After the first day of NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional, West Virginia State finds itself in a familiar - albeit uncomfortable - position.

Shippensburg's Tim Freshour tossed a complete-game four-hitter Thursday in Johnstown, Pa., to lead the Raiders past State 10-2, sending the Jackets into the elimination bracket. State, the West Virginia Conference champion and No. 2 seed in the region, takes on No. 5 Kutztown at 11 a.m. today.

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West Virginia State University announced today the signing of a third recruit for the upcoming season.  Darren Jones from Cleveland, Ohio recently committed to the Yellow Jackets basketball program.

Jones is a 5’9” point guard who was a First Team All-Ohio performer at Cleveland Heights High School went to Glen Oaks Community College in 2004-05.  He averaged 24 points and 6 assists while helping them to the MCCAA Western Division Championship.  He was selected to the First Team All-State, All-Conference and All-Region teams.  Jones then returned home to attend Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland.  There he averaged 27 points (2^nd in the NJCAA Division II nationally) and 6 assists and garnered First Team All-Conference and All-Region awards.  Jones decided to sit out in hopes of gaining his Division I eligibility and now has 2 years at the Division II level.

 “Darren Jones is a great signing for us”, Coach Bryan Poore commented.  “I have heard for years how good this guy is from a number of Division I coaches that I trust and our paths just never crossed until this year.  We feel like we have a Chris Paul type point guard that is going to make our team go.”

One week ago, a trip to the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional tournament was probably the furthest thing from the mind of West Virginia State coach Cal Bailey.

The longtime Jackets skipper wasn't looking that far ahead.

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Former Midland star C. Day a big part of Yellow Jackets' success

May 13, 2008 @ 11:58 PM By GRANT TRAYLOR

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Last season, Matt Wright and Shippensburg (Pa.) ended West Virginia State's NCAA tournament run.

Thursday afternoon, the 5-foot-11, 165-pound junior left-hander will likely be back on the mound when the two teams renew acquaintances in the opening round of the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional at Johnstown, Pa.

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W.Va. State gets another hoops signee

A day after landing a transfer from NAIA power Mountain State, West Virginia State's basketball program has signed another one-time Division I star prospect from Ohio.

State Coach Bryan Poore said Darren Jones of Cleveland has signed with the Yellow Jackets and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. The 5-foot-9 point guard has not played college basketball or attended school for the past two years and still needs to improve grades in summer school to enroll at WVSU.

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West Virginia State's men's basketball program again has tapped into its Ohio talent pipeline -- but this time, Coach Bryan Poore has signed a player who made a detour through Beckley to get to Institute.

State has signed transfer forward Ricky Jackson, a 6-foot-6, 220-pounder from Canton, Ohio. Jackson is moving to the Yellow Jackets after playing last season at NAIA power Mountain State in Beckley.

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Three West Virginia Conference teams - West Virginia State, Concord and Pitt Johnstown - have been selected to play in the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Region baseball tournament beginning Thursday at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pa.

The No. 2-seeded Yellow Jackets (36-12) are tentatively scheduled to oppose No. 5 Shippensburg (34-23) in the tournament's second game at 3 p.m. Thursday, unless the host school - Pitt Johnstown - decides it wants to play at that time.

West Virginia State was within one out of another milestone Thursday.

The Yellow Jackets nearly upset defending national champion Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, but the Cougars came through in the bottom of the eighth inning to pull out a 6-5 win in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional softball tournament at Edwardsville, Ill.

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Back in early April, West Virginia State was limping along with a 16-10 record - successful for most programs, but not the kind of winning percentage the Yellow Jackets had come to expect.

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From: Will Prewitt [mailto:wviacsports@gmail.com]
WVSU Preps For #18 Hillsdale In NCAA Women's Tennis Opener 5/7/2008

(PRINCETON, W.Va.)---WVIAC women's tennis champion West Virginia State (21-2) faces a tough test when the Jackets face host Northwood (16-2) in an NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional opening round match on Thursday.

The Jackets are paced by WVIAC Player of the Year Anna Baronayte.  Teammates Erica Blakley and Teddi Russell also earned All-WVIAC honors.  State was 8-0 during conference play and swept to the league tournament title with easy wins over Bluefield State, West Liberty State, and Shepherd.

The match between State and #18 Northwood, the top seed in the Great Lakes Region is slated for an 11:00 a.m. start.  The winner will meet Northern Kentucky or SIU Edwardsville on Friday for a spot in the 16-team NCAA Division II national championship later this month at Houston, Texas.

