Conference post-season championships around the corner

By Carlos Rodriguez | Sports editor

Athletes and coaches are approaching crunch time of the spring sports season as conference championships are approaching.

Three AU programs will compete for conference championships next week: women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track and field.

With the exception of the AU men’s and women’s golf teams, the rest of the athletic teams at Augusta compete in NCAA Division II under the Peach Belt Conference. The golf programs are Division I, competing in the Southland Conference.

 Women’s golf

The first conference championship action we’ll see is the women’s golf Southland Conference Championship, which starts on Monday, April 17 and runs through April 19 in Frisco, Texas. After joining the conference last season, the Jaguars are looking to capture their second straight Southland title.

The Jaguars are led by freshman Mirabel Ting, who’s had a tremendous first year. In five outings this season the Miri, Malaysia, native has recorded four top-seven finishes, including winning the her first tournament of season at the Moon Golf Invitational, shooting 13 under.

Ting was recently ranked the No. 4 international collegiate women’s golfer in Division I in the first edition of the April Arnold Palmer Cup Rankings. The top-six golfers from the United States and International rankings at the end of the season will be invited to the Palmer Cup on June 8-10. She is also ranked No. 7 by Golfstat.com and No. 13 by Golfweek/Sagarin.

Track and field

The next conference championship for the Jaguars will be the Peach Belt Conference Track and Field Championships hosted by Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, Fla., starting on Thursday, April 20, and ending on Friday, April 21.

Like previous years, the AU men’s distance side will put several runners in each event. Currently, in the 10,000 meters, sophomore Avery Jaynes is ranked first in the PBC with a time of 30:19.75, which is a school record he ran at the Lee Flames Invitational last weekend. Behind him is senior Hans Troyer who’s ranked second at 30:33.70. In addition to Jaynes and Troyer, the Jags have four other men in the top-10 of the conference in the event with Carlos Rodriguez, Thomas Rischar, Tripp Miller, Cameron Watson and Matthew Moore ranking fifth through ninth.

 In the 5,000 meters, Patrick Motes and Jaynes lead the way with the fourth- and fifth-best times heading into the championship. The Jaguars will feature more than 10 runners in this event. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Augusta will head in with the No. 2, 5 and 8 best times by Troyer, Andrew Cole and Andrew Todd, respectively. Troyer is the reigning PBC steeplechase champion.

On the women’s side, the 10K will also be an event the Jags look to dominate. Graduate student Hannah Beach is ranked No. 1 with a time of 37:07.18, which she ran at the Lee Flames Invitational and shattered the school record by 45 seconds. Junior Cassie Lagan and freshman Madison Kennedy are ranked third and fifth in the event. Beach and sophomore Riley Triplett are also ranked top-10 in the 5k.

On the sprints side, senior Priscilla Ajala has been a medalist at the PBC Championships the past two years and is the reigning 100-meter champion. She finished third in the 200 last year as well. She heads into the championship ranked fifth in both events.

Tennis

Moving onto tennis, both the men’s and women’s teams will be playing in the PBC Championship on April 21 through April 23 hosted by Columbus State. The men are ranked fourth in the conference while the women are ranked sixth.

The men are ranked fifth in the Southeast Region and No. 26 in the national rankings. They’re currently 14-6 overall and are having their best season since the 2015-16 season, when they were also 14-6. The women have struggled as they are 8-11 overall.

Both teams will have three matchups before the conference championships as the women play at Georgia Southwestern on Friday, April 14, at Flagler on Sunday, April 16 and at home against Young Harris on Tuesday, April 18. The men will have the same Flagler and Young Harris matchup, but instead of Georgia Southwestern they play Troy University at home on Saturday, April 15.

Baseball

The Jags are currently 20-18 overall, having the most wins in Coach Chris Howell’s tenure since his first season in 2017 where they went 21-25. With nine regular season games left and a potential PBC Tournament berth, Howell is looking to have his best season at Augusta.

The Jaguars haven’t made the PBC Tournament since 2016 and are currently sitting in the final spot to qualify at 10-13 in PBC play. Flagler sits behind them at 7-14 and Lander sits ahead of them at 11-10. The team is currently riding a three-game win streak coming off wins against USC Aiken, Erskine College and Anderson University.

Batting has been the main success for the Jaguars, hitting .290 as a team which is the third best in the conference. Several players are ranked in top-10 and top-five in hitting categories. Harrison Aulds is ranked fourth in RBIs with 44, Kyle Lodise is fifth in hits with 50 and fourth with runs scored at 42, Parker Ingram is fifth in home runs with eight and Koby Ayala is No. 6 in batting average hitting .354.

Augusta travels to Columbus State this weekend for a three-game series with the Cougars that starts tonight (April 14) and runs through Sunday (April 16).

Softball

The Jaguars have had a tough season currently sitting at 17-22 overall and 4-17 in the PBC, but battling for a final spot in the PBC Tournament is far from over.

AU is currently in 9th in the PBC standings, trailing behind Flagler (8-13) and Young Harris (7-14). The Jags have two remaining PBC series left and lucky enough they’re against Young Harris and Flagler. The series will be crucial for AU as they sit four games behind Flagler and three behind Young Harris.

Both series are must wins to make their tournament hopes a reality. A sweep over Young Harris and at least a win or two against Flagler could be enough for the Jags to punch their ticket. Young Harris has to play a series against Columbus State, which is the second-best team in the PBC, and Flagler has to play USC Aiken, which sits ahead of them.

The Jags host Young Harris on Tuesday, April 18, at 4 p.m. and on Wednesday, April 19, for a doubleheader. They’ll then travel to Flagler to wrap up the regular season for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 22 and final game on Sunday, April 23.

Sophomore Bailee Roberts has led the way at the plate, leading the PBC in both batting average and hits at .481 and 62, respectively. On the mound, freshman Ansley Gibson has nine wins, pitched 108.1 innings and struck out 66 batters.

Men’s golf

Unlike the women’s team, the men’s golf conference championship won’t be this weekend; instead, it’ll be April 24-26 in San Antonio, Texas.

The Jags have had an up-and-down season, but their best moment was finishing fourth and third in back to back tournaments at the UNCG Dorado Beach Collegiate and Sea Palms Invitational.

Freshmen Behn Heyns led Augusta in both tournaments, finishing tied for fourth at Dorado Beach, shooting 10 under 206. At the Sea Palms Invitational, he finished tied for fifth, shooting 10 under 203.

At their most recent tournament, which was hosted at the Forest Hills Golf Course, the Jags finished ninth. They’ll look to capture their first Southland title in a few weeks.

Contact Carlos Rodriguez at carrodriguez@augusta.edu.

AU catcher Kyle LaRoche has helped the Jaguars move over .500 at 20-18 entering a weekend series at Columbus State. (photo by Madison Keel) At the top of the page, freshman Mirabel Ting vaulted to fourth in the Arnold Palmer Cup Rankings; the AU golfer won the Moon Golf Invitational in February. (photo by AU Athletics)