Keith Rose (Harwich, MA) has picked up right where he left off last season. One year ago, Rose earned NCAA Division III All-America status in the javelin when he finished fourth in the national championship meet with a throw of 196-10. En route to becoming UMass Dartmouth's 47th Division III All America track and field athlete, Rose set the Corsairs' school record with a throw of 203-3 last spring.

One year later, Rose has competed twice this season and captured first place in one meet and qualified for the NCAA national championship meet in the other. Two weeks ago, Rose's javelin throw of 182-7 earned him first place at the Rhode Island College Relays. Last Saturday afternoon in a meet hosted by Tufts University, Rose threw the javelin 197-8, good enough to qualify him for a second straight appearance in the NCAA national championship meet.

Laura Caselden (Westfield, MA) became UMass Dartmouth's first woman to qualify for the 1997 New England Division III meet by posting a 400-meters time of 1:03.40 in a meet held last Saturday at Tufts University.

The other big story at the Tufts University meet was the performance of first-year performer Natarsha Silva (Brockton, MA). In only her second outing this spring for the Corsairs, Silva captured first place in both the 100 meters and long jump and posted a second in the 200 meters. Silva's :12.69 earned her first place in the 100 meters and later, she jumped 16-9 1/2 to win the long jump. Silva's time of :26.88 in the 200 meters placed her second in the field. Teammate Maura McDonald (Greenfield,MA) had a strong showing in the 3000 meters, finishing second with a time of 10:46.03. Julie Briggs (Jefferson, MA) finished sixth in the hammer with a toss of 127-8.

After taking three of their first four games, Coach Bruce Wheeler's Corsairs won four more games and dropped three to close out their 11-game California trip with a 7-4 record. Weather permitting, the Corsairs will get the New England portion of their schedule underway this week with games scheduled April 1 at Bridgewater (note: game cancelled on March 31) before the home opener slated for Thursday, April 3 against Springfield.

Scoring runs in bunches was not a problem for UMass Dartmouth on this year's California trip. Against Redlands University on March 25, UMass Dartmouth pounded out 15 runs and 22 hits but ended up on the short end of a 16-15 score. Three runs by Redlands in the bottom of the eighth gave them the victory. Brandt Wajda (Milford, MA) took the loss on the mound (0-1). Eric Alberto (Fall River, MA) and Jeff Cross (Holden, MA) led UMass Dartmouth with four hits each. Also adding to the 22-hit attack were Mike O'Leary (W. Roxbury, MA) (2-5 1 RBI), Pat Schultz (Wareham, MA) (3-5, HR, 2 RBI), Eli Munkholm (Salem,MA) (3-5, 2 RBI), Steve Pereira (New Bedford, MA) (3-5, RBI) and Isidro Fonseca (New Bedford, MA) (3-5, 2 RBI). The Corsairs scored lots of runs again the following day, March 26, and this time it led to a victory as UMass Dartmouth beat Occidental College, 15-3. Ryan Pinto (New Bedford, MA) scattered seven hits and allowed three runs to pick up a complete-game victory, his first of the season (1-1). Alberto sparked the Corsairs' with a pair of home runs and another perfect 4-4 day with eight RBI. Munkholm was also 4-4 with an RBI, while Derek Handler (Harwich, MA) had three hits and Pereira, Cross and Schultz added two hits each.

The Corsairs hit double figures for the third day in a row on March 27 in a 12-9 win over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. A three-run ninth gave the Corsairs another victory with Wajda getting the decision to even his record at 1-1. Schultz had a his third home run of the trip as one of his four hits in six trips, while Fonseca was 4-5. Handler had three hits and two RBI while Pereira and O'Leary added two hits each. The double-figures streak for runs hit four in a row in a 13-5 win over Emory University in the first game of the Claremont Invitational Tournament, March 29. Pereira picked up his second win of the season (2-0) with a complete-game victory, giving up five runs on eight hits. A six-run eighth blew the game wide open for UMass Dartmouth. The Corsairs had 17 hits led by Shultz's two home runs (3-5, 6 RBI), along with three hits each from Cross and O'Leary plus Andre Gabryjelski's (Methuen, MA) 2-4 and one RBI.