Projected lineups for the State-Northwood match follow:

Singles:
#1 Anna Baronayte (WVSU) vs. Darina Berkova (NU)
#2 Teddi Russell (WVSU) vs. Ashley Neumann (NU)
#3 Erica Blakley (WVSU) vs. Julia Goncalves (NU)
#4 Emily Bowlin (WVSU) vs. Maelys Scerri (NU)
#5 Eben Russell (WVSU) vs. Raphaela Perisic (NU)
#6 Meghan Stewart (WVSU) vs. Nicole Kromer (NU)

Doubles:
#1 T. Russell/Bowlin (WVSU) vs. Neumann/Goncalves (NU)
#2 E. Russell/Stewart (WVSU) vs. Berkova/Scerri (NU)
#3 Blakley/Sara Bowen (WVSU) vs. Kromer/Perisic (NU)

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The career softball paths of West Virginia State's Sammi Kinder and Jessica Osborne over the last seven years have been eerily similar.

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JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - After his team had collected yet another championship, West Virginia State baseball coach Cal Bailey gathered his players on Sunday for some postgame conversation.

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The Yellow Jackets drew the 8th seed in the Great Lakes Regional softball tournament and will play top-seeded host and defending national champion SIU-Edwardsville at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Edwardsville.

More information to follow.

Kinder pitches W.Va. State to conference crown

‘Jackets win first WVIAC softball title

By JAY W. BENNETT, jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

VIENNA — It was only fitting for West Virginia State senior pitcher Sammi Kinder — the most valuable player in the West Virginia Conference tournament — to have the final out hit to her on a grounder here Saturday afternoon at Jackson Park as the third-seeded Yellow Jackets captured their first WVIAC softball crown in school history by dispatching No. 1 seed West Virginia Wesleyan 5-4 in eight innings.

“I’ll tell you. They just never cease to amaze me,” said WVSU head coach Bob Allen, whose team took the lead for good in the top of the eighth on Kris Taylor’s sacrifice fly that plated Bobbi Harper, who started the frame with a double.

“These kids just make their own momentum and I love them to death. If a coach ever wanted a team, this is the kind of team you want. They never quit.”

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Another Yellow Jacket team is heading to the NCAA tournament.

Sophomore Kris Taylor's short sacrifice fly brought home freshman Bobbi Harper from third base in the top of the eighth inning to give WVSU a 5-4 lead and tournament MVP Sammi Kinder retired three straight West Virginia Wesleyan batters in the bottom of the inning Saturday to give the program its first championship ever.

The Jackets advance to the Great  Lakes Regional beginning Thursday in Edwardsville, Illinois. Click here for direction to SIU-Edwardsville and here for the schools athletic web site SIU-Edwardsville.

Jessica Osborne scored on an error in the second inning to stake the jackets to an early 1-0 lead but the Bobcats fought back with pair of two unearned runs to take a 2-1 advantage in the third.

WVSU came back to knot the score at 2-2 on a Jenni Fowlkes' RBI single to right that drove in Harper from third.

After Harper led off the sixth for WVSU and ended up advancing to third Osborne pounded a double to left-center to put the Jackets in front again. She woould later score on a Taylor single up the middle to make it 4-2.

With two outs and only four left until elimination regular season champion Wesleyan rallied once again.as Shelby Carlson smacked a first pitch two-run home run over the left field fence to make the score 4-4.

That set the stage for extra innings.

Harper led off with a double in the gap to right-center and moved to third two pitches later on a passed ball.

Osborne followed with a foul popout down the first base line and Taylor quickly fell behind making Jacket fans nervous.

The sophomore, who was the designated hitter Saturday, then lifted a lazy fly to shallow center that Bobcat centerfield Lexi Rodgers was forced to make a running catch off of as she dropped to her knees.

From there her throw home was weak and up the line allowing Harper to race home unchallenged.

Kinder then drew groundballs to second and the final two back to herself to lock up the title.

 Fowlkes picked up three hits for the Jackets while Osborne and Harper added two each. Harper scored three times and Osborne twice.

Kinder allowed just two earned runs and walked only two in picking up the win.

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JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - West Virginia State had its 12-game winning streak snapped, but the Yellow Jackets bounced back and avoided elimination on the first day of competition at the West Virginia Conference baseball tournament.

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WV State rallies for win