Sports digest

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on June 8, 2006 1:58 PM

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ECU's Smith, Mathews

selected on day two

GREENVILLE -- East Carolina's Jake Smith and Shane Mathews both heard their names called Wednesday afternoon as they were selected on the second day of the 2006 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

Smith, a finalist for the Johnny Bench award given to the top collegiate catcher, was the 638th overall pick in the 21st round by the Oakland Athletics. He led the Pirates in seven offensive categories including average, hits, doubles, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage, while ranking second in home runs with 13.

Mathews, a native of Conover, was taken in the 26th round (pick 776) by the San Francisco Giants. The redshirt sophomore posted a 5-3 record with a 4.73 ERA in 19 appearances and led the team with 75 strikeouts. He established new career-highs in strikeouts (nine) against Stony Brook and innings pitched (8 1/3) versus Tulane in the 2006 C-USA Tournament en route to all-tournament team honors.

Smith and Mathews are the 13th and 14th Pirate draft picks since the 2003 season.

UNCW sets program

record with six drafted

WILMINGTON -- UNC Wilmington set a program record with a total of six Seahawks selected in the 2006 MLB First Year Player draft after four players were picked on Wednesday.

Senior pitchers Adam Paul and Thomas Benton were selected by the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians, respectively, while senior third baseman Matt Poulk was tabbed by the Milwaukee Brewers. Junior designated hitter Jonathan Batts was selected by San Francisco in the 49th round as a catcher.

MOC softball players

among leaders

Three Mount Olive College softball players finished among the national statistics leaders in the year-end NCAA Division II Softball Statistics Report for the 2006 season. Melissa Bright, Christine Ermer and Georgette Richardson all finished among the national leaders.

Ermer, a freshman pitcher from Mt. Pleasant, S.C., tied for seventh in the nation with five saves. Ermer recorded her fifth save of the season in the Trojans' opening-round win over Erskine at the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Softball Tournament.

Bright, a junior from Portsmouth, Va., finished 13th in the nation in sacrifice hits. Bright recorded 15 sacrifice hits in 45 games for an average of 0.33 per game, which also ranked first in the CVAC.

Richardson, a freshman from Defiance, Ohio, ranked ninth in the nation with an average of 0.41 doubles per game. Her 22 doubles tied for the fifth-highest total in the nation.

Mount Olive posted a record of 26-30 in 2006, the Trojans' highest win total since the 2000 season.

Coach steps down

Jennifer Lancaster has stepped down as Mount Olive College head men's and women's cross country coach, it was announced by Director of Athletics Jeff Eisen. Lancaster is completing her master's degree this summer and is pursuing other opportunities.

A Mount Olive alum and former Trojan cross country runner, Lancaster served as head coach for three years.