| Baseball Tribe boasts best season start
By Brandon Mc Bride, News Reporting Student Arkansas State University baseball coach Bill Bethea has almost lost his voice, but his hoarseness is not a result of yelling at his team The Indians have not given Bethea many reasons to raise his voice. In fact, they set a school record for the best start in school history by opening 9-0. The 1994 team won its first eight games before losing. Bethea said the Indians' quick start was surprising because the team had to train indoors during the preseason because of bad weather. "You would always like to say that you aren't surprised when you have won all of your games," Bethea said. "I am surprised that we're undefeated because the weather makes it tough to get in good shape." The other coaches in the Sun Belt Conference might also be surprised at ASU's impressive start. In a preseason poll, conference coaches picked the Indians to finish fourth in the conference race. Bethea said the preseason polls were not a big deal. "Those polls are just some coaches putting down what they think without a lot of thought," Bethea said. "I guess getting picked first would help publicity-wise. "At the end of the year is when we want to be first," he said. Bethea said although ASU played solidly, the team is still learning about its strenghts and weaknesses. The team expected pitching to be one of its strengths and early in the season, that has been the case, he said. Opponents are hitting only .201 against Indian pitchers. The team earned run average is 2.40. Seniors Jay Akin and Calvin Key are both 2-0. Junior Brent Kelley is 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA and has 18 strikeouts in 13.1 innings. He pitched a complete game shutout against Eastern Illinois University Feb. 23. Bethea also expected Fielding to be one of the Indians' strengths. However, Bethea said the Indians have made more errors than he thought they would. The Indians, who ranked sixth nationally last season in fielding precentage, have made 13 errors. However, four of those came in a game against Austin Peay State University Feb. 18. Overall, ASU has a fielding percentage of .961. ASU has had success at the plate, too. The Indians are hitting .281 and are averaging 7.2 runs a game. Junior Alex MacLean and senior Todd Rhoades led the team with three home runs apiece. Rhoades has a .344 batting average and eight RBIs. He is also tied with senior Matt Bryant for the team lead in hits with 11. Bryant leads the team with 11 RBIs. Junior Aaron New is second on the team with nine RBIs and is hitting .333. Base running is the only area with which the Indians were having trouble, Bethea said. The Indians have been successful on only eight of their 13 stolen base attempts. Last season, ASU finished 32-27, not enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals. The last itme they made the regionals was in 1994, when the Indians earned an automatic bid by winning the SBC Tournament. Bethea said the SBC has historically had two or three teams invited to the regionals. He said ASU would have a chance at an at-large bid if the team won more than 40 games. |