The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 10, 1998, Page 7, Image 7
^ The softball team plays its final hoi
games. Friday, USC plays Arkansas at
Saturday, Carolina hosts No. 13 LSU a
The No. 8 baseball team hosts Gee
They play at 7 p.m. Friday and Satun
at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Friday, April 10,1998
* mi i_ >
inanK ^
you, Bj,
for staying ^
1 ^ *" ^
William FOLKS mine from ^
Common Folklore school.
After exchanging
some quick, polite small talk about
old friends and the old times, Willis
shifted the conversation to an issue
that had been at the forefront of a lot
of people's minds over the past few
weeks: Bj Mckie and the NBA Draft.
"So you know him," Willis asked.
"What do you think he's going to do?"
I replied that I didn't know, that I
roallu BnHn't snnlcpn with Bi ahout it
% yet, but that I was sure he would approach
the decision with the same
kind of discretion and level-headed
consideration that he gives everything
else in his life... you know, that
"avoid-esque," official-sounding sort
of talk. Blah, blah, blah. Yadda, yadda,
yadda.
Truth-be-told, I hadn't really
thought about it at that particular
moment or even talked to anybody
about it. Why not? Because I didn't
^ really want to think about it or talk
to anyone about it. To be quite honest,
the thought of him leaving
scared the living rat pissel (yes, that
is a word) out of me. Quite expectedly,
then, my neatly polished PR-pronouncements
didn't cut it with Willis.
"Hmmm, whatever," he answered
back. "Why don't you do what you
can to make him stay."
_ Such is the tenuous relationship
? between a star athlete and his fans:
Beat the world, then they'll expect
the universe. But also, such is the
depth and warmth of the relationship
that USC fans have come to enjoy
with one Bjorn Aubre Mckie over the
past three years. From the moment
he first took the floor in his No. 3
Gamecocks jersey on Nov. 24,1995,
Bj Mckie has amazed, excited and in
^ spired all of us who follow collegiate
athletics, and in the process and
helped take Carolina basketball to
another level, