Sports

ASU track team without field
David Jackson
Staff Writer

Shown is where the new baseball field will be when it is completed this spring. The construction will leave the track team without a field. (Photo by Richard Thomas)

A new champion has been crowned in Major League Baseball, officially signaling the end to the 1996 season. As baseball fans across the country recover from a memorable World Series, on campus, players and coaches of the Appalachian State University Baseball Team are already looking forward to the spring of 1997 with an increased amount of enthusiasm.

Due to the construction of the Convocation Center, a new baseball field is on the horizon for the Mountaineers which excites those involved with ASU Baseball.

But as the boys of spring get ready to embrace their new digs, many other athletic teams and university organizations are scrambling for a new home. Beginning today, we will take a look at all of the groups affected by this move and the impact it will have on ASU Athletics as well as other campus activities.

When you visit the Convocation Center for the first time a few years down the road, it is important that you understand everything that is being done now to accommodate such a structure. The amount of land needed for the building, coupled with the road improvements that are required to handle an increase in traffic due to the facility, have caused some headaches for university planners.

The flood-prone area upon which the giant Convocation Center is planned to sit will of course be the swamp that is now Ed Lackey Field, home of the baseball team. The need for that space has driven the baseball field to Upper Kidd Brewer, an area that is used for a variety of events from athletic practices to student programming.

With construction already ongoing on both the baseball field and Convocation Center projects, a scarcity of land has arisen. Several athletic teams that depend on the facilities at Upper Kidd Brewer for practice as well as game day fields are now left without a home.

One of the sports that is tangled up in the mess is spring track and field. With their state of the art track wrapped around the turf at Kidd Brewer Stadium, the Upper Field provided a convenient site for the field events to be held during meets.

Without that facility, Head Coach John Weaver says it will greatly effect his squad. "No team will come here for a meet if they have to be bussed off campus for field events," says Weaver. "Right now, unless we get a new thrower’s area at Upper Kidd Brewer, we won’t be able to have track meets here at ASU."

Weaver and his program normally hold three to five meets during the course of a season. Some of those are ASU meets, but high schools also converge on Kidd Brewer for meets as well. Without adequate facilities here, Weaver will be forced to take his show on the road and opponents will have to take their dollars elsewhere.

"We would lose not only dual meets, but we would lose our chance to host the conference championships here as well," adds Weaver. "All of the people that would come in for such an event would be spending money in town. Without a thrower’s area, we will be forced to travel to all of our meets which will end up costing us much more due to the added travel."

With both the thrower’s area and the baseball field being gobbled up by the construction of the Convocation Center, the university will replace what they take. That means that Weaver and the track and field teams will get their thrower’s area, but not without headache.

Athletic Director Roachel Laney remains hopeful for an early spring completion of the baseball field project, in time for the 1997 season. Whether or not mother nature will cooperate with the construction is another story. If all goes well, the baseball team will begin the season with a new field and Weaver will still have his throwing area in a convenient location.

"Some teams aren’t as fortunate as we are to have more than one assistant," said Weaver. "Therefore, it would be hard to go off campus with the throwers when the runners are two miles away. With the thrower’s area at Kidd Brewer, it would be easy for a coach to be able to watch both without having to worry about leaving the immediate area."

Even through the track and field teams will eventually come away with a victory, their are still several other teams and groups that are trying to find a place to call home. In the coming issues, we will examine their options.

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Angry Apps looking for win at UTC
Danny Sink
Staff Writer

Baker has his eyes set on a playoff berth for ASU. (photo by Robert Parriott)

If you’ve looked at the preview box for this weekend’s game you may have noticed something slightly odd that you might even think is an error.

There is no ranking next to Appalachian State because, for the first time in 33 weeks of polling which dates back to 1994, the Mountaineers are not in the top 25 I-AA football teams in the country.

