Friday, February 13, 2009 Baseball team looks to have another On a bulletin board in Penn State Behrend Baseball coach Paul Benim's office hangs a snip pet from the Baseball Coaching Bible. "Being successful is a grind, - it reads. "it ck)es not just happen.- It is with that mentality that the seventeenth-year head coach dove into preparing his varsity baseball team. fresh off a 2008 season in which the record-setting team posted a 34-12 record and won both the AMCC regular sea son and conference tournament title. Benim, though. had little to say about the team riding the wave of success from last year. "It was a great year. of course, - he said, "and there are still good feel ings and a good vibe from last year. But, it is last year. We're 0- 0 now: we have to go out and get after it." This year's team, while still having to (ice many challenges as the season begins, will have the benefit of a large amount of returning players from last year's championship team. The entire pitching staff of last year's team Wednesda\ night. in West Lafayette, Indiana, against the #2O AP ranked Purdue Boilermakers 8-6. 7-40. the Nittany Lions Men's basketball team (17-8. 6-6 i had the opportu nity to halt a two game losing streak, as well its show the col lege basketball world that the\ 1 - IEnMIMiI SPORTS SCHEDULE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 The swim team competes in the AMCC Championships (a Grove City at 10 a.m. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14 The swim team continues the AMCC Championships (a Grove City The Men's and Women's Ind)or Track & Field travels to Comell and The Women's Basketball team (11-10) plays an AMCC game at Franciscan (4-14) at 1 p.m. The Men's Basketball team (15-7) also plays at Franciscan (4-17) following the womens game at 3 p.m. The Men's Tennis team starts otT their 2009 season at Baldwin- Wallace at 1 p.m. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18 The Women's and Men's Basketball team play a double-header against AMCC opponent. La Roche. The women's game starts at 6 p.m. followed by the men's at 8 p.m. .411 LAST WEEK'S SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7 W. Basketball: Behrend 82 Penn State Altoona 72 M. Basketball: Behrend 77 Penn State Altoona 60 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11 W. Basketball: Behrend 57 Medaille 60 M. Basketball: Behrend 62 Medaille 65 All scores based from Sports Calendar and individual team page results. II your sport is not listed and you feel that it should be contact cisso6o(a psu.edu will return, as well as many other players on the roster. Benim, three times recognized as the AMCC coach of the year. realizes the value that those play ers will bring to the roster. "They've been through a lot, - he says. "These guys have been influencing the program since their first years. It's really a luxu ry having them.- Though the team will not be lacking in leadership from the mound, the team will feel the loss of severalref last year's lead ers, primarily at the catcher posi tion. Three seniors graduated and left their spot open behind the plate; it may prove to he Behrends first significant chal lenge to fill that hole. Sophomore Henry Latta and freshmen Jimmy Battaglia and Ryan Geibel could provide the team with the presence they need. "They're primed and ready to go, - says Benim, "everyone's ready to meet these challenges." In thing so, the Lions will cer tainly utilize four players who were recognized by Collegiate Baseball Magazine as "Players to University de , ,erve to he ranked among the top 25 teams in the country. Purdue also entered the night's contest with a two game losing streak. which can he largely con trihoted to the absence of team co-captain. Robbie Hummel. who sat out his third game in a ro\\ with a hairline fracture in his at 10 a.m competes at 10 a.m SPORTS All wins in italic text SPORTS Watch - in Division 111. Seniors David Koerbel and Ben Cain, in addition to juniors Josh Fyffe and Dustin Dubensky. were also selected to the list. Koerbel. last year's AMCC MVP, and Cain, who boasted a 5- 0 record and 0.76 ERA last sea son, will lead the team from the mound. Fyffe and Dubensky, playing shortstop and third base respec tively, could provide the back bone of the team's offensive efforts. Last year. the two com bined for 71 RBIs: Dubensk i's Own 46 was the highest on the team and second highest in the league. As nice as it is to locus on the past, you need to put the future in front of you says Cain. For him. it may , he difficult: he limit ed opponents to a .190 batting average. "Now everyone knows what I have. Bei - ) one knows what the team can 4). People are gunning for you... For coach Benim. the quote on his wall is what will inspire him to get his team working hard to prepare for the season. It contin- Park basketball 17-8 overall lower hack Ha \ In i 2. Boilermakers earlier in the year 67-64, Penn State could not have foresaw the 61-47 thumping the would take. The first half featured a terrific display of basketball between two ruthless teams. The Boilermakers and Nitta\ Lions alike played strong defense and consistently tratkd hard to come by baskets. Led by Senior Forward. Jamelle Cornley, Penn State jumped out to its largest lead of the night. 