This Week In Armstrong Atlantic State Athletics, 5-7-01

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4-23-01

This Week In Armstrong Atlantic State Athletics

Monday, May 7
No Events Scheduled

Tuesday, May 8
No Events Scheduled

Wednesday, May 9
No Events Scheduled

Thursday, May 10
• Women's Tennis at NCAA DII Women's Tennis National Championships (Pensacola, Fla.)
AASU vs. Presbyterian, 3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 11
• Women's Tennis at NCAA DII Women's Tennis National Championships (Pensacola, Fla.)

Saturday, May 12
• Women's Tennis at NCAA DII Women's Tennis National Championships (Pensacola, Fla.)

Sunday, May 13
• Women's Tennis at NCAA DII Women's Tennis National Championships (Pensacola, Fla.)

Baseball (38-15 Overall, 18-12 Peach Belt Conference, No. 14 NCAA DII, No. 6 South Atlantic)

Three members of the AASU baseball squad earned All-Conference honors as the All-Peach Belt Baseball team was announced by the conference office on Wednesday.

Senior pitcher B.J. Brinkmeier, junior catcher David Harriman and junior outfielder Kirk Nordness earned All-Peach Belt Conference honors for the No. 14-ranked Pirates in 2001.

Brinkmeier went 8-3 with a 3.46 ERA and led the Peach Belt Conference in strikeouts in his senior season. The St. Charles, Mo., native is ninth all-time in AASU history in career strikeouts with 170. Harriman hit .346 with team highs in home runs (8) and RBI (53). The Surrey, British Columbia, native was the PBC's Player of the Week on April 10 and 17 of this season. Nordness hit a team-best .392 average and ranked second in the Peach Belt in batting. The Beaverton, Ore., native's average is the highest for an AASU player in the last 10 seasons.

On Wednesday, the Pirates learned that they were ranked sixth in the South Atlantic Region heading into the final weekend of play around the country and now the Pirates will await a possible selection into the NCAA Championships by the NCAA Championship Selection Committee. If the Pirates are selected, it will be the 10th NCAA Regionals appearance in the past 14 years for AASU and the third selection in the past four seasons.

Softball (33-14 Overall, 11-9 Peach Belt Conference, No. 22 NFCA Division II Top 25)

The Armstrong Atlantic State softball team was passed over for a return trip to the NCAA Softball National Championships by the NCAA's national selection committee, after receiving unanimous approval to represent the Peach Belt Conference in the South Atlantic Regional by the regional committee.

The national committee chose Carson-Newman as the region's fourth-seeded team, bumping AASU out of the No. 4 seed. This is the second time in the past three seasons that the Pirates have been ousted from a possible NCAA tournament berth by the national committee.

Head coach Marty McDaniel's squad finishes the 2001 season with a 33-14 overall record and can claim one NCAA recognition at least – the senior-laden team was the best fielding team in the land, posting a Division II-high .976 fielding percentage. The percentage is a school record and is tied for the seventh-best single-season fielding percentage in NCAA Division II history.

Men's Tennis (15-10 Overall, 5-3 Peach Belt Conference, No. 15 ITA Division II Rankings)

The No. 15-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State men's tennis team failed in its bid to reach the NCAA Division II National Championships for the seventh consecutive season, losing to Ouachita Baptist, 5-4, in the finals of the Men's Tennis South Region in Pensacola, Fla., on Sunday.

The Pirates advanced to the region championship match by easily defeating Delta State, 5-1, on Saturday. AASU then lost two of three doubles matches and could win only three of six singles matches in the region final. AASU's singles wins came from sophomore Aref Jallali and freshmen Frederik de Beer and Neil McPhee.

AASU finishes the 2001 season with a 15-10 overall record and graduates three seniors – Stefan Wirtz, Christopher Petersen and Blaise Tribolet.

Women's Tennis (21-5 Overall, 9-1 Peach Belt Conference, No. 4 ITA Division II Rankings)

The No. 4-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State women's tennis team returns to the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis National Championships this week by virtue of its South Region championship over the weekend.

The Lady Pirates defeated two teams making their first NCAA Regionals appearance to make their seventh consecutive trip to the National Championships. On Friday afternoon, the Lady Pirates defeated Clark Atlanta, 9-0. Saturday, the Lady Pirates defeated Harding University, 5-1, to capture the region championship.

AASU is seeded No. 4 in the national championship bracket and will face Presbyterian on Thursday, May 10 at 3:30 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis National Championships in Pensacola, Fla. The Lady Pirates defeated Presbyterian, 7-2, earlier this season.

- Pirates -