Claremont Colleges scored four in the first and four more in the second on the way to an 18-3 victory in the tournament's second game later the same day. The Corsairs were held to eight hits and Steve Lauzon (Lincoln, RI) took the loss, dropping his record to 1-1. O'Leary went 3-3 and Schultz had a hit plus two RBI. The Corsairs advanced to the tournament's championship game by knocking off Little East Conference rival Eastern Connecticut, 19-10 on March 29. UMass Dartmouth Sean Donovan (Quincy, MA) pitched into the seventh inning to pick up his first win of the season. The Corsairs bats were working overtime again with O'Leary hitting his second HR of the trip and Schultz adding his sixth HR. Cross and Handler had three hits each while O'Leary and Pereira had two hits and four RBI each. Cross had three hits and as many RBI and Alberto and Schultz added two hits each.

Emory University took the Claremont Colleges Tournament title by scoring three in the second and four in the third on its way to a 15-8 win over UMass Dartmouth in the Corsairs' last game, March 29. Lauzon (1-2), the Corsairs' starter, took the loss. Pereira had his third home run of the trip to go along with a double. This was UMass Dartmouth's second appearance in a tournament title game, having dropped an 11-5 game to California Lutheran in the finals of the California Invitational Tournament, March 23.

Munkholm led the regulars on the trip with a .538 batting average (14-26) followed by Cross (.480), then Handler, Fonseca and Shultz tied at .470. Shultz led the Corsairs with six home runs, 18 runs scored, 25 hits, and 19 RBI. Cross had a team-high 13 walks [tied with John Connole (Auburn, MA)] and a pair of triples to tie with Alberto. Handler had six doubles and did not strike out in 46 at bats.

The Corsairs three-game swing through Fort Myers, FL last week got off on a very good start when UMass Dartmouth pushed four runs across in the top of the first in their season-opener against Lawrence University. UMass Dartmouth upped the lead to 5-0 before Lawrence came back with two in the third, two more in the fourth before putting the game away with five more in the bottom of the fifth for the 10-5 final. Audrey Sanford (Tiverton, RI) took the first of three losses on the mound for Coach Marilyn Ritz's Corsairs.

In the second game, the Corsairs offense was held in check on a no-hit performance by Kelly King of St. Mary's of Minnesota. UMass Dartmouth scored once in the top of the fifth, but by then the game was out of reach with St. Mary's taking a 12-1 decision. UMass Dartmouth's offense got back in action against Union College in the last of the three-game Gene Cusick Collegiate Classic but the big inning gave the Corsairs problems again. A six-run second put UMass Dartmouth in a hole they couldn't climb out of the rest of the way. Jennifer McGuinness (E. Taunton, MA) and Maureen Maloney (Blackstone, MA) led the Corsairs' offense. McGuinness, the Corsairs' top hitter on the trip at .429, went 3-3 with a triple and her first home run of the season and Maloney added two hits in three at bats.

Weather permitting, UMass Dartmouth is scheduled to open the New England portion of its schedule this week with a couple of tough games. On April 1, Bridgewater State is scheduled to come to Dartmouth (note: game was postponed on March 31) before travelling to Salve Regina for an afternoon game Thursday, April 3. This Sunday, April 6, the Corsairs will travel to Danbury, CT for a doubleheader with Little East Conference rival, Western Connecticut State University.

Coach John Rolli's ECAC North-Central-South champions placed three players on the 1996-97 ECAC Central All-Star Team. Captain Marc Salvi (Cheshire, MA) earned First Team honors at forward, while teammate Kayne Beaudry (Melrose, MA) was named as a First Team defenseman. Goalie Ryan Sloper (Billerica, MA) shared First Team honors in goal with Bob Chancio of St. Michael's College. Salvi was UMass Dartmouth's second leading scorer with 15 goals and 29 assists for 44 points. Beaudry (2-22-24) was part of an outstanding UMass Dartmouth defensive unit that led the Corsairs to the ECAC North-Central-South title. Sloper finished the season with an 11-3-1 record with two shutouts and a 2.55 goals against average......The UMass Dartmouth Sports Information Line is up and running, providing up-to-date scores and results of the Corsairs' athletic teams. Call (508) 999-8751 and follow the menu to obtain daily schedules and results along with other special announcements from the UMass Dartmouth Sports Information office. The line is updated daily and available free of charge, 24 hours a day.