The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 06, 1951, Page Page Six, Image 6
RALPa GRE3ORY, Sports R&hAW
Norm. Bergman Fred MeAfllster
Den Daomsa George LaBraes
Frank Wright James B. Sims
RALPH GREGORY:
-----------------------
Well, as we said earlier, the Gamecock baseball team is
certainly going to be hurt by inexperience. In their first five
games the Birds have managed to win only once. The one
win was a three-hit shutout by Grady Faircloth. Inexperience
in the form of mental lapses has cost at least two victories.
While at times the defensive play has looked sharp in a tight
situation the boys seem to freeze up in the field.
The main fault, however, is the inability to hit. The team
is averaging less than six hits per game and in the clutch
these are hard to get. There is no real power althpu4h Walt
Shea shows once in a while that he can give the b I te.
There are a few bright spots in the situation, however, and
one of these is in the pitching department where Coach Ted
Petoskey expected to have his greatest strength. Faircloth
went 18 innings without allowing an earned run. One of these
games was lost 4-3 to Michigan State mainly because of the
sloppy defense displayed by the Bird infield. Six errors were
charged against the Gamecocks while they could muster only
six hits.
The big gun on offense so far has been Billy Stephens.
Alternating between short and third Billy has pounded out
a .412 batting average for the first five games. Against Duke
he picked up five hits in two games. Walt Shea was a big
help in the first three games but his hitting power tapered
off against Duke.
Next week may prove decisive insofar as the Birds are
concerned with conference play. They travel to Clemson Mon
day and Tuesday to play the Tigers in a pair. Friday and
Saturday they will again be on the road. Friday they face
Wake Forest, top rated baseball team in the conference and
Saturday it will be Duke again.
All these are conference games and it will take at least a
split in the four games to keep in the running for a first di
vision berth.
Boxers in NCAA
Last night in East Lansing, Michigan three of the Game
cock boxers faced first round opponents in the NCAA box
ing championship tourney. For two of the Birds it will mark
the first NCAA meet while the other went to the finals four
years ago.
Emmett Gurney, who won the SIBT last week, was one
of the highly regarded fighters entered in the 145-pound
class. Only a sophomore this is Gurney's first NCAA meet.
The other two entries stand a good chance to walk off with
the national title, too. Chuck Davis, a 135-pounder, was
beaten in the SIBT last week but many observers thought
Chuck was given a bad decision. Davis lost to Maryland's
Andy Quattrochi, whom he had decisively beaten earlier in
the year. The last fight was close and could have been called
either way. A
Chuck Spann is the other member who is trying for the
top prize. Chuck was entered way back in 1947 and fought
his way to the finals where he lost a very unpopular decision.
Chuck is determined to take the title this year and if he hap
pens to land that lethal right a couple of times he may walk
away with it.
Groat, The Great?
When Duke came to town last weekend they brought one
of the South's most publicized athletes along as regular short
stop. Besides being a potential All-American in basketball,
~aviflbroken the national scoring record, Dick Groat is con
sidered a major league baseball prospect. When he hit town,
Groat was hitting in the neighborhood of .550. When he left
it was nearer .600.
That sounds like heavy hitting but, as a matter of fact,
no. He got seven hits in the series but only one of these was
hit with any degree of solidness. Most of the hits were fluke
singles that humped over the infield too close in for the out
fielders to catch. If Groat is that skilled at placing the ball
maybe he is major league material, but it looked more like he
carries a big horseshoe.
One thing to his credit is the smooth game he plays afield.
He booted one in the first game but handled about 15 chances
in the two games with only the one error.
Despite the lofty average we go for the solid hits instead
of the banjo type singles.
Going Somewhere?.
.9 Travel Refreshed
COLUMBIA COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO.
1015 Maina Street
Three (
Baseballers Leave
Facing Clemson, 1
After a week's layoff the base
ball team goes back into action
next week with a heavy schedule
numbering four games, all on the
road. The Birds play Clemson Mon.
day and Tuesday in Clemson then
travel to North Carolina for games
with Wake Forest and Duke.
Coach Ted Petoskey took ad
vantage of the layoff to work on
defense, something that was totally
lacking in the series with Duke and
Michigan State. Batting drills
were also scheduled in an attempt
to sharpen a few hitting eyes.
The Gamecocks had a disastrous
home stand losing three consecu
tive games last week. The lack of
base hits was the train trouble
against the visitors. Only Billy
Stephens had anything resembling
success with the offerings of the
Duke and MSU hurlers.
In facing Clemson, the Game
cocks will meet a team that has
been rated QiV ,q*e tops in the
conference but has been slow start.
ing. The Tigers have almost a full
team returning from last year's
squad that beat the Gamecocks
three out of four games.
