The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, February 6, 2009 Page: 8 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 23 x 12 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
1
SportsFriday
February 6, 2009
Standings
Men's Basketball
Team
Div.
Overall
Angelo St.
5-1
17-4
MSU
5-1
16-5
TAMU-K
4-2
14-7
WTAMU
4-2
14-7
ACU
2-4
8-11
Tarleton St.
1-5
13-8
ENMU
0-6
4-17
Women's Basketball
Team
Div.
Overall
WTAMU
6-0
18-3
ACU
5-1
13-7
TAMU-K
"3-3
13-8
Angelo St.
3-3
12-9
Tarleton St.
2-4
11-10
MSU
2-4
7-13 .
ENMU
0-6
9-15
Baseball
Team
Div.
Overall
Cameron
0-0
2-0
ACU
0-0
1-0
ENMU
0-0
3-1
SWOkla.
0-0
3-1
Tarleton St.
0-0
2-2
Angelo St.
0-0
1-2
Central Okla.
0-0
0-0
WTAMU
0-0
0-0
NE State
0-0
0-0
SE Okla.
0-0
0-0
TAMU-K
0-0
0-0
East Central
0-0
0-2
Softball
Team
Div.
Overall
TAMU-K
0-0
4-0
TX Woman’s
0-0
2-0
Angelo St.
0-0
2-0
ACU
0-0
0-0
ENMU
0-0
0-0
Tarleton St.
0-0
0-0
WTAMU
0-0
0-0
Scores
Monday
Women’s Tennis
ACU 9, SE Oklahoma State 0
SMU 4, ACU 2
Tuesday
Baseball
ACU 5, Incarnate Word 2
Upcoming
Friday
Hack and Field
Texas Tech Invitational, 9 a.m.
Softball
ACU vs. Texas A&M-Intemational,
11:15 a.m.
ACU vs. Washburn, 3:45 p.m.
Baseball
ACU vs. NM Highlands, 4 p.m.
Saturday
Men’s Tennis
ACU vs. Trinity, 9 a.m.
ACU vs. Prairie ViewA&M, 2 p.m.
ACU vs. Howard Payne, 6 p.m.
Women’s Tennis
ACU vs. Hardin-Simmons, 9 a.m.
ACU vs. Prairie View A&M, 2 p.m.
ACU vs. McMurry, 6 p.m.
Softball
ACU vs. Cameron, 9 a.m.
ACU vs. Midwestern State,
1:30 p.m.
Women’s Basketball
ACU vs. TX-Permian Basin, 2 p.m.
Baseball
ACU vs. NM Highlands, 2 p.m.
ACU vs. NM Highlands, 4:30 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
ACU at Cameron, 4 p.m.
:: Home games listed in italics
PINK ZONE
Wildcat fans can wear pink
to Tuesday’s game against
TAMU-Kingsville to support
breast cancer awareness.
When: Feb. 10 @6 p.m.
r Moody Coliseum
: A fundraiser will be
held to raise awareness for
breast cancer. All funds
received will go to the
Abilene Alliance for Women
and Children.
■/. ;
Softball team begins with Invitational
Heather Lelphart:: staff photographer
Utility player Genevie Ramirez
makes a throw during practice.
By Chandler Harris
Assistant Sports Editor
The softball team traveled
to Sail Antonio on Thursday
for the St. Mary’s Invitational
tournament. The team played
its first of the weekend’s five
games on Thursday against
Rollins University. Results were
unavailable by press time.
Thursday’s game was the
Wildcats’ first game of the
2009 season.
“Going in, it’s always hard
because everyone is nervous
the first game,” said head coach
Chantiel Wilson. “We have to
realize it’s [the] first weekend
of the season, and that there is
a lot more time before confer-
ence play begins. We just need
to get our game working.”
Wilson said it would be ben-
eficial to see the Wildcat hitters
against different pitchers than
their own teammates. It will
give them a better understand-
ing of how they are doing and
what they need to work on.
ACU will face five oppo-
nents in the tournament:
Rollins University, Texas
A&M-International, Wash-
burn, Cameron and Mid-
western State.
