Pacer Athletics – 2011 Spring in Review
Women’s Tennis
The University of South Carolina Aiken women’s tennis team concluded the 2011 season with a 10-10 record overall.
The Pacers finished their year with a 4-8 record in Peach Belt Conference action.
USC Aiken opened its 2011 season by winning its first two matches easily over Young Harris and Clark Atlanta. The Pacers would also best Limestone, Benedict and Pfeiffer over the course of its first month of the season.
After opening the month of March with a loss to nationally-ranked Clayton State, the Pacers once again won two straight matches as they bested Belmont Abbey on the road before returning home for a Peach Belt Conference victory over North Georgia on Mar. 19.
USC Aiken would then drop three straight matches before closing the year by winning three of its final four matches. All three of USC Aiken’s wins to conclude the season came against PBC opposition in UNC Pembroke, Montevallo and Georgia Southwestern. All three wins were also on the road.
Men’s Tennis
The University of South Carolina Aiken men’s tennis team was ranked nationally for all of the 2011 season.
USC Aiken finished its year overall with an 8-10 record. The Pacers were 2-7 in Peach Belt Conference action.
The Pacers, who were ranked as high as 25th, began the year by winning two of its first three matches with their wins coming over Young Harris and Limestone.
After dropping two straight matches, USC Aiken then proceeded to win five of its next six matches, including a season-best four straight over Pfeiffer, Erskine, Belmont Abbey and North Georgia.
USC Aiken closed out its year by dropping six of its last seven matches with its lone win down the stretch coming against league foe Georgia Southwestern.
Gregory Andrade and Bruno Orlandini were chosen to the Peach Belt Conference All-Conference team in doubles.
Nationally ranked all year, Andrade and Orlandini were the Pacers' No. 1 tandem in 2011. They were 8-8 on the year with all their matches at No. 1 doubles. They were 4-5 in PBC matches.
Andrade was also chosen as a second team All-PBC selection in singles.
Ranked in singles all year, Andrade played No. 1 singles all of the 2011 for the nationally-ranked Pacers. He was 6-9 overall in 2011.
Baseball
The University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team concluded
its 2011 season with a 29-21 record overall. The Pacers were 9-15
in Peach Belt Conference action.
The Pacers began the season ranked nationally and a strong start
to the regular season had advanced them to as high as
16th nationally.
USC Aiken obtained the overall series victory in its first four series of the 2011 season. The Pacers closed out February and opened the month of March in the midst of an eight-game winning streak.
The then 12-2 Pacers would drop seven of their next eight outings to own a 13-9 record by the middle of March.
USC Aiken would enter its final 10 games of the year owning a 23-17 record. The Pacers closed the year with a 6-4 mark to acquire the final record of 29-21.
The Pacers had three different players garner Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Week accolades during the 2011 season with Spencer Wolfe (Feb. 15), Derek Beasley (Apr. 11) and Taylor Peed (May 3) all earning the weekly award from the league.
Two Pacers were named Peach Belt Conference Player of the Week. Stephen Carmon claimed the award twice (Feb. 15 and Apr. 19), while Teddy Leverett obtained the weekly honor on Apr. 5.
Carmon was named to the Peach Belt Conference All-Conference team at the conclusion of the regular season. The Camden, S.C. native finished his 2011 season in the top 10 in the Peach Belt Conference in 13 different offensive categories. He was also second in the league in assists with 162.
Carmon, who finished the year first in the PBC in total bases (115) and triples (seven), started all 50 games for USC Aiken at shortstop in 2011. He concluded his junior campaign hitting .373 (72-for-193) with 46 runs scored and 26 RBIs. He finished his season with 28 extra-base hits on 17 doubles, seven triples and four home runs. The 2009 PBC Freshman of the Year had a slugging percentage of .596 and an on-base percentage of .474 in 2011. He owned a team-best 11-game hitting streak this past season. Carmon also obtained 20 multiple hit games in 2011, while stealing a team-best 32 bases.
Tripp Warrick was named to the Capital One College Division Academic All-District Three Second Team as a designated hitter.
Warrick, who made the team as a designated hitter, boasts a 4.00 GPA as a Chemistry major. Warrick concluded his sophomore campaign hitting a team third-best .328 (20-for-61). Warrick played in 31 games for the Pacers in 2011, starting 15. He started contests for the Pacers this past season at both designated hitter and first base.
