Mid-season slump defines tough season The 1998 Bison baseball team had a rough transition into the NCAA Division Il Lone Star Conference as they finished the season with a 13-34 record. Coach Shane Fullerton was forced to rely upon the strength of his eight seniors as the Bisons had to face stronger competit ion. Senior David Rampey was chosen as the team'sMostValuable Pl aye r for the second consecutive year . Rampey led th e Bi sons offensively, batting .313 with 46 hits and 16 runs. "David did a real good job this year leading the team in a lotofthe offensive categories," Fullerton said. "He led the team by exampl e and verbally." Sophomore Seth Watson also had an outstandingyear offensively as he batted .287 with 41 hits and 23 runs. "I am pretty satisfiedwith the way I hit the ball this year, but as a team we did not do too we ll, " Watson said. "We just couldn't put all the pieces together at the same time." Hitting was the Bi so ns' biggest weakness as only two players reached the .250 batting average plateau. Harding's pitching staff was loadedwith upperclassmen butwas unable to reach its potential and hold up against many of the tough Division Il sc hool s. Seniors Bentley Harrell andCharleyMoore added some maturity to the pitching lineup. Unfortunately, the Bisons' tough schedule was not forgiving to the pitching staff as they regul arly played up to eight games a week. Harrell had a 5.95 ERA whil e pitching84.2 innings."Harrell had his best year this yea r by far," Fullerton said. "He was up and down before th is year. He gave us quality pitching every time hewent to the mound." Moore ended the season with a 6. 12 ERA and accumulated three saves. Freshmen Phi II Gisel and Joe Yale were brought in to help ease the pitching load. Gisel led the Bisons with an ERA of 3.90. In his 60 innings, Gisel struck out 44 batters while walking 52. "I feel I had a pretty decent year, but itwas overshadowed by how the team did ," Gisel said. "We seemed to struggl e the whole year. " During the month of March, Harding fell into a 0-13 slump, playing against nationally ranked teams that we re both conference and non-conference opponents. Fullerton attributed the slump to the "packed schedule and tougher oppon ent s than Harding had previously faced ." Almost everyone on the Bison baseball team fe lt that they had an uncharacte ri stic bad year but that next year wou ld be different. "We are going to have a good group of incoming players next year, along with the returning players from this year," Watson said. "We shou ld be a lot better. " Fullerton echoed Watson's remarks by saying, "We should be improved next year byadding more competitive new kids that have great attitudes. Our ta lent leve l will be hi gher and our hitting will be better." - Phili p Murphy LSC All Conference 204 Derek Reaves, 2nd Team Seth Watson, 2nd Team David Ramsey, Honorable Mention Phill Gi sel, Honorab le Mention Bentley Harrell , Honorab le Mention LSC Academic All American Josh Bostic Aaron Brister Charley Moore ATHLETICS Jeremy Pharr Shane Pharr Davi d Rampey .~ , ..•. ~ ..: "i... >r Photo by Jell Montgomery Baseball Team: Front Row: JeffHemandez, Eric Chin, Charley Moore, Phillip Hays, Phill Gisel, Student Assistant Brent Wilhite, Jeremy Pharr. SecondRow: Seth Watson, Brent Tanner, Ryan Smith, Bentley Harrell, Kevin Dees, Josh Bostic, Nathaniel Watson. ThirdRow:Derek Reaves, Troy Wolfe, Johnnie Ross, David Rampey, Shane Pharr, Joe Yale, Ryan Tharp. Fourth Row: Asst. Coach Randy Bostic, Jon Neely, Michael Harris, Aaron Brister, Lee Wimberley, Grad. Asst. Coach Robbie Centracchio, Head Coach Shane Fullerton.
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