Weekly Recap - April 19 - 26

As you may already know, this past Sunday all of the CSU student-athletes gathered together for one final time this year to honor the best of the best. Each team honored their seniors and letter winners, as well as a team MVP and sportsmanship award winner.

More firsts, we did our first live twitter feed of baseball this weekend. Hopefully next year we will be able to do some live blogs of sporting events as well, but if you are on Twitter, you can add us http://twitter.com/csusports and get live updates on your computer or even your phone.

Tyler Thornburg is this week’s CSU Athlete of the Week after pounding seven hits, six for extra bases in five games. He also tied a couple of records that we will mention later.

Men’s golf finished up their championships last week, while Baseball and Softball continued to grind away in their last week of competition before the dreaded FINALS week!

On that topic, we do want to wish all of our student-athletes GOOD LUCK on their finals!

What happened this week:

April 20 – 22 - M Golf @ Big South Championships
Herve Gevers shot the second-best round of the entire tournament on the final day of competition, moving him up 13 spots into a tie for sixth individually for CSU. The Bucs finished tied for sixth as a team, despite recording one eagle, 26 birdies and 128 pars over the three-day tournament.

April 21 – Baseball @ Georgia Southern – L / 12-1
CSU knew they were up for a challenge, facing the 27th-ranked team in the country in a midweek contest. The Bucs did their part, stealing some momentum early with an RBI double in the first by Tyler Thornburg, who had himself a week! (You’ll read about that later in the blog). The one run would prove to be all CSU would get and the powerful Eagles did what the SoCon has done all year, pounded the ball, getting 12 runs on 11 hits.

April 22 – Baseball @ Furman – L / 6-5
No rest for the Bucs as they passed through Charleston and continued north to face Furman in another non-conference matchup. Tyler Thornburg tied the CSU records for extra-base hits in a game and homeruns in a game, while breaking the record for total bases in a game. Thornburg had knocked in four of the five CSU runs, while Bentley Christmas got his first career-RBI to account for the other run.

April 22 – Softball vs. C of C (DH) – W / 7-3, L / 2-0
Game one of the double header was much like the two games played at Patriots Point earlier this year as CSU brought out the heavy lumber, scoring five runs in the first two innings. The offensive pace slowed until the sixth inning when they added two more to take the 7-3 victory. Jamie Wellons got the win in the circle, while CSU spread out their eight hits between seven different players, Megan Hall being the only one to record multiple hits.

Apparently CSU left all of their offense in game one, though, as they got shut out in game two, leaving the season series tied at 2-2. Wellons and Melissa Adams were the only two that were able to manage a hit, and while Sondra Vetter tried to hold down the Cougars, a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings proved too much.

April 24-25 – Softball vs. Radford – L / 6-1, L / 10-4, L / 5-2
Despite dropping some tough games to Big South regular-season champions Radford, freshman Megan Lombard provided a very bright spot. Lombard hit a sizzling .556 for CSU with two runs scored and one homerun. Megan Hall also shined as she had three hits and scored three times. Sondra Vetter went 7.2 innings in the circle, giving up just 10 hits and four runs, while striking out six Radford hitters. After the long layoff, CSU will go straight to the Big South Conference Championship, hosted by Radford on May 7-10.

April 24-25 – Baseball vs. Radford – L / 13-7, W / 7-2, W / 6-1
After the defense suffered in game one, committing six errors, CSU realized that they could play with Radford if they didn’t help the other team out. The Bucs cut down on the errors and went on to win games two and three in commanding fashion. The CSU pitching staff and defense held the Highlanders, who are averaging more than seven runs a game to just three combined runs in the final two games, both wins for the Bucs. Charlie McCready got one victory, pitching 5.1 innings and giving up no earned runs, while Jesse Cadenhead got the victory in game two, narrowly missing his second complete game of the season. He went 8.1 innings before Thornburg shut the door, getting the final two outs.

What’s coming up:
Tuesday, April 28 – Reading Day
Wednesday, April 29 – Tuesday, May 5 – Final Exams

Weekly Recap - April 13 - April 19

Championship week is here, and with four sports already in the books, we will try to catch you up on a busy week of CSU action.

