Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Pete Feheley Sports Editor A Special Team The four or five thousand people who saw Carolina's game with Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon probably left with the unanimous feeling that they witnessed one of the finest games ever played at the Rex Enright Field. The 1975 baseball team is headed for the NCAA playoffs again this year and they have an excellent chance of making it to Omaha for the College World Series in June. They have developed a winning tradition that was uncommon in Gamecock baseball teams in years gone by. But more im portantly, they have established an affinity with the people of Columbia that was usually reserved for athletes wearing a football or basketball uniform. Gamecock fans talk glowingly of 'our baseball team' as though they lived or died with the fortunes of the baseball team. And it seems they do. When a group of athletes can bring 5,000 people out to a stadium that seats about 2,000 comfortably, there must be something pretty special about them. Special enough so that the players have to get accustomed to signing autographs after games, something that was not asked of Gamecock baseball players until this team was assembled. A look at the team unity and close relationship among the players them selves explains why the student body at USC and the Carolina fans have so readily identified with the Gamecock baseball program. Carolina lost only four players from last year's squad that went to the district finals. Four junior college transfers and one freshman were added to this year's team. All five of these players made valuable contributions and all have been in the starting lineup at some time during the season. The team is solid defensively and the pitching staff is one of the nation's finest. An indication of the team balance can be found in the several outstanding individual performances by each member of the team during various games in the season. Plenty of Heroes Steve King had that big three-run homer at Georgia Southern to give the Gamecocks the win. Steve Cook delivered clutch hits all season, including a game-winning home run against St. Leo's. Garry Hancock, the perfect number two hitter who had the winning hit against Georgia Southern on Saturday. Jim Pankovits provided USC with solid defense at third as well as .324 hitting. Jeff Grantz refused to crack under the pressure of a three-week long hitting slump and anchored second base. Jim Fleming was steady at short and Greg Keatley proved to be a strong force at catcher. The pitching was outstanding as Ward, Lewis and Lavigne did all that was asked of them. Lewis and Lavigne pitched consecutive no hitters" and Ward proved his ability in Saturday's win over Georgia Southern. Mark Van Bever, Chuck McLean, Don Repsher and Robbie Parrish were outstanding in reserve roles. Which brings us to the two members of this team that deserve special mention. Two Superstars Every team has its leaders and every team has its super stars. Hank Small and Earl Bass are the heart of the Gamecock team. When Carolina needed the big hit, it was Small who usually got it for them. Home runs by the 'Ham mer' against North Carolina (twice) and Georgia Southern provided the Gamecocks with victories. His .415 batting average didn't hurt the USC offense at all. When Carolina needed a clutch pitcher, Bass always responded with a big performance. Two wins against North Carolina, and single victories against Clemson and Georgia Southern stood out among Bass's efforts this year. Carolina will miss the baseball talents of Hank Small and Earl Bass next year, but they will be missed even more for the kind of leaders they are and the type of personality they gave the 1975 Gamecock basebal tam. Bass, Ward shine Pitching USC victoi BY PETE FEHELEY Sports Editor The Carolina baseball team used scme clutch pitching by Earl Bass and Greg Ward and some timely hitting by Hank Small and Garry Hancock to sweep a weekend series from Georgia Southern. USC took the series opener on Friday night behind Bass's three hit shutout pitching and two home runs by Small. The Gamecocks got the win on Saturday as Han cock supported Ward's five-hitter with a bloop single to left to drive in the winning run. Saturday's game was a classic pitching duel between Ward and the ace of the Georgia staff, Pete Manos. Manos had beaten Ward in two previous matchups, including a 6-2 win in Statesboro, Ga. last weekend that snapped the Gamecocks 17 game win streak. The situation did not seem to favor the tall righthander for the Gamecocks and he admitted to feeling some pressure as he took the mound. "I was a little nervous in the first inning and loading the bases did not help the situation any," Ward said, "but I went to my fastball to get me out of my tight spots and that's a little unusual for me to be throwing a lot of fastballs." The victory was Ward's 30th career win as a Gamecock, the first USC pitcher to achieve that feat. And it couldn't have come against a better team in Ward's estimation. "I've had a bit of trouble with them in the past and I haven't beat them since my fresh man year, but this one was worth waiting for," he said. Ward voiced his pleasure in the Gamecock's defensive play in Saturday's game saying, "Those guys gave me some great support out there today and they turned over some good double plays." Ward struck out three Eagle hitters and walked five while Manos struck out five and walked two. Georgia-Southern took a 1-0 lead in the third when Steve Garcia doubled and went to third on a single by Mike Moore. Gar'cia scored on a fielder's choice by Jamie Ivins. Gamecock catcher Greg Keatley got the run back in the fifth with a long home run over the fence in left. The winning rally in the ninth started with a one out walk by pinch-hitter Mark Van -Bever. Coach Bobby Richardson called for the hit and run and Van Bever took second on Bass's bouncer to second. Jeff Grantz beat out a grounder to deep short and Van Bever moved over to third. That set the stage for Hancock's game winning single to left as Van Bever raced home to score. Hancock was quite modest about his clutch hit. lefense sp, ries over E Earl Bass "Actually, I hit a bad pitch, it was on the outside part of the plate and not ordinarily my kind of pitch," Hancock said. Manos probably wishes Hancock would have selected another pitch, also. Carolina won the series opener on Friday night as Bass hand cuffed the Eagles on three hits, striking out eight of the first nine hitters he faced. Bass, 11-0, finished the game with 13 strikeouts and walked only one batter. USC bombarded Eagle starter Barry Beck on the strength of Hank Small's pair of two-run homers. The Gamecocks opened the scoring in the first inning as Grantz, Hancock, Small and Steve King had consecutive singles with Small and King getting RBI's and Small scored on a fielder's choice on Jim Pankovits. USC added a run in the second when Keatley doubled moved to third on an in field out and came home on a long sacrifice fly by Raymond Lavigne. Then the Hank Small show began. With Hancock on base in the third, the "Hammer" drilled a long s orts ark agles. Greg Ward home run to center and then he repeated the performance in the fifth with Hancock again on base. Carolina added a final run in the sixth when Jim Fleming scored on a fielder's choice. Small had four hits for the night and five RBI's while Hancock had three hits and three runs scored. Keatley had two hits and Grantz continued his reawakening at the plate with two more hits. Richardson moved Grantz back to the leadoff spot, a - position be occupied most of last season. Carolina defeated Furman, 5-4, on Thursday night as Grantz drove home Keatley with the winning run on an infield hit. Tim Lewis, 9-0, got the victory for Carolina as survived a rough first inning, in which the Paladins took a 3-0 lead. Small's two-run homer tied the game at three-all in the seventh inning and Pankovits doubled hom King with the go-ahead run later in the same inning. Furman tied the game in the eighth and Grantz responded with his heroics in the USC half of the eighth. Carolina's record is now 38-4 and they are a virtual shoo-in for an NCAA at-large berth and have a good chance to be the tournament host. The Gamecock's are back in action tonight with a visit to Charleston to play The Citadel at 7:30 p.m. A ten day exam break follows and USC gets back into action with a road game at Fur man on May 8. Jacksonville comes to Columbia for a two game series on May 9 and 10. Baseball rankings 1..Arizona State 494 ' 2.. South Carolina 489 Florida State 489 4..Texas 476 5.. South Alabama 462 6.. Oklahoma 461 7.. Pan American 440 8. .Southei-n Cal. 458 e S. . Arizona 452 / iaS....a 5