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The Colonnade
August 5, 2011
Athletic Department adds to coaching staff Sam Hunt Senior Reporter
For the upcoming school year, Georgia College has made many changes to its athletic staff. Rather than getting rid of coaches and assistant coaches and bringing in new ones, the majority of Georgia College’s athletic changes have been adding new coaching positions. On the women’s soccer team, Mary Byrne moved up from the position of graduate assistant coach, a position she held for one year, to the assistant coach position for the upcoming soccer season beginning in the Fall. During her one year spent serving as the graduate assistant coach for the Bobcats, Bryne was able to earn her master’s degree. Bryne did not replace a previous assistant coach, as the position of assistant coach for the soccer team is a newly created position. Coming in to help coach Bobcat cross-country is Steven Cary who will be serving as a graduate assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Cary is new to the Bobcat sports world, coming over to
Georgia College after graduating from and coaching for Valdosta State University. Cary ran for four years for the Valdosta State crosscountry team and when he finished his four years he had an extra year to finish up his undergraduate degree. While finishing his undergrad during his extra year, he served as an assistant coach for the Valdosta State cross-country team. “There’s couple interesting aspects to Steven, his brother Tim ran for us for four years and just graduated this past season, and Steven’s sister-in-law, who is married to Tim is on the team now, Emily Cary,” Sports Information Director Al Weston said. “So there’s kind of all sorts of familiar influences that way.” Former Georgia College basketball player Josh Hurst, who graduated this past year, will be staying at Georgia College to serve as the new graduate assistant coach while earning his master’s degree. For Bobcat tennis, Carlos Marquez is the new graduate assistant coach and will be helping both the men’s and women’s tennis programs.
After playing tennis for Lander University, Marquez will be earning his master’s degree at Georgia College while coaching both Bobcat tennis teams. The Bobcat softball team recently hired a new assistant coach, Brittany Bennett, for 2011-2012. After spending three years as an assistant coach at Lynn University, Bennett has come to serve as the full-time assistant coach for Georgia College, where she will primarily focus on working as the pitching coach. In addition to coaching the pitchers, Bennett will also be working with the catchers and outfielders as well as recruiting and alumni relations. Bennett also has a history with several of the current and former Bobcat softball coaching staff. “While Bennett was down at Lynn University, her head coach was Mandy Harris, who used to be an assistant coach here,” Weston said. “And a while back, her and our current head coach Jamie Grodecki coached together at Southern Arkansas.” Adding two new additions to their coaching staff is the baseball team by bringing in two new assistant coaches,
Brandon Durden and Dan Pirillo. As a former left-handed pitcher for the Bobcats, Durden climbed high when in 2004 he was drafted and signed by the Colorado Rockies in the fourth round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft. Durden also spent six months playing in the minor leagues and went all the way to the Triple-A level. He also was a 2006 Atlantic League All-Star. The second new assistant coach for the Georgia College baseball team, Pirillo, comes from New York and graduated from Long Island University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. After graduating from Long Island, Pirillo spent two years as an assistant coach for Long Island University. With all of the positive additions that have been made to the Georgia College coaching staff for 20102011, the Bobcat athletics program looks to have a very promising year in all of its programs.
Soccer: Mary Byrne
Graduate Assistant Coach
Assistant Coach
Cross County: Steven Cary
Graduate Assistant Coach for both programs
Tennis: Carlos Marques
Graduate Assistant Coach for both tennis teams
Men’s Basketball: Josh Hurst
Student Athlete
Graduate Assistant Coach
Softball: Brittany Bennett
Assistant Coach, focusing primarily on pitching
Baseball: Brandon Durden Assistant Coach
Student Athlete
Baseball: Dan Pirillo
Assistant Coach
Eight alumni work their way to professional ball Special to the Colonnade Submitted by Al Weston
Drake Simons/ Senior Photographer Richard Pirkle, who graduated in 2011, from Georgia College and played catcher now catches for an affiliate team of the Colorado Rockies.
