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Carl Lancaster, who played college ball at Chowan and UNC-Wilmington, judiciously spreads his 4 1/2 scholarships valued at $19,000 each around to players near and far. He has deep recruiting roots in North Carolina and Virginia.

Assistant Rob Watt is well connected in Canada and the Midwest, and pitching coach Aaron Akin has key contacts in Kansas and Florida.

"Our biggest nemesis [in recruiting] at one time was that people said there wasn't a lot to do in Mount Olive,'' Lancaster said. "Now we are recruiting players who are not worried about how much night life there is. We tell 'em, 'You come here to play baseball and get a solid education. If you want to party and cut up, we recommend going to a larger city.' "

That doesn't mean players spend all their down time in class and on the field.

"We go to the beach in Wilmington, and on a day off, go fishing in a little pond,'' Sherrer said. "I like the environment here."

Cooper enjoys basking in the warmer weather and amiable atmosphere.

"It was a little adjustment when I got here,'' said Cooper, who is from chilly Edmonton, Alberta. "I like the small town and you get to know everybody."

But when there's work to do, count on the Trojans.

Lancaster, down-home friendly with a macho mustache and Eastern North Carolina drawl, pointed to the team grade-point average of above 3.0 the past five semesters. And with no full-time grounds crew, each Trojan also has field chores, from dragging the diamond to picking up trash. One day recently, the pitching staff, wielding shovels before practice, moved the bullpen.

This is all happening on a field named in 1980 after the late Ray Scarborough, who lived in Mount Olive, pitched in the major leagues, helped design the park and started the baseball program. It's also a place that, with more prolific pitching, hard hitting and no bad hops, could have a national championship pennant waving high above the outfield fence.

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