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By AMY GWALTNEY The Breeze Very few college athletes can pride themselves on an un- defeated season, but right-hander Turner Phelps was able to accomplish that feat in his freshman year. e sophomore is undefeated so far this year, bringing his career record to 14-0. e Roanoke native completed his freshman year with an 8-0 record and is now ranked No. 1 for wins in the Colonial Athletic Association for his 6-0 record this season. He is also ranked No. 1 for the most strikeouts, 52, and the number of innings pitched, 47. “He’s pretty consistent, and everybody around knows him, everybody’s trying to beat him,” JMU coach Spanky Mc- Farland said. “Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s a good battler.” Phelps was projected in the preseason as the pitcher of the year in the CAA by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and SEBaseball.com. Baseball America also rated him as the No. 4 prospect in the CAA for the 2009-2010 Major League Baseball draſts. “My hopes and dreams is that one day I can be paid to play baseball, cross my fingers what I’m hopin’ to do,” Phelps said. “But if that doesn’t work out, who knows.” As a freshman, Phelps said he had some fears as he stepped on the mound, but this year he is better mentally prepared for games. He says he loves playing with the guys on the team; “We’re a very tight team.” Overall, he attributes that bond as the reason for his personal success “I’m very lucky to be there, especially last year and this year. My hitters always pick me up and if I’m havin’ a bad day, they always seem to score one more run,” Phelps said. “I put that record on my hitters and my defense.” His favorite part of the game is the feeling of pitching a good game, but as for his thoughts on the mound, Phelps says he actually doesn’t do much thinking during the game to keep a clear mind. “I kinda let the game take over and listen to my catcher, listen to my coaches and kinda do what they want me to do,” Phelps said. ough Phelps does have an undefeated record, McFar- land, who has coached 61 pitchers that have signed profes- sional contracts, thinks Phelps can work harder overall. e 19-year coach says Phelps’ lapses of focus get him into trouble sometimes; adding walks and runs to his record. e coaches’ goals are for him to pitch solid games, to bring him out early and keep him rested. McFarland said “I think the only thing that’s gonna stop him, [is] if all the 120-pitch games take a toll on him.” SPORTS Editor: Amy Gwaltney Asst. Editor: Dan Lobdell [email protected] (540) 568-6709 13 www.breezejmu.org Monday, April 6, 2009 Anything but a Sophomore Slump Rally Falls Short in Ninth By AMY GWALTNEY The Breeze Sophomore shortstop David Herbek’s much improved performance has him leading in batting average, RBIs and hits in 2009. As a freshman, Herbek’s final season batting average was .306 and has improved over 80 points this season to .398. e improvement makes him the leader at JMU and third place in the Colonial Athletic Association. His 47 hits put him at No. 1 at Madison and third in CAA. His 32 RBIs this year places him No. 1 at JMU and fourth in the CAA. “I knew I was gonna be the everyday guy... the biggest thing for both fielding and hitting is I got off to a really good start in South Carolina,” Her- bek said. “I had a few really good games in a row there, and aſter that I felt like I can do this day in and day out.” e sophomore is a native of Haymarket and the son of Jamie and Gary Herbek. In high school, he played for the Battlefield Bobcats, where he was named the all-district shortstop and all-re- gion shortstop. Herbek ultimately seeks to be the all-confer- ence shortstop this season, and he says the team is counting on him more so this season than last as a game starter. Herbek attributes most of his success to play- ing with a clear head, and JMU coach Spanky McFarland likes his confident and controlled temperament. “He doesn’t get too high and doesn’t get too low,” McFarland said. “He can strike out and you can’t tell the difference between when he comes back to the dug out if he strikes out or hit a homerun.” Being a part of the dog pile on the mound af- ter taking the conference championship title last season remains vivid in his mind. e win over Coastal Carolina on February 22 serves as his fa- vorite win of this season, as JMU handed Coastal their first loss of the season 8-6. “ey’re ranked very high and we played a very good game,” Herbek said. “We weren’t get- ting lucky and they weren’t getting unlucky… We came out on top and it was a pretty good feeling.” Herbek is a Business Management major, but he is switching