News - Sports - College

Friday, Jun. 13, 2008

Several area student-athletes to continue careers in college

Several Rock Hill-area athletes recently chose to continue their careers in college.

Shandrice Erby, a 5-foot-5 guard from Rock Hill High School, signed a scholarship with Allen. Erby, an all-Region 3-AAAA pick last year, averaged 13 points, three rebounds, three steals and three assists a game.

Clover athletes headed to college are Brittany Jo Bowman, Florence-Darlington Tech, softball; Lorie Bowers, Spartanburg Methodist, cross country; Britta Widenhouse, Milligan, soccer; Ashley Hollander, Anderson, soccer; Jeremy Long, The Citadel, baseball; Tre Turner, Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, football; and Matt Patterson, S.C. State, football.

• APPALACHIAN STATE: The Mountaineers' success last season -- a victory at Michigan and an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision crown -- helped elevate 2008 ticket sales.

The school has sold approximately 10,000 season tickets for the upcoming year, an increase of 62 percent from 2007. Kidd Brewer Stadium is also being renovated, boosting seating capacity by more than 4,000.

• BIG SOUTH: Fourteen players from Big South Conference schools were picked in last week's Major League Baseball draft. It's the second straight year that 14 BSC players were chosen. The record for most BSC players picked is 16 in 2005.

Coastal Carolina led the way with five drafted players, including former Fort Mill outfielder Tommy Baldridge, who was taken in the 33rd round by the New York Yankees.

Three players from VMI were chosen, two each from UNC Asheville and Liberty and one each from High Point and Radford.

• MICHIGAN: Evidently, the Wolverines' public relations department does things in a very large way.

Take the 2008 Wolverines spring football publication. It's 270 pages -- yes, 270 -- with four full 8x11 pages featuring new football coach Rich Rodriguez, who took over after a seven-year stay at West Virginia.

The Wolverines' spring brochure is larger than the combined South Carolina (76 pages) and Clemson (48) outlooks. Notre Dame's is only 112 pages while Rutgers and Texas A&M are 64 pages each.

• NORTHERN KENTUCKY: Former Winthrop outfielder Jake Shaffer, a junior, was chosen in the 15th round of last week's MLB draft.

Shaffer, who played his freshman year at Winthrop before transferring, was chosen by Seattle with the 462nd selection.

The left-handed Shaffer was selected to the All-Great Lakes Valley Conference baseball team for the second straight season. He was a second-team All-GLVC pick last year. This season, he was named to the first team.

Shaffer hit .331 with five homers and 39 RBIs in 49 games. He feasted on GLVC teams this year, batting .452 with a .528 on-base percentage. He struck out only three times in league play.

• PRESBYTERIAN: Two Blue Hose seniors -- Steven Henry and Eric Tatum -- were named to the NCAA Division I Independent All-Academic team.

Henry, a first baseman from Hoschton, Ga., graduated from PC with a degree in business management, compiling a 3.328 grade-point average. He batted .250 with nine doubles, three homers and 23 RBIs.

Tatum, a pitcher and native of Buford, Ga., received his degree in business administration with a 3.459 GPA. He was 3-5 in 14 appearances with 25 strikeouts in 54 1-3 innings this season.

• SOUTH CAROLINA: Junior right-hander Mike Cisco was chosen in the 36th round of last week's MLB draft by Philadelphia. Cisco has ties to Rock Hill in that his father, Jeff Cisco, was a catcher at Winthrop in 1984, batting .259 in 41 games after transferring from Ohio State.

Cisco's mother is the former Janet Frederick, a Northwestern graduate and ex-Winthrop basketball player. Cisco's grandfather, Galen Cisco, was once a pitching coach with Montreal.

In three years for the Gamecocks, Cisco had 19 career victories and logged 246 1-3 innings. He has already signed a pro contract.