2005

WEEK OF ~5~- ~-- 3 __ ' 0 __ S______

Wardors reflect on 2005 season The long ride back from Fort Smith, Ark.. gave the members of the East Central by Community M College baseball arty "I was really glad we had something record-setting for this school, something this school has never done. I was really proud of the wtt'ole team.~ "It was a great season," said

think the outcome would have been a little different. I think we could have beat both of those teams. Not taking anything away from them because they were good teams. but I think if we had made some defensive plays, that would have changed the outcome of the games. "We started out our year on fire. then we started slipping toward the middle. Then we picked it up toward the end and en.ded up finishing with awinning record. and that's always good to finish with a winning record." Especially when your team had a dismal 12-29 sho\\ing the previous year and wasn t expect– ed to do a whole lot better this time around. "It was a great season and record setting for this school. as far as going to the regional and winning it andgoing on and rep resenting the state of ~i~siss ippi. " said sophomore pitcher Josh Miller. whosf' 11 -3 mark earned team Most Outstanding Pitcher honors "I was pretty thrilled with my season,~ said sophomore pitcher Kevin Hatch, who was voted EC's Exemplary Playe>r for 2005. "I had a lot better season than I had last yPar.

team plenty of time Stamper to think ofwhat might have been as well as reflect on what they had accomplished this spring. The Warriors lost 8-3 to Northcastcm Oklahoma A&M College and 9-4 to Maple Woods (Mo.) Community College in the district tourna– ment on Friday. EC committed 14 errors in the two games. In going 29-23 in 2005. the Warriors· win total ties for the fi fth highest in school history. But the current squad man– aged to pull off a feat that none of the pre\ ious Warrior baseball teams could accomplish - win a region championship. Sophomore center fielder Marcus Davis put on a power show friday as he homered in each gamr and went 4-for-8 for with four RB1s. "I had a pretty good day," said Davis, who was named team Most Valuable Player and Best Offensive Player. "We lost, so that\ still a big blow to me. "If we could have taken back sonw of the errors we made. I

freshman shortstop Chris Pierce, who was named EC's Best Defensive Player. "We had a lot of achievements throughout the year. A couple of players w~e named all-state and winning the region was huge for this school. It's an experience all of us enjoyed." Rcdshirt freshman pitcher John Fortenberry was scheduled to start a third game in the dis– trict tournament if the Warriors got that far. When it was obvi– ous they wouldn't he tossed the ninth inning against Maple Woods. He struck out three bat– ters. although one reached on a passed ball. 'T m glad how we did this season,· said Fortenberry, who was named EC's Most Improved Player after missing the entire 2004 season as the resull of losing his right eye after being struck in the face with a line drive. "''ve just got next year to come back and look forward to. I hope to get all these freshmen back. That would be really good. "

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