Baker also spoke well of Dicus
By Steve Behr, sports editor

For starters, in a column printed in Monday’s Watauga Democrat about Will Dicus, I listed several speakers who addressed the crowd at Dicus’s Celebration of Life that was held Sunday. I mistakenly forgot to mention Daniel Baker, a former teammate of Dicus, who also spoke eloquently about his friend.

Dicus died of Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, on June 1.

Linville headed to Princeton
Watauga County resident Mark Linville, a defender from the North Carolina School of Science and Math, will play soccer at Princeton next fall. He is one of six players Princeton has recruited.

Linville played two years at Watauga and two years at Science and Math. According to a Princeton press release, Linville was the 2008 conference player of the year and earned All-South Region honors. He also was all-state in 2006-08 and helped Science and Math win a state championship in 2007.

He was a member of the North Carolina ODP team from 2004-07 and plays club soccer with the under-18 Greensboro Academy Team.

Also signing with Princeton was defender David Dubow, goal keeper Max Gallin, midfielders Andrew Menendez and Lester Nare and forward Matt Sanner.

“We can’t wait for these six guys to join our program,” Princeton coach Jim Barlow said in the release. “All of them have succeeded at a high level with strong academy clubs and they bring skill, athleticism, and experience to every part of the field. We are looking forward to combining this class with a large nucleus of young players who return from the 2008 team. We think they have the potential to do some great things.”

To the big leagues
Of those Appalachian State Mountaineers waiting to hear their names called in the Major League Baseball amateur draft over the next couple of days, closer Zach Quate may go the highest.

Quate developed into a lock-down type closer for the Mountaineers. He was 11-for-11 in save opportunities this year.

His coach, Chris Pollard, feels Quate has a chance to get to the big leagues, saying Quate’s out-pitch, his slider, could be major league in a few years.

“I really feel that Quate, given some breaks and if he’s in the right organization, could pitch in the big leagues,” Pollard said. “I know that’s a strong statement and I don’t want to be unfair to anybody with that statement, but he has that kind of stuff.”