Sports

Darton baseball has new outlook

• Cavs coach Glenn Eames feels this season will be a lot different from this past spring’s 19-36 campaign.

Scott Chancey

ALBANY — Darton College’s baseball team is nearing the end of fall practice, and coach Glenn Eames seems just as optimistic as he was in September that a record like last season’s 19-36 mark won’t happen again.

“I’ve been really happy with what we’ve been doing,” Eames said Wednesday. “This is going to be a very exciting team.”

This past weekend, the Cavalier played in a tournament at Georgia College & State University, and beat Andrew (10-7) and lost to Georgia Perimeter (4-0). Those four runs in Darton’s loss were jump started by a two-out error in the fifth inning.

During a tournament Darton hosted two weeks ago, Eames’ team went 4-1.

Left-hander Brent Allen of Conyers has been one of the Darton rotation’s most impressive players, and Eames feels he will give depth to a staff headed by ace Dexter Bobo. After Allen had a rough outing in his Darton debut, Eames liked the way he rebounded.

“He’s shown a lot of poise and command,” Eames said.

Darton, as a team, has also hit better than last season when it was outscored, overall, by a total of 106 runs.

“We really pounded the ball against Andrew’s ace,” Eames said.

COMING TOGETHER

Darton’s softball team plans to continue its fall practice until mid-November. New coach David Dews and assistant Sam White have two jobs in one — preparing the team for this spring, and implementing their system of coaching. Last year’s Darton coach, Blake Miller, is now at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

“We’re picking the pace up,” Dews said. “We’re just trying to get everyone used to the way we do things.”

There are only three sophomores on the team — outfielders/pitchers Alex Riccardi, Britni McCall and Tiffany Timmons. The Lady Cavaliers will continue to learn Dews’ system when they play in their next fall tournament — one hosted by Mercer on Nov. 3.

LEARNING BY A LOSS

The Darton women’s basketball team scrimmaged against Albany State this past Saturday and lost by five points.

“We got to play everybody, so we just put together groups that we thought would work well together and work on defensive combinations,” said Lady Cavaliers coach Laura Blackwell, whose team was the region tournament runner-up to Georgia Perimeter. “We played a regulation game because a lot of the freshmen are not used to that.”

Blackwell seemed optimistic about her team after the game.

“It was a great show,” she said. “I hate to lose, though. We’ve got to improve on our free-throw shooting.”

Darton, during its scrimmages, are looking for a point guard,and freshmen Doneisha Mathis, Angel Roberts and Aunrie Bacon appear the be the prime candidates.

“We’re going to have a freshman point guard one way or another,” Blackwell said.

Darton plays in this weekend in Tallahassee, Fla.

SUPER-SIZED RAMS

After 6-foot-7 post player Travon McGruder graduated, Albany State interim coach Chris Cameron wondered how his team could make up for that.

The answer was easy: get more big guys. Transfers Antoine Bronner (6-7, Savannah State), Antonio Steele (6-6, Macon State College), and freshmen Reggie Goff (6-8), Tedric Christie (6-8) and Matthew Priestley (6-6) should be plenty.

“There was a lot of height needed, and that’s what we got,” Cameron said.

After Frank Pinson graduated, Sean Glenn will take his spot at point guard.

Glenn saw a lot of playing time at point guard during the 2005-06 season after shooting guard Jarret Mathis was injured, forcing Pinson to move to the No.2 guard position.

“That gave him a lot of confidence,” said Cameron, who was an assistant under the now-retired John I. Davis at the time. “He is one of the leading scorers coming back. Although he is a junior, he has enough experience to be a senior.”

FINAL WEEK

Albany State’s baseball team is in its final week of practice, nearing the 45-day allotment for the fall.

Coach Edward Taylor, whose Rams were runners-up in the SIAC Tournament last spring, thinks he has plenty of capable replacements for 2006-07 aces Stanley Bell and Demario Cash.

Among them are Brandon Griffin, who threw a no-hitter last season, Deantate Hann, Larry Johnson, Clarence Brown and Albany High School product John Ferrell.

“We’ve got 13 pitchers, and last year we had nine,” Taylor said. “And as a team, a lot of players stay late and hit in the batting cage after practice. We lost seven starters, so everybody has a chance to play.”

Since this is homecoming week, the Rams will play against baseball alumni on Friday, with the home run derby at 2 p.m. and the game less than an hour later.

“I might play for the alumni, I don’t know,” Taylor said.

Taylor, a football and baseball standout at Early County High School, was a 55th-round draft pick by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1994. He bypassed that, and played quarterback and shortstop/pitcher at Albany State.

MOVING ALONG

Albany State’s volleyball team defeated Tuskegee, 3-0, on Tuesday, improving its record to 12-10. Last week, coach Robert Skinner’s Lady Rams defeated Clark Atlanta in five sets after being swept by the Lady Panthers earlier this season.

“We did the same thing last year,” Skinner said. “We go over there and win. I don’t know why we can’t prepare well for them at home.”

Home is not where the SIAC tournament will be after it was held at Albany State during the past three years. It will be held at Kentucky State through 2009.

Albany State trails in its division behind Fort Valley State, but the Lady Rams face the Lady Wildcats twice before the tournament is held Nov. 7-9.

The first matchup between Albany State and Fort Valley State is today on the road.

Skinner said one of the team’s recent strengths has been the back-row play of Demetria Jones.

“She just has good quickness and speed, the ability to hit the spot on her passes,” Skinner said.

LOOKING TO SPRING

Albany State’s defending SIAC softball tournament champion Lady Rams recently concluded their fall practice.

Pitchers Melissa Hurst and conference tournament MVP Mindy Mager appear to be Albany State’s go-to players on the mound.

“Things went much better with the team that I thought it would have gone,” said Skinner, who also coaches the softball and women’s basketball teams. “Mindy and Melissa were great.”

There was a couple of things Skinner still sees an urgency to work on, however.

“We made some errors,” Skinner said. “We’ve got to work on defense and be the total package, getting ready for spring.”

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