Little: 'We never consider ourselves beat until the last out'

Andy Morris - Sports Beat

With five games remaining in the regular season, it does not appear that the Appalachian State University baseball team will be able to capture the Southern Conference title. However, the season is far from over for the Mountaineers.

The SoCon tournament looms on the horizon May 16-19 for Appalachian. The team has high hopes for the tournament, especially after beating The Citadel 9-3 in the second game of a doubleheader played in Boone last weekend. The Citadel is in first place in the SoCon and has not lost to the Mountaineers in six years. The Bulldogs needed 10 innings to win the opener 10-8.

"I think we have a pretty good shot to win the tournament," said sophomore Marko Little. "We put up some pretty good numbers against The Citadel, and they're supposed to have some of the best pitchers in the league."

Junior Wes Timmons said that the Mountaineers (12-11 SoCon, 16-26 overall) have the potential to perform well in the tournament.

"We're capable of beating any team in the conference," he said. "If we can put together a good game with good pitching, good defense and good hitting, then I think we have a great shot."

Appalachian has beaten every team in the conference at least once except for Georgia Southern University and East Tennessee State University, whom the Mountaineers play this weekend.

According to Timmons, it will take a lot of hard work from a lot of people for Appalachian to win the tournament.

"The guys in the starting lineup are going to have to come through and play like they're capable of doing," he said. "Our eight pitchers are also going to have to do their job and play a lot of games in a few days."

Although the Mountaineers have positive goals for the close of the season, it has not been what they had hoped.

"When you go into the season, your expectations are to win the whole thing, but right now it doesn't look like that's going to happen," said Timmons. "But I do think we have improved from last year."

It had not been lack of talent that hurt the Mountaineers this season though.

"Injuries have hurt us," said Timmons. "We've had three pitchers go down this season, and that's hurt us."

Focus has been a problem, too, for Appalachian.

"We make mental mistakes," said Little. "We're not doing the little things that help get the victories."

Timmons leads the team in hitting this season with a .390 batting average. He attributes his success to the success of his teammates.

"I've always thought hitting is a contagious thing, and it helps when the guys around you are getting hits," he said. "We're also doing so well as a team that it gives me a lot more confidence in myself."

Little is behind Timmons in hitting as he is batting .344 and says that confidence plays a large part in his performance at the plate.

"I like to have people in scoring position when I'm batting because I'm confident that I can get runs in," he said. "The people around me are putting me in good positions."

According to Little, the Mountaineers are determined to end the season playing their hardest.

"We may be down in the first inning or the ninth inning, but we know we can still come back," he said. "We never consider ourselves beat until the last out."

Men's and women's tennis both fall in SoCon Tourney

James Nix - Intramural Sports

The Appalachian State University men's and women's tennis teams were both eliminated in the 2001 Southern Conference (SoCon) Tennis Championships held in Charleston, S.C., this past weekend.

The fifth-seeded Mountaineer women (8-11, 4-5 SoCon) were defeated in the semifinal round by the top-seeded Furman University (FU) Paladins while the sixth-seeded men (8-12, 3-5 SoCon) fell in the quarterfinal round to the third-seeded East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Buccaneers.

In the first round of the tournament, the ASU men shut out the eleventh-seeded Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Keydets 5-0.

In doubles, Mountaineer teams of Doug Ormsby/Ben Shuster and Robbie Ormsby/Rick Hauchman dominated the court, winning 8-2 and 8-1 over their VMI opponents.

These two early victories gave ASU the doubles point, allowing the team of Dan Holman and Craig Rice to end their match early.

The singles matches followed the same pattern as doubles with Hauchman and R. Ormsby winning easily in the bottom of the lineup. Rice and Shuster both won their matches quickly, giving ASU the win.

In the second round loss to ETSU, Holman lost an easy 0-6 first set to Gustavo Gomez but then fought hard in the second set, losing 6-7. Rice lost a hard match at the number two spot 4-6, 3-6 and D. Ormsby lost his match 2-6, 3-6. These three wins, along with the doubles point, gave ETSU the victory.

The Bucs went on to the championship round where they were defeated by Furman.

