By Graham Hill
The baseball team fell to Brevard in a doubleheader to open up the season at the USA National Training Complex in Cary on Saturday.
Photo by Graham Hill
The Pacers hosted the Brevard College Tornados in a doubleheader for the WPU baseball ‘22 season opener. The Tornados won by a final score of 7-3 in game one, and 10-6 in-the second game.
The Pacers are led this semester under new head coach Charlie Long, who has a long history of coaching.
Long coached at NC Wesleyan College from 1991 to 2018, where he started as an assistant coach before being named head coach for the 1999 season.
During his first season as the head coach, he led the Battling Bishops to an NCAA Division III National title and was named USA South Coach of the Year four times.
He has acquired a 16-9 record in his NCAA Tournament appearances and hopes to bring the same success to the Pacer Program.
The Pacers played closely in both games, but the Tornados were able to get some lucky at-bats in both games to give them the separation needed to pick up wins.
For the Pacers, senior Logan Barbour went 2 for 3 at the plate in game one with one runner bought in and sophomore Nick Tyler for 1 for 3 in game two with one runner bought in.
Even though the Pacers dropped their first two games this spring, many players and Coach Long believe with the long season ahead they’ll be able to learn from early “growing pains” and are anticipating a successful spring season.
Last season the team finished with an overall record of 20-18 and 11-7 in USA South Conference play.
There are plenty of opportunities for the Pacers to redeem themselves from last season’s finish and it all begins with the strengthening of the non-conference portion of the schedule.
This season will offer some big opponents to help assess what sort of team coach Long has to work within his first season leading the Helm.
The Pacers will play three teams that were selected in the preseason top-25 rankings. Below are the scheduled games with the dates and start times.
- Sunday, Mar. 13th vs. #5 Adrian College at 12 PM in Greensboro.
- Tuesday, Mar. 15th vs. #2 Suny Cortland at 3 PM in Cary. (National Training Complex)
- Friday, Apr. 8th vs. #19 North Carolina Wesleyan College at 3 PM in Rocky Mount. (Weekend Series)
Up next for the Pacers is a weekend series beginning with a doubleheader on Sat Feb. 19, against Mitchell College with game one beginning at noon.
The series will be hosted at the Durham Athletic Park, which was the former home to the state’s minor league team, the Durham Bulls.
Attendance is free to all students and faculty.
For all the latest news and updates regarding this season be sure to check out the teams’ social media account on Twitter, @GoPeaceBaseball, and Instagram, @gopeacebb.