University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Turning it Around this Season - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Baseball
March 22, 2006
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Even with all the options to choose from, UNC Asheville baseball coach Willie Stewart didn't need five seconds to come up with the absolute lowest point from last season.
More than any of the 42 losses or the 326 runs his team gave up, Stewart said what hurt most was losing weekend starter Curtis Glover just as Big South Conference play began. Glover, whose arm required "Tommy John" surgery, was one of the few upperclassmen for the Bulldogs. His departure launched a ripple effect of problems that would haunt UNCA the rest of the season.
"Last year was one of the most difficult experiences of my life," Stewart recalled on Monday. "The whole year felt that way. But the wheels really started to fall off that first weekend of conference. We lost a key arm, and we wound up putting our freshmen in situations where you'd rather not have to put them."
Despite all the rough outings and tough losses, Stewart never felt his team gave up. And early this season, the Bulldogs' perseverance is reaping benefits. UNCA (10-12) can equal last year's victory total with one win during its league-opening series at Birmingham-Southern this weekend.
That series is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Friday.
"I knew that taking our lumps last year would pay off," Stewart said. "We're still a young team, and mistakes are still going to happen. The difference is, these guys have matured a lot. They keep competing, and they don't give up even when we've fallen behind."
Throughout the agonizing months of last baseball season, UNCA showed glimpses of potential. The Bulldogs knocked off No. 6 Florida and Southeastern Conference power Tennessee, giving Elliott Arrington reason to believe the future might be bright.
A sophomore utility player, Arrington led the team in hitting last year and is presently third with a .356 batting average.
"Last year, when we lost some guys to injury, a lot of freshmen had to start, and some weren't quite ready," said Arrington, who leads the Bulldogs with nine doubles. "But I knew the whole time it would help us this year. Now that we're sophomores, we have a high level of maturity from playing a whole season. We're more like upperclassmen."
Other sophomores making a difference are outfielder Kevin Mattison (.397 average, 24 RBI) and pitcher Graham Baughn (3.42 ERA, 2-0 record). Freshman pitcher Michael Bogaert (2.70 ERA, 2-0 record) has also been a nice surprise for the Bulldogs.
Stewart said sophomore pitcher Tim Johnson's most-recent outing was a prime example of how far the team has come since last season. Johnson pitched eight complete innings, allowing one earned run while striking out nine and walking four, during a 7-1 win over Hartford on Sunday.
"That was his first college win," Stewart said. "But it wasn't the first time he pitched well."
A win on Friday would give the Bulldogs their 11th victory exactly one month earlier than they reached that plateau last spring.
UNCA knocked off Radford, 6-4, for its final win of the year on April 24.
"I was talking to one of the guys about that this morning," Johnson said. "It shows how much better we are this year. It shows that we're going forward and that we have a chance to be competitive in the conference."
published March 22, 2006
