Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 11, 1994 TAG: 9405110079
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After playing games at Auburn and Alabama this week, Radford's baseball team closes its regular-season with a three-game conference series at Maryland Baltimore County. The Highlanders probably need to sweep the Retrievers if they want to win the Big South championship and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA baseball tournament.
Heading into the UMBC series, Radford trails frontrunning UNC Greensboro by 11/2 games. The Spartans, who host Campbell for three games this weekend and who will play a make-up game with Winthrop if necessary, have an 18-5 conference record while the Highlanders are 17-7. Coastal Carolina is in third place with a 16-8 record and has an outside shot at the title with three games at Liberty.
The Spartans' magic number for clinching the championship is three, meaning any combination of three UNC Greensboro wins and Radford losses would eliminate the Highlanders. UNC Greensboro's magic number to eliminate Coastal Carolina is two.
A closer look at the final week of Radford's season:
It will be tough to sweep UMBC in its own park. The Retrievers have one of the best pitchers in Kevin Loewe, but he hasn't pitched as well this season as he did a year ago. The Highlanders should have confidence against Loewe, since they beat him in the first round of the now-defunct conference tournament last year on their way to advancing to the championship round.
With six games remaining, the Highlanders, who are 26-20 overall, have a chance to break the school record of 29 victories in a season set last year.
Junior leftfielder Duane Filchner is trying to become the first Radford player to bat over .400 twice in a career since Ricky Saunders hit .456 in 1985 and .439 in 1986 Radford's first two seasons at Division I. Filchner, who hit .401 last year and set a school record with 57 RBI, is currently batting .405 with nine home runs and 51 RBI. He is the first Radford player to ever post two 50-plus RBI campaigns. Phil Haney, who had 52 RBI in 1992, is the only other Highlander to have more than 50 RBI in a season.
Denny Van Pelt has a chance to match or break John Gilbert's 1989 record of 11 home runs in a season. Van Pelt, a senior first baseman who holds Radford career records for home runs and stolen bases, has 10 homers. Filchner also has a chance to break that record.
COACHES, JOBS, MOVES: There's some moving and shaking on the women's basketball coaching staff. Head coach Lubomyr Lichonczak is one of the top candidates for the coaching vacancy at Texas A&M, where he was assistant coach under Lynn Hickey from 1987-90 before coming to Radford.
Top assistant Joe Matthews, who joined the staff five years ago under former coach Charlene Curtis, is leaving to take a job on the women's coaching staff at Butler. First-year assistant Bob Clark, who has been a women's assistant at Providence, a men's assistant at Roanoke, and a successful high school coach in 16 years of coaching, is also expected to move on after one year at Radford.
Lichonczak has strong ties to Texas A&M. He is vacationing this week and is expected to be in College Station, Texas, to visit his son Yov and daughter Nika, both of whom attend Texas A&M. While he's there, Lichonczak is expected to meet with school officials to talk about the job, although it is unclear if he will go through a formal interview process. The job became open when Hickey, who was 154-128 in 10 years at Texas A&M, was promoted to senior associate athletic director on May 4. ...
Bill Lilly, a veteran part-time assistant on the men's basketball staff, has interviewed for the head coaching job at West Virginia Tech but doesn't consider himself the school's top choice.
RECRUITING: Even though Radford was one of the first schools Troy Manns contacted when he announced he was leaving George Mason, folks around the Highlander basketball program weren't surprised when it was reported that he had decided to transfer to Virginia Tech.
The Highlanders, who have one remaining scholarship, are vigorously pursuing 6-foot-4 Chibi Johnson of Denmark, S.C., the state's Class A player of the year. Johnson, a two-time all-state performer, averaged 18 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game last season for Denmark-Olar High School, the same school that produced Radford assistant coach and former University of Maryland player Dave Dickerson. Denmark-Olar won its first 26 games before losing in the state tournament quarter-finals.
Johnson, who scored 22 points for the South squad in the South Carolina North-South All-Star game, is expected to visit Radford this weekend. He visited Eastern Kentucky last weekend and has also gotten looks of North Carolina State and South Carolina.
HIGHLANDER IN THE NBA: A former Highlander is involved in the NBA playoffs with the Atlanta Hawks. He's not a former player, though.
Jon Steinberg, a 1993 graduate, is in his first year as Assistant Director of Media Relations for the Hawks, who are in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Indiana Pacers. Steinberg, who as a student worked in Radford's sports information office and was assistant sports editor for "The Tartan," the school newspaper, got his NBA start as a temporary public relations assistant for the Washington Bullets. He joined the Hawks in January.
by CNB