SPORTS 4D www.hpe.com SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010 THE HIGH POINT ENTERPRISE
Coastal pounds Panthers for 14-4 win ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT
CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina capitalized on five High Point University errors and rolled to a 14-4 victory in Big South Conference baseball play on Saturday at at Watson Stadium. “When you don’t play quality baseball as we didn’t defensively you aren’t going to win against this team,” said head coach Craig Cozart. “We are now in the same position as last weekend, we need to get a win in the third game and we will find a way to do that.”
Max Fulginiti singled and came around to score on a single by Sal Pezzino in the top of the second inning to tie the game 1-1 but the Chanticleers jumped out to a 6-1 lead, scoring five runs in the bottom of the second, on four hits and two Panther errors. Starting pitcher Al Yevoli gave up five runs in the second inning, all unearned. HPU chipped away at the Coastal Carolina lead. In the fourth, Matt Gantner singled and came around to score thanks to two wild pitches by Anthony Meo. With two outs on the board in the fifth inning
Murray White IV, Nate Roberts and Kyle Mahoney all singled, without a ball leaving the infield. White and Roberts came around to score when Gantner reached on an error by the second baseman, cutting the Chanticleer’s margin to 6-4. Yevoli retired the Chanticleers in order in the third and fourth innings but CCU got one run back in the bottom of the fifth. CCU tagged Yevoli for three more runs in the sixth inning before he was relieved by freshman Zach Haile. In his third start of the season and first since Feb. 27 against Fairleigh Dickin-
son. Yevoli gave up 12 runs, six earned, on 10 hits with two walks and one strikeout. Haile came on with runners on first and second. They both scored on Adam Rice’s double down the left field line. Daniel Bowman homered to left center to give Coastal Carolina a 14-4 lead at the end of six innings. High Point will play the final game in its 12-game road trip today at 2 p.m. against Coastal Carolina at Watson Stadium. The Panthers (17-15, 4-7 Big South Conference) will send freshman Jared Avidon to the mound.
Wake Forest sets bar high for next head hoops coach W
ith the firing of Dino Gaudio as head coach, Wake Forest athletics director Ron Wellman appears to setting a high bar for whoever takes over the men’s basketball program, considering the school’s historical lack of success measured by championships. An announcement of a new hire isn’t expected until next week, but Wellman has indicated SPORTS he will skip ACC meetings Tuesday Greer and Wednesday if it Smith benefits the hiring ■■■ process. Sources indicated the person could be Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik, who hasn’t been able to turn the Buffaloes into a winner, but made the NCAA Tournament during two years at Air Force. He was a loser with the Denver Nuggets. The Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera quoted a source as saying Bzdelik is seriously interested in the job. Bzdelik and Wellman have been acquaintances while both were coaches at Northwestern in the early 1980s. Bzdelik is a former Davidson assistant and his daughter is a student at Wake. Citing the biggest shortcomings under Gaudio, Wellman made it quite clear the bar is geared toward the postseason, a word rarely associated with the Demon Deacons until Dave Odom became coach in 1990 and Wellman took over as athletics director in 1992. It is a bar which sends a message that this will not be the Demon Deacon basketball of your father’s or grandfather’s era, back when they made their first two NCAA appearances in 1962 and 1963 (when only the conference champion qualified) and a return in 1977 was their only one in the next 18 years. It is a bar Gaudio couldn’t reach even though he did win twothirds of his games in his three years at the helm after he was promoted from assistant coach to head coach following the death of Skip Prosser in the summer of 2007. That is a winning percentage that ranks tied for fourth in the program’s history, trailing or equal to coaches from the mid 1920s and earlier. He won at a slightly better pace than Odom and Prosser but was terrible in the postseason, flaming out in the first-round of the ACC Tournament each year and suffered an embarrassing 89-64 defeat to unheralded Cleveland State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Wake wasn’t ready to go that night just as it wasn’t when it didn’t show up while getting waxed by Miami bin the first round of the ACC Tournament this year or in late regular season losses to struggling N.C. State or North Carolina. If you take Wellman at his word that nothing else factored into the decision, the postseason failures weighed more heavily than the regular-season accomplishments. Wellman wants to win conference championships, as Jim Grobe did in football four years ago, and be a factor in NCAA play. Judging from his words, the postseason is all that matters now. “College basketball today is different than it was 20-30 years ago,” Wellman said when reminded that Mike Krzyzewski strug-
gled his first four seasons. “College basketball is evolving to a postseasontype scenario. The regular season is important and exciting but it positions Bzdelik you for the postseason. There’s more emphasis than in any time in history of college basketball. There is an escalation in its importance with each year.” He didn’t deny the escalation is tied to television and the $6 billion, 11-year contract with CBS, which is paying $545 million per year, money that is divided among the schools and is crucial to athletic department budgets. “You look at TV and everything is televised,” Wellman said. “You look at the past and that might not have been the scenario. The money involved with it, the postseason becomes very important to your program and to your conference. It is a trickle down from the NBA. They point to the postseason. While we may or may not like that trend, it is a reality. We cannot live in a cocoon where we are not recognizing what the reality of this time is.” It will be interesting to see what Wellman’s standard for postseason success will be. Odom has the two ACC tourney titles under the Wellman tenure (back-to-back crowns after the 1995 and 1996 seasons). Those are also the last two times the Deacons have reached the finals. They were first-round losers seven times under Odom, including his first four years. Prosser made the semifinals four times and lost in opening games twice. As far as NCAA success, Wake will in 2012 mark the 50th anniversary of its only final four appearance next season. Their best since: regional finals appearances in 1977 and 1984 under Carl Tacy and in 1996 with Odom. They reached the Sweet 16 two other times – under Odom in 1995 and under Prosser in 2004 during the Chris Paul years. Paul left after an unexpected second-round exit the following year, and Wake has been trying to get back on its feet since. Bzdelik’s record? He was fired after a couple of season with the Denver Nuggets, went to the NCAA show during two years art Air Force but hasn’t been able to turn Colorado into a winner in three seasons. Wellman is confident that getting rid of Gaudio after three seasons won’t hurt in efforts to land a new coach. “They will see that we are pretty patient with coaches. I try to be patient with coaches,” Wellman said. “Maybe that is because I was a coach but we try to be patient with coaches. Our track record, I believe, who suggest that. A coaching candidate is going to look at those factors. A candidate is going to ask about the long term objectives of the program and we are going to talk about that specifically. If a candidate doesn’t want to run a championship caliber program or doesn’t believe that Wake Forest can be a championship-caliber program, well, that’s not good enough. We want someone who absolutely believes that is whether Wake Forest belongs and we want someone who can take it there.” That should be pretty evident to the new coach, considering Wellman had little patience when Gaudio couldn’t. gsmith@hpe.com | 888-3519
DON DAVIS JR. | HPE
Up, up and away! T.W. Andrews’ Sean O’Connell concentrates in the pole vault during Saturday’s Neal Morris Invitational track and field meet at High Point Athletic Complex.
