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NOTES: Greyhounds hire new baseball coach

By Brad Norman
Published: July 21, 2010

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Statesville athletic director Bobby Morrison reached into his past to help bolster the future of Greyhounds' baseball.

Morrison and Statesville administrators have hired Kenny Morrison to replace baseball head coach Chad Parker, who resigned at the end of the 2010 season.

Morrison — both of them —spent time coaching at North Iredell in the past, most notably the 2000 season in which Kenny Morrison was the varsity baseball coach.

Bobby Morrison recalled Kenny Morrison's work with the Raiders during that time and thought he would be a great fit at Statesville.

"Having worked with Kenny before, I'm kind of familiar with his style," Bobby Morrison said. "I think with the situation of our baseball team, being young and losing some good seniors, he has the patience and baseball knowledge to help the kids come along."

Parker resigned a few weeks after the 2010 season ended.

The Greyhounds showed notable improvement every year under Parker's tenure, but had trouble in close games.

"When Parker tendered his resignation, I wasn't that surprised," Bobby Morrison said. "Because I was the JV baseball coach this year, I know the time constraints he had. He's working on his master's degree and trying to get nationally certified, and he really loves his (1-year-old) daughter.

"I understood perfectly why he did it."

Statesville will lose four key players for the 2011 season — pitchers Brett Young and Casey Liles, shortstop Ethan Suarez and catcher Sean Young were all incredibly productive.

Greyhounds players eligible to return include pitcher Sean Grant, infielder Skyler Stroud and outfielder Justin Masler. All three are coming off strong American Legion seasons.

"A lot of the kids who played JV for me are going to have to step up and do some varsity ball," Bobby Morrison said. "I talked to a lot of people about Kenny, and we all liked his baseball knowledge and his demeanor around the kids."

<b>Upset bug</b>
The lower-seeded teams won three of four games in Monday's opening round of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League playoffs. That included Morganton's 6-4 victory over Statesville, the No. 2 seed from the East.

The only favorite to win was the East's top seed, Lake Norman. It defeated fourth seeded Fort Mill 6-2.

The biggest upset of all came in the West Division where No. 4 seed Clemson stunned top-seeded Spartanburg 4-1.

Clemson (12-30) had the worst record — by far — of any team in the playoffs while Spartanburg had one of the best.

The Chaos will play Asheville in the West semifinals. Asheville, the No. 3 seed from the West, beat defending champion Tennessee 8-5 in the opener.

<b>Border challenge</b>
Hayley Hammond and her North Carolina teammates currently lead a team of golfers from Virginia, 41-31, after two days of the annual Carolinas-Virginias Team Matches.

It's the continuance of a whirlwind summer for Hammond, a Lake Norman graduate and Mooresville resident. Earlier this month, Hammond played in the Women's Amateur Public Links Championship at the University of Notre Dame.

Starting in 1957, the neighboring states have competed in an annual summer showcase. The Virginia golfers have won three consecutive tournaments, and six of the last seven.

Hammond and her partner won their match Tuesday to help North Carolina take the lead entering the final day.