22-16. with 6147 left to play before the half. Comley scored a game high 16 points. while no other Nittam, Lion reached Llouble digit scoring. Undeten - ed. Purdue. led Edwin Johnson. who dominated the game by scoring a Purckie high 14 points and recording game highs 13 rebounds find 4 blocked shots, slowly but surely chipped away at Penn State's defense and smothered their Adam Kaiser awarded AMCC Penn State Behrend junior guard for the men's basketball team. Adam Kaiser, was awarded the AMCC Athlete of the week for the week of Feb. 9, 2009. "It Was very nice to receive the award," said Kaiser. "I was happy to receive it. It means a lot." Kaiser helped the Behrend Lions to their seventh straight win as he contributed 15 points in the victory against Penn State Altoona 77-60 on Saturday. Feb. 7. Last week, Kaiser and the Lions defeated Hilbert, another AMCC opponent. Kaiser and Tom Newman had a game high of 21 points. On Wednesday Kaiser had a game high of 17 points against Medallic; however. the Behrend Lions lost by a close three points 62-65. According to the Behrend web- site. Kaiser is averaging a league best 3.3 three-pointers per game By Connor Sintely 111(111(011i,' ,i,••,I1()11 , ues: - 98 percent olsucces, k hard \\ ork. Lloing \\ hat one eino\ ••,. and self-dkcipline. Luck and inheri tance arc pan td the other 2 per cent.- For his players. the inheritance of last ChalllplollNhip \\ill soon he set aside fon a team \\ ith sights set high in 2009. By Sha‘sn Annarelli Colltriblif big mas I 59 , “ edu offense to mount a 2S-26 lead at the halt - s end. In the earl) goings of the sec ond half it \t, as pailifulk clear Purdue \\a, plit)ing to make a statement. and the Lien, were not as neark as tenacious as the . \ else in the first half. The Boilermakers and Lions traded Point baskets in the lirst minute of tile second half before the Boilermakers went on a 16-0 run, lea\ lug the Lions score less 16r over 6 minutes. With a 17 point lead and 12:49 remaining Purdue had all but put a\\ a' the Lions For the remainder of the game. Penn State displayed resilience by outscoring Purdue 19-15. The teams also came to a deadlock for almost tOur minutes \k hen neither team recorded a basket. giving credence to the high le‘ el of &lase played h . N . , each team for most of the contest. The key component of the Boilermakers game-plan revolved around shutting Clown Lions Player of the Week with 42.6(4 accuracy. and is tied for the team lead in scoring with a 13.8 points per game average. have just been shooting the ball with a lot of confidence and my team really has faith in my shooting, - said Kaiser. As a team, the Behrend Lions are ranked nationally at the Division 11l level. According to the Behrend web site. they are ranked lOurth in the nation in scoring defense limiting their opponents to 58.7 ppg. The Blue and White are also ranked ninth in free-thro percentage at 77.4 percent. The men's basketball team has three games lett in the regular season. They travel to Franciscan and La Roche betiwe ending the season at the Junker Center against Pitt-Bradibrd on Feb. 21. "We have to win the rest of the games which is going to he hard ‘‘ (wk. but something that I think we can do. - said Kaiser. successful season on the mound. R i ght Cluobak lets go of the pitch 1.0: Cain ,i;TIS guard Talor Battle. vv ho scorched the Railer makers tbr 21 points earlier in the seas m and leads the Big 'Fen with over 18 points per Purdue Guard, Lewis Jackson, illittched up against Battle l'or most of the ttame and completely manic Battle a non-factor. Battle, \\ hile amassing a game high 6 assists. did nut record a sintile basket off of seven attempted shot According to comcast . net , Jackson said of Battle "He's shift\ with the hall. I'm just fast enough that I can stay with him. just tried to move my feet good. I has e a little hit of upper-hod\ strength on him, so I used that to my advantage... The Boilermakers also held Penn State's other high scoring Guard. Stanley Pringle, to just t\%o baskets tOr I - Re points. According to ESPN.com, Penn State coach Ed DeChillis explained. "Our guard play is real ly important to us, as with any By Christine Newby .sport.s eriit(» cell: )56(a p.u.edu I(kun Kaiser was . chosen a the A MCC Piave, - of the Week The Behrend Beacon I 7 team. We're not getting produc tion out of the two guys, (Battle and Pringle), that have been pret ty good for us all year.- The Purdue bench also made a considerably large contribution to the Boilermakers winning effort. Back-ups Bobby Riddell and Nemanja Calasan scored 13 and 12 points respectively and com bined to make a brilliant 9 of 13 shots from the field, including shooting an impressive joint 4 of 6 from three point range. The Lions have six games remaining on their schedule, two of which are against the #2O AP ranked Illinois. For their next game, Penn State will play host to the Minnesota Gophers who they lost to 79-59 in their first con test. in Minnesota. The Lions \vill look to propel themselves into a 4th place tie in the Big Ten while putting an end to their longest losing streak of the season.
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