Rowe's EIU baseball debut is a hit

Pulling the ball and hitting fly balls is not what Eastern Illinois baseball coach Jim Schmitz expects from Dan Rowe.

To make his point, Schmitz took a stand before the season.

"I kicked him out of the (batting) cage a few times," Schmitz said. "You may be able to pull the ball in high school, but that's not gonna win here."

Last weekend, the message was received by Rowe, a Prairie Ridge graduate.

Rowe, the only true freshman in the NCAA Division I Panthers' starting lineup, batted a team-best .583 in a season-opening three-game series at Southeastern Louisiana. His weekend included a 4-for-5 effort in Eastern's 6-5 season-opening loss Feb. 19.

Although EIU lost all three games, Rowe was solid at second base and as the team's leadoff hitter.

"I was seeing the ball really well," said Rowe, who leads the team in seven offensive categories. "I had an opportunity to prove myself to my coaches and my teammates, and I was able to do that."

Any jitters associated with Rowe's first college game disappeared quickly as he collected seven hits in the series and posted a .643 on-base percentage.

"I just wanted to get that first hit and that first ground ball hit to me out of the way," Rowe said. "After that, I was OK."

To Schmitz's delight, four of Rowe's hits were on the ground and allowed the freshman to use his speed.

"I'm very encouraged," Schmitz said. "He was doing what I asked him to do. He stuck to the game plan."

One of Rowe's hits, however, was a triple that "would've been out" if not for the wind blowing in last Sunday, according to Schmitz.

"There's pop in that bat," Schmitz said. "In a year or two, he'll be able to hit for more power."

Freshman makes splash: Prairie Ridge grad Kelly Hogan was named the Rocky Mountin Athletic Conference's Co-Freshman of the Year in women's swimming this season for D-II Mesa State in Colorado.

Hogan earned first-team all-conference honors in the 1,000-yard freestyle and was a third-team choice in the 500 free, 400 medley relay and the 200, 400 and 800 free relay events.

Hogan helped the Mavericks place fourth as a team in the nine-team conference meet Feb. 11-13 in Arvada, Colo., by winning the 1,000 free in 10 minutes, 48.42 seconds.

This season, Hogan set school records in the 200, 500 and 1,000 free events, along with being part of four record relay teams.

Speaker shines down south: Marian Central grad Tanja Speaker, a junior guard at D-II Florida Southern College, has started every game this season and helped the Mocs to an 18-8 record.

Speaker has contributed in numerous areas for FSC, averaging 5.0 points while ranking third on the team with 4.5 rebounds a game. While averaging nearly 30 minutes of playing time a game, Speaker is third on the team in steals (39) and assists (70). The Mocs are in fourth place in the nine-team Sunshine State Conference with an 8-7 league mark.

Barry Bottino writes a weekly column and a blog about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at BarryOnCampus@hotmail.com and check out his On Campus column every Saturday in the Northwest Herald sports section.