“Rollins University was
regional runner-up last season,
and just one game away from
the national tournament,” Wil-
son said. “They have both of
their' best pitchers returning
from last season,and they have
some good hitters coming back
as well.”
The team will play Texas
A&M-Intemational Friday at
11:15 a.m. and Washburn at
3:45 p.m.
Washburn also made it
See Softball page 7
Despite putting two run-
ners on in the bottom of the
tenth, Rutherford got the Wild-
cats out of the inning by forc-
ing an inning-ending double
play. Texas Tech transfer and
second baseman Chris Hall
reached on an error to start the
11th inning before Incarnate
Word recorded consecutive
outs. Harrison kept the inning
alive after drawing a walk and
Uechi drove in Hall on the next
at-bat to give ACU a 3-2 lead.
Latz recorded his second
and third RBI of the game with
a two-out double to give ACU a
5-2 lead. Incarnate Word man-
aged to get one man on base
with one out in the bottom of
the 11th inning, but Rutherford
forced a game-ending double
play to give Bonneau his 499th
win as AClFs head coach.
“Our hitters are better
than what they showed; we
just didn’t make any adjust-
ments and consistently got
up there and did the same
thing,” Bonneau said. “We
have to work on that.”
The Wildcats will return to
Abilene for their first home
series of the season Friday
when New Mexico Highlands
comes to town. The Cow-
boys are 2-2 after falling to
Eastern New Mexico twice
last weekend and beating
Texas-Permian Basin and
Sul Ross State. The Cowboys
will rely on starting pitchers
Drew Vassil (0-0, 3.60 ERA)
and Tyler Wichmann (0-1,
4.50 ERA) to contain the
Wildcat offense.
For the Wildcats, Cooper
Paige will get the start on Fri-
day while Matthew Sullivan and
Aspaas will start both games of
the double header on Saturday.
Vandl will get his second start
of the season Sunday.
“From what I know, they are
going to be a team that swings
the bat a little bit and will have
some arms, so it’s a good week-
end series and will prepare us
for next weekend’s conference
games,” Bonneau said.
The Wildcats’ first game
will be Friday at 4 p.m., fol-
lowed by Saturday’s double-
header at 2 p.m. and 4:30
p.m. The series will conclude
on Sunday at noon.
E-mail Abston at: gda04b@acu.edu
.
Heather Lelphart :: staff photographer
First baseman Slade Brown tosses the ball after fielding a ground ball in practice. The Wildcats beat UIW on Tuesday.
Wildcats win first game 5-2 in extra innings
By Grant Abston
Sports Editor
Led by shortstop Wil-
lie Uechi and junior college
transfer Travis Latz, the 11th-
ranked Wildcats opened the
2009 season with a 5-2 win in
extra innings against Incarnate
Word Tuesday aftemooh.
Relief pitchers Kevin Justice,
Cameron Aspaas and Brad Ru-
therford combined to allow just
four hits after starting pitcher
Preston Vandl allowed just two
runs (one earned) in 4 1/3 in-
nings. Rutherford picked up his
first win of the season after al-
lowing just one hit in the final
two innings.
“We finally got some breaks
where we actually hit the ball
on the ground and got a few
hits that scored a few runs,”
said head coach Britt Bon-
neau. “Our pitchers saved us
and did a great job of keeping
us in the game.” .
ACU tied the score at one in
the top of the second after Latz
flied out to right field, scoring
outfielder Alex Harrison. The
Wildcats took a 2-1 lead the
next inning after outfielder
Thomas Bumpass doubled to
left center, scoring Davis Page.
However, Incarnate Word tied
the game at two in the bottom
. of the fifth inning after a sacri-
fice fly tot force extra innings.
Golf team aims to get
to national tournament
By Camille Vandendriessche
Assistant Copy Editor
After failing to qualify
for the NCAA Division II Na-
tional Championship by one
spot last spring, the golf
team has a clear goal this
year: earning its ticket for
the national tournament.
Getting to nationals is the
goal for the whole year, said
Mike Campbell, who enters
his fifth year as head coach.
