Local grads playing college diamond sports
By Jim Turner


Posted on January 1, 0001 12:00 AM



     Diamond sports are underway, and the Land of Logan has contributed to college baseball and softball teams.
     Returning for a senior season on the baseball mound, Bryan Fuller of Lewisburg is off to a good start for Campbellsville University baseball. During the past three seasons, the former Logan County High School star has been a steady performer for the Tigers for three years, including being an Academic All-American as a junior.
     Going into this weekend, Fuller had a 3-1 record on the mound with a save. In seven appearances, he has pitched 14.1 innings. He has given up 8 hits, 4 walks and 6 runs, only half of them earned for a 1.88 earned run average. Facing 58 batters, he’s thrown 3 wild pitches and hit 5 batters. Opponents are batting only .174 against him.
     The Tigers have a 22-4 record overall, including a 9-1 conference record. They are 15-1 at home.
     In a remarkable sophomore season, Fuller was strictly a reliever with a 4-1 record and a team-best 2.80 earned run average. He struck out 33 batters and walked only 7. Last year he was used both as a starter and a reliever. He was 4-3 with a 4.63 ERA. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 29/6 and opposing hitters batted just .231 against him.

     A pair of brothers are teammates at Mid-Continent College. Senior Corey Adler and freshman Cobey Adler are also roommates at the Mayfield school. They are former LCHS players.
     Corey is in his fourth year pitching for the college team, which is also known as Cougars.  He has appeared in seven games, six of them in relief, and has not been the pitcher of record in any of them. In 6.2 innings, he has allowed 20 hits, 19 runs (14 of them earned) and 4 walks. He has struck out 6 opponents.
    The elder Adler had pitched in 24 games going into this season, 17 of them as a starter. As a freshman in 2006, Corey was a member of Mid-Continent's National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA) Mideast Regional champion team that placed fourth in the NCCAA National Tournament.
    Cobey pitched for the Cougars in the district and regional tournaments last year, but he is being used as an outfielder by new coach Shawn Yarbrough. In the most recent statistics released by the college, he was hitting .250 (3 for 12) with a double, 5 walks and being hit by a pitch. He had struck out 7 times, but had scored 10 runs. In his only start so far, he went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored against St. Louis Christian. On defense he had 5 putouts with an assist and an error.
     Mid-Continent is 9-26 on the season. The Cougars beat Union University of Tennessee Saturday 10-9 to end a 38-game conference losing streak.
     Pitching for Shawnee Community College in Illinois is John Kenner, also a former Cougar. Kenner got a big win in relief recently against the Saints’ biggest rival, Illinois Central. He allowed no runs in 4 2/3 innings to pick up the win in Shawnee’s conference opener, a 6-4 win.
     The Saints took the series 2-1 to run their record to 9-4 on the season.
     Primarily a starter, Kenner is 3 -0 -1 for the season, with an ERA of 3.0 in 19 2/3 innings pitched. The tie was against Kaskaski College, which at the time was ranked in the top ten in junior college rankings. He had one win in Florida and one in Arkansas plus the win in Marion, Ill. that you read about on the web page. He had been scheduled to pitch just south of Chicago this weekend but it was postponed because of inclement weather.
     John Starks is the only Russellville baseball player on a college team. He is in his third year of playing both baseball and football at Centre College. Through March 20, he had a .206 batting average while playing 10 games, 9 of them as a starter. In 24 at bats, he had 7 hits, 2 doubles, 2 walks, 2 hits-by-pitches, 6 runs and 5 RBIs. He had struck out 17 times.
     The Colonels were 20-17 overall, 8-8 in the conference and 13-9 at home.
     Coincidentally, Starks also batted .206 in his sophomore season. John Starks: He started nine games last year, with 7 hits including 2 doubles and 5 RBIs.
     LCHS graduate Brittany Roark is the only freshman on Kentucky Wesleyan’s softball roster. She’s also the team’s tallest player at 5-9. Roark knew success as a Lady Cougar softball, basketball and volleyball player. She also suffered from some serious knee injuries.
     She has played in three college games so far, going 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
     Sophomore Zach Knuckles and freshman Tyler Johnson are members of the Lindsey Wilson College junior varsity baseball team. No stats are available on the team’s website.
     In varsity action, Lindsey Wilson broke Campbellville’s nine-game conference win streak Friday with a 14-11 win, but the Raiders are only 3-6 in the conference.




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