning.
• Only in spring training can teams be so optimistic. Each February brings about a renewed sense of hope for every team, no matter how bad they were the year before. The optimism seems to spread from the organization to the fans in the stands. Ask any fan of any team and they’ll tell you all about the new acquisitions of this year’s team. It’s a fun time of year to be a fan, especially if you root for the Royals or the Orioles.
• Only in spring training can you see players re-establish themselves before your eyes. Perhaps my favorite story of a player coming back with a new identity was that of Josh Hamilton. I had the chance to witness Hamilton’s assent back into the big leagues with the Cincinnati Reds after struggling with alcoholism and drugs for five years. His promising career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays was derailed by injury and soon Hamilton found himself so addicted to drugs that everyone had written him off. But an energetic Hamilton made a big impression on the fans that saw him play that spring and eventually Hamilton would go on to become one of the premiere outfielders in the game today.
• Only in spring training can an organization play two games at the same time. They’re called split squad games and though confusing, it’s entertaining to see a lineup of minor-leaguers and major-leaguers alike on the same field. For the club, it gives the younger players an opportunity to prove themselves while allowing the veterans the chance to shake off the rust from the winter months. If you get the chance to make a ballgame in the spring, go…you won’t regret it. It makes for some of the best sporting vacations as you can take in up to two games a day without driving more than 50 miles to the different host cities. It’s a relaxed atmosphere that’s just as much about the baseball as it is about catching up with long lost friends. It’s a time for optimism and hope as well rejuvenation. It’s one of the best kept secrets in all of sports.
Wrestling season quietly came to a close for Mercer’s grapplers this season, but not before an electrifying finish by the women’s team at Nationals in Hampton, Virginia. Finishing near the top of the field to eventual winner Yakima Valley, Mercer’s small women’s team represented the university well on the mat.
“Our ladies just wrestled very well this weekend,” commented head coach Kevin Andres. “I’m very proud of the way they performed in the competition, especially with only two years experience. We lost to bigger, more experienced schools but they competed very well.”
Two of women’s entry went on to finish second in their respective categories. In fact, KaLia Burnette, a sophomore in the 148lbs weight class became a 2 time NCWWA All-American, the first in Mercer wrestling history. Also traveling to wrestle for the weekend were Rachel Hockenberger (Freshman, 148lbs), Christina Le (Freshman, 176lbs), and Amanda Almeyda (Junior, 139lbs). Almeyda would be forced to withdraw from the tournament on the second day after an injury forced her out of the tournament.
On the men’s mat, the results weren’t as kind as they were to the women, but nevertheless, the Bears were represented well by three first-year collegiate wrestlers that qualified into the national tournament for the first time. Mercer’s fourth entry Austin Griffin (Freshman, 133lbs), was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. Also representing the men’s team in the national tournament were contenders Parker Owen (Freshman, 165lbs), Nick White (Junior, 197lbs), and Bert Sykes (Freshman, 285lbs).
The men’s team would end up finishing 24th in the Division I NCWA Championship bracket, 127 points behind eventual winner University of Central Florida. “We did very well, especially with three of our four guys being first time qualifiers. There were 83 schools represented and we wrestled well,” Andres added. “Being a NCWA D1 Program, there’s a higher set of standards to meet and it’s tougher to qualify kids for this national tournament.”
Andres is already looking forward to next season when the Bears will again host at least two home tournaments in the University Center during the winter months. For more information on the Mercer wrestling team and the NCWA, visit the conference’s website at www.ncwa.net.
Mercer’s softball team seems to be shaking a tough spring break week of softball with three quality wins in a pair of two-game series against Furman and Campbell. With a series victory against the Furman Paladins, Mercer snapped their seven game losing streak with 5-3 and 2-0 wins. The Bears followed up that series with a double-header split with Campbell that included a no-hitter pitching performance from Jenni Holtz.
Mercer’s first win in two and a half weeks came off a Kristin Marko homerun (4th of the season) in the top of the 8th inning as the Bears almost fumbled away the game in the bottom of the 6th inning. Pitcher Jenni Holtz held the Paladins scoreless for the first five innings of the game until a costly error put a runner on base for Furman. Two batters later, a homerun from Lana Mackey put Furman in prime position to win at home until shortstop Sara Stukes launched her own homerun to tie the game.
Mike Raynor’s team would late long to strike in extra innings with the Marko homerun, helping Holtz garner her tenth win of the season with a 12 strikeout, 2 hit and 2 earned run performance. The second game of the series saw junior pitcher Kari Chambers return from an injury earlier in the season to dominant form, striking out five and giving up two hits in five innings of work as the Bears worked to put two runs on the board in the third inning. Kristin Marko’s 3-for-3 day with an RBI helped Mercer plate a run in the low-scoring affair as Mercer’s Jenni Holtz picked up a save in two innings of relief work. For the weekend, Holly Oglesbee averaged .500 at the plate hitting a double and triple in aiding the Bears’ scoring efforts in Greenville.
With the reigning Atlantic Sun softball champions visiting Macon last weekend, Holtz would electrify Sikes Field with a huge 1-0 no-hitter to start to the two-game series. Pitching ten innings, Raynor’s squad would provide a run of support in the bottom half of the inning to upset the visiting Camels. The game-changing play occurred in the tenth frame when sophomore Stephanie Canara would steal home on a wild pitch from Campbell’s Christina Melton.
The pitching duel between Melton and Holtz shaped up to be one of the best matchups in conference play this season as Melton would only allow three hits on the afternoon, backed up by a defense that recorded a triple play in the fourth inning.
“That was huge,” commented Mercer head coach Mike Raynor after the game. “Throwing that kind of game against the defending Atlantic Sun champs is something special. She is so mentally tough out there and it’s great to watch her work,” he added on MercerBears.com.
Unfortunately, the second game of the series didn’t go Mercer’s way as they fell to the Camels 2-0. Kari Chambers, the starting pitcher, gave up two early runs in the first inning to ultimately decide the contest as the Bears squeaked out only three hits on the day. Campbell’s Brittany Stanley capped the three hit shutout by pitching only 81 pitches in route to her 6th win of the 2010 season.
With the first conference series of the year complete, Mercer now faces Samford in non-conference action before continuing A-Sun play against Kennesaw State. The Bears then return to Macon for an eight-game homestand against Georgia Southern, Lipscomb, Belmont, and Auburn.
