Magazine tabs Capps

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on January 24, 2011 1:47 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Carter Capps started his collegiate career behind the plate.

Now, he's a Major League prospect on the mound.

Baseball America has tabbed Capps, a senior at Mount Olive College, as the Division II preseason pitcher of the year. It's the first-ever honor for any Trojan in the school's athletics history on either the NAIA or Division II level.

Capps emerged as the Coastal Plain League's No. 1 prospect last summer. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder touched 96 miles-per-hour on his fastball during the annual CPL All-Star Game.

The North Lenoir alum finished unbeaten in 10 outings and posted a 3.06 earned run average (ERA) for the Trojans last spring. Mount Olive logged 41 wins, won the Conference Carolinas regular-season and tournament championships, and advanced to the Southeast Regional.

Capps is joined on the preseason A-A list by teammate Mike Knox, who set the MOC single-season home run (24) and RBI (94) records a year ago. A junior designated hitter, Knox finished the national runner-up in RBI and was fourth overall in homers a year ago.

Men's volleyball

NEW YORK -- Mount Olive finished 2-1 in the Stevens Institute of Technology Invitational after sweeping Hunter (N.Y.) College in straight sets Sunday morning.

The Trojans (4-2 overall) collected three wins during their three-day trip to the Big Apple.

Steven Cruse served six aces in Mount Olive's 25-13, 25-18, 25-13 triumph over York (N.Y.) College on Friday. Every Trojan player saw action in the match, which ended on a York service error.

Jack Tutty led a balanced attack with five kills and a match-high five blocks. Cruse, Tim Ebbecke and Adam Miracle added four kills apiece. The Trojans posted a team hitting percentage of .300 and served 13 aces -- just three shy of the school's single-match record.

Mount Olive continued its weekend jaunt with a 25-17, 25-7, 25-15 romp over Newbury in the Stevens IT Invitational. Angel Dache and John Nunns paced the Trojans' offense with nine and eight kills, respectively.

Jackson Mettechecchia recorded 26 assists for Mount Olive. The Trojans recorded 15 team blocks. Dache and Nunns each had five, while Mettechecchia posted four blocks.

Dache came within two kills of equaling a Trojan single-match record in Saturday evening's 17-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 15-10 loss to Stevens. Dache recorded 24 kills to go with six aces and 12 digs, all career highs.

Alejandro Rivera added 11 kills for the Trojans. Nunns had eight kills in 14 attempts, while Bjorn Metzger finished with seven kills in 13 attempts. Nunns and Metzger committed only one error apiece.

Details were not available for the Hunter match.