Baseball Returns from National Tournament with Experience, Respect, and Pride

LAKELAND, Fla.-- The 2008 North Central Baseball team experienced a long and challenging season thrown off by weather cancellations and player turn over from the 2007 team that finished fifth at the national tournament. Despite those challenges the team earned a trip back to the NCCAA Division II National Tournament hosted by Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla.

Though the Rams were defeated in all three games they played in the tournament, it was a great experience for the young team and first year coach Tim Beasley. NCU opened up play on Wednesday with a 24-3 loss to eventual national champion Southeastern. SEU has won the last four Championships. On Thursday the Rams battled hard but fell 9-0 to Manhattan Christian College (Manhattan, Kan.). In the consolation game NCU sucumbed to a more talented Atlanta Christian College (Atlanta, Ga.) 14-5.

Despite losing all their games in the the tournament the Rams hard ballers represented themselves and their university well. Coach Beasley was complimented by the umpires, coaches, and tournament directors on how hard his team played regardless of the scoreboard, "Umpires who've been doing this tournament for several years and calling games for 30 seasons complimented us on how we played the game the right way and how our guys were respectful of the opponents, umpires, and the game of baseball."

That sentiment was reinforced as NCU received the 2008 Team Sportsmanship Award which is voted on by the coaches of each team. Beasley was proud of the way his team handled itself, "We were maybe a bit over-matched talent-wise but we played hard and represented ourselves well as shown by us winning that award. I could not be more proud of our team and I'm excited for the future of this program with the type of guys we have coming back."

Senior Tom Beilke was also recognized for his stellar season by winning the Unlimited Potential Outstanding Christian Leadership Award. This honor is presented to the player who is recognized as having the best potential to minister in Christian Service through the game of baseball. Beilke was also named to the 2008 All-Tournament team for his play in the three games over the weekend.

After experiencing a season where the weather took 10 double headers off the schedule and created havoc for practice and travel the trip to Florida was also a great reward for the young Rams. Beasley and assistant coach Nick Solberg made sure to take advantage of all that Central Florida had to offer their team. Following their game on Friday NCU went to a Lakeland Tigers game. Lakeland is the minor league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers Major League club. Then on Saturday the team traveled to Clearwater Beach for some fun in the sun. After a day at the beach the team headed across the bay to Tampa to see the Tampa Bay Rays play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Tropicana Field.

Their 2007 and 2008 appearances in the NCCAA DII National Tournament are the first in school history for NCU Baseball. With a solid base of players returning and some interesting recruits coming in, 2009 looks to be another opportunity to continue their success.

Beasley Named Regional Coach of the Year; Four Rams on All-Region Team

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- The 2008 NCCAA North Central Region Baseball All-Region Awards were announced today and NCU was well represented. Four Players were named to the team while Head Coach Tim Beasley was named the Regional Coach of the Year.

Junior Josiah Urlaub (Rockford, Mich.) was named to the team at two different spots including Pitcher and Third Base. Urlaub led the Rams in RBI and had a .807 fielding percentage. As a pitcher Josiah threw 2 complete games and recorded a 3-2 record in 6 games while striking out 19.

Senior Tom Beilke (Elk Mound, Wis.) was also named to the team as Pitcher. Beilke led the team in strikouts with 21 and threw the first complete game shutout in Ram's history on April 25 at Trinity Bible College. Tom also had 5 complete games and recorded a save in relief duty.

Senior PJ Davis (McConnellsville, Pa.) was named to the team at the Catcher spot. Davis batted .407 while earning a .500 on base percentage. He was also 14 of 14 in stolen base attempt and only struck out twice in 56 at bats.

Sophomore Jed McGuire was named to the team in the outfield. McGuire hit .442 and was 14 of 16 in stolen base attempts. He recorded an .889 fielding percentage while only committing three errors. He also had 16 put outs and 8 assists.

First year coach Tim Beasley was named the Regional Coach of the Year for his work with the 2008 Rams team. The Glenwood, Minnesota native coached the Rams to a 5-2 regional record this season and will have his team playing the in NCCAA Division II National Baseball Tournament which begins tomorrow.

The Rams open tournament play verses three time defending champion Southeastern University (Lakeland, Fla.) at 4pm on Wednesday. Last season the Rams finished fourth at Nationals but were suffered an opening round setback at the hands of host SEU.

Baseball Earns Trip to NCCAA National Tournament; Beilke Throws Complete Game Shutout

ELLENDALE, ND-- The North Central Baseball team earned a second consecutive trip to the NCCAA Division II National Championship Tournament with a weekend sweep of Trinity Bible College. The Rams claimed three strong wins over the host Lions and senior Tom Beilke pitched a complete game shutout win in game one of the series.

The three game weekend series in Ellendale was orginally scheduled as a single 9 inning game on Friday and a 7 inning double-header on Saturday. When NCU was caught in a blizzard during travel on Friday morning that evening's game was moved to Saturday. The three game baseball marathon was controlled by NCU who never trailed in any of the games.

Game one was highlighted by senior slinger Tom Beilke (Elk Mound, Wis.) throwing seven innings of shutout baseball. Beilke scattered five hits over the seven innings while striking out 12 Lion batters and walking only one in the 6-0 Ram's win. He also helped his own cause at the plate going two for three with a walk, two hits, an RBI, and a run scored in his four plate appearances.