to Health and Human Services Management. His dreams include playing profes- sionally, but he says he doesn’t want to focus on the question of whether he will get draſted. “Obviously every guy here has the dream of playing professional baseball,” Herbek said. “I look at it as if that happens, great, but I’m focus- ing on school and coming out here and trying to do my best.” By DAN LOBDELL The Breeze It was a beautiful day for baseball at Long Field/Mauck Stadium, but the results were not as sunny for JMU baseball. e Dukes lost the game and the series to Old Dominion by a score of 6-3 on Sunday. ODU starter Ben Tomchik pitched eight and 1/3 innings, giving three runs on seven hits. He struck out six and walked four while picking up the win. “With our pitching staff, if we can hold a college team to five or six runs, you should win,” JMU coach Spanky McFarland said. “At some point you think its gotta be mental. Right now we’re just hot and cold. It’s a big mental game and we’re not too good right now mentally.” ODU leſt fielder Donnie Corsner kicked things off in the second inning on a leadoff walk. Designated hitter Joe Vellegia then hit a first pitch single down the third base line. Josh Wright clobbered a 1-0 pitch over the fence in leſt for a 3-0 Monarch lead. e Dukes answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Junior right fielder Matt Townsend hit a leadoff single to extend his hitting streak to 21 games. He and Matt Browning were driven in on a deep double to leſt field by third baseman McKinnon Langs- ton. Designated hitter Bryan Lescanec then tied it up on a sac fly that scored second base- man Mike Fabiaschi. An exciting third inning saw the Mon- archs take the lead on an error, the Dukes turn a double play and a controversial attempt to steal home. Madison center fielder Alex Foltz mishan- dled a Jake McAloose single as leadoff man Max Most rounded third to score. David Her- bek started a slick 6-4-3 double play as Gerard Hall advanced to third. Hall’s attempt to steal home was snuffed out by freshman Jake Low- ery, bringing ODU head coach Jerry Myers out to argue the call. e call was upheld for the third out. Velleggia belted a 2-0 solo shot in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead. Madison starter Evan Scott was pulled with two outs in the fourth inning. e freshman right-hander, who allowed eight hits, was re- placed by leſty Justin Wood. Wood, who came in with runners on the corners, got out of the jam on a flyout to center to end the inning. Panthers Pounce in Fiſth All it took was one inning for Georgia State to get the runs on Sunday they needed to defeat JMU soſtball. e Panthers won 5-1 to complete the series sweep. “is weekend showed us areas that we need work on,” senior third baseman Amber Kirk said. “Hope- fully we can get it together and pre- pare for the next game.” Kirk was responsible for the only run of the day for the Dukes. Her RBI double in the fiſth brought home junior right fielder Courtney Simons from second. Simons had just hit a first pitch double off Madi Gore. As they had done in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Pan- thers had one strong inning that sealed the victory. at inning was the fiſth on Sunday, when the Pan- thers broke the game open with four runs on four hits. Sophomore catcher Catherine Lee hit a two-RBI double to increase the Panthers’ lead to 3-0. She drove in senior Holly Willis and junior Danielle Roddy. Roddy also scored the Panthers’ first run of the game. Another double increased the lead to four, as senior Natasha Berry drove in freshman Cassie Boese. A Tiffany Bess sacrifice fly completed the scoring for the Panthers. Senior right-hander Jenny Clo- han took the loss for Madison, her sixth of the year. In four and 1/3 in- nings pitched, she gave up four runs, three of them earned. Senior right- hander Meredith Felts pitched the other two and 2/3 innings, giving up one run on a hit and a walk. e loss drops JMU to 20-11 so far this season, 2-6 in the CAA. e Dukes are in second to last place in the conference. Madison’s next game is at 2 p.m. Wednesday versus the Liberty Flames. — Staff Reports Senior left-hander Justin Wood is JMU’s team captain. He had four strikeouts on Sunday. PAUL JONES/contributing photographer ADRIENNE GOLDBERG/The Breeze Senior third baseman Amber Kirk was 1-for-2 with a walk Sunday. David Herbek makes category leads in CAA See OFFENSE, page 15 Right-hander Turner Phelps Continues Unbeaten Run ADRIENNE GOLDBERG/The Breeze Sophomores Turner Phelps (left) and David Herbek hope to lead the Dukes to another conference title this season. >> Softball n LOOK INSIDE FOR ARCHERY RESULTS FROM THIS WEEKEND
