2005

v-~3-os

East Central players proud of 2005 campaign By Marty Stamper staff writer

12-29 the previous spting and wasn't high on the list of possible region championship contenders coming into this year "Tt was a great season and rl'cord setting for this school, as far as going to the regional and \\inning it and going on and rcprc– st'nting the state of Mbsbsippi." said sophomore pitcher josh Miller. whose 11-3 mark earm·d ltam ~lost Outstand'ing Pitcht·r honors. "I was pretty thrilled with lll\ season," said sophomore pitche-r Kevin Hatch, who was voted ECCC's Exemplary Player for 2005. "I had a lot better season than I had last year. "I was really glad we had some– thing record-setting for this school. something this school has never done. 1 was really proud of the whole team." "It was a great st>ason," said freshman shortstop Chris Pierce, who was named ECCC's Best Defensive Player. "We had a lot of achievements throughout the year. A couple of players were named all-state and winning the region was huge for this school. It's an l.'Xpcri<'nce all of us enjoyed." l{t>cbhirt freshman pitcher john Fortenberry was scheduled to start a third game in the district tournament if the Warriors got that See ECCC Page 83

I was really glad we had something record-setting for this school, something this school has ne~·er done.

fORT SMITH. Ark.- While they certainly would have liked to have performed better than they did in the NJCAA Division I South Central District Tournament. on Fridav. the East Central Commu– nity College Warriors won't be all that heartbroken when they reflect back on their 2005 accomplish– ments. The Warriors

ECCC p1tcher Kevin Hatch

lo~t 8-3 to ::\orth– eastern Okla– homa A&M Col– lege and 9-4 to Maple Woods (Mo.) Commu:

game and went 4-for-8 for the day with four RBis. "I had a pretty good day," said Davis. who was named team ~tost Valuable Playt•r and Best Offen· sive Player. "We lost. so that's still a big blow to me. "If we could have takl'n back some of the errors we made. l think the outcome would have been a little different. I think Wt' could have beat both of those teams. Not taking anything away from them because they wen• good teams, but T think if we had made some defensive plays, that would have changed the outcome of tlw games. ~\\e started out our yt•ar on fire, then we started slipping toward the middle. Then we picked it up toward the end and ended up fin· ishing with a winning record. and that's always good to finish with a winning record.'' Especially when your team went

nity College in the district tourna– ment. ECCC committed 14 errors in the two games. Six of NEO's runs were unearned. As far as wins, the 29-23 record this spring tics the 1992 (29-19) and 1993 (29-15) ECCC teams for fifth-highest in school history. The 29 wins lag well behind the 40-18 school record set by the 1997 team and trail the 32-22 mark held by the 1998 state chanwionship team. But the current squad managed to pull off a ft>at that none of the previous Warrior baseball teams accomplisht>d - win a region championship. Sophomore center fielder Marcus Davis put on a power show Friday, as he homered in each