This does not come as a big surprise to those who have kept up with App football this season. Unfortunately, the Mountaineers have been playing the part of an average team for a lot of the season, lagging far behind those expectations of "unfinished business." With this exclamation point on the end of a Marshall loss, it may prove even more difficult to rally the troops around the flag and mount a late season charge into the playoffs.

The Apps have an uphill battle from here to the end of the season, being almost forced to win every game to even have a remote chance at the playoffs. True, the competition that ASU will be going against is not exactly the cream of the crop in the Southern Conference, but going undefeated for the rest of the season may still prove to be tougher than some people may think.

This week’s game, for instance, may be a very good test of what the rest of the season will hold for the Mountaineers. The Apps will load up and travel to Chamberlain Field to face off against the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

The Moccasins are coming off a big win at Western Carolina 20-6, tying them for fifth in the conference with ASU at 3-2. This may serve as an even bigger boost for the UTC players who have to be looking forward to a chance to pay back the Mountaineers for the seven straight losses they have been dealt by Appalachian since 1989. All-time, the Mountaineers boast an 11-8 lead over the Mocs.

"Tenn-Chattanooga is coming off an important road victory at Western Carolina," said Mountaineer Head Coach Jerry Moore. "That gives them some momentum going into our game...and, we have to regroup after a loss (to) Marshall."

At this point in the season, it is hard for a team with a losing record to give up anything to another team, and momentum has a way of factoring big in Southern Conference games.

One thing that Appalachian has going for them is a new offense. In the losing effort against Marshall the back-up QB turned starter, Bake Baker, came out firing. Baker showed off his innate ability to get the ball where it needs to go, completing 21 of his 39 pass attempts, and finishing just two yards shy of 300 for the game.

This not only adds a new weapon for the Mountaineers to use against UTC, but it will make it harder for the Moccasins to have accurate scouting reports to prepare for the new air attack.

At 3:30 p.m. in Chattanooga, the Mountaineers are going to have a test, a test of mind over matter.

"We don’t know about playoffs, polls, or anything else...we just have to make sure we play sound, solid, all-out football the remainder of this year, and it starts this week at Chattanooga..." said Moore.

If the Apps can stay focused on the job ahead of them, then the Moccasins better watch out. If not, then it could be the end for the Mountaineers.

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Men's soccer beats VMI in OT
Danny Sink
Staff Writer

This past Friday night the Appalachian State University Men’s Soccer Team picked up an exciting win over conference rival VMI in overtime by the score of 3-2.

The Mountaineers came out strong in the opening period out-shooting VMI 13-5. At 10:17 in the first half, the Apps were finally able to take advantage of that statistic with a goal by freshman midfielder Will Phipps that put Appalachian up 1-0.

The Mountaineers were not able to add to that lead before the break, despite a lot of good looks at the back of the net. Appalachian’s goalie, Brandon James, turned away three of the five shots on goal in a tough defensive display. On the other side of the field Andrew Pelton, VMI goalie, did a fine defensive job as well, recording four saves of his own.

The second half would start off all VMI as the Keydets overpowered the Mountaineers and finally scored 13 minutes into the half to even the score at one apiece.

At the 68:34 mark, Appalachian answered back with a goal off the foot of sophomore midfielder Mark Hemphill on a penalty kick which brought the score to 2-1 Appalachian.

With the clock running down sophomore forward Mike Polhamus struck gold for the Keydets with a goal that tied the game at 2-2. The score stayed that way until the end of regulation, forcing the match into overtime.

The extra period became a successful one for the Mountaineers, who managed to take the game at the 102:25 mark as freshman foward Radu Ciocan was able to send one past Pelton for the winning score.

With the victory, Appalachian moves to 5-11 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The Apps extended their lifetime record to an impressive 28-0 over the Keydets.

The win should help the Apps carry some momentum into their final home match of the season against Virginia Tech at Kidd Brewer on Wednesday night. The team will finish the regular season Saturday at Furman before getting ready for the Southern Conference Tournament Nov. 8-10.

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