Marion County College Report

Salem Pitching Duo Doing Well
at Rend Lake College

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Daniel L. Chamness

Photos courtesy Rend Lake College

It might not have been evident before, but Rend Lake College head baseball coach Tony Etnier probably really loves Salem baseball. Take one look at Etnier’s roster and it should be easy to see why.

Patrick Flanagan, a RLC sophomore and recent Bradley University signee, is 2-2 with a nice 2.43 earned run average. Flanagan has allowed only eight earned runs on 16 hits over 29 2/3 innings and has 26 strikeouts against 11 walks. Flanagan also has a no-hitter to his credit this year.

"Patrick always gives us a great chance to win," Etnier said. "He is one of those athletes continuously improving and working to get better. He is our top pitcher and we just want him to be solid all year. If he continues to improve, he will be successful at Bradley and then have an opportunity to play professional baseball."

Flanagan's most recent outing was against Olney Central. While he did not get the decision, Flanagan allowed only two earned runs in eight innings of work. He fanned seven hitters in his time on the hill. OCC won 3-2. "I am trying to be a bit more aggressive with the hitters this year," Flanagan said. "In the no hitter, it was an extremely cold day and I just threw inside quite a bit. I either jammed them or got a ground ball. We are struggling a bit right now to get a win. I hope to help change that."

While Flanagan has been great thus far, Rend Lake freshman and Salem grad Gavin Petrea has also been on a tear. He has an earned run average is 2.38 over his first 16 1/3 innings of college baseball, allowing four earned runs on nine hits. He has fanned 16 and walked 11.

"Gavin has three good pitches he throws for strikes," Etnier said. "When he throws strikes, he is a tough guy to hit. His ball has a lot of arm-side run and he is a guy who when he lives in the strike zone, he keeps the opposition off balance and gives us a chance to win." …

Cody Stevenson, a Centralia grad, has a .286 batting average through the first 11 Webster baseball games. The freshman has made 28 trips to the plate and has eight hits, five runs, three walks, two RBI and two stolen bases. In Webster's recent 2-0 win over North Park University, Stevenson was 1-for-3 with a walk. Webster is 6-5. ...

Men's Basketball

The McKendree’s basketball season came to an end last week with a 73-70 overtime loss to John Brown University in the first round of the NAIA Division-I Nationals. Former Metro East Lutheran player Andy Wolff, now a McKendree junior, had seven points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in the loss. The Centralia resident started and played 40 minutes. McKendree finished with a 27-7 overall mark and a 13-1 record n the American Midwest Conference. ...

Matt Shaw, a Centralia grad and Illiabum Clube player, scored 16 points in a 72-60 loss to Casino Figueira Ginasio. The former Southern Illinois -Carbondale star drained 7-of-12 from the field and 2-of-6 from the charity stripe, completing a double-double with 10 rebounds. Illiabum Clube slipped to 7-10 overall. ...

Women's Basketball

Salem product Ellen Young recently finished her junior season of basketball at Southern Indiana. Young started every game and finished the year with 474 points and 137 rebounds for respective averages of 15.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She also had 61 assists and 56 steals this year. She scored her points by hitting 164-of-371 field goals and 84-of-104 free throws.

The former Lady Wildcat was close to 40 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 62-of-156 from three-point land. Young led her team in points scored, points per game, steals, field goals and three pointers. She was one of two athletes to average in double figures. With her points scored this year, Young now has 1,187 career points. She scored 355 points last year to bring her USI total to 829 points. The other 358 points were scored during her freshman year at Southern Illinois-Carbondale. USI finished 22-9 overall and 13-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. ...

Softball

DePauw University pitcher Kristin Barrow, a Centralia grad, has a 1-0 mark with one save. Barrow, who has worked seven innings, has allowed two earned runs on seven hits for a 2.00 earned run average. Barrow has fanned 14 batters and walked only two. She earned her first victory in DePauw's 12-0 win over Oberlin College. Barrow worked three innings, struck out six and held Oberlin to one hit. DePauw is 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. ...

Former Salem player Amanda Brendel smacked a base-clearing triple to help Southern Indiana defeat Bellarmine University 5-2. Brendel was 1-for-3 with three RBI and one run. Southern Indiana is 7-11 overall and a perfect 6-0 in the GLVC. ...

Golf

Centralia grad Jeff Miller, a Southern Illinois-Carbondale freshman, finished 112th at the C & F Bank Intercollegiate at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va. Miller carded a 164 over 36 holes to help SIUC finish 10th with a 603. Missouri finished first with a 575. ...

Salem grad Travis Ogelsby, a McKendree golfer, shot a 166 at the Illinois-Springfield Invitational at Piper Glenn Golf Course in Springfield. Oglesby shot a low round of 81 in the opening round to finish 29th. McKendree finished second with a stroke count of 634. Rockhurst University won with a 628. ...

Message from Daniel L. Chamness

This is the final week of sponsorship for four loyal supporters of The College Report Online.

The departing four decided at the beginning of the year they would sponsor the column for 20 weeks, and this is the 20th article of the 2009-2010 athletic season.

Jim Ford Men's Wear, Country Bobs, Minor League and Lee's Sports have been tremendously supportive over the past four years.

In these tough economic times, we appreciate the support and always will. It is my hope that we can get these businesses, and more like them, to support future endeavors. I have bought things in the past from all four businesses.

There is one particular business of the four I would like to single out for special mention. Many of my clothes hanging in my closet were purchased at Jim Ford Men's Wear. I have shopped there since moving to Centralia in 1995 when I was working at the Centralia Sentinel. Even though I moved from Centralia in 2002, I continue to purchase clothes there. Mike Ford was instrumental in selling me dress clothes at a time when Sentinel editors expected their reporters to look as professional as possible. I continue to buy clothes and shoes there.

Jim Ford's will be closing this summer after 50 years in business in Centralia. Mike plans to retire and hopefully someone will purchase his business and keep me dressed in the best threads in town.

Finally, with only three businesses left to support The College Report Online, it is highly likely this column will not continue during the 2010-11 school year.

This is my first foray into producing a column on the Internet and probably will not be the last. My columns in the different papers around the state operate at a profit and allow me to provide a living for myself, my family and my staff.

When you add together the hosting fees, site maintenance, editing and time spent researching and writing the Marion County column, The College Report Online is a significant financial liability for my business.

I was losing money on this product before these four sponsors moved on, now my business is losing significant money with each passing week.

To lay my cards on the table, we need 15 sponsors to start this column for next year. With radio advertisements in both Centralia and Salem, I feel like everyone should know about this column already.

Fifteen sponsors is quite a bit, but far from impossible, even in this economy. Therefore, if you are reading this and you like the content of the column, please e-mail me at (dan62801@aol.com).

If you have ideas about potential sponsors or want to sponsor the column yourself, I would love to hear from you. I do not want repeated e-mails telling me how I need to accept less because of the tough economy.

The fact is, there are minimum operating costs involved in producing this product. We get no bailout dollars at The College Report Online, and operating at a loss month after month is bad business.

If the car has no gas, we can't continue pushing it down the freeway – plain and simple.

If the market exists to continue with The College Report Onlinewe will continue tracking Marion County athletes in their collegiate athletic endeavors. If the market does not exist, we can not. If you have suggestions, strategies or thoughts on how to make The College Report Online a better product, please contact us. If you think the entire idea fool’s errand, we would like to hear from you as well. Any feedback would be appreciated, and we hope to hear from you soon.

— Daniel L. Chamness