The Mountaineers had their most wins in the last four seasons and finished 11-29 overall. Recent graduate Chris Whitehead earned first team All-ASC West as well as ABCA/Rawlings All-Region after finishing in the top five in five ASC batting categories. His .393 average was third in the league and his 57 hits tied an SU record. Junior Chase Valdez duplicated Whitehead’s honors in the ASC and ABCA but added DIIIBaseball.com All-Region as well. He finished second in the league in batting at .399 and his 55 hits were two short of tying Whitehead and five others for the single season record. Pete Trevino, also a recent graduate, had 57 hits in 2013 to tie for the record. SU finished fifth in team batting this year and was in the top half in fielding statistics. The Mountaineers’ fielding percentage of .953 broke the school record. SU will add head coach Ryan Brisbin’s second full recruiting class in the fall and takes a lot of optimism into next season.
Men’s Tennis
Although the early season was a bit of a struggle, the men’s tennis program came on strong late in the season and advanced to the ASC Championships for the first time since 2008. Without an upperclass-man on the roster, it’s no surprise that it took the team a little while to gel but they posted four wins in their final six matches to join the women at the postseason tournament. Like the women, the men’s team is very young and was led by a pair of sophomores— Austin Carrola and Stephen Rogers. The four other singles positions were manned by freshmen. The depth of the team will be greatly enhanced and intra-squad competition should be fierce next year.
Softball
Women’s Golf
First-year head coach Jessica Peterka was dealt a tough hand when she took over the program last summer. With a very limited roster and a handful of last-minute recruits, expectations were modest for 2013. The Mountaineers were often competitive but struggled in the wins/losses department with a 3-37 record. Senior Shelby Kimmons (.253) was the top hitter for SU, and senior Ally Morris (4.73 ERA) was the top pitcher. The real story wasn’t in this year’s team, but in recruiting. As of publication date, Peterka already has 17 commitments for next season. The team will be completely transformed with freshmen and a small group of returners. That recruiting success is a dramatic change from the past several years and is a strong signal that Schreiner softball will be much improved and highly competitive in the near future.
The women started the year very hot but struggled in the final two tournaments and narrowly missed advancing to the NCAA Championships. The women—ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation in the fall season— finished 13th in the final national rankings, which is the highest finish ever. Gabby Rosales, who graduated in May, finished an amazing season ranked No. 22 in the nation and led SU. She literally re-wrote the SU record book and creates a big hole the team will need to fill. Freshman Amber Hernandez became the first SU women’s golfer to win a tournament in her first season and will be a strong contender to fill Rosales’ role at the top of the lineup.
Men’s Golf
Possibly the biggest story of the year was the breakout season of coach Wade Morgan’s women’s tennis team. Recent graduate, Kelley Spahn and junior Teresa Gaitan were the leaders, but it was a tremendous freshmen class that led to unprecedented success. SU posted 11 wins and went 3-2 in ASC play to earn the program’s first postseason bid since 2001. The 11 wins were more than the program had accumulated in the past six seasons combined. A pair of freshmen anchored the top spots as Leanna Haynes and Shelby Thompson played No. 1 and No. 2 singles and formed the No. 1 doubles team throughout the year. Although the Mountaineers fell in the quarterfinals of the ASC Championships, Morgan adds another stout recruiting class and expectations are already set high for the program in 2014. The squad also won the team grade point average competition this year among women’s teams.
The men’s golf team had its own breakout season in 2012-13. On the course, the men finished red-hot by winning both the West Region Invitational and its first American Southwest Conference championship. With the ASC win, the team advanced to the NCAA D-III National Championship tournament in Destin, Fla., where the guys finished 15th in a field of 41 teams. Sophomore Cheyne Kendall won the program’s first individual conference championship when he crushed the ASC field by seven shots. Adding to the intrigue for next season is that the Mountaineers add arguably their best recruiting class yet. SU should be nationally ranked in the preseason for the first time ever with a great opportunity to cement the program’s stature as a national contender. They also won the team grade point average award among the men’s squads and had the highest spring GPA of all of SU’s 13 teams.
mountaineersports
Baseball
Women’s Tennis
www.schreiner.edu Summer 2013 21