Adam Ness, of Farmington, and Ty Tice, of Prairie Grove, have grown up competing against one another on the baseball diamond something Ness is looking forward to continuing at the collegiate level.
The ink was still wet on Ness' signature when drama manifested among the UALR baseball program.
At the time Adam Ness signed a national letter of intent in early June, then UALR coach Scott Norwood had just wrapped up his seventh season as head coach at UALR.
The NCAA Division I Trojans were 25-29 overall in 2014 with an 11-19 record in the Sun Belt Conference. While they were tough at home, going 20-11 at Gary Hogan Field, the Trojans struggled on the road winning just five times against 18 losses.
Norwood lead ULAR's program to only their seventh Sun Belt Tournament appearance during 2013 with 13 Sun Belt victories marking UALR's second-highest conference win total in program history.
All that changed with Norwood's resignation June 9, following an internal investigation in which Norwood was cleared by UALR administrators. Among things they looked into was Norwood's role in an April 2 bench-clearing brawl during a non-conference game with their in-state rival, UCA.
The head baseball position remained open until UALR announced the hiring of Little Rock native Chris Curry as the new head baseball coach on July 19. Curry played seven years as part of the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs organizations, then went to Northwestern University as pitching coach for the past two years.
With off-season drama now in the past, Ness looks to his future as a collegiate student/athlete. Ness will major in Systems Engineering, explaining, "That's actually why I chose UALR. In fact, that's my best place to go to for both engineering and baseball."
Meanwhile Tice signed with UCA following a stellar senior season for Prairie Grove and played on what will be his home collegiate field in the 2014 Arkansas Coaches Association All-Star baseball doubleheader June 24 at Bear Stadium on the UCA campus at Conway.
The teams played nearly even in the doubleheader with the West losing to the East, 5-4, in game one; then coming back to earn a split by winning game two, 7-6, with Tice getting the save. He was named outstanding player for the West.
"You know we worked around an error," Tice said. "I had to trust those guys behind me but it was fun to get to play on my home field."
"I'll always be from Prairie Grove. I always want to represent Prairie Grove well," Tice said. "It's been a great ride, it's been fun. Every bit of it I've enjoyed. Great people and great baseball, it's been fun."
"We've been playing against each other our entire lives. It's been a lot of fun," Ness said, describing the last two high school baseball seasons as a fun couple of years.
"I betcha I've known Ty since I was three years old and it's been fun competing against him and actually get to keep competing against him. UCA and UALR play twice a year."
Perhaps, Ness and Tice can help inject sportsmanship back into the Arkansas collegiate diamond rivalry although they both know neither one is going to give an inch once competition starts.
That's a scenario they've rehearsed over and over up and down U.S. 62 wherever they've met on a baseball diamond. Now, they are privileged to take their personal rivalry to an even bigger stage.
Sports on 08/13/2014