Rangers select Richardson to guide Crawdads in 2012

Bill Richardson will return to manage the Hickory Crawdads in their 20^th anniversary season.

The Crawdads’ major league parent club, the Texas Rangers, announced Wednesday they’ll have Richardson at the helm for the third straight season.

Also back from last year’s staff will be pitching coach Storm Davis, plus athletic trainer Jacob Newburn and conditioning coach Anthony Miller.

Joining the Crawdads for the first time will be hitting coach Josue Perez and coach Humberto Miranda.

Hickory opens the South Atlantic League season on April 5 at Kannapolis and plays its first home game on April 12 against Asheville.

Richardson, 51, guided the Crawdads to a 79-58 record last season and a first-half Northern Division title. He is second in all-time wins by a Crawdads manager with 154 and needs 12 victories to move to No. 1.

This will be Richardson’s sixth season in the Texas organization. He previously coached the Arizona League Rangers (rookie) for three years.

Davis, 50, coached a Hickory pitching staff last year that lead the SAL in strikeouts (1,199) and had an ERA of 3.77. Davis previously coached at the Bolles Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., and won 113 big league games while pitching for five different teams.

Perez, 35, has spent six seasons in the Rangers’ system and he was most recently the hitting coach at short-season Class A Spokane (Wash.). He played eight season in the minor league systems of the Dodgers, Phillies and Rangers.

Miranda, 23, was an infield instructor last season with a Rangers rookie league team in Surprise, Ariz. He played college baseball at Northwood University.

-- The Crawdads’ Hot Stove Banquet is scheduled Jan. 30 at Rock Barn Golf and Spa.

The banquet begins with a social at 6:15 p.m. and dinner is at 7 p.m., and it will be highlighted by a discussion session featuring former Hickory pitching coach Dave Lundquist, former Crawdads Neil Ramirez (pitcher) and Josh Bonifay (infielder) and former third baseman Chris Mader.

There will also be previews of area college and high school teams and a silent auction.

Tickets are $25 and are available by calling the Crawdads at 322-3000. Group tables are available (eight seats) for $200. Tickets for this season’s games are also available by calling the Crawdads offices.

BASKETBALL

CVCC 62, Guilford Tech 59

Martrice Sweezy and Vivian Adams combined for half of Catawba Valley Community College’s points in a home women’s basketball victory on Wednesday night.

Sweezy scored 17 points and Adams had 14 to lead the Bucs to their 14^th victory of the season. They are 14-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play.

CVCC erased a 34-18 halftime deficit to beat Guilford Tech.

HCA schedules games for Coaches vs. Cancer

Hickory Christian Academy’s Coaches versus Cancer basketball games are scheduled Jan. 27 against visiting Statesville Christian.

The games begin at 4:30 p.m. with junior varsity boys, followed by the varsity girls at 6 p.m. and the varsity boys at 7:30 p.m.

Both schools are currently raising money, and that will continue through game night.

The games will feature pledges, half-court shootouts and a silent auction of items autographed by different people involved in college and pro sports.

The games are being played in honor of cancer survivors from the HCA staff,

Hickory Christian Academy athletic director and head boys’ basketball coach Gary Bowne, formerly head coach at St. Stephens High, is a member of the council for the National Coaches Vs. Cancer games.

FOOTBALL

2 LRU football players selected All-American

Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Michael Green and Chandler Rearden have been named to the 2011 Beyond Sports College Network (BSCN) All-America football team for NCAA Division II.

Green, a sophomore return specialist from Kingsland, Ga., was picked for the second team after leading the South Atlantic Conference in punt return average at 18 yards per return.

Rearden, a senior offensive lineman, was also named second-team. He was also named an All-American in December by Daktronics after making All-SAC three times and winning the league’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy twice.

Brandon Martin, a junior defensive lineman for LRU, received honorable mention from BSCN