If you haven’t noticed it on the side, I want to make you aware of the brand new CSU Vortex that we launched this week. This will give you the most up-to-date headlines from CSU athletics, and allows you to take CSUsports.com with you. You can copy this vortex on to any number of your home pages, including your own blog, Facebook, or iGoogle pages. Just one more way we are trying to keep you connected with your favorite team.

Now, back to the reason you are here …

Monday, April 13 – Wednesday, April 15 -
Women’s Golf @ Big South Championship (Ninety-Six, S.C.)
The CSU women’s golf team finished as the runner-up in the team race, while Co-Big South Golfer of the Year Olivia Jordan-Higgins finished as the individual runner-up. Madison Jeter was named to the Big South All-Academic team.

Monday, April 13 – Baseball @ The Citadel
A late addition to the schedule ended up being cancelled due to rain in the area. Other attempts have been made to make it up, but at this time it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

Wednesday, April 15 – Softball @ Georgia Southern (DH) – W, 3-2/L, 5-0
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning of a mid-week double header, the Buccaneer softball team bounced back to record a 3-2 victory after scoring three runs in the third inning. The home team proved too much in game two as they held CSU’s offense in check taking a 5-0 victory.

Wednesday, April 15 – Baseball @ Campbell – L, 9-7
Tyler Thornburg hit a home run in his third-straight game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Camels on the road. Thornburg had three of CSU’s 11 hits, but it took CSU five pitchers in an attempt to slow down Campbell after they dropped four runs in the first inning.

Thursday, April 16 – Saturday, April 18
Women’s Tennis @ Big South Championship (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Entering the tournament as the third seed, CSU’s women’s tennis team took down Radford and second-seeded Liberty en route to an appearance in the championship match against Winthrop. It was their first appearance in the championship match since 2001. In addition, Olga Makhova swept the Big South Freshman and Player of the Year honors, while Andrea Schutte earned All-Academic honors.

Thursday, April 16 – Saturday, April 18
Men’s Track & Field @ Big South Championships (Radford, Va.)
Andrew King posted a school and stadium record in the 10,000m run, while CSU posted five individual all-conference performances and combined to win the 4x100m relay and finish as the runners-up in the 4x400m relay. Levi Brooks was named the Big South Male Track Athlete of the Year, while Jean Pierre Poisson was named to the All-Academic team. The men’s team will be taking five athletes to the NCAA East Regional to compete in four different events (Levi Brooks, Cornelius Tyler, Jacques Bazile, Javon Young, Anthony Ward).

Thursday, April 16 – Saturday, April 18
Women’s Track & Field @ Big South Championships (Radford, Va.)
The women’s track team had five individual all-conference performances, including a victory in the 400m dash by Dionne Gibson, who set a stadium and school record in the event. Brittany Owens was named to the all-academic team, and CSU will take five athletes for the NCAA East Regional (Dionne Gibson, Misha Morris, Jessica Thomas, Gabrielle Houston, Brittney Greer).

Friday, April 17 – Saturday, April 18 – SB vs. Gardner-Webb – L, 1-4/W, 7-4/W, 4-3
A battle for third in the Big South Conference went the way of CSU as the Bucs took two of three from Gardner-Webb over the weekend. An exciting series throughout ended with a walk-off single on an intentional walk of Jamie Wellons in the eighth inning. Trying to set up a force out, the Bulldogs elected to walk Wellons, who had a different thought in mind. She reached out and poked one of the tosses into the outfield for the game-winner. CSU moved to 7-8 in the Big South, putting them in third place overall with four regular-season games to go.

Friday, April 17 – Saturday, April 18 – Baseball vs. PC – L, 16-13/L, 5-1/L, 8-5
It was a tough weekend for CSU baseball. A big fourth inning for PC in game one (eight runs) seemed to give them all of the momentum, which they carried the length of the three-game series. CSU tried to salvage game three of the series, holding a one-run lead going into the ninth inning. A sacrifice fly tied the game and back-to-back homeruns in the 10th was too much for CSU to overcome as they suffered the sweep for just the second time this year in a Big South series.

