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GREENSBORO -- The NCAA baseball tournament resumes today with 16 teams left in the Super Regional round.

Clint Moore's team isn't one of them. Army fell short in the regionals, but certainly not for a lack of effort.

Nobody -- absolutely nobody -- worked harder this season than the Black Knights.

Need proof? Here's a typical non-game day for Moore, a West Point sophomore from Greensboro who made North Carolina's all-state team as a senior at Grimsley:

* 6:15 a.m.: Reveille, wake up and put on the cadet uniform.

* 8 7-7:15 a.m.: Mandatory breakfast.

* 7:30-11:50 a.m.: Classes.

* Noon-12:30 p.m.: Lunch.

* 12:30-1:30 p.m.: An hour set aside to do schoolwork, attend military briefings or take Professional Military Ethics Education classes.

* 1:50-3:00 p.m.: Classes.

* 3:20-6:30 p.m.: Baseball practice. "I can guarantee that nobody in the country goes as hard as we do at practice," Moore said. "The way our coach (Joe Sottolano) pushes us, and the attention to detail and all the different drills we do &ellipses; prepares us well."

* 6:45-7:30 p.m.: Dinner.

* 7:30-11 p.m.: Mandatory study period.

* 11:30 p.m.: Taps, all cadets must be in their rooms. (Moore said the baseball players typically do more homework until 12:30 or 1 a.m.)

"Then you get up in the morning and do it again," Moore said. "That's the hard part: There's not much time for sleep -- ever."

Sleep deprived or not, Army was darn good this season. And so was Moore.

The Black Knights got off to a slow start -- they were 10-13 on April 4 -- but they won 20 of their final 25 games, won the Patriot League title and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005. Army went 2-2 at the double-elimination regionals, losing competitive 3-1 and 14-10 to host Texas.

And Moore? The Patriot League's rookie of the year in 2008, he was Army's best hitter this season, runner-up by two votes for league player of the year and one of 15 semifinalists for the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation's best shortstop.

The No. 3 batter in the Black Knights' lineup, Moore hit a team-high .395 -- finishing one hit short of .400 -- and led Army in slugging (.724), on-base percentage (.494) and extra-base hits (34). He drove in 63 runs in 53 games and ranked among the top three on the team in every offensive category except at-bats (fifth, 185) and sacrifice bunts (2).

In addition to the offense, Moore handled 242 chances with just seven errors, a .971 fielding percentage.

Moore and third baseman J.P. Polchinski -- a senior from Jamestown who starred at Ragsdale -- started on the left side of Army's infield and together led the team in toughness. Moore was hit by pitches 12 times and Polchinski 10 times, tops on a team that had 78 HBPs in 56 games.

"One thing I bet no one else in the country does is we have hit-by-pitch drills," Moore said. "Coach just sits there and throws at us. You learn to stay tight and not get out of the way of pitches. It's hard to get used to, but it's really helpful. Most people try to get out of the way, but if you get hit, it's a baserunner. It's just another way we score runs, and I guess it toughens you up a little bit."

Moore will turn 20 later this month while on duty at Fort Benning in Georgia. He and fellow sophomore Ben Koenigsfeld -- who went 8-4 as a pitcher and batted .342 as an infielder this season -- are spending a few quiet days in Greensboro before reporting there Monday.

They'll spend three-and-half weeks on CTLT duty, shadowing an army unit in the summer heat. Then it's back to West Point, where as juniors they'll lead incoming freshmen through basic training. Moore's kid sister, Megan, will be among those new plebes.

And while other rising juniors at elite college programs wonder about next spring's Major League draft, Moore and Koenigsfeld and the rest of Army's team are focused on -- in order -- duty, honor, country and baseball.

"As soon as we set foot in the first class of our junior year, that's when you're committed to do your five years in the army," Moore said. "We all know that."

For these soldiers, the pro sports draft rules are fuzzy.

But it doesn't matter. They're soldiers, and the nation comes before the national pastime.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com