The Post and Courier
Cougars find offense in win over UNCA
May 14, 2012
The College of Charleston bats came alive on the final game of the series, carrying the Cougars to an 11-6 win over UNC Asheville on Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars hit three home runs and three doubles. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and helped the Cougars (34-17) avoid a sweep against the Bulldogs (24-25).
Marty Gantt, Bradley Goodson and Brandon Glazereach hit homers for the Cougars. Goodson also hit a two-run double to end the game with four RBIs. Gantt scored two runs on two hits, and Brandon Murray and Daniel Aldrich each hit doubles and tallied RBI and two runs.
Senior Kyle Owings (3-0) picked up the win, pitching 22/3 innings of no-hit ball while striking out four batters.
The Post and Courier
Two-Minute Drill with Coolege of Charleston women’s basketball coach Natasha Adair
Tommy Braswell
May 13, 2012
What’s been the biggest adjustment in your first head coaching job?
“Transitioning a whole staff. It would be easier if it was just me, but we have a brand new staff and we’ve been trying to get them acclimated to a new city, a new program and a new environment. I’m excited to say that in a month we have a coach that’s buying a house, a coach that’s already moved his family down here. We’re starting to call this place home.”
Your new staff has a lot of Wake Forest connections.
“Bob Clark (associate head coach) has been with me pretty much every place at my coaching career, Georgetown and Wake Forest. David White (director of basketball operations) was our volunteer coach last year at Wake Forest, so he’s only been with us a year.”
You’ve had a little time with the returning players. What are your impressions?
“I didn’t come in with a hatchet. These kids have gone through a transition as well. We’re like a family. There was a reason they came here and you want to keep that excitement. We still have dreams and aspirations of winning the SoCon and getting to the NCAA. We’ve been talking about expecting to win and encouraging each other to win and exceeding our expectations. I went into the locker room and someone had created a poster that said ‘Expect, Encourage, Exceed’ and all the kids have signed it. That lets me know they’re listening. We’re doing bigger and better things next year.”
What area needs the most attention?
“We were pretty strong defensively. Offensively, we need to take care of the ball. We turned the ball over way too much and our field goal percentage was too low. We have to make sure we do a lot of fundamental work in the preseason. Shooting is repetition. We have to make sure we get enough shots up in practice. If there’s one area we struggled, it was definitely the offensive side of the ball.”
Are you still recruiting for next season or are you already working toward 2013-14?
“I have five scholarships for this season, which could be good news-bad news. I think it’s good news. I won’t settle. If I don’t get all those filled, that’s OK. The worst thing you can do is settle for a number. We’ve been in conversations with kids and we have a couple of top prospects. With all the coaching changes in women’s basketball, the transfer market has been very high. We had kids on campus last weekend and we’ll have kids the next couple of weekends.”
With your husband Aaron, son Aaron Michael (14) and daughter Allyssa Michelle (6) still living in Winston-Salem, N.C., what do you do for family time?
“Thank goodness for Skype and Hulu. My family and I have been on Skype a lot. Because it’s only a 3½-hour drive, they’ve been down and we’ve been able to spend some time with each other. They’re still in school. It’s a little hard, honestly.”
What’s been the favorite thing to do when they’ve been in Charleston?
“With my 6-year-old, it’s the beach. We’ve spent a lot of time at the Isle of Palms. I can’t get to a lot of places, but I know how to get there. My son is 14 and a rising sophomore. He loves ball so he hangs out in the gym. The men’s players have been picking at him, and the locals want to know where he’s going to go to school. My husband and I have been able to enjoy King Street. Charleston offers so much.”
Found any favorite restaurants yet?
“I love the Variety Story. I’ve been to Jestine’s and Sticky Fingers. We love Sticky Fingers as a staff. We definitely have to get our exercise because we eat like nobody’s business.”
The Post and Courier
College of Charleston downed by UNC Asheville, 8-4, in baseball
May 13, 2012
UNC Asheville 8, Coll. of Charleston 4
MOUNT PLEASANT — UNC Asheville scored four runs in the second inning and went on to beat College of Charleston, 8-4, on Saturday evening at Patriots Point.
Starter Ryan Dull (5-4) went seven innings, allowing just four hits and three runs, two earned, while striking out seven to lead the Bulldogs (24-24) past the Cougars (33-17).
College of Charleston starter Josh Renfro (6-6) allowed six runs, only two earned, in 32/3 innings.
Cougars slugger Daniel Aldrich had a home run — his eighth of the season — to go with a triple and single. Cody Martin scored two runs on two walks, while Marty Gantt notched an RBI late.
UNC Asheville was led by Jordan Lurie’s 3-for-4 day.
The Post and Courier
College of Charleston falls in SoCon softball championship
Andrew Miller
May 13, 2012
RADFORD, Va.— Charleston Southern set the tone with a three-run first inning, and Morgan Dowdy struck out six in a complete-game shutout as the Buccaneers earned a spot in the Big South softball championship game with an 8-0 win over No. 5 Gardner-Webb in five innings on Saturday night.
Third-seeded CSU (33-25) set a single-season program record for victories in the process, and will meet No. 2 seed Coastal Carolina today at noon for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Bucs charged out to a 3-0 lead courtesy of a five-hit barrage in the first, and tacked on three more for a 6-0 advantage after four innings. Melissa Adams then sent everyone home early in the fifth, as the senior smoked a two-run double to deep left field to clinch the win.
Dowdy (20-12) yielded only two hits and no walks over her five frames, while fanning six to secure her 20th win of the season.
The College of Charleston fell, 6-2, to Georgia Southern in the second half of a two-game Southern Conference softball championship in Boone, N.C.
