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GAM Tf Baseball Season Great works are perfc ted not by strength but by perseverancf ?oamuei uuimsun, a/oi We just stuck our noses out and hung in there. ?June Raines, 1981 There were times, many times, during the NCAA College World Series when it would have been ah so easy for the Gamecock baseball team to hang it up, to not reach 1 ^1. r il a. a re x a. ? * uaun. iur uiai exira enon, 10 oe sausiiea with an already successful season. There was the five-run lead by Oklahoma State in the opener, the infest of errors against Maine, the three-innings of sure-fire scoring threats in the Mississippi State game, and of course, the bruising bats that allowed Arizona State to jurr p well ahead in the fourth contest. But it didn't take long for observers at the Omaha, Neb. event ? as well anyone else who lent an ear or eye to the proceedings ? to realize that it would never happen that way. From USC's opening CWS contest, the Gamecocks made it evident that they were there to fight, not fold. And they did fight. After scrathchingiand scrapping in an opening-game loss, Coach June Raines' never-say-die squad outlasted opponents in the following two outings to finish among college baseball's Final Four of the 1981 season ending the year with a 4615 record, including a 2-2 CWS mark. THE SERIES ENDED in a loss, and therefore disappointment for USC, but not before the team ? who only a few weeks earlier had sweated out a post-season bid ? had overcame unfavorable odds by endurance. It was Carolina's third trip to the CWS, and like the previous trips of '75 and '77, the Gamecocks made it to the Final Four. In the first two tourneys, however, USC continued to the championship game, but then lost to Texas and Arizona State, respectively. Carolina began CWS action by absorbing a heartstopping, heartbreaking 8-5 loss to Oklahoma State May 30. Cowbov center fifilder St^n Ranohn tagged a three-run home run off Bobby Kish in the bottom of the tenth to downplay a valiant USC rally and give OSU the win. The USC women's golf team concluded < successful season Saturday with a 16th-plac< AIAW national golf championship. The season's finale established a solid four young program, and more importantly-acco Golf Coach Bobby Foster-it fulfilled a coveted 1 "The main thing we wanted when the season be regarded as a legitimate competitor,'' Fos first-year unit's desires. "And we definitely that. We won't feel like the 'new kid on the bloc "I'M REALLY HAPPY," Foster continued 16th in the country for our first year and that s Carolina carded a four-day total of 1 University of Georgia's par-74 layout to plac< team fields. Backed by Robin Abare's third-round 74, tournament's final cut Friday, assuring the La of at least a 16th-place finish. Abare streaked EC0C1 ie following stories are reprinted fn Ends At 46-15 iCOCK! THROUGH SIX INNINGS, Oklahoma State had connected for 10 hits and five runs 1 T~v _ w -I * '? ^ uii siarier i^ennis L.uDeri, wnue uowDoy hurler Darren Kilks had held the Game&ocks scoreless. But USC managaed to tally when Jamey Thaw hit into a fielder's Cthoice in the seventh, sending home Rob Lowery, who had doubled and advanced on a Chris Boyle single. Carolina continued the surge in the eighth inning as Paul Hollins unleashed a double to score Rod Carraway ana Jim Curl after their respective singles. Lowery then singled in Hollins to cut OSU's advantage to 5-4. TS.;r> : -11 rion A IIu uuio 1IIIU l-lIC 111111.11 Hilling, (111 Udt/ hopes fell on Carraway. The Tampa, Fla. native responded with a double down the left-field line that scored Jamey Thaw, who led off the inning with a single. Kish easily retired the OSU side in the bottom of the ninth, sending the contest into extra innings. But after USC failed to score in the top of the tenth, Baughn converted Kish's pitch to a three-run blast, giving the Cowboys the win. LOWEKY SMASHED TWO home runs ? a feat not done since 1956 in CWS play ? and Curl added a two-run blast to boost Carolina to an error-plagued 12-7 triumph over Main June 2. Joe Kucharski, who relieved starter Don Gordon after four and two-thirds innings, was credited with the win. Gordon allowed seven hits, yet all of the Black Bears' seven runs were unearned, as USC committed five errors. After Maine chalked up their first unearned run in the opening inning, Hollins hit the first of his three singles and was promptly driven in with Lowery's first homer. Maine scored four runs on two hits and two errors in the top of the third, but Carolina countered with a Curl home run that scored Carraway, who reached on error, and tighted Maine's margin to 5-4. AFTER OVER AN HOUR of rain delay, USC picked up the previous pace, scoring two unearned runs in the fourth. Maine's Dick Whitten returned the favor in the fifth, singling in two unearned runs to give the Bears a 7-6 lead. Carolina ended the scoreboard seesaw from the fifth inning on, tallying at least a See Devils, page 23 Solf Team I par on the back nine holes to gi a snrnri?ifif*l*j * ;? ?> - - * -- --- r- j iu survive inecui. e finish in the Abare compiled a 310 total I field of 140 players. Lee Wh idation for the lowest scorer with a 318 total, rding to Head Jan Rikard (326), and Lynn Sti team goal. started was to FLORIDA STATE captured iter said of the edaina host Georgia hv thr?? ?f accomplished "There sure were a lot of k' anymore. pionship," Foster said. "I wa; competition when I saw it. Nej probably the most significant v I. "We finished Foster said the team's tou hard to beat." bring many future benefits. ,297 over the "It definitely gave us a goo< ? 16th in the 24- "Every school that beat us established program. North Ci USCmade the in our district, but we beat ther iHv to three-under- "LAST YEAR WE had to beg K " )m this summer's editions.v* ? % HH^M f^^il^BHHHHBPPS^sw^Wwissii j_-^J r- ?" HBjr^^ffifiirtiiiiiBilfliftffl ^ -&% \J'*~* C^L .-jry?' ^ H^HhBbl .g^BkjyBBH?jp: . & Wf ||j Bfr;: V: " 1 m ^^SMmBKk ^\f SHSrBBBI^ML J#u"11 ^!l?i " - 5 " " -" "-- J_ ~~ . .1 ,_ r^r - | WM$w?#?:iJ _ I 5 I - - S United Press International '6fr&rw88&.M JBr IMMWtWMWW Coach June Raines and pitcher Don Gordon celebrate an 11-5 region win over <?] g*~?" t*- =^= JUIC IVMy Zj. / Maces 16th I n Nation ve Carolina the needed strokes but now they want us," said Foster, who added that invitations from three or four prestigious tournaments were to place 24th in the individual extended to USC. littemore was USC's second- "We're certainly not the best in the country, but we proved followed by Julie Loebs (322), we are respectable," he said. ffler (327). Foster expects more progress for the program, as all of this season's players return next year along with three the tourney with a 1,220 total, highly-touted recruits. rokes. Lise Ann Russell, Kandf Kessler and Kim Simmons will good players in the cham- attend Carolina next season. Russell is a New York state > cua/.^vi at me ijuaiiiy oi me girl's amateur champion, while Kessler is the Virginia state ct to the national amateur, it's amateur champ. Simmons, from Charleston, was a semivomen's golf tournament." finalist in the Women's Southern Amateur championship, irnament performance would FOSTER ISN'T real sure what will happen next year when J base to work with," he said, the women's golf program switches from the AIAW to the in the tournament has an NCAA. *) irnlinn hnH KM>n tho Knot ??* ^14 1L ' ivam i uun i iiiuiK mai anyone Knows just what will happen," he n decisively. said. "The NCAA golf committee meets in July, so then we should find out more. All our tournaments next year to get in a lot of tournaments, however, will be against the same teams we played this year."