Eagles ground Bison ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT
run home run for High Point Central in an 11-4 loss to East Forsyth in a Piedmont TriBASEBALL ad 4A game that ended late Friday night. Weston Wilson was 2-for-3 with an RBI for EAST FORSYTH 11, HP CENTRAL 4 the Bison (4-11,0-6 PTC). Central hosts DudHIGH POINT – Evan Aguilar clouted a two- ley on Monday at 7 p.m.
Newman, Jones highlight Deacon scrimmage ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT
WINSTON-SALEM – Jimmy Newman kicked field goals of 52 and 36 yards and Skylar Jones threw a 10-yard scoring pass to Marshall Williams to highlight Wake Forest’s scrimmage Saturday morning at BB&T Field. The Demon Deacons scrimmaged for just over an hour with four different quarterbacks taking turns at running the offense. Jones saw perhaps the greatest amount of time at quarterback, leading four offensive possessions. Three other quarterbacks, including Turner Faulk, Patrick Thompson and converted cornerback D.J. Jones, each led two drives. “We competed really hard today,” said head coach Jim Grobe. “I thought our energy was better. I think we’ll find several guys improved today. I liked the energy we had. Our quarterbacks seemed a little calmer today, made some throws. We missed some reads and that’s going to happen because we’re using so many kids right now. I thought our offensive line actually gave the quarterbacks a chance from time to time to do some things. We hadn’t been doing that very well. Defensively, we’re rolling a lot of
guys in, we’ve changed some guys positionwise. We’ve changed a lot of guys positionwise this spring. But overall, I thought we had a good scrimmage.” Jones completed six of seven passes for 64 yards, including the touchdown to Marshall Williams. Jones rolled out and faked a run, drawing the safety to leave Williams all alone in the end zone. Faulk completed all three of his pass attempts for 26 yards while Jones connected on two of six attempts for 27 yards. Thompson missed on both of his pass attempts. Quarterback Ted Stachitas missed the scrimmage with a continuing hamstring injury while Brendan Cross was sidelined after suffering a slight concussion in practice on Thursday. The Deacons had nine different players carry the ball from scrimmage. Fullback Tommy Bohanon had three carries for 30 yards and also had a nine-yard reception. Jones led the way with 11 carries and netted 34 yards, the majority coming on a 16-yard carry. Josh Adams carried twice for 15 yards, Willie Dixon had six carries and netted one yard while Brandon Pendergrass finished with 20 yards on four carries. Fullback Roger Khouri had 10 yards on two carries.
QBs, defense take center stage for Tar Heels CHAPEL HILL (AP) – North Carolina’s defensive players wrapped up Saturday’s spring game looking ready to lead the way just like everyone expects. As for the quarterbacks, well, T.J. Yates didn’t do much to calm fans frustrated with the team’s offensive struggles. Mywan Jackson had two interceptions that helped the
White team beat Blue 17-0 in the scrimmage to wrap up spring drills, while Michael McAdoo was credited with four sacks and an interception of his own. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Bryn Renner outplayed Yates in what was a sluggish afternoon for both offenses. The coaching staff divided up the teams to mix starters on both squads, and kept basic plans on both of-
fense and defense to evaluate individual matchups for the game – which drew more than 29,000 fans to Kenan Stadium and was televised by ESPN. The strong-armed Renner completed 15 of 21 passes for 184 yards with a touchdown and an interception for White. Yates, a three-year starter, completed 15 of 26 passes for 122 yards and one interception for Blue.
Lady Hurricanes net victory ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT
victory on Saturday at Guil-Rand Park. Carly Black and Savannah Stevens also ARCHDALE – Kaitlyn Cox scored two scored for Guil-Rand (4-3-1). Ally Faircloth, goals as the Guil-Rand Under-12 Lady Hur- Cox and Helen Moffitt has assists. Faircloth ricanes topped the PSA Stars White for a 4-0 also spent time in goal.