Tag Archive for: #kerrvanceacademybaseball

SportsTalk: KVA Baseball Plans Alumni Game

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A quick check of the gymnasium at Kerr-Vance Academy will find 20-plus state championship banners hanging there representing a variety of sports the school offers.  Six of those banners are for baseball championships. Those six championships began with the 2003 Spartan team.  While the ’03 team may have won a state championship perhaps their toughest opponent will come this Saturday when that legendary team will face off against the current KVA squad in an alumni fundraising game.

“It’s been in discussion since before Christmas of last year,” said Mike Joyner, KVA Athletic Director, on Wednesday’s SportsTalk. Joyner was approached by Robert Bowen and Tim Purvis, former members of the ’03 team, about the prospects of having the alumni game. “We have a full array of things planned,” Joyner added.

Bowen, Purvis and Joyner all worked together to bring Saturday’s game to the field at Kerr-Vance and money raised at the game will go back to the baseball program including some field improvements.

The 2003 team is now much older and Joyner said there may be some special rules in place to help the old timers out.

The game will take place at 11:30 a.m. at Kerr Vance Academy and admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children.

CLICK PLAY to hear SportsTalk with Mike Joyner!

 

SportsTalk: Wilkerson Helps College Baseball Players Take The Next Step

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Daniel Wilkerson has traveled a long way since his days of playing baseball for his father, Todd Wilkerson, at Kerr-Vance Academy.  His baseball journey has taken him to Randolph Macon College and then to East Carolina University and now to the Cotuit Kettleers in the Cape Cod League.

“I’m following in my father’s footsteps,” Wilkerson said on Thursday’s SportsTalk with George Hoyle. Wilkerson’s father spent many years coaching at KVA and the younger Wilkerson is doing much the same but at a different level and a different place.  After two years at East Carolina, Wilkerson has found himself an assistant coaching position with the Kettleers. He coaches 1st base during games and does much of the team’s field work keeping the playing surface in game day shape. In the evenings Wilkerson will scout teams to help prepare the Kettleers for the next game.

The Cape Cod League has 10 teams in two divisions and features some of college baseball’s top players, many of whom are on the verge of being drafted. That means players turn over frequently. Despite the geographical distance between Cape Cod in Massachusetts and Henderson, Wilkerson does see similarites in how all of the programs he has been involved in operate.  He also sees differences as well. “The game speeds up,” Wilkerson said.  He says there was a difference in the speed of play from KVA to Randolph Macon and again from there to ECU and even more in the Cape Cod league.

His work for the Cotuit Kettleers must be paying off as the team leads there division in the league with a 14-4 record.

 

SportsTalk: KVA Looking For A Fifth Baseball State Championship

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The last four years has found the Kerr Vance Academy Spartans baseball team standing on top of the heap at the end of the year.  Four state championships is quite the accomplishment for any team in any sport but KVA and Head Baseball Coach Mike Rigsbee are ready to climb to the top again this season.  Rigsbee’s team posted a 10-5 regular season record and a 3-3 conference record.  With a double bye going into the playoffs, KVA won’t know until late Thursday who they will play in the playoffs or when they will play for that matter.  The weather forecast isn’t looking good for a possible Saturday game so if the weather turns foul, pardon the pun, then another time will have to be found. If the weather cooperates KVA will play at home.

Coach Rigsbee is happy so far.  He said, “I’m very pleased with how the team is progressing.” He relies on his seniors to power the Spartans to victory.  One of those seniors, Shane Musselman, leads the state with .571 batting average. Rigsbee has worked with many of his seniors since 7th grade and that experience helps KVA when facing bigger schools like Rocky Mount, which is undefeated this season.  Rigsbee says playing tougher opponents during the regular season keeps his team sharp. “We say ‘Don’t take a pitch off’,” Rigsbee said. That also applies to those who are on the bench because, as Rigsbee says, you never know when you will be called upon to get into the game.

KVA is coming off a 5-4 loss to Halifax Academy but have won 5 of their last 6 games. He gives much credit for the continued success of KVA’s program to the support his team and school receive from the community and also says local youth programs have helped KVA over the years.

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KVA Spartan Baseball Team Defeats Wayne Christian

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-Information courtesy Frank Wiggins, Headmaster, Kerr Vance Academy

The Spartan baseball team came up huge on Tuesday evening defeating Wayne Christian 7-1 at Boyd Field.

Senior Wil Short started on the mound for the Spartans, allowing only 1 hit and 1 run striking out 3. Cam Murphy came in as relief allowing no hits and no runs while striking out 6. The offense was led by Colby Wilkerson, 2 for 3 (2 doubles and 1 RBI), RJ Johnson, 3 for 3, with an HR, and Matt Overton, 2 for 3 at the plate with 3 RBI’s.

The Spartans advance to Wilson’s Fleming Stadium for a three-game championship series beginning on Friday, May 18 at 6 p.m.

KVA Men’s Baseball. Photo courtesy KVA.