Sports sponsorship: Elms College has announced it will add baseball as the school's 16th varsity sport. The program will begin with a full competitive schedule in the spring of 2005. "Since the college went co-ed five years ago, we have continued to analyze athletics programs that would attract new students as well as appeal to our current students," said Elms President Joachim W. Froelich. "Our first step was to add both men's and women's volleyball last year. Adding baseball is the next logical step in help the college in its transition to co-education." Donald R. LaValley, currently the Elms College men's golf coach, will relinquish his golf duties to serve as the first coach of the baseball program.

Facilities: The University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, recently conducted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Student Athletic Complex. The facility, scheduled for completion by the end of September, will be a two-story building with a student-athlete learning center, a computer room, reception area, conference room and workrooms. It also will include storage and office space for the women's softball and women's and men's soccer programs. The new facility also will house offices for assistant football coaches and the stadium director, and it will include space designed for team study, team meetings, reviewing game films and displaying trophies and awards ... The Riesenberg Gymnasium Aquatic Center at State University of New York Maritime College has been upgraded with the installation of a new timing and training system, the System 6 Sports Timer. The new system will coordinate and compile incoming information from the start systems, touch pads, relay judging platforms, backup buttons and remote judging terminals for diving, sending all of the information to scoreboards and other meet management software and hardware. The school also is resurfacing its Rheinhart Field, home to Maritime's lacrosse, baseball, softball and men's soccer teams, with AstroPlay turf.

Milestones: Rick Ferchen, head baseball coach at State University College at Oneonta, recently recorded his 500th career victory. He just completed his 22nd season overall and his eighth season with the Red Dragons. His overall record is 504-382-3, and he has had seven 20-win seasons at Oneonta State ... Jim Miller, head baseball coach at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, won his 400th career game this season. Miller retired at the end of the season, his 17th as coach at Wisconsin-Whitewater and his 34th as a member of the school's athletics and physical education staff. Wisconsin-Whitewater held a "Jim Miller Recognition Day" in April to honor Miller. Speakers included current school Chancellor Jack Miller and several Wisconsin state legislators ... University of Chicago baseball coach Brian Baldea earned his 200th career victory recently. Baldea, who also serves as assistant chairman of the department of physical education and athletics, has been at Chicago since 1991 ... Brady Lindsley, head men's tennis coach at Carthage College, notched his 100th career win this season with a victory over Illinois Wesleyan University. Miscellaneous: The National Association of Division III Athletics Administrators (NADIIIAA) has announced the recipients of this year's NADIIIAA/Jostens Community Service Awards, which recognize Division III institutions for impressive community-service projects performed by their student-athletes the previous year. The winners this year in each of three award categories are: Stevens Institute of Technology; University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire; and Ohio Northern University. In addition to receiving trophies, each institution will receive a $1,000 gift from Jostens and NADIIIAA to its general scholarship fund. "The quality of the nominations makes the selection process extremely difficult," said NADIIIAA president Gary Karner, commissioner of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. "It is very gratifying to see the many ways Division III student-athletes give back to their campuses and local communities on a regular basis. We also truly appreciate Jostens for its support of

NADIIIAA and for its support of this special award" ... The Hope College men's tennis team made conference history this spring by handing Kalamazoo College its first league dual match defeat in men's tennis since 1962. Kalamazoo had won 241 consecutive Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) victories before the loss, which ended Kalamazoo's 30-year reign as regular-season conference champions. Kalamazoo was able to come back and edge Hope at the conference tournament, grabbing a share of the conference title and keeping alive its string of 65 consecutive conference tournament titles. Hope had its best dual match season in 41 years, finishing 15-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play. -- Compiled by Kay Hawes