Coming off of the best season in the program’s history, the Ferris State club baseball team is gearing up to start the 2009 schedule.

The Bulldogs began the 2008 season with an 8-0 record and were ranked 27 in the nation. The team finished the year with a 12-8 record, the best in the history of the club baseball team. The Bulldogs have a 27-man roster for the 2009 season and most of the players are returning from last season.

The team is led by fifth year seniors Brenton Goldthwait and Mike Sheski. Goldthwait, who played his high school ball at Morley Stanwood, is the President of the organization and Sheski, from Escanaba, is the Vice President. These roles are reversed from a season ago. Goldthwait pitches and Sheski plays in the outfield.

The Bulldogs play in the Great Lakes North Division with teams such as Michigan State, Central Michigan and Western Michigan. Sheski said that the team finished third in the conference last season and has high hopes for this season. “We better at least be second, if not win it,” said Sheski. He also said that the team has a deeper pitching rotation this season, which will help down the stretch.

The club baseball team is set up differently than varsity sports. It is a Registered Student Organization (RSO) with an advisor and e-board. Goldthwait and Sheski are not only players, but they are the coaches as well. Goldthwait said it is not easy deciding who to play and who to sit. “It’s kind of tough being good friends with the guys and having to pick a lineup out,” said Goldthwait. He said that placing himself in the lineup is a difficult task as well. Training for the season has taken place primarily in the rubber room in the sports complex according to Sheski. “We hit in the cages in the rubber room. We hit ground balls and work on footwork,” said Sheski. The pitchers have been able to throw and condition for the season also.

The Bulldogs biggest rival is Central Michigan University according to Goldthwait. “They’re always a good team and their kind of closer to us,” said Goldthwait. The Bulldogs host Michigan State for three games to end the season. They play their home contests at Wood Column field.

The team is headed Plant City, Fla., which is about 25 miles east of Tampa, on March 7. It will kick off the 2009 season on March 9 against Robert Morris. The club baseball team will play five games in as many days during Spring Break week. Its first home game is scheduled for April 4.

The team strongly encourages students to try out for the team. It holds tryouts in the fall. The team has limited resources for attracting players. “Usually we just have a board out in the quad,” said Sheski.

The Lady Dogs emerged from the ashes and secured the sixth seed in the GLIAC tournament.

The women’s basketball program was riding a five game winning streak into Thursday’s game against Northwood, but the Timberwolves snapped it, winning 79-70.

The Bulldogs rebounded and took a close, 69-67, victory over the Wayne State Warriors to end the regular season.

“We have overcome a lot of adversity. One thing that I think this team has improved on is our composure during games. We stay calm and get the job done,” guard Teghan Thelen said.

The late surge in the second half of the season gave the Lady Dogs the sixth seed in the GLIAC tournament, and faced the number three seed, Northwood last night. For results of the game please see ferris.edu/sports.

The Northwood/Ferris winner will play the winner of the (5) Ashland/ (4) Grand Valley State game, that played at 6 p.m. For results of the tournament, please see gliac.org/sports/mbkb.

“Tomorrow will be a tough game against Northwood but we are ready to knock them out of the tournament,” Thelen said.

Ferris lost both games to the Timberwolves this season. Up until last year, the Bulldogs had a double digit win streak over the Timberwolves.

Assistant coach, Crystal Harris says making the tournament after facing adversity in the first half of the season is huge for the team.

“It’s a huge deal for us. The girls could have rolled over five weeks ago when it looked like we wouldn’t even make the tourney, but instead they changed their attitude and mentality and decided to fight. They believed in what we were trying to do and with a little success their confidence and spirit lifted,” Harris said.

The confidence is showing as the team spoiled the Warrior’s senior night on Saturday.

The Bulldog seniors put the game on their shoulders as forward/center Ashley Fleming put the game on her shoulders as she led the way with a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds. Thelen recorded 20 points as both forward Jenna Guay and guard Caitlin Hutchison added 10 points.

The Lady Dogs were slow out of the gate against the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves jumped out to an early 17-3 lead and led 42-29 at halftime.

The Bulldogs rallied as they have all season, but it was too little, too late.

The underclassmen were showcased in the loss as guard Kelsey DeNoyelles recorded a team-best 12 points. Both forward Amy Joostberns and guard Chelsea Simonetti totaled 10 points apiece.

The men’s basketball team defeated Northwood 72-50, but fell to Wayne State University 80-88.

During the game against Wayne State, forward/center Justin Keenan returned to the game after recovering from a severe ankle sprain. Keenan was still able to reach double digits, scoring 16 points for the Bulldogs, after missing two games due to his injury.

Other men’s basketball players to reach the double digits were guard Josh Young with 18 points, guard Austin Randel with 12 points, and guard Dontae Molden added 10 points for Ferris State.

Despite four of the men’s basketball member reaching double digits, the Bulldogs could not pull out the victory against the Wayne State Warriors. Wayne State scored 53 percent of its three-point shots, and forced Ferris State into 16 turnovers to win the game.

Thursday’s game had a much more positive outcome for the men’s basketball team as they defeated Northwood. The men’s basketball team kept Northwood to only a 36 percent shooting average for the game, while Ferris maintained a 53 percent shooting average, despite Keenan’s absence.

