Lions Baseball
Patten Baseball Website
Patten University Baseball and San Francisco Giants partner in donating baseball gloves to Central American villages:
“These pictures were taken in a small village in North East Nicaragua. This is the land of the Miskitu people. It is an indigenous tribe that lives in Eastern Honduras and Nicaragua. The people along the Rio Coco in Northern Nicaragua enjoy playing baseball. It was perhaps taught by the Americans during the Contra-Sandinista war. This group of people were displaced into Honduras and refugee camps during the war and now have moved back to Nicaragua. They picked up the game and have never forgotten it.
There are about 100 children and 50 adults. This village received 22 mitts for their team. No one has ever had a mitt before so they were so excited and thankful to have ones for the game. They used a machete carved bat from local wood until we brought new bats and balls this trip.
There were two additional villages that received about 20 mitts each. The next village up the Coco is Pilpilia. It has about 400 children and 100 adults. They also were most excited to receive the mitts. They thank the Giants and Patten University Baseball for the gift of protection for their hands. Zapatos para la mano (“shoes for the hand” roughly translated in Spanish). The third village that the additional 20 mitts were given to is called Tulinbella. It has about 150 children and 70 adults. They also convey their thanks for your generosity.” – Local Missionary.
The Patten University Lions' baseball program and head coach Darin Wright won it's 100th game in grand fashion today topping 2011 NCAA DIV II West Regional Champions Sonoma State University (SSU), 13-3.
Coming off of their conference opening series loss (1-3) to Concordia of Portland this past weekend in Portland, Oregon, the Lions held their home opener today at Laney College Field versus the SSU Seawolves.
The first inning found the Lions off and running, scoring 3 times in the opening frame. The Lions did not stop there, plating two more in the 5th, five in the 7th, and three more in the 8th.
Though SSU did not play solid defense, committing 8 errors on the day, the Lions offense banged out 14 hits and played errorless defense to solidify the victory. Seven different Lions' hitters were responsible for RBIs. Junior OF/C Jay Almendral went 4-6 with 2 doubles, 1 run, and 2 rbis. Senior C Joey Gonzalez went 3-4 with 1 double, 1 run and 1 rbi. Senior SS/P David Whiteside and Senior P/OF Jesse Madrid each were 2-4 with 1 run and 2 rbis.
The Lions' pitching staff controlled the SSU bats allowing 3 runs and scattering 9 hits on the day. SSU scored 1 run in the top of the 6th and 2 more in the top of the 9th before the final out was made.
For Wright, this marked his 100th victory as a head coach in college (7 seasons, all at Patten). Wright, who wears #99, played for Patten in the 1990s during its initial program, but the program was discontinued in 1997, until its revival in 2005-06. "I'm so very proud of the players and the coaching staff here. They have worked hard for everything they have achieved. We are facing a tough situation here, knowing that this is our last hoorah, and still we go out, day after day, and give 100%....I couldn't be more proud of these guys! From all of the players and coaches that have been apart of this program from the beginning, this is all due to them. From the first recruiting class of guys to this year's, that still come by and help out when they can, cheer us on, give the players tips, offer insight when possible, and to the following coaches who have helped mold these young men's lives; Matt Lisle, Mark Whelan, Barry Ford, David Wolfe, John Bassett, Daniel Silvas, Cleavon Smith, Joey Davis, Josh Harrell, RJ Farrell, Javier Alvarez, Angel Rivera, Charlie Baker, and Carlos Lopez, you men are all the best."
Patten began its program in 2005-06 with Wright (#99) at the helm. The Lions have accumulated 100 wins, 2 post season appearances, 19 scholar-athletes (to date), one player drafted in 2009 in the 33rd round to the Oakland Athletics (Jeremy Wells) and a host of irreplaceable memories over the past 7 seasons. The Lions have been very active in their community, embracing the Champions of Character motto and working hard to bring joy to those around campus and the Bay Area. They have been active in the Make A Wish foundation, community street sweeping and clean ups, visiting kids at the local hospitals, providing clothes and hats to burn victims and other patients, donate food and presents for the holidays, visiting veterans at the VA Hospitals, and have been holding free baseball clinics for all Little League and Babe Ruth organizations in the Bay Area. They have also had players who have been called overseas to serve proudly in our nation's military (Chris Brigham, 2007 & 2009). Another one of the Patten alum, Zack Clarke, has just been given his orders to Afghanistan, he ships out April 2.
This will be the final chapter to Patten's baseball program. Patten University has decided to discontinue its athletic program at the end of this season due to finances.
Athletics
Info here
Lady Lions Softball
PATTEN UNIVERSITY LADY LIONS SOFTBALL
2011-2012 ROSTER
2011-2012 SCHEDULE
Meet our new softball coach, Michael Carpenter:
Michael Carpenter Head Softball Coach, Adjunct Professor, comes to Patten University from Bethany University. The 2011-2012 Season will mark his tenth year coaching, sixth season as a Head Coach. Before the closing of Bethany University in July, Carpenter led the Bruins young program to a 70-117-1 record. Taking over the team with the goal to build a program, Carpenter steadily grew the program in number of players and quality of talent. Carpenter was previously the Assistant Director of Athletics at Bethany University for 5 years. Carpenter brings both experience and recruiting success to Patten, where he is continuing his excellent work taking Lion softball to the next level.
Carpenter played his collegiate baseball at Reedley College, Fresno City College, Oral Roberts University and then transferred to Fresno State. After many injuries, Carpenter transferred to Bethany University to be the teams Most Valuable Player in the inaugural season of Bethany Baseball.
Hopes and expectations are high for the softball program at Patten. Coach Carpenter has pledged to lead the program into successful academic achievement, spiritual formation and strive toward athletic excellence. His commitment to excellence mixed with community support, will help to produce a program that the Patten Community will be proud of.
Carpenter is single and resides in Oakland.
