South Alabama Sports Roundup – May 4th 2009
Coach Ronnie Arrow is looking for a new assistant coach as Andrew Helton has been named the new head coach at Eastern New Mexico University. He will be the 11th head coach in school history and inherits a team that went 4-23 last season.
Helton has been a member of Coach Arrow’s staff for the past eight seasons, the last two at USA helping to lead the Jaguars to two consecutive 20-win seasons. ENMU is a Division II school that plays in the Lone Star Conference. Us Jaguars wish him the best in his new position.
Coach Becky Clark and the Jaguar Softball team will go to Denton, Texas to make its second appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Championship. North Texas will host the SBC Championship from May 6th through May 9th. The Jaguars, 26-26-1 and 10-12 in the SBC clinched the #6 seed and will face #3 Western Kentucky (32-17 overall and 14-9 in the SBC) on Wednesday at 3pm.
The SBC Softball Championship matchups are: #1 Louisisana-Lafayette vs #8 Louisiana-Monroe, #2 Troy vs #7 Florida Atlantic, and #4 Florida International vs #5 North Texas.
The Jaguar Baseball team visited Tuscaloosa on Wednesday but could not come away with a second victory in a week agaist the Crimson Tide. They lost 14-3. Over the weekend the Jaguars travelted to Monroe, LA for a three game series against Louisiana-Monroe. The Jaguars got to play two of the three games with Sunday’s matchup being cancelled due to the weather. But the Jags came out on top in both games 12-9 and 11-9.
After five days off this week the Jaguars will have seven home games to conclude the season (unless the ULM game is rescheduled). Starting on Friday May 9th, Florida International will visit Stanky field for three games, then Southern Miss visits on Tuesday may 12th and then Troy comes to town for a three game series beginning on Thursday May 14th.
Currently the Jaguars sit at 23-23 overall for the season and 11-12 in the Sun Belt. The Jags are fifth in the Sun Belt standings 2 1/2 games behind Florida International and 7 1/2 game from first.
The Sun Belt Championship starts May 20th and will be in Troy, Alabama.
Coach Arrow has signed a pair of players for the Basketball team. Tim Williams from Pontiac, Michigan has signed a National Letter-of-Intent. He will be transferring from Motlow State CC in Lynchburg, Tennessee and will have two seasons of eligibility. He averaged 21.4 points per game, 8.1 rebounds and had a team high 55 3-pointers and 52 steals.
Raymond Sims is a 5′ 9″ guard from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He will be transfering from Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas and will have two seasons of eligibilty. He averaged 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game leading his team to a 25-6 record. Paris JC competes in one of the toughest Junior College leagues in the nation and has averaged 27.3 wins in the last two seasons and won a school record 30 games in the 07-08 season.
Previous signees include Augustine Rubit, Javier Carter and Andre Gowins. All three signed in November.