"We played pretty well," said Shuster. "We just couldn't pull out any matches to win."

To reach the semifinal round, the ASU women first had to get through fourth-seeded University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Moccasins.

The Mocs earned the doubles point by sweeping the ASU doubles teams.

In singles, the Mountaineers retaliated by winning all four matches in the middle of the line-up. Appalachian State's Tonya Eberhart won 7-5, 6-1 at the number two spot. Allison Lane, Jennifer Fayad and Elena Berger followed, defeating their opponents 6-2, 6-0, 6-2, 6-3, and 6-4, 6-2.

"We all lost our singles matches the first time we played (Chattanooga)," said Berger. "We just completely turned it around this time."

In the semifinal round, the Paladins swept the Mountaineers in doubles to receive the point and then continued to do the same in singles, leaving several matches unfinished.

"We played against (Furman) better than the first time we played them this year," said Berger. "We were more refreshed this time. We'll get them one year."

Furman went on to earn its fourth straight SoCon Championship, defeating the College of Charleston Cougars.

A few days before the SoCon Tournament, the doubles team of Holman and Rice was named to the 2001 SoCon all-conference team. The pair, who played number one doubles had a record of 12-7, 7-2 SoCon.

Holman and Rice are both graduating this year, so it will be up to other members of the team to step up next year.

"It's gonna be tough; they're good leaders," said Shuster. "Hopefully someone will fill in their shoes."

Crazy weekend of crashes, mishaps propels ASU into 27-team national field

Craig Cox - Police Beat

The Atlantic Coast Cycling Conference Championship proved interesting for Appalachian State University club cycling with eight members of the team crashing, several mishaps and one illness.

Despite all this excitement, the team completed the weekend with the championship, outscoring the United States Naval Academy (USNA), who placed second, and the University of Virginia, who placed third.

"Going into conference it was in question whether or not we would qualify for nationals," said Mountaineer Ben Early.

The points accumulated at the conference championship event qualified Appalachian cycling for nationals in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 19-20.

The team will be competing with the best 27 collegiate cycling teams in the nation, many of which are varsity sports programs that receive funding for equipment and scholarships through the school.

Appalachian's team is a club team, meaning they receive minimal funding from the university with no scholarships offered.

Men's collegiate cycling is divided into A, B and C categories while women's is divided into A and B categories. The strongest and most experienced riders are slotted in the A category.

Kathleen Billington, a varsity cross country and track runner, placed first in the Saturday road race in the women's A category and second in Sunday's timed criterium race despite an illness Saturday night.

She finished the season accumulating 741 points, leading the co-ed team in total points earned. Betsy Patrick, competing in the women's B category, finished second. Thomas Zweig of Appalachian provided some excitement in the men's category B road race on Saturday. For the first 44 miles of the 55 mile race, Zweig commanded the field, holding a two and half minute lead. While riding around a sharp downhill curve, Zweig caught a gravel patch that sent him sliding into a ditch.

Zweig estimated he was traveling 35 mph when the crash occurred. He was checked out for a possible concussion by emergency personnel on the scene but was cleared with minor scrapes on his neck, shoulder and face.

In the men's A road race a similar fate fell on Ben Early, who lead the field until crashing around a sharp right turn. Early was not hurt but broke his handlebars in the crash, forcing him to drop out of the race.

Ryan Gamm, a first-year rider for the team, placed fourth in the men's B road race. For the season, Gamm finished as the top point scorer among Appalachian men with 488 points.

In the men's A road race, Brock Helms was the top Appalachian State racer, finishing fourth overall.

On Sunday afternoon, Appalachian State claimed victory with the highest point total in the conference.

"We have quality over quantity," said Jeremiah Angel, pointing out that Appalachian State has the smallest Division One team in the conference.

"We were productive with what we have," said Dylan Taylor.

Commenting on Appalachian State's chances in Colorado, racer Thomas Zweig said, "We have the strongest team in the conference."

After celebrating victory Sunday, it is back to business for the team, which will begin preparing for nationals.

The team heads into next month's competition with a recent victory and the team motto "Veni, vidi, vici," a Latin phrase meaning "We came, we saw, we conquered."