SportsThe Rambler September 19, 2007 5

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From the hot corner to the bullpen, baseball careers carried on overthe summer for several departed and returning Wesleyan players.

Wesleyan alumnus and former pitcher Ryan Riddle stands as thelone player to sign with a major league affiliated club. He went undraft-ed but signed with the St. Louis Cardinals who assigned him to the ClassA Batavia Muckdogs.

After getting roughed up in his first appearance, Riddle was aneffective hurler, recording 18 strikeouts in his final 20 innings pitched.

Riddle’sbattery mate,Josh Vander Hey,aslo a Wesleyanalumnus and for-mer businessm a n a g e m e n tmajor, wentundrafted aswell. With a yearof collegiate eli-gibility remain-ing, he decided topursue a master’sdegree and playat the Universityof New Orleans.

Vander Heyjoined theMineral WellsSteam of theTexas Collegiate League last summer and hit three home runs, rackingup 19 RBIs. On defense, the backstop threw out 18 potential base-steal-ers.

A senior-laden infield produced three players who landed on rostersat the independent level.

Mathematics and education major, Jason Diaz made the transitionfrom third to second base as a member of the San Angelo Colts of theUnited Baseball League. Diaz scored 23 runs and posted a .382 on-basepercentage.

“Some guys at the next level are a little bit jealous to see youngerguys come in and have success right away,” Diaz said. “I was just happyplaying baseball and living with an amazing host family.”

Billie Hicks, who studied mass communication at Wesleyan, andRoss Elmore, former history major, continued to turn double plays for afew months, as both signed with the Texas Heat of the Continental

Baseball League. Elmore knocked six home runs and was selected to play in the

league’s mid-summer all-star game. Hicks homered four times in his brief stay with the Heat before leav-

ing the club mid-season to join Diaz in San Angelo. Hicks drove in threeruns in nine appearances for the Colts.

Former outfielder and kinesiology major Victor Burgos rounded outthe group of players who moved on to professional ball. Burgos returnedto Fort Worth this fall as a member of the St. Joseph’s Black Snakes. TheBlack Snakes compete with the Fort Worth Cats in the AmericanAssociation.

Returning playerscompeted in prestigioussummer leagues as well,hoping to lay the ground-work for future profession-al careers.

Brandon Frazier andRyan Jacobi patrolled theoutfield for the Rams lastseason, and both roamedout of state to play over thesummer.

Jacobi, a sophomorebusiness major, traveled toNew York and joined theNiagara Power, whileFrazier was a WisconsinWoodchuck representingWesleyan in theNorthwoods League’s all-star game in Minnesota.

“Hitting with wooden bats was a tough adjustment, but in the sec-ond half of the season I was able to pick it up and start hitting like Icould,” Jacobi said.

Pitchers Hayden Lackey and Aaron Wimpee headed to a higher ele-vation, joining the Fort Collins Foxes and Parker Express of theMountain Collegiate League in Colorado.

Some went far, but none as far as Taylor Miller, a sophomore study-ing pre-law, who spent his summer in Anchorage, Alaska, competing forAthletes in Action.

“I actually played in a game that ended at 2 a.m., and the sun wasstill up,” Miller said. “I spent all my free time fishing with other guysfrom the team.”

The well-traveled returning core will join a host of new recruits nextspring to defend the Red River Conference championship.

Upcoming Events

Sowing their oats“Sometimes a player’sgreatest challenge is com-ing to grips with his roleon the team.”

-Scottie PippenNBA Forward

1987-2004

Coming Up This Weekend onCampus . . .Sept. 21Woman’s Volleyball vs.Bacone @ 7 p.m.Men’s Soccer vs. TexasCollege @ 6 p.m.Women’s Soccer vs. TexasCollege @ 4 p.m.Sept. 22Women’s Volleyball vs. OurLady of The Lake@ 3 p.m.vs. Wiley @ 7 p.m.Sept. 23Men’s Soccer vs. St. Thomas-Houston @ 6:30 p.m.

Numerology 101

6Matches in three days, forthe Lady Rams’ volleyball

team. The squad went 5-1 overthe weekend in the Wesleyan-Hughes Volleyball Classic.

51Number of digs compiledby senior libero Ashley

Mock in a match againstWayland Baptist, a schoolrecord.

5Consecutive penalty kicksnetted by junior midfielder

Seth Mullins in three years atWesleyan. He has yet to missfrom inside the box in his col-lege career. Two have gone forgoals this season.