The Wake Forest and Duke
Injury Keep
From Third
By JAMES B. SIMS
A broken hand kept Carolina's
Jim Briggman from winning his
third Southern Invitational boxing
crown. Briggman went into the
finals at Baton Rouge nursing the
bad hand. He was defeated by Don
Oliver of Maryland. Jim had tagged
two defeats on Oliver in previous
matches.
It wasn't a very nice way for
Jim to bow out as a Bird boxer,
but the Orangeburg lad built up
quite a few wins in his stay here.
His record stands at 24 wins, 8
losses and four ties. Two of those
wins included his two SIBT titles.
Briggman possessed the ability
to keep the other fellow's gloves
from landing solidly, one of his
main assets, and had a good left
hook to worry his opponents. Em
mett Gurney, the only Bird boxer
to win the SIBT title this year,
said Briggman is a hard boy to hit.
Chris Hitopoulous, assistant
coach, speaking of Jim before the
Birds took off for the tournament,
had this to say, "Briggman employs
an unorthodox style, and his op
ponents never know where his next
punch is coming from or what type
of blow it will be. He is one of
the most underrated boys on our
team but we can count on him to
come through most of the time."
Briggman has taken on some of
the best boxers in college competi
tion since coming here in 1948. He
has beaten guys like Eddie Reider,
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Home Next Week
Vake Forest, Duke
nines are two of the hottest teams
in the conference and are expected
to finish one-two in the season's
race. Wake Forest' is undefeated
while Duke has lost only once.
Intramurals
By FRANK WRIGHT
Intramural softball started Tues
day, April 8, on Melton Field. In
the first day's play, Tenement 24%
defeated Tenement 29 by the score
of 11 to 7. Also, on the first day
Pi Kappa Alpha defeated Lambda
Chi by the overwhelming score of
18 to 0.
The softball program is carried
on under the direction of the In
tramural Department. All games
are played under the official rules
of the American Softball Associa
tion.
There are two fraternity leagues
with six teams each. Independent
League No. 1 has five teams and
Independent League No. 2 has six
teams. All teams will play five
games except those in Independent
League No. 1 and they will play
four.
s Briggman
SIBT Title
former national- champion. Reider
is the boy Jim beat for his 155
pound SIBT crown here in 1949.
Last year he beat Timmy Wiggins i
of The Citadel for his other crown.
This fight was in the 145-pound
division.
Briggman has been fighting
since his high ichool days at
Orangeburg, and he picked up a
lot of the tricks of pugilism while
in the Navy. He was considered
one of the best counter-punchers on
the Gamecock team this year.
In his last team match against
James Bernardo of Miami, Jim had
the Florida lad on the floor twice
to win easily.
He had eliminated two good box
ers in the SIBT and most observers
seem to think that he would have
won easily from Oliver and
brought another title back to Caro
lina had he not suffered the in
jured hand.
140
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k Boxer
Sportsquiz
The last Sportsquis was much
tougher than we anticipated for
we only received one correct
answer. Bill Rabon's answer was
Bill Tilden and Bill Johnston and
it was good enough to win him two
tickets to the Carolina theatre. The
two Bills were great tennis stars
back in the twenties and engaged
in the most famous series ever
played.
This week the Sportsquls turns
to baseball and we have a question
about the major league variety of
ur national pastime. Most of you
probably know that Johnny Vander
Mieer is the only pitcher to hurl
two successive no-hit games. How
aver, do you remember the player
who almost equalled this feat in
1947? During that year he was the
nost effective pitcher in the Na
.ional league. He is still a major
eaguer and pitches for the same
eam for which Vander Meer
urled his two no-hitters.
Just send his name to the Game
cock Sports Editor to win two free
passes to the Carolina Theatre. Re
member, the first correct answer
is the winner.
Good Meal
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More Pepe
s In N
Spann, Gurney
Entered in Nat
Three members of the Gamecock
boxing team were entered in the
National Collegiate Athletic As
sociation championship tourney
which began last night in East
Lansing, Michigan. The tourney is
being held at Michigan State Uni
versity and will continue through
tomorrow night.
The three who are entered are
Chuck Davis, in the 185-pound
class, Emmett Gurney, 145 pounds,
and Chuck Spann, 175 pounds.
130-pound Grady Decell was also
invited but declined to enter.
Gurney won the 145-pound SIBT
championship last week in Baton
Rouge with a decision over Paul
Kostopolous of Maryland. It was
the second win over Kostopolous by
Gurney this year. The first was a
TKO in a regular season bout.
Davis lost out in the semi-finals
to Andy Quattrochi of Maryland.
The fight was extremely close and
Quattrochi won by a split de
cision.
Spann will be making his second
appearance in the NCAA event. He
entered in 1947 and lost in the
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LSU. Spann had previously
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season bout held at LSU.
Pete Campassi and Jim Brigg.
man were ruled ineligible because
Df a rule against four-year men.
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