This is the eighth update on former Georgia College student-athletes working their way through the ranks of professional baseball. Michael Antonini (2007) Pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Double-A Southern League, affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers … Has compiled a 9-8 record thus far with a 3.77 ERA in 112 1/3 innings of work … Antonini has a fantastic strikeout-to-walk ratio, currently sitting at near 9-to-2 … He was strong in his most recent start, picking up a win in six innings of work, allowing seven hits and one earned run, striking out five against the Jackson Generals … Opponents are hitting .267 against Antonini this season … Antonini has won five straight decisions. Andy Reichard (2007) Pitcher for the San Jose Giants of the Class A Advanced California League, affiliate of the San Francisco Giants … Reichard has thrown in 20 games with seven
starts, compiling an ERA of 3.00 and a 6-1 record in 63 innings of work … Opponents are hitting .276 off the righty … Had a five-inning start July 24 against the Visalia Rawhide, scattering five hits for no runs … Hasn’t given up a run since July 10. Richard Pirkle (2011) Pirkle is a catcher for the Tri-City Dust Devils, the Class-A Short Season affiliate of the Colorado Rockies … Pirkle is 6-for-24 (.250) over eight games with a home run and a double … Has driven in five and scored twice. Alex Burkard (2010) Burkard is in rookie ball pitching for the AZL Angels … The big lefty has made seven appearances with five starts for the Angels, going 4-2 with a 3.72 ERA in 36 1/3 innings … In his most recent appearance, he scattered one run and five hits over six innings in a no-decision against the Indians. Brandon Anderson (2007) An outfielder with the Windy City ThunderBolts of the Independent Frontier League … Anderson has appeared in 59
games, hitting .284 with a team-best 46 runs, 13 RBI and a team-high 30 stolen bases … He has a five-game hit streak. Martin Dewald (2010) The righty was traded to the Kansas City T-Bones of the Independent American Association of Professional Baseball … Dewald has made six appearances with a 1.23 ERA and 10 strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings … Has made four consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run. Sean Harrell (2010) Outfielder re-signed with the Southern Illinois Miners of the Independent Frontier League June 29 … Leading the team in hitting at .360 on 27-of-75 … Has scored 16 runs, driven in 10 and stolen eight bases. Brendan Malkowski (2010) The righthander is a starter for the Southern Illinois Miners of the Independent Frontier League … He has made 12 starts, going 7-3 with a 3.60 ERA and 35 strikeouts over 70 innings … Threw six shutout innings in a 1-0 win July 25, scattering five hits and fanning six.
A letter to new Bobcat students from the Coordinator of Recreational Sports, Bert Rosenberger Submitted by Bert Rosenberger It was great meeting so many of you at the summer orientations. I hope that many of you decide to participate in RecSports here at Georgia College, which consists of both intramurals and club sports. For those of you who may not know the difference between intramurals and club sports, intramurals are sports played on campus between other on campus
teams and club sports are sports that consist of organized on campus teams playing against organized teams from other schools. This year we are offering the following intramural sports: flag football, kickball, Ultimate, soccer, basketball, dodgeball, softball, four-on-four flag football, volleyball, indoor soccer, inner tube water polo, tennis, racquetball, ping pong and pool. For each intramural sport we offer different levels of competition ranging from recreational to competi-
tive. As far as club sports go, the following clubs are active and open to join: swimming, rugby, volleyball, lacrosse, wakeboarding, bass fishing, soccer, ultimate, wrestling, racquetball and tennis. Here are some interesting things that you may not know about Georgia College RecSports: Last year in intramurals, 2,360 students participated on 626 teams and played in 1,954 games. Last year Georgia College students checked in to play in an intramual game 35,243
times. Last year Georgia College Sports Clubs defeated UGA, Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern in at least one sport. The best way to find out how to get involved is to “Like” the Facebook Page “Georgia College RecSports” and to join Imleagues. com/gcsu with your school email account (required to participate). Some of our events start really early in the semester, so I would advise all students to “Like us” and register ASAP. In addition to getting up
to date info on the Facebook page, we also do player profiles and give away free stuff such as T-shirts and free team entries. Our office is currently located on the third floor of the Student Activity Center, but will be moving to the Wellness and Recreation Center as soon as it is open. For more information please contact the Director of Recreational Sports, Bert.Rosenberger@gcsu.edu or the Assistant Director of Recreational Sports, Drew.Bruton@gcsu.edu.