Game two was all about the NCU bats exploding for a 19-3 win. The Rams came into the top of the third already up 4-0 and put the game away with a huge nine-run barage. Every spot on the NCU line-up card batted in the third and put the game away for junior hurler Josiah Urlaub (Rockford, Mich.) to pitch a complete game win, his third win of the year. Urlaub scattered five hits over the five innings while striking out six and walking only one. Sophomore third baseman Adam Zvanovec (Farmington, Minn.) had a solid day at the plate going three for four with three hits including two doubles. He also recorded 3 RBI and scored two runs.

The 8-4 game three win was also earned at the plate where NCU went 10 for 24 on the day. Using a line-up of reserves and throwing three different arms, Coach Beasley got the most from his team to claim the series sweep. Zvanovec started the game and threw two innings before giving way to sophomore Scott Franks who also pitched two innings. Sophomore Cory Orman got the save and Franks recorded his first win of the year. Urlaub went three for three at the plate with a double and four runs batted in.

The Rams will travel to Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minn.) on Monday for a weather make-up double-header before traveling to Superior, Wisconsin to face UW-Superior at 3:30pm on Tuesday. There is a possibility of a weather make up double-header with Northwestern College (St. Paul, Minn.) on Wednesday before NCU traveling to Makato to face Bethany Lutheran College, wrapping up the regular season.

On May 6 NCU will travel to Lakeland, Florida for the NCCAA Division II National Baseball Championship Tournament hosted by three-time defending champion Southeastern University. This marks the second consecutive trip to the national tournament for the Rams who finished fourth last season after losing to eventual champ SEU in the first round and narrowly missed a championship rematch losing on a last at bat home run to Hillsdale Freewill Baptist College (Moore, Okla.)

National pairings will announced at the end of the week.

Weather Takes a Bite of Rams Spring Sports Slate

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- Maybe some time in May the flowers will bloom but right now the April showers are taking a bite out of the North Central spring sports schedule. Whether those showers were rain or snow the unpredictable weather has claimed over a combined 25 dates of competition for NCU Baseball, Softball, Tennis, and Track & Field during March and April. The Rams are not out of the storm clouds yet with around 10 days still left on the schedule.

Softball and Baseball have each lost over 10 games to the difficult weather while Tennis has lost 4 matches and Track has lost 2 meets. Make up dates become harder and harder to come by as each week leaves less room for games.

The Baseball and Softball teams were able to find room for several rematches against many of their opponents. The first year Tennis program was able to make up one of its matches but had a second make update rained out once again. For the Tracksters, meets are simply lost with scheduling for that sport not being remolded around the weather.

While it has been trying at times the teams have kept positive despite the trying circumstances. Baseball is enjoying growth under first year coach Tim Beasley and has remained competitive in nearly every game they have played. Softball claimed its first win in program history verses Presentation College (Aberdeen, SD) and followed it up with another big win verses Mt Mary College (Milwaukee, Wis.) last weekend. The Rams Tennis program is in its first year of competition and is seeing strong program development under the leadership of Head Coach Brian Pingel. For the Track team junior Chris Hickox (Mobile, Ala.) and freshman Alex Farber (Little Falls, Minn.) both qualified for the NCCAA National Championship Meet to be held May 2 and 3 in Marion, Indiana on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University.

Be sure to keep updated on all the weather cancelations via the North Central Athletics Website.

Hickox, Farber Claim Event Victories in Track & Field Season Opener

RIPON, Wis.--- North Central Track and Field opened the season on Saturday at the Sherman-Lukoski Invitational hosted by Ripon College. Both teams earned a fifth place team finish and junior Chris Hickox won his eighth consecutive meet in the high jump while freshman Alex Farber claimed 10 points with his first place finish in the long jump.

Hickox (Mobile, Ala.) met his personal best with a 6-10 clearance and raised his own school record by two inches. That mark also qualified Hickox for the NCCAA Track & Field National Championship Meet where he will defend his 2007 National Championship. With his win in the high jump at Ripon (Ripon, Wis.) Hickox has won the last eight meets he has competed at. He also just missed qualifying for the national meet in the 110H hurdles while finishing fourth with a time of 16.84 only six tenths off the qualifying mark.

Farber (Little Falls, Minn.) also turned in a very impressive day while winning the men's long jump with a distance of 19-11 3/4. While being over two feet less than his best jump Farber still claimed over 11 inches on the next closest competitor and broke Hickox' NCU record in the event. He was also hindered by the construction going on at the Ripon College track and football complex which forced the jumpers to run on an aspalt approach and without spikes. Even with those issues he narrowly missed hitting the NCCAA Nationals Qualifying mark of 20-5.

The women were lead by freshman Stephanie Lensert (Casper, Wyo.) who finished second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 18.48 and is within a second of qualifying for the national meet in that event. Lensert also scored for the Lady Rams in the 200 with an eighth place finish.

Freshman Cross Country All-American Amanda Trombley (Grand Rapids, Minn.) made her first appearance on the track with a sixth place finish in the 800 with a time of 2:43.90 and also placed 12th in the 1500.

Sophomore Mary Saviano (Bemidji, Minn.) rounded out the scoring for NCU with a sixth place finish in the 100 hurdles.

The Rams are scheduled to compete at UW-River Falls Falcon Invitational this Saturday at 10am.

The Latest Issue Of "The Charge" Is Now Available!

Click here for the March 2008 issue of The Charge, the e-newsletter of the NCU Athletics Department.