Awards and speeches, not hits and stolen bases, began the 2009 baseball season.

The Horned Frogs attended the sixth annual First Pitch Banquet Friday night at Ridglea Country Club in the presence of a four-time World Series champion.

The team was proud to welcome Bobby Brown, four-time World Series winner and former American League president, as the keynote speaker for the evening.

There are many things college campuses could do without. One of them is gossip.

College gossip Web site JuicyCampus.com shut down citing the economic downturn, which left the site without sufficient resources to support its "exponential growth."

Advertising companies involved with JuicyCampus soon realized the harmful nature of the Web site and decided to pull their ads. Google and AdBrite pulled their ad platforms from the Web site, bringing some bad press for JuicyCampus.

A program connecting students with disabilities to federal sector employers nationwide will come to campus for the first time Friday, a career services official said.

Kimshi Hickman, associate director of employer relations for Career Services, said a representative for The Workforce Recruitment Program will interview students with learning, mental and physical disabilities who want to enter the federal workforce.

The baseball team's newest additions on offense and defense have big shoes to fill after the departure of some important players from last year's team. But with the aid of the team's veterans, the newest Horned Frogs are already starting to fit in, the head coach said.

New to the Horned Frog infield this year will be freshman shortstop Taylor Featherston out of Taylor High School in Houston. Featherston was ranked as the 28th top prospect in Texas, according to Inside Prep Baseball.

A radio-TV-film alumnus will share with students his experience editing movie trailers, as well as the transition from college to entering the entertainment industry.

Chris St. Pierre will be speaking at 8:30 p.m. Monday in Moudy South 164.

St. Pierre said he works for MOJO, a post-production advertising company that edits trailers for movies such as "Watchmen," "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," the "Harry Potter" movie series, "300" and "I am Legend."

With steady aim and help from a young gun, the rifle team is looking to stay in Fort Worth come NCAA Championship time.

Coming off last season where the women's rifle team finished third in the nation, head coach Karen Monez is optimistic about the team's prospects for the rest of the spring.

The last competition of the season is the NCAA qualifier match against the Air Force Academy where Monez said it isn't crucial that the team wins, but that the team has to shoot a high score to qualify for the championship.

As the equestrian team prepares for a game against Sacred Heart University at their home field in Mansfield on Feb. 7, the women riding Western style are focused on defending the national title while the hunt seat style riders aim at making a name for themselves in the national competition.

Head coach Gary Reynolds said he feels confident in the ability of his riders.

"I expect continued success with the Western team," Reynolds said. "We'll bring our hunt seat team up to compete at a national level. I expect Final Four for both teams."

A study abroad program that will include field trips, hiking to waterfalls, traveling to historic sites and studying at a West African university is in the works, a university professor said.

Komla Aggor, professor of Spanish and program director of the trip, said he knew when he came to the university two years ago that he wanted to establish a study abroad program in Ghana to expose students to culture that are often misunderstood or misrepresented.

You know you picked the right sport when playing it involves walking along the ocean in Puerto Rico, which is exactly where the women's golf team will begin its spring season Sunday.

The Lady Puerto Rico Classic, hosted by Purdue University, will be the Horned Frogs' first tournament since the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown in October.

The Puerto Rico tournament will be held at the Coco Beach Golf and Country Club in Rio Grande and is scheduled to last Sunday through Tuesday.