Bowman, Kort off to solid start in Cape Cod League

By Darrell Moody

Appeal Sports Editor

It didn't take Nevada baseball stars Matt Bowman and Shaun Kort long to make their presence felt in the Cape Cod League.

Both play for the Orleans Cardinals, and both played important roles in the Cardinals' season-opening 5-2 win over the Yarham-Dennis Red Sox last weekend.

Bowman started at second base, handling eight of nine chances. He went 1-for-3 at the plate and drove in a run. Kort served as the Cardinals' designated hitter and went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

A third WAC player, Sacramento State's Tim Wheeler hit a solo homer. All told, the WAC trio accounted for four hits, a run and three RBI.

BATESOLE HONORED

Fresno State baseball coach Mike Batesole has been named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Coach of the Year.

Batesole guided the Bulldogs, 42-29 going into Tuesday, to their first World Series since 1991. The Bulldogs were the first No. 4 seed to advance to the CWS since the 64-team format was introduced in 1999.

Fresno State knocked off Arizona State twice in the Super Regional to advance to Omaha where they knocked off Rice in the opening round.

BULLDOGS ARE NO. 1

Fresno State captured the annual Commissioner's Cup with 89.25 points thanks to championships in women's basketball, women's golf, women's tennis and baseball.

Boise State finished second with 86 points and Hawaii was third with 78.25.

The annual award is given to the school that performs best in each of the conference's 19 sports. Points are awarded in order of finish, and are averaged between a team's finish in the regular season and the post-season tournament.

Nevada finished fourth with 75 points. The Pack won the women's swim championship and the men's basketball team won a share of the conference championship.

NEVADA ADDS CLEMSON TRANSFER

Nevada soccer coach Jamie Frias completed his initial recruiting class with the addition of transfer Nikki McEachern, who played two years at Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The 5-foot-4 McEachern appeared in eight matches in two years with Clemson.

McEachern joines Natalie Ratnavira, Annabelle Allen, Ellie Stott, Katie Catricala, Sarah Voss and JoAnne Terranova.

Nevada opens the 2008 season by hosting UC Santa Barbara on August 22.

VAN DE VELDE HIRED AT TECH

When Louisiana Tech football coach Derek Dooley was hired as athletic director last spring, it was only a matter of time before he hired somebody to handle the day-to-day operations of the Tech athletic department.

Bruce Van De Velde, who had previous stops at Iowa State, Utah State, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas State, was hired as chief operating officer recently.

Van De Velde was instrumental in athletic growth at both Iowa State and Kansas State.

- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281