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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

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about some news on how spring training is going for the Bucs. And list the spring game on the coming up schedule