Bethune-Cookman sophomore Anthony Stokes earned Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Player of the Week honors in baseball, the conference announced on Monday. Teammate Rayan Gonzalez was named the Pitcher of the Week, while Juan Pizarro earned Rookie of the Week accolades for the second consecutive week.

Stokes (1B/DH/P, 6-3, So., 230, Chesapeake, Va.) hit .524 with 11 hits in 21 appearances to lead the Wildcats to a 6-0 mark last week. He tallied three home runs, two doubles and 11 RBI and defensively added 39 putouts and one assist. Stokes also earned a win on the mound as a reliever in a 6-4 victory against Harvard.

Gonzalez (P, 6-4, Sr., 210, Arecibo, Puerto Rico) allowed four hits and two walks to earn a 0.00 ERA in a 3-0 conference win against North Carolina Central. The senior struck out eight of 26 batters in seven innings. He also extended his win streak to 4-0 this season.

Pizarro (P/2B, 6-1, Fr., 195, Bayamon, Puerto Rico) batted .333 (6-of-18) with one triple and six RBI to aid the Wildcats to a 6-0 record, including 3-0 mark in conference play last week. Pizarro stole one base, and added three putouts and 13 assists in a defensive effort. He also took to the mound and recorded a 0.00 ERA, striking out three of 16 batters in four innings.

Click here to read the full article: http://www.meacsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=20800&ATCLID=205400363.

For the first time in nearly 50 games, the Wildcats suffered a loss at the heads of a conference foe.  Arch-rival Florida A&M defeated BCU 3-2 in the first game of Saturday’s double header.

The Wildcats scored 2 runs in the top of the first and got a very strong pitching performance from Gabby Hernandez.  The right-handed junior yielded just 2 runs and scattered 8 hits over 8 innings.  BCU’s offense mustered just 4 hits over the 9 inning frame and were shutout on the scoreboard after their 2 run first.

FAMU out hit BCU 11-4 and scored one run in the first, second, and bottom of the ninth inning.

Coach Beverlin’s squad will look to rebound this afternoon in the second of the twin-bill.  The two teams wrap up their three game set tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.

 

 

By ALVIN HOLLINS JR.
Rockstat7376@aol.com

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C (March 9) – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament moved to the semifinal round during Day Five of play here at the Lawrence Joel Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum Friday evening, with second-seeded Norfolk State and fourth-seeded Bethune-Cookman winning to capture spots in Saturday’s nationally televised final (on ESPN2 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern).

The Wildcats withstood a strong second half surge and earned their first-ever Finals spot with an 81-72 win over last year’s tournament champion Hampton.

The victorious Wildcats, which led 39-31 at the break, built their lead to double digits several times in the second half, the last time at 64-54 with 5:36, before Hampton went on an 11-6 run over the next four minutes to slice the B-CU lead to 70-65 with 1:11 left.  Paul Scotland’s triple ended HU’s run and extended the ‘Cats lead to 73-65.

Scotland added a pair of free throws with 1:00 left to push the B-CU lead back to double digits, 75-65, with the game becoming a battle of fouls and free throws.

Adrien Coleman led the Wildcats with 16 points and five rebounds, Jarvis Bryant added 15 points and nine rebounds, and  Ricky Johnson chipped in 12 points.

Darrion Pellum led all scorers with 24 points for Hampton, followed by Chris Tolson with 16 points and Mike Tuitt with 11.

In the night’s second semifinal contest, MEAC Player of the Year Kyle O’Quinn led the Norfolk State Spartans to a 58-46 win over spoiler FAMU.  O’Quinn finished the night with 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Wildcats and Spartans square off Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. in the conference finals.  NSU defeated the Cats 75-72 earlier this season in historic Moore Gymnasium.  The finals will be broadcasted live on ESPN2.

The BCU Men’s basketball team is one of the final four teams remaining in this year’s MEAC conference tournament.

BCU trailed North Carolina Central by one point with less than 10 seconds remaining in Thursday night’s tighly contested matchup. Garrius Holloman hit a 18 foot jumper from the right wing to put BCU ahead 60-59 with 5.7 seconds remaining. North Carolina Central’s buzzer beater fell short as time expired.

The Wildcats face off tonight at 6 p.m. against Hampton, last year’s tournament winners.

Adrien Coleman lead the Cats with 20 points and Javoris Bryant added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Holloman had eight points and five rebounds including the game winner.

The Wildcats will finish the season with a .500 or better record for the fourth straight season. You can watch tonight’s game live on LiveStream TV (link will be added later).

(Sports Network) – Veteran coach Jim Pry has become Bethune-Cookman’s new offensive coordinator, according to Footballscoop.com.

Pry was Dartmouth’s offensive coordinator in 2010 after spending the prior four seasons as the receivers coach at Illinois.

The 1974 Marshall graduate has over 30 years of coaching experience and has served as an offensive coordinator at Akron, Duke, VMI, East Stroudsburg, West Liberty State and West Virginia Tech.

The Sports Network