“It’s a whole process,”
Campbell said. “We will take
it week by week and try to im-
prove each week.”
In 2007, Campbell led
the Wildcats to the national
championship in Grand Rap-
ids, Mich., where the team tied
for eighth place. As a player,
Campbell also participated in
two national tournaments for
ACU; his team finished eighth
in 1990 and third in 1991.
Last year, the Wildcats
finished second at the South
Central Region Tournament
in May after recording the
lowest score of all teams on
the final day. Campbell said
the team played really well
that day but was penalized
by a slow start as it was only
ranked fourth before the final
day. Only the winning team
advanced to nationals.
However, the Wildcats
overcame that disappoint-
ment by showing great things
in the fall, Campbell said.
“I am very pleased with
how we played in the fall,”
Campbell said. “We won a
See G^lf page 7
ACU enters final stretch
By Jeff Craig
Sports Writer
The women’s basketball
team is gearing up for a
couple of big home games
as it enters the final stretch
of the regular season.
The Wildcats currently sit
at 13-7 overall with a 5-1 re-
cord in Lone Star Conference
South play; rival West Texas
A&M leads the pack in, the
South with a 5-0 overall con-
ference mark. The Wildcats
have won four-straight
games and five of their
last six, and head into the
season’s" final seven regu-
lar season games riding a
wave of momentum.
ACU’s first of back-to-
back games will take place
Saturday when Texas-Perm-
ian Basin visits Moody Coli-
seum at 2 p.m. The game
against UTPB will be the
See Wildcats page 7
z Zelnert:: chief photographer
Forward Kristee Davidson looks to
make a pass against Tarleton State
on Jan.,28. ACU is 13-7 overall.
Basketball
team faces
Cameron
Aggies next
By Austin Gwin
Sports Writer
The Wildcats will go on
the road Saturday, looking to
win their last non-conference
game of the season against
the Camer-
on Univer-
sity Aggies
(9-11).
After a
disappoint-
ing loss to
Midwestern
State a week
ago that Copeland
dropped
the Wildcats’ record to 8-11
overall, ACU will look to re-
bound against a non-confer-
ence opponent.
“We are going to come
into this game the exact
same way we do our confer-
ence games,” said head coach
Jason Copeland. “We are just
taking things one game at a
time, and we will do our best
to win on Saturday.”
ACU will have to watch
out for Aggie guard Dave
Smith who has carried the
Aggies after the loss of lead-
ing scorer Dylan Gilliam.
Smith has had at least 20
points in three of the last
four games.
“Our guards are going
to have to play [defense]
and rebound well,” Cope-
land said. “We all need to
hit the glass hard.”
The Wildcats are going
to have to go against the
grain to win in Aggie Gym.
Cameron is 8-1 when play-
ing on its home court this
season. ACU has lost seven
in a row on the road after
winning their first road
game of the season.
Forward Dejan Sencanski
continues to be the leader
for the Wildcats this season.
He leads the team in both
points (19.3) and rebounds
per game (6.4). Of the Wild-
cats’ 19 games this season,
Sencanski has led the team
in scoring 14 times. He will
be counted on again Satur-
day to provide a spark.
ACU will jump back into
conference play Tuesday
against Texas A&M-Kings-
ville (15-6, 4-1) at home.
See Basketball page 7
Thomsen
fills holes
on national
signing day
By Grant Abston
Sports Editor
Thomsen
With the departure of
some of the best skill posi-
tion players in ACU football
history, the Wildcat football
staff knew
they would
have to ad-
dress those
needs dur-
ing the off-
season.
ACU ad-
dressed
those needs
on Wednes-
day, adding 22 high school
players and four junior
college transfers to a team
that returns eight starters
on defense and six on of-
fense. The reigning Lone
Star Conference champions
added six wide receivers
and one standout junior
college running back to
help fill the void left by the
departure of wide receiver
Johnny Knox and Harlon
Hill winner Bernard Scott.
See Football page 7
♦
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 97, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, February 6, 2009, newspaper, February 6, 2009; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth903963/m1/8/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.