Saturday, April 18 – 2009 Memorial Spring FB Game – Offense 25 – Defense 22
For the first time in the Jay Mills era, the offense prevailed in the Memorial Spring Game. It took John Paglia field goals from 45-, 44- and 42-yards out to keep them in the game. Antwan Ivey added a touchdown on the ground, while transfer Andrew Trudnowski connected with Tim Jones in the corner of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Matt Bach and Chris Kuzdale each tallied an interception for the defense. The Most-Improved awards were handed out, and they named the 2009 Edward A. Gadson Memorial Scholarship recipient, Austin Bloedoorn (Pictured with Eddie's parents). Karen Collins earned the first-ever Distinguished Service Award.

What’s coming up:
April 20 – April 22 – Men’s Golf @ Big South Championship
April 21 – Baseball @ Georgia Southern
April 22 – Softball vs. College of Charleston (DH) – 2 p.m.
April 22 – Baseball @ Furman – 6 p.m.
April 24-25 – Softball vs. Radford – 2 p.m., 4 p.m / 1 p.m.
April 24-25 – Baseball vs. Radford – 2 p.m. / 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. (Alumni Weekend)

Weekly Recap - April 6 - 12

Hopefully you all got a chance to relax and see some family as you celebrated the resurrection of our Lord over Easter weekend.

Many of the spring sports are already looking at their championship events. Tennis, Track & Field, and Women’s Golf will all begin their championship endeavors this week. The football team will also wrap up their spring drills with the annual spring game on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Before we get to those, we do want to look back on what happened last week.

Rhiannon Loebs finished eight overall in the only women’s golf tournament of the week, earning Big South Golfer of the Week honors in the process.

April 6-7 – Men’s Golf hosted the 2009 CSU Spring Invitational
In extremely windy and chilly conditions, the Bucs hosted their spring tournament at Coosaw Creek Country Club. Herve Gevers was the top finisher for CSU, tying for 10th overall, while Kelvin Day led the field with 37 pars over the course of the two-day tournament. It was an exciting tournament, though, as Campbell defeated the College of Charleston on the first playoff hole to win the team championship.

April 7-8 – Women’s Golf at Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate
CSU finished sixth overall, while Rhiannon Loebs finished eighth overall with a final score of 156. CSU finished ahead of fellow Big South members Gardner-Webb and High Point, who were also in the tournament. The finish helped CSU lock up the third seed in the upcoming Big South Conference Championships that start today (Monday, April 13).

April 7 – Tennis vs. Winthrop – L, 3-4
It came down to the doubles point, and CSU fell short as they dropped a hard-fought match to top-seed Winthrop. In the only match of the week, Olga Makhova, Brooke Pletcher and Marija Dzakovic took home victories in singles play, but the crucial doubles point went the way of Winthrop.

April 7 – Softball vs. USC Upstate – L, 1-2 / W, 8-0
It didn’t feel like softball weather outside, but the CSU softball team earned a mid-week split with USC Upstate, including a run-rule victory in game two of the double header. Senior Elaine Edwards led the charge for CSU with three hits and two RBI on the day while Jamie Wellons also had three hits, two runs and an RBI. Sondra Vetter got the victory in the pitcher’s circle for game two, pitching a complete game, striking out four in just five innings.

April 8 – Baseball @ The Citadel – L, 2-9
The Bucs gave up early runs, including at least one in each of the first four innings, and never could climb back into the game as they lost to the Bulldogs for the second time this season. They will try to get redemption tonight (Monday, April 13) in a late addition to the schedule. Mark Perry had two of the Bucs’ six hits to lead the way offensively for CSU. Patrick Dolan led off the fourth with a walk, and Nick Chinners and Tyler Thornburg had two straight singles to load the bases. Brandon Roberts and Blake Hunt were walked and hit by a pitch to score the runs.

April 8 – Track and Field @ USATF State Meet
Dionne Gibson and Brittney Greer swept the 100m dash as CSU went to a midweek event, hosted by South Carolina. Everyone that entered the meet for CSU finished in the top-10 in their respective event, including a runner-up finish by Tia Habersham in the hammer, and a third-place finish by Marie Doan in the shot put.

The men’s team carded five victories at the same meet, including a win in the 100m dash by freshman Javon Young. Levi Brooks flexed his muscle in the 400m dash, winning easily while the 4x400m relay team won their race. Freshman Dominique Riggins won the 400m hurdles, while Andrew King ran a personal best in the 1,500m run to win it in 4:10.74.

