1997 Miracle Yearbook

Heading into the 1997 baseball seasonheadcoachNorrisSmithremarked, "the Mid-Ohio Conference schedule is tough as usual and we'll havesome diffi- cult non-league games. We have some players who I believe have the talent to compete so we're looking forward to the challenge."Asthe difficult schedule and player injuries took their toll, the season did prove to be challenging."Injuries to the pitching staff killed us," said Smith. Two of the team's top pitchers, senior Sean Moore and sophomore Jay Clark, wereboth hamperedbyinjuriesduringthe season. Overall,the team finished with a record of6-22,3-15 in the MOC.Coach Smith added that"we were pretty com- petitivein mostballgames."Oneofthose games was on April8versusRioGrande at Yellow Jacket Field. After seven in- nings,the score wastied5-5. RioGrande hitfourrunsinthetopoftheeighthtomake the score 9-5.Cedarville closed the mar- Another Turn at Bat Men's Baseball gin to9-8in the bottom ofthe eighth. Cedarville will be losing only twoseniorsin pitcher/firstbasemanSean Mooreandco-captaincatcherJoshGreen. Green,who was voted to his second con- secutive NCCAA All DistrictTeam,bat- ted .235 with 15 RBIs and .992 fielding percentageover27gamesplayed.Moore batted .314 with a.381 on-base percent- age over 23games played. JuniorJosh Lunney was voted by histeammatesastheMostValuablePlayer. He also received NCCAA All District honorsand wasanNCCAAAll-American Honorable Mention and an MOCHonor- HOME OF THE JACKETS able Mention. He finished with a .30 batting average,and also led the team runs scored (21), RBIs(16), triples(4) batting percentage (.465), stolen base (6),and on-base percentage(.408). Other key contributors werejun ior Mark Wood who led the team with .318 batting average,sophomore pitche MattNeubert(.280avg.,3-0,3.14ERA) and sophomore center fielder Jerem Howard(.250 avg.,2Hrs). Threefreshmen made significan contributions:leftfielderMikeReed,sec ond baseman Gabe Schlappi,and pitche Johnny Freese. Reed batted .286 whil Schlappi was .268 at the plate. In fly; starts and eight appearances,Freese wa 1-3 with a 6.44ERA. Withonlytwoseniorsdeparting, solid nucleus remaining,and some ne recruits arriving, Cedarville expects t have a strong team in 1998. Mark Allen 'VISITOR INNING HOME‘ BALL STRIKE OUT H-E DIETPEPSI AIL Enc Fiveland row 1(1-r): MarkWood,Ryan Urbassik,JamesClark,GabeSchlappi,MikeReed,BrianRasey,MattNeubert,Dustin Crider.row2:JohnFreese,SeanMoore, Dustin Klopp,Jeremy Howard,Josh Lunney,Adam White,Steve Strong,Josh Green,Head Coach Norris Smith. 232 atfiretici