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sports. lead coach say: I Baseballs I By Sammy Fretwell A Uhnnnh I I'c KocoKoll ton.^ ...nn 1 Ir\iinuu5?* o uuovi/wu iv^aiu wad CI 1111111 ct post-season play, head coach June Raines said tl was relatively satisfying. The Gamecocks, who received an at-large bid East Regional in Chapel Hill, N.C., bowed < secutive losses to Delaware and eventual tourr James Madison, but the veteran coach saw mar this past spring. "OVERALL I was pleased. We hit .305 as a pitching was good, if spotty at times," Raines s | ed up .3vi J ana came on strong at the end < season, which got us into the playoffs. Unfortur we just did not play well in the regionals and t "1 thought this year's team could have beei series like past teams, but of course I think th This year we just played those two bad games br the regionals) and that was the difference." One thing Carolina was able to overcome, th( according to Raines, was the bad weather thi area this past spring. USC was rained out 10 t "You go into a year and you never plan c manv games rained out. The cancellations of th at home emotionally set us back. Our guys were but unfortunately we got rained out. "AND RIGHT after that we went to Newberi (6-4 on April 13), which 1 think shook us up a that we said 'Hey we've got to bounce back ; good baseball.'" The Gamecocks did, winning nine of 12 ga two of three from archrival Clemson. Raines s; i:r. :?n.. 1 _ - iiu iui uic itaui, cspctmuy mc iasi gtUllC agau "When we came back to beat Clemson (4-3 c was the high point," he said. "It was a crucia They had beaten us the night before 8-1, just i And when we came back late in that second g was great." In thejsecond game USC had trailed the Tig< the way, but pinch hitter Pete Fisher hit a bloc bottom of the eighth to put the Gamecocks all THERE WERE also high points from the st; dividual play, Raines said. "Mike Cook was a big surprise," he said. naa tne arm, and he won eight games tor us, u been clone by a freshman at South Carolina outstanding year. And Mike Werner did a supe bullpen." Werner finished the season with a spotless earned run average of 2.22 and had five saves KmW I ; v mL v : ih I HEAD COACH JUNE RAINES SIZE! The Gamecocks lost to the I s >UdoUM olIUUI ted quickly in I lie 1983 season WmNLA A Dut after con- I anient winner H - . ly bright spots I team and.the aid. "We end- fa of the regular ja| lately, though, j . . . vv - '.v_v..v: hat hurt us. [ , ^ i in the world 1 at every year. fl ick-to-back (in H >ugh not easily B| it plagued the ;mes. Hp ?n having that e Miami series ^ ^-iiWK r-mi >ct thn Tif>f?rc 9H m May 1)? that HHHH BSH JSS5S SHORTSTOPS ;ame to win, it Head COBCh June its for most of A veteran utility player im] >p single in the way as he became a vital pari lead to stay. "I WAS very pleased wit! andpoint of in- player who ha^ beenh^re foi much baseball for us. He step "We knew he he had never played before ir /hich has never rors all year. And I was just , so he had an Raines said that junior-coll r job out of the ved to be the the most consis doubles and 25 RBIs. < "We always knew Jim St. 1 7-0 record, an His on base percentage was \i/q 1 \s c (AA\ ir* Hitc (&1\ Q n H in "1 ^ , ~ __- :v ^ \ " :* vr-: ^2;yi^'J& m^| Photo by Johnny Boggs 5 UP SITUATION AGAINST DELAWARE Blue Hons 12-11 in 11 innings " tnHHmBNBnnMiHnMMnmai sssfuLdespi ANDERSON MAKES DOUBLE PLAY IN FIR! ) Raines praised his team despite quick eli pressed Raines in an unexpected AS SATISF t of the team as a starter in '83. there were a f< "There wer i Art Finlpv Hprp'c a wallf.nn V/lai-l- Polvort r three years and hadn't played Larry Price w< ped in at second base, a position happen." \ his life, and only made five ervery pleased with him." In a nutshel ege transfer Jim St. Laurent pro- year, and Rail tent player, batting .376 with 13 was an excitin Laurent was going to be on base. "Coach (J< over .500. He led our team in recruiting," h batting average." ready for 198' Gamecocks drop games in East R( By Sammy Fretwell CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Being the first eliminated from regional play is not iL! a _ ...L' L ! someinillg 10 wiuun :? ucibcucui ictun is accustomed. So more than a few eyebrows were raised when the Gamecocks lost in the first two rounds of the NCAA East Regionals held here May 26-29. The Gamecocks took back-to-back losses and bowed quietly out of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament ending the season at 35-13. In opening round action, USC sent unbeaten junior Gary Farmenter to tne mound To face James Madison University. The Dukes, who had finished second in the East Coast Athletic Conference-South, wasted little time in disposing of the Gamecock ace, tagging him for seven runs on four hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings enroute to 9-4 victory over the Gamecocks. CAROLINA BATTLED back from 7-1 deficit to come within three, thanks to a two run homer by Chris Boyle and a solo shot by Phillip Wilson. But that was all the scoring USC was to do as JMU went on to post the win, enroute to an eventual first-place finish in the regional. USC coach June Raines said his team's first opening round loss since 1977 "was just one of the those things. Once you get in a tournament, every team's pretty good. We don't take anybody lightly. You've got to give James Madison credit. They hit our best 1 pitcher." AGAINST FAST C oast Conference champion Delaware, Carolina blew two five-run leads losing 12-11 in 11 innings on a Blue Hen home run. in me iirsi inning, me uamecocKS mauiea Delaware starting pitcher Doug Shaab, scoring five times on six hits to send the senior left-hander to an early shower. % te regionals hrBrkl HHP s ? C-< Photo by Johnny Boflqs ST INNING AGAINST DELAWARE mination from NCAA regionals IED as the coach was with much of the season jw shortcomings. e a couple of disappointments. We thought had an off year for a senior. And we thought Duld develop more than he did. But those things 1, 1983 proved to be what some might call an off les agrees it was not his best team, but he said it g one. And he's looking forward to next season. >hnny) Hunton and I have been on the road e said. 'The year is past and we ve got to get consecutive igional playoffs Wilson led off with an infield single, and scored on St. Laurent's double. Heise reached on an error and Boyle doubled off the center-field fence to score two more runs to make it 3 0. SULLIVAN FOLLOWED, after one out, with a single scoring Boyle. Larry Hernandez then hit into a fielder's choice, Anderson ^ doubled to right sending Hernandez to third, and Art Finley singled to left to score two more runs. That chased Shaab and brought in reliever Mike Piascik who retired Wilson on a ground out to end the inning. Delaware bounced back in the third, though, for three runs to cut the lead to 5-3, and in the fourth tied the score on a runscoring double by left fielder Dave Just and a balk by USC pitcher Mike Cook, which scored Blue Hen center fielder Warren Post from third. Carolina head coach June Raines protested, saying the balk was not called quickly enough, but to no avail and the run stood. THE CJAMECOCKS jumped back on top in their half of the fourth on a two-run homer by Heise and added to the lead in the fifth when Hernandez was hit by a pitch, went to second on passed ball and scored on Anderson's single to make the score 8-5. After Delaware picked up a run on two hits in the sixth, Carolina bounced back in the bottom of the inning to score three more runs and pad the lead at 11-6. But the Blue Hens exploded for five runs in the seventh to tie the score. The score remained knotted until the 11th inning when first baseman Tom Skrablc hit reliever Robbv Coker's two-strike nitrh over the left-field fence to put the Blue Hens in front* to stay, as the Gamecocks saw their season end three up and three down in the bottom of the 11th.