April 10-11 – Softball @ Winthrop – L, 3-11/L, 2-6/L, 4-5
Friday’s double header was cut to one game due to rain, with the back-to-back games moving to Saturday. All three went the way of the home-standing Eagles, including a heartbreaker in game three of the series. Looking to avoid the sweep, Gail Matsushima and Jamie Wellons put together back-to-back home runs, giving CSU a one-run lead in the top of the sixth inning. A walk-off homerun in the bottom of the seventh gave Winthrop the victory and the sweep over CSU.

April 11 – Baseball @ High Point – W, 21-4/ L, 7-14
The baseball team only got two games in, and they were about as different as could be. With everything going right for CSU in game one, they ran up a 21-4 victory. Patrick Dolan and Tom Burkett tied the school record with seven at-bats in the game, while Tyler Thornburg blasted a pair of homeruns to knock in a school-record eight RBIs. He also tied the school mark with five runs scored in a game. It was the most runs CSU has put up in a game since 2002, when they scored 28 against High Point.

Game two saw everything going right for the Panthers, as they scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back. CSU did end up with four runs in the seventh, and finished the game with seven runs on 16 hits, making it a combined 28 runs on 37 hits for the series.

What’s coming up:
Monday-Wednesday - April 13 -15 – Women’s Golf @ Big South Championship
Monday, April 13 – Tennis @ College of Charleston – 2 p.m.
Monday, April 13 – Baseball @ The Citadel – 6 p.m.
Wednesday, April 15 – Baseball @ Campbell – 2 p.m.
Wednesday, April 15 – Softball @ Georgia Southern (DH) – 3 / 5 p.m.
Thursday-Saturday, April 16-18 – Track & Field @ Big South Championships
Thursday-Saturday, April 16-18 – Tennis @ Big South Championship
Friday, April 17 – Baseball vs. Presbyterian – 2 p.m.
Friday, April 17 – Softball vs. Gardner-Webb (DH) – 2 / 4 p.m.
Saturday, April 18 – Football Spring Game – 11 a.m.
Saturday, April 18 – Baseball vs. Presbyterian (DH) – 11:30 a.m. / 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 18 – Softball vs. Gardner-Webb – 1 p.m.

Weekly Report - March 30 - April 5

As we enter Easter week, I want to pause for just a moment and reflect on this significant time. Much like Christmas, it’s easy to get caught up in the new clothes, and the CANDY, but it truly is much more than that. Easter is quite possibly more one of the most significant days on a Christian calendar. It is the time when Jesus conquered death, giving us a way to spend eternity in Heaven with our Creator. Hopefully most of you who read this have already found the love and joy that comes in a relationship with Jesus Christ. If not, bear with me for a moment. Quite simply, and without getting too deep into it, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and was the only man to live a completely perfect life. Still, He was put to death, killing the hope that many had of Him being the Messiah that they had read about for so long. After being hung on a cross to die, and buried in the ground, three days later he rose, giving all mankind hope. This resurrection is the reason we celebrate Easter. Whether you believe in God or not, I hope and pray that you will find a place of worship this weekend to celebrate the sacrifice that was made in our place.

Now as far as the past week’s events are concerned, it was a good week for the women’s tennis team, but it seems like everyone found the road a difficult place to be this past weekend.

Monday, March 30 – W Tennis @ Coastal Carolina – W, 4-3
The first of four matches this week, CSU edged CCU thanks in large part to a forfeit in the doubles competition. Coupled with an Andrea Schutte/Brooke Pletcher victory, CSU took the doubles point, needing only three singles victories to win the match. They got those from Olga Makhova, Schutte, and another forfeit in the #6 spot. It was the second loss of the season for CCU and the first in League play.

Tuesday, March 31 – W Tennis vs. Presbyterian – W, 6-1
After dropping the Big South Opener, CSU won their third-straight Conference match, doing so in dominating fashion over Presbyterian. CSU swept the doubles competition and won all but the #2 singles match, moving the Lady Bucs to 3-1 in the Big South.

Tuesday, March 31 – Baseball vs. College of Charleston-L, 15-8
Despite homeruns from Patrick Dolan, Mark Perry and Michael Obuchowski, CSU found themselves trailing early and could not recover. After spotting them eight runs in the first three innings, CSU bounced back with a combined five runs in the third and fourth innings. The Cougars scored in all but two innings though, continuing to distance themselves. C of C now leads CSU in 2-0 in this year’s series, with a pair of games coming right after finals week on May 6 at Patriots Point.