The Cougars strung together four must-have wins, including a 4-3 decision over Georgia Southern earlier in the afternoon to extend their tournament run.
Following the game, Charleston’s Amanda Lonergan, Ashton Jarrett and Hope Klicker were named to the all-tournament team and were all key pieces.
Tennis
The College of Charleston’srun in the NCAA men’s tennis tournament came up
short as North Carolina defeated the Cougars, 4-0, in the first round Saturday
in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Tar Heels (14-7) advance to the second round, where they will faceTennessee.
The Cougars (18-4), who were making their first NCAA appearance since 2003 and second in program history, fell behind in singles as UNC claimed five of the first six sets.
Track and field
Three events resulted in three season bests for the Charleston Southern men’s
track team at the Georgia Tech Invitein Atlanta.
The quartet of Rozzie Johnson, Cornelius Tyler, Dantwan Spreads and Javon Young set a program and Big South record in the 4x100-meter relay with a third-place finish. The team combined for a time of 39.60, finishing behind Florida State and Nigeria.
Young set a season best in the 100-meter dash finals with a time of 10.42. He took fourth behind runners from the ACC and Nigeria. He also took second in the 200-meter dash, running a 20.83. Johnson was 16th in the event, running a 21.33.
On Friday evening, Lavon Allen and Braxton Drummond took fourth and fifth, respectively in the long jump. Allen finished with a distance of 7.57 meters, while Drummond was close behind with a mark of 7.48 meters.
The Bucs will return to action May 24-26 at the NCAA East Regional meet, hosted by the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Post and Courier
College of Charleston eliminated by Georgia in NCAA women’s tennis championship
May 12, 2012
ATHENS, Ga. — The College of Charleston women’s tennis team fell, 4-0, to sixth-seeded and sixth-ranked Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Division I women’s tennis championship Friday.
It was the fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance for the Cougars (25-6) as the automatic qualifier out of the Southern Conference. Georgia (22-4), host site of the regional and the combined men’s and women’s national championships, advances to today’s second-round meeting with No. 24-ranked Clemson (16-9) for a spot in the Round of 16.
The College of Charleston men (18-4) will face 15th-seeded and No. 15-ranked North Carolina (13-7) in first-round action at noon today in Chapel Hill, N.C. The winner will then meet either No. 17-ranked Tennessee (14-13) or UNC Wilmington (17-6) on Sunday.
Softball
Megan Lombard, Jana Matthews and Kristin Kelleher homered to back a strong start from Morgan Dowdy as Charleston Southern advanced to the Big South tournament semifinals with a 5-2 win over No. 2 seed Coastal Carolina (39-18) in Radford, Va.
CSU (32-24) faces No. 5 Gardner-Webb at 2:30 p.m. today.
College of Charleston used a 4-2 win over Elon to advance to the consolation bracket championship in the Southern Conference tournament in Boone, N.C. The Cougars (35-22), who beat UNC Greensboro, 6-3, earlier in the day, faces Chattanooga at 11 a.m. today.
Sailing
The College of Charleston sailing team climbed one spot to No. 1 in the latest Sail1Design College Sailing Team Race Rankings. After two weeks off from competition, the Cougars are at the ICSA National Western and Eastern Semifinals this weekend in Annapolis, Md.
Soccer
The Citadel added seven players for next season, including Taylor Darling of Summerville. Other signees are McKenzie Duncan, Jannel Johnson, Andrea Davila, Isabel Kulinski, Kimberly Maldonado and Samantha Millspaugh.
The Post and Courier
Mark Byington officially leaving College of Charleston for Virginia Tech basketball post
May 11, 2012
Mark Byington is going home.
Virginia Tech announced Thursday that the longtime College of Charleston
assistant had accepted a position on new coach James Johnson’s staff. Johnson,
who had left Virginia Tech to become an assistant at Clemson, replaced Seth
Greenberg who was fired in late April.
Byington, 38, grew up in and around Blacksburg, Va., and he will be renewing a coaching relationship with Johnson that began at the College of Charleston. Johnson and Byington were coaches on Tom Herrion’s College of Charleston staff during the 2002-03 season.
“I grew up with (former Virginia Tech and NBA stars) Dell Curry and Bimbo Coles, but wasn’t good enough to play here. But it’s always been a special place to me,” Byington said Thursday afternoon.
Byington said it was a difficult decision to leave Charleston, where he had coached for nine years. His wife, the former Christy Masters, is from Charleston, and her father and brother both played for the school. But Byington said he has her full support.
“When you’ve been in a place for so long, it becomes part of you,” he said. “I’ll miss the players and the people there.”
Byington worked with former coach Bobby Cremins for six years and served as associate head coach. When Cremins began a medical leave of absence in January, Byington was named interim head coach and directed the team to a 7-4 record.
After Cremins announced his retirement, Byington was a finalist for the opening which ultimately went to former Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik. Wojcik had retained Byington on the staff, but said he was happy for Byington’s opportunity.
“His contributions to the College of Charleston — his work ethic and organization — have made a huge impact on our basketball program over the last nine years,” Wojcik said.
“I know what an opportunity like this did for my career and being an assistant at the ACC level will allow him to continue to grow professionally and put him in a great position to achieve his future career goals as he moves up the coaching ladder.”
Byington said he called each of the College of Charleston players to inform them of his move.
“Mark Byington is a young, energetic and enthusiastic coach and I’m thrilled to have him on our staff,” Johnson said in a statement announcing the hirings.
Virginia Tech also announced the hiring of Navy associate head coach Kurt Kanaskie and former VMI player Ramon Williams to round out Johnson’s staff.