Warrick finished his year with 10 RBIs and eight runs scored. He snagged 24 total bases. The North Augusta High School product claimed one home run and one double. He had a team second-best .447 on-base percentage. In the field, Warrick ended his sophomore year with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. He had 58 putouts and two assists in the 2011 season.
Golf
The 2010-11 University of South Carolina Aiken golf team was extremely young with no upperclassmen on the squad.
Despite their youth, the Pacers concluded the spring of 2011 by making their 19th appearance in the NCAA Division II regionals in the last 20 years.
The Pacers played in 12 events in total in the 2010-11 season. USC Aiken finished in the top 10 as a team in eight of the 12 tournaments. USC Aiken was ranked in the top 25 for most of the spring of 2011, reaching as high as 17th.
The Pacers, who captured four top five finishes as a team in 2010-11, played in four tournaments during the fall of 2010. USC Aiken’s best finish of the fall came in a sixth-place finish at the Southeast Region Preview at the Tanglewood Park Golf Club in Clemmons, N.C. on Oct. 19, 2010.
USC Aiken commenced its spring campaign with two consecutive top five finishes as a team. The Pacers’ first event of the spring of 2011 ended with USC Aiken obtaining fifth-place honors at the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate on Feb. 22, 2011.
One week later, USC Aiken claimed its best team finish of the 2010-11 season with a third-place finish at West Florida’s Argonaut Invitational on Mar. 1, 2011.
The Pacers would claim one more top five finish at Lander’s Bearcat Classic on Mar. 29, 2011.
USC Aiken finished in fifth at the Peach Belt Conference Championship at the Savannah Quarters Country Club in Pooler, Ga. on Apr. 12, 2011.
The top five finish in the conference tournament helped propel the historically-rich Pacer golf program to another NCAA Tournament appearance.
USC Aiken would finish its year with a 12th place finish at the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional at the Victoria Hills Golf Club in DeLand, Fla.
Hayden Letien led the Pacer charge in the 2010-11 season. The freshman from Sumter, S.C., owned a team-best 73.9 scoring average. He also had a team-best three top 10 individual finishes. For his efforts, he garnered Peach Belt Conference All-Conference plaudits.
Softball
The University of South Carolina Aiken softball team concluded its 2011 season by earning a trip to its second NCAA Division II Southeast Regional in the last three seasons.
The Pacers finished their campaign in 2011 with a record of 26-18. Playing in one of the toughest conferences in all of NCAA Division II softball in the Peach Belt Conference the Pacers were 9-11.
USC Aiken commenced the 2011 season strongly by winning nine of their first 10 outings. The Pacers swept their first three series of the year before splitting a doubleheader with No. 13 Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 20.
After sweeping its Peach Belt Conference-opening doubleheader with Lander, USC Aiken dropped its next four games to enter the month of March with a 9-5 record.
USC Aiken began its final six doubleheaders of the season with a mark of 17-11, but six straight wins had moved the Pacers to 23-11 by Mar. 29.
USC Aiken closed the curtains on its 2011 season by taking three of four from Augusta State (Apr. 9) and Columbus State (Apr. 11) in its final two doubleheaders. USC Aiken’s twinbill sweep of Columbus State helped the Pacers earn the seventh seed in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament.
The Pacers would eventually go on to earn the seventh seed in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional after two consecutive losses in the PBC Tournament in Florence, S.C.
USC Aiken narrowly lost its regional opener, 1-0, to national No. 6 Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, N.C. before closing out its year with a 6-0 loss to Carson-Newman.
Pacer freshman India Kornegay was tabbed as the Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year during the 2011 season.
Kornegay was a three-time Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Week (Feb. 22, Mar. 8 and Mar. 28) as well as the Feb. 15 PBC Pitcher of the Week. The Eufaula, Ala. native in 169 innings pitched finished her freshman year owning a record of 13-10. In 28 appearances, including 26 starts, Kornegay also had two saves. She recorded seven shutout victories on the year including one no-hitter in the second game against St. Andrews on Mar. 23.
Kornegay’s 219 strikeouts in 2011 were just six off of the school record of 225 set by Stacie Oakley during the 2005 season. She in just one year is already in the top five in school history in all-time strikeouts.
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