The Spring Sports Season Begins for Baldwin-Wallace This Weekend
BEREA, OHIO — The Baldwin-Wallace College spring sports season begins this Sunday (March 6, 2005) in South Carolina, Florida and Arizona. Seven of the eight Yellow Jacket spring sport teams will be in action during Spring Break Week at B-W.
The Yellow Jacket baseball team, 20-14 a year ago, travels to Ft. Myers, Florida and will play in the annual Gene Cusic Classic when it opens its season against Albion (Mich.) College on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. On the trip, B-W will play 10 games in seven days. Veteran Yellow Jacket Head Coach Bob Fisher enters the trip with 598 career wins and as the winningest baseball coach in school history.
The softball team, 21-15 a year ago, opens its season in Orlando at the annual Rebel Spring Games on Sunday when it faces the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at 8:50 a.m. The Yellow Jackets will be led by two-time All-American and Academic All-American catcher Nicole Loudin (Sheffield Lake). In two years at B-W, Loudin already is the school career leader in homers with 21.
The men's and women's tennis teams will make their annual trek to Hilton Head, S.C. The defending Ohio Athletic Conference Champion men's team opens play against Roanoke (Va.) College on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. and the women also play at 4:00 p.m. against Methodist (N.C.) College.
The B-W men's netters, already 5-0 this year, own an OAC-record 27-match winning streak dating back to last year when the team was a perfect 22-0 and won the OAC crown. Senior Mike Wagner (Avon Lake), the reigning OAC Player of the Year, will lead the Jackets. The women's team will be led by sophomore Andrea Isaac (New Philadelphia), the 2004 Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Year.
The men's and women's track and field teams compete this weekend (March 4-5) and then travel to Florida for a week of workouts before competing at the Disney Relays in Orlando on March 11 and another open meet on March 12. Leading the way for B-W are senior hurdler Eric Schmuhl (Medina Senior) and junior sprinter Mark Griglak (Berea/ Lutheran West). Schmuhl returns as the defending OAC champ in the 400 meter hurdles and Griglak won an OAC title last spring in the 200 meter dash.
The final spring team heading south and more precisely southwest is the men's golf team which will train and play in Arizona. On the trip, the Yellow Jackets, who were second at last year's OAC Tournament and narrowly missed an NCAA tourney berth as a team, will play a tri-match with Central College of Iowa and Iowa State University. Junior Bobby Santerre (Cincinnati/ LaSalle), who placed fifth at last year's OAC Championship Tournament, is the team leader.
FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please call Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, FAX him at 440-826-2329 or e-mail him at kruple@bw.edu.