2002
2002 ECCC Newspaper Clippings
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ECCC geared up for s By Marty Stamper staff wnter WARRIOR FACTS
DECATUR - Last spring was not a happy one for the East Central Community Col– lege baseball team. :Sot only did the Warriors go 19-27 on the diamond. but 14-vear War– rior head coach Jamie Clark was slowly losing his battle with an inoperable brain tumor as well. The Warriors hope this spring is a much more enjoy– able one. ECCC opens its season today at Livingston, Ala. with a single game with Shelton State. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. "Coming off a losing season. we're trying to tum it around," said new head coach jake Yarborough, a former player and assistant coach under Clark. "A lot of things went wrong last year. Everything went wrong ... coach Clark passing away and having a poor year. ''We're trying to get back on a winning tradition. 1 feel pretty good about a number of the freshmen we've brought in. We have a lot more depth this year than we had last year. We've got a lot more guys competing for positions, which makes them all work harder." Adam McCurdy and Chad Loper are expected to see time at ftrst base with Jake Nester and Dee Hornesburger (.233, 9 2B, 12 RBis in 2001) battling for the second base position. At shortstop are Nester and Josh Chaney (.289, 4 2B, 4 3B, 13 RBis) with Justin Darby slat– ed to start at third base. Top outfielders are Timothy Fieber, Lewis Bradford (.289, 6 2B, 8 HR, 27 RBls), J arrod · Vaughn, and William Mars. Joey Holcomb gets the nod behind the plate.· The pitching staff consists of Jason Wooten (4-3, 2.44 ERA), Aaron Gisler, Corey Blackwell (0-1, 4.62), Chris Comans (2-2, 4.34), Brian Spillers, Alex Shep– hard, Nick Singleton, Corey Amis (2-6, 4.40), Michael
ECCC
Head Coach: Jake Yarborough, firsr ~ear Assistant Coach: Patrick Robey 2001: 19-27 overall, 9-15 MACJC South Otvision Starters Return/Lost: 7/4 Key retu rnees : Josh Chaney (SS). Lewis Bradford (OF), Dee Hornesburger (2B),Jason Wooten (P), Chris Comans (P), Corey Amis (P), Corey Blackwell (P) Completing the roster are ]ason.Massey (2B), Daniel Rus– sell (2B-OF), Will Baskin (C), Mike Kulbeth (C), Paul Brown (OF), Jamie Ellington (INF), Ty Culpepper (1B-C) , and Tyler Rogers (lB-0 F) . ''We're real excited about get– ting out there and playing against other competition instead of practicing and scrim– maging," Yarborough said. "Depth is our biggest strength. We have more speed than we had last year. Pitching is still in the air. We've always had a good pitching staff here and I feel like we've got a lot of guys that we can put on the bump. They'll get out there and compete and throw strikes. "Hitting-wise, offense is a big question. We've got to put run support up and give our guys a chance on the mound. Our defense is pretty solid, but the run s upport is what we're going to have to do this year." ECCC scored only 200 runs in 2001, an average of 4.3 per game. TheWarriors had a 3.74 team ERA lasl spring, but were ham– pered by an anemic .269 team batting average. Bradford swiped 12 bases in 16 attempts, while Hornesburg– er had nine steals in 15 tries. Chaney was 12 of 13. Chaney also had a .936 field– ing percentage at third base, while Hornesburger had a .951 percentage at second base. Holifield, Vaughn, Loper, Darby, and Mars.
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CARTHAGINIAN NESHOBA DEMO_C_ RA_ T_____ NEWTON RECORD MERIDIAN STAR .,...------- CLARION-LEDGER . -------------------
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