July 30, 2009
Rising Barton College junior outfielder Matt Willis (Wilmington, NC) of the Waves has been named 2009 Hitter of the Year in the Mississippi River Valley League.
Willis was a member of the 13-player All-River Valley League first team, while Barton and Waves teammate Kevin Carty, a rising senior right-handed pitcher from Southampton, N.J., earned second-team accolades.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Willis, who helped Barton to a 30-17 record last season, batted .387 (second in the league) with 41 hits (first in the league) in 106 at-bats. He also led the league with 35 RBIs, four home runs, and a slugging percentage of .604. His 64 total bases were eight more than the second highest finisher.
Willis was second in the league in on base percentage (.511), fourth in runs scored (32), fourth in stolen bases (18), and fourth in doubles (7). He was also named Hitter of the Week back in Week 4 (July - 8 - July 15) when he had a batting average of .500, a slugging percentage of .833, an on-base percentage of .591, drove in five runs and scored nine.
Willis batted .333 for the Bulldogs last season.
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July 18, 2009
DUBUQUE, IA — Barton College junior outfielder Matt Willis is having a sensational summer campaign as a member of the Waves in the Mississippi River Valley League.
Willis was named Hitter of the Week in the River Valley League on Friday after batting .500 with 5 RBI, seven stolen bases and nine runs scored. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Wilmington, N.C., native also had a slugging percentage of .833.
Willis has led the Waves to the top of the RVL standings at 18-8, one-half game up on the Beavers as the playoffs approach. He is arguably the league's top hitter. He ranks first in the RVL in homers (4), hits (32), total bases (53), RBI (32) and slugging percentage (.631). His 32 RBI is nine more than the second-best player in that category. He rates second in batting average (.381) and on-base percentage (.527) and is third in stolen bases (17-of-19).
Willis appeared in 25 games for Barton as a sophomore, batting .333 in helping the Bulldogs to a 30-17 overall record and 13-7 Conference Carolinas ledger.
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July 13, 2009
Barton College golfers Jonathan Burke and Stephen Harrison both won weekend tournaments.
Burke, a 2009 All-American who has exhausted his eligibility but has to student-teach next semester to earn is degree, fired rounds of 67-68-72–207 (-9) to defend his Wayne County Amateur title by three shots. The tournament was played at Goldsboro Country Club, Walnut Creek Country Club and the Southern Wayne Country Club.
Harrison, who won the Wake County Amateur a few weeks ago, shot a tournament-record 63-66-129 (-13) to win the Willow Springs Country Club Championship by a whopping 10 strokes. Harrison, a rising senior at Barton, recorded 13 birdies, one eagle and two bogeys during the event.
Both Harrison and Burke will join Barton teammates Daniel Castleberry and David Boyce in the U.S. Amateur Qualifier at Walnut Creek Aug. 6-7.
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July 9, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. - Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars for Divisions I, II and the NAIA have been announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America, and Barton College's Thomas Muto Jr. is among the elite group.
A total of 108 players in Division I, 37 in Division II and 11 in NAIA earned the honor. Additionally, 17 honorees were added to the previously released Division III Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars. Muto, a rising senior, was the only player from Conference Carolinas to be honored.
To be eligible for Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar status an individual must be a junior or senior academically, compete in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participate in 70-percent of his team's competitive rounds or compete in the NCAA Championships, have a stroke-average under 76.0 in Division I, 78.0 in Division II and NAIA and 79.0 in Division III, and maintain a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 in Division I, II and III and 3.5 in NAIA. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at his college or university.
Muto, from Wolcott, N.Y., averaged 73.05 in 10 events for the Bulldogs, who finished 17th in the Nike/Golf World Coaches Poll and 20th in the Golfstat poll this past season. He posted six top-five finishes and was the No. 1 or No. 2 player in Barton's lineup in 2008-09. He shot par or better in nine of 21 rounds. He was also named to the All-Conference Carolinas and All-Southeast Regional in his first season with the Bulldogs after having earning All-America status at St. John Fisher College.
He has a 3.43 cumulative grade-point average in Business Management.
"We are very proud of Tom and all of his accomplishments," Barton golf coach John Hackney said. "He is very deserving of this latest honor. Tom is just a fine young man whose talents are highly recognizable…both on our campus and on the golf courses we play. We are looking forward to even bigger and better things from him this season."
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July 3, 2009
Finally, a rejuvenated Stephen Harrison has something he feels like he can build on.
After a stellar golf career at Greenfield School, Harrison has struggled to get on track much of his career at Barton College. But with his win Sunday in the Wake County Amateur tournament, he looks to move past those struggles as he heads into his senior season with the Bulldogs.
"In recent years, I hadn't had many chances to win one," Harrison said. "I'd had problems with my swing, but I finally got them cleared. I worked hard for three or four months — and I hit the ball well on the driving range, but I just couldn't carry it to the course. So, it's nice to finally see some results."
In the two-day tournament at the Pine Hollow Club in Clayton, Harrison opened with a tournament-best 64 on Saturday, then followed up with a 70 on Sunday to beat Barton teammate Daniel Castleberry, a rising junior. Castleberry shot 66 on Saturday, then followed with a 70 on Sunday to finish two shots back.
Trailing Castleberry by two shots Sunday going into No. 13, Harrison, who finished third in the event in 2007, birdied three of the final six holes to take the lead and survived Castleberry's chip-in try on No. 18 that would've tied for the lead.
With Harrison's win, the Bulldogs take the title for the second straight year, after Jonathan Burke won the event last year. Burke, a former C.B. Aycock standout, then went on to have a phenomenal senior year, being named an NCAA Division-II All-American and qualifying for the DII national championship as an individual.
Barton hopes Harrison, whose 64 is his competitive best, can use the win as a springboard, much the same way Burke did heading into his senior season.
"Exactly. That's what we talked about," head coach John Hackney said. "We hope it works for Stephen just like it did for Burke and gets him rolling. He hadn't shot 64 in a long time, but he's shown he's capable.
"Now he's done it, and maybe it's a David Duval-like epiphany," he said laughing while mentioning the former world No. 1's recent resurgence on the PGA Tour.
Hackney said he saw signs of Harrison coming around during the spring, but Harrison noticed his game clicking into place only recently, pinpointing a round in late May as the turning point.
During an N.C. Amateur qualifier at Wilson Country Club, he shot a 41 on the front side. Figuring he needed a 74 to qualify, he came in with a 32 on the back for a 73 and a spot in the event.
"It was the first time I'd played horrible on the front side and ended up turning in a halfway decent score," Harrison said. "It's hard to believe a 73 could be the turning point, but it was something to build on.
"It's still a work in progress, but I'm moving forward."
A week later, on the Thursday prior to the Wake County Am, Harrison fired a 68 while playing with a couple Barton recruits at Wilson Country Club after a long day weed-eating at Willow Springs golf course.
"I told him it was all that weed-eating," Hackney joked. "That might be something we have to do before every tournament."
But, after a rebuilding year following a torn ACL injury, a solid round like that helped get Harrison back to playing with some confidence heading into the weekend.
Looking ahead to the college season, the Bulldogs are again excited about their potential, especially after Harrison and Castleberry fought it out at the Wake County Am … and emerged atop a solid field, Hackney said.
"For them to be (the top two) after the first round and still right there in the second, that's got to renew their confidence in each other," he said. "And the fact that they were right there together, I think that's got to help."
Harrison's next big event is a U.S. Amateur qualifier in early August at Walnut Creek in Goldsboro.
Courtesy of Michael Lindsay, Wilson Times Assistant Sports Editor
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