7National Collegiate champi-onships won by the Texas

Wesleyan University TableTennis Team last spring. Theywere: Co-Ed Team Event,Women’s Team Event,Women’s Singles, Women’sDoubles, Men’s Singles, Men’sDoubles and Mixed Doubles.

4of those titles, which MarkHazinski can lay claim to,

are Men’s Singles, MixedDoubles, Men’s Doubles andthe Team Event.

27Shots registered by theLady Rams’ soccer team

in a 6-0 pummelling at MartinField against St. Gregory’sUniversity.

2Goals by junior midfielderBrianna McKernon in a

four minute span, in the LadyRams’ 6-0 pummelling atMartin Field against St.Gregory’s University.

In April the Wesleyan varsity baseball team won its first Red River Athletic Conference title in 28years.

To vote for the Sports Performance of the Week e-mail twuambler@yahoo.com with your vote. Subject: Sports Performance of the Week.

Sports Performance of the WeekJunior Mitch Hendon: Men’s Golf

BRYCE WILKSSTAFF WRITER

The Texas Wesleyan Lady Rams’ volleyball team is sitting prettyafter putting in a great deal of work at the Wesleyan-Hughes VolleyballClassic Sept. 14-15.

The Wesleyan women took five out of six matches at the Wesleyanevent, dropping their final contest in exhausting fashion to LubbockChristian in the decisive fifth game of the competition.

All in all, the squad played an astounding 24 games, losing only five.The Lady Rams went three consecutive matches without surrendering asingle game, sweeping John Brown University, Belhaven College andLindsey Wilson, according to Ramsports.net.

The Red River Athletic Conference Athletic Web site named seniorlibero Ashley Mock the player of the week Sept. 17. This is the secondtime this season that Mock has been recognized for her outstanding per-formance in a given period of time. She shattterred the school record fordigs in a match after registering 51 against Wayland Baptist. The prior

mark set was 40. Mock helped lead the Lady Rams to a 6-1 record in thepast seven games.

Also gaining the first honors of her young collegiate carreer wasfreshman setter Evoni Darling. The freshman biology major fromGrapevine, Texas, averaged 11.5 assists per game for the week of com-petition. She was named the Red River Athletic Conference’s setter ofthe week for her part in balancing the Lady Rams’ attack. For threematches Darling posted 50 or more assists, including a season-high 58set-ups against Wayland Baptist.

After a seesaw beginning to the season, the Lady Rams are improv-ing after every match. A pair of their recent successes were againstregionally ranked opponents in Southwestern Assemblies of God andJohn Brown University. These victories proppelled the Wesleyan womento the fourth-ranked slot in their respected Region VI, according to theNAIA Web site.

The Lady Rams’ volleyball team has just less than a month until theRed River Athletic Conference tournament, which determines who willcompete for the conference in the national tournament.

Lady Rams win big, conferencehonors for Mock and Darling

JACK WALKERSPORTS EDITOR

Photo courtesy of Ramsports.net

Baseball future still in the air for current and former Rams players

Wesleyan junior finance major Mitch Hendon is having a stellar season so far this fall. After finishing second to teammate PacoSarcho in the collegiate flight of last week’s Fort Worth City Championship, the two reversed roles after play was complete at the CharlesCoody Intercollegiate Classic in Abiliene Sept. 11. Hendon’s first round 66 was the seventh lowest round in the program’s storied history.

Hendon followed that up with a 69 to finish with a final tally of 135, giving him his first collegiate victory. Saracho finished one shotoff the pace in second with a closing 67 to post a total of 136. According to Ramsports.net Hendon and Sarcho’s two-day totals matchedthe fourth and sixth best tournament scores in the history of the team.

“It was great for Mitch to get his first win and have those two go one, two after they finished first and second last week,” AthleticDirector and head golf coach Kevin Milikan said. “This was a pretty good way to start the year.”

Indeed it was a great way to start the year. The team topped a large competitive field primarily composed of NCAA Division IIsquads, paced by Hendon and Saracho and supplemented by junior Kevin Doskocil (tied for eighth), freshman Drew Koonce (tied for 61st)and Johnathon Dickerson (tied for 64th).

The men’s team is currently ranked 14th in the country according to the NAIA Web site. At press time the men’s golf team was com-peting in The Territory Classic, hosted by Cameron University at the Territory Golf Course in Duncan, Okla.

-Jack Walker