Wednesday, April 1 – Baseball @ Tennessee - L, 8-2
The game against the College had barely ended and CSU got on a bus to Knoxville to take on their third SEC opponent of the season (S. Carolina, Auburn). The Bucs, despite only finding four hits, were in position to pull the upset going into the bottom of the seventh. Trailing 4-2 at the time, CSU surrendered four runs and would not be able to recover offensively. Tom Burkett, Nick Chinners, Kory Morian and Mark Perry each tallied a base hit for CSU with Chinners scoring one on a homerun, and Morian accounting for the other run, scoring on a ground ball from Blake Hunt.

Friday – Saturday, April 3-4 – W Track and Field @ Duke Invitational
Day one saw just one event for CSU as Amerikorie Odey and Chidi Walsh took the track in the 400m hurdles. Odey finished third in her heat and third overall, while Walsh claimed sixth overall. The Lady Bucs showed their dominance in the 200m dash, claiming four of the top eight spots, including a victory by Dionne Gibson. Gabrielle Houston finished second, and qualified for Junior Nationals in the process. The 4x100m relay team (Jessica Thomas, Misha Morris, Dionne Gibson and Gabrielle Houston) won the event by almost two seconds, while the 4x400m relay team (Odey, Houston, Walsh, Gibson) finished second by the slightest of margins.

Friday – Sunday, April 3-5 – Baseball @ Winthrop – L, 10-4, L, 7-2, L, 2-1
The road was unkind to CSU as they dropped their first Big South series of the season. Averaging more than six runs per game, the offense was sluggish on the road, with CSU never scoring more than four runs in a contest. Jesse Cadenhead turned in another good pitching performance, holding the Eagles to just two runs in Sunday’s game, but the Bucs managed just a single run. Tyler Thornburg had four of the 16 hits in the series for CSU, while Nick Chinners accounted for three more.

Friday, April 3 – W Tennis @ Liberty – L, 4-3
The winning streak was finally snapped at three as CSU fell 4-3 at Liberty. Surprisingly, CSU dropped the doubles point in an LU sweep. Olga Makhova, Andrea Schutte and Brooke Pletcher won their singles matches in the top-three spots, but hard-fought matches in the lower three went the way of the Flames, giving them the victory.

Sunday, April 5– W Tennis @ Radford – W, 7-0
No rest for the weary, the tennis team took their disappointment from Liberty out on the Radford Highlanders, earning their first shut out of the season. Despite two of the doubles matches going into tie breakers, CSU pulled them out 9-8 and then dominated the singles play. Only two singles matches went into a third set, with Brooke Pletcher having to work the hardest for her victory winning 6-7, 6-1, 16-14.

Saturday-Sunday, April 4-5 – Softball @ Liberty, L, 4-2, L, 2-1, L, 4-2
They were all hard-fought games, but Liberty ended up on the winning side of all three, sweeping CSU in weekend action. Megan Hall led the charge offensively for CSU with four hits, while Jamie Wellons and Megan Lombard each had three hits in the series. As a team, CSU hit just .224 over the three-game span. Wellons and Sondra Vetter continued to shoulder the load in the pitcher’s circle, with Vetter pitching 10 innings, surrendering five runs, and Wellons pitching eight innings, also giving up five runs.

What’s coming up:

Monday – Tuesday, April 6-7 – M Golf- Hosting the CSU Spring Kickoff at Coosaw Creek
Monday – Tuesday, April 6-7 – W Golf @ Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate
Tuesday, April 7 – W Tennis vs. Winthrop – 2 p.m.
Tuesday, April 7 – Softball vs. USC Upstate (DH) – 3 / 5 p.m.
Wednesday – April 8 – Baseball @ The Citadel – 6 p.m.
Friday, April 10 – W Tennis @ Mercer – 2 p.m.
Friday-Saturday, April 10-11 – SB @ Winthrop, 4, 6, 1 p.m.
Friday-Saturday, April 10-11 – Baseball @ High Point, 6, 1, 4 p.m.
Sunday, April 12 – Easter Sunday