Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 11, 1993 TAG: 9302110042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-13 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RADFORD BASEBALL COACH WILL REPEAT AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY
Radford University's baseball team is young again. So watch out.Last year the team was billed as young and inexperienced. And it had a stout season, setting a school record for wins with a 28-23 finish. That was good for fourth in the Big South Conference.
"We remain a young and untested team, particularly our pitching staff," said sixth-year coach Scott Gines. "We won with offense and defense last year, and that needs to be a strong suit again. We'll strive to steal more bases and try to stay in a position to challenge for the Big South."
Gines often compared last year's team offense to a fast-break offense in basketball. That squad set school marks in scoring and team batting average.
All-Big South first baseman Denny Van Pelt is the team's returning power hitter. The 235-pound pro prospect belted six home runs last season and had 47 runs batted in, the second-highest season RBI total in school history.
This year Gines has only four seniors and six juniors. Slated to pitch are four freshman, seven sophomores and two juniors, who are new to the program.
The team's first test will come in a three-game home stand against Big South foe Liberty. The first game will be at the Dedmon Center baseball park at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19. Then, on Feb. 20, a double-header will start at noon.
\ MAKING THE GRADE: The Radford University women's volleyball team may have enjoyed its finest season ever in 1992 but they didn't realize it until final grades were posted from the fall semester.
The team finished 19-15, good for third in the Big South, the 17th time in 21 seasons the squad has finished with a record at .500 or better.
Regardless of record, these players hit more books than balls last semester. The team had a cumulative grade-point average of 3.294 (on a 4.0 scale).
Eva Turpin and Anne Fontaine, both of Wytheville, Deidre Davis of Richmond and Maryland native Amy Carey all were named to the dean's list and nine of the 12 players had a GPA better than 3.0.
"We set team goals each spring and I wanted the team to shoot for a 3.0 cumulative average," coach Janell Dobbins said. "They said they could do even better, so we set the goal at 3.2 and they did it."
According to Gary Upp, Radford athletic academic coordinator, the volleyball team's GPA was the best for any Highlander athletic team since such records have been kept.
Chris Steuart covers sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.