Sports

C-USA NOTEBOOK: Kelso excels in summer league

UH shortstop Blake Kelso has been selected to the 47th Under Armour Cape Cod League All-Star Game and will play shortstop for the East team.

The junior is showing that his collegiate success translates to a wooden bat. He currently holds a .287 batting average and leads the team in hits, triples and stolen bases with 33, two and 14, respectively.

Kelso had a breakout season in 2009, leading the team in several offensive categories. His .335 batting average, 45 runs scored, 85 hits, 16 doubles and 113 total bases were all tops on the team.

Kelso’s 19 strikeouts in 254 at bats is even more telling. He was the only player on the team with 100 or more bats to finish with fewer than 20 strikeouts.

Kelso and fellow Cougars Chase Dempsay, Jared Ray and Michael Goodnight are members of the second-place Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. UH’s Chris Wallace is also spending his summer in the league with the Bourne Braves.

East Carolina senior Kyle Roller, Southern Miss sophomore B.A. Vollmuth, Alabama-Birmingham junior Nick Crawford and Rice sophomore Taylor Wall will join Kelso as C-USA representatives in the All-Star Game.

The game will be played Thursday at Fenway Park in Boston.

C-USA quarterbacks receive national recognition
ECU’s Patrick Pinkney and UAB’s Joe Webb have been named preseason candidates for the 2009 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which honors the nation’s most outstanding senior quarterback.

The award, handed out annually since 1987, takes candidates’ collegiate careers to this point into consideration.

Off-the-field values, such as good character, citizenship, scholastic achievement and strong leadership, are also examined.

UTEP fish brings home bronze
Texas-El Paso freshman Anna Wessman took home the bronze medal Sunday in the women’s javelin at the European Athletics U-23 Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania.
She posted a personal best of 55.91 meters (183 feet, 5 inches) en route to the third-place finish.

Former Tiger wins national tournament
Brad Benjamin, who completed a four-year stint at Memphis this spring, won the 2009 USGA Amateur Public Links Championship. He defeated Nick Taylor of Canada 7 and 6 in the 36-hole match play final at the Jamie Austin Golf Club at the University of Oklahoma.

The victory grants Benjamin an exemption to the 2010 Masters Tournament.

Coach makes Hall of Fame
Long-time Marshall head football coach Jim Donnan became the university’s first member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Donnan, who posted a 64-21 record from 1990 to 1995, led the Thundering Herd to four Division-IAA national championship games. In 1992, he guided Marshall to Division I-AA national title, and was named the Division-IAA Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1995.

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