“We played really well Thursday. Holder, Lou [Williams], and Verdell [Billingsly] really stepped up with the absence of Keenan,” said sophomore guard Bryan Pasciak.

Guard Darien Gay scored the most points, with 19 for the game. He also had five assists, three rebounds and two steals. Both sophomore guard/forward Lou Williams and Young score 14 points. Williams had five rebounds, two blocks and two assists. Young had six rebounds and a steal.

The win against Northwood guaranteed the Bulldogs a fifth seed in the upcoming GLIAC tournament.

“As far as the tournament, we are going to do the best we could to go as far as we can, this is the first time going to the GLIAC tournament for most of us so it would be a good but different experience,” said Williams.

The Ferris State men’s basketball team faced Grand Valley State at Grand Valley State yesterday in the GLIAC tournament. For results please see the athletic Web site ferris.edu/sports.

The Ferris State Bulldogs’ vigorous season ending schedule has come back to bite them as they have skated to a 1-5 record in their last six games.

With the events unfolding throughout the final weekend of the CCHA, the Bulldogs were past in the standings and fell into ninth place forcing them to head on the road for the first round playoff series.

Most would figure that this wouldn’t be in the Bulldogs best interest as they leave the Dawg Pound and Ewigleben Ice Arena but their 6-9-2 record at home shows that maybe being away might be the better road traveled. While away from Big Rapids, Ferris State is 6-5-4 in opposing teams’ ice arenas with three of the four ties ending in shootout losses.

The CCHA consists of 12 teams with the top four earning a first round playoff bye. The bottom eight teams are split in half with the top four hosting the first round playoff series and the bottom four heading on the road. The playoff series takes place Friday through Sunday in the best of three format with Sunday being an optional decisive third game.

"It's unfortunent that we didnt get home ice," Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels said. "We have had some success against Neb., so we'll be traveling with confidence."

With Ferris State sitting in ninth place after the CCHA’s concluding weekend, they have fallen short of hosting home ice and pack its bags as the bus heads to Omaha, Neb. this weekend. The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) couldn’t improve its CCHA status as they were not active in the conference during the final week of the season due to playing two extra conference games earlier in the season.

The pieces have also fallen in favor for the Bulldogs as they have met with the Mavericks four times already this season. Both universities hosted home weekend series this season; once in the beginning and once in the middle of the season.

The Bulldogs’ fourth conference weekend took place inside the Qwest Center in Omaha as the teams staked to a series split. Ferris State won the opening series contest 3-2 as left winger Mike Embach notched the game winning goal midway through the third period. Earning the victory for the Bulldogs was goaltender Taylor Nelson as he made 29 saves on the evening. In the second game of the series, the Mavericks were able to bounce back and grab the 4-2 victory.

Ferris State would grab four crucial conference points later on in the schedule as UNO traveled to Ewigleben Ice Arena and lost 7-1 and 2-1 in a shootout. Saturday's game was much closer as regulation wasn’t enough as Redmond scored the shootout’s game winning goal and Nelson made 34 saves to boost his record to 3-0 verse the Mavericks.

In the past four years, the Bulldogs have gone 5-5 against UNO as the games have been evened out this season. Ferris State has only won one playoff game in those four years however as they look to turn that around in Omaha.

The three game series will take place this weekend; Friday March 6, Saturday March 7 and a possible Sunday March 8 with the games starting at 7:05 p.m. central time. Look to check the Bulldogs out on the radio or on game tracker through the Ferris State Web site to catch the games. The winner with faceoff with the CCHA champion, Notre Dame.

The GLIAC League Championships meet started off with a bang for the Ferris State men and women’s indoor track and field competitors.

The women’s track once again impressed by finishing in fourth place overall for the tournament. It had seven top ten finishes in the track and field events. Out of those seven top ten finishes, three saw first place finishes, and a second place finish in the Women’s Distance Medley.

Senior Mikinzie Stuart placed first in the one mile run with a time of 4:58.27. She was the only woman to beat the five minute mark in the GLIAC League Championships. She also placed tenth in the 800 Meter Run with a time of 2:19.35.

Sophomore Tina Muir had two first place finishes. One first place finish was in the 5000 Meter Run with a time of 16:57.50, which not only was a NCAA Division II National Provisional qualifying time, but set a meet record. The other was in the Women 3000 Meter Run with a time of 9:51.57. The Women’s Distance Medley was run by the team of Stuart, sophomore Jade Kaufman, sophomore Nikki Wiers and sophomore Paige Onweller.

“We had remarkable performances from many athletes,” said Onweller.

Another women’s track star placing in the top ten were Krystle Wilson who placed fifth in the 400 Meter Dash prelims in 59.83 and seventh in the 200 Meter Dash Prelims with a time of 26.64. The men didn’t have such a great day at the GLIAC League Championships, placing ninth out of the nine teams present.

Three of the men did end up finishing in the top nine. Senior Matt Jozwiak placed second in the Men 800 Meter with a NCAA Division II National Provision qualifying time of 1:53.98 and senior Mike Mangieri placed ninth in the 500 meter run with a time of 15:21.55.

In men’s field, Greg Burns reached a height of 4.73m in Men Pole Vault, which placed him sixth in the event.

The indoor track and field season is over to all except Stuart, Muir, and Jozwiak, who will be competing at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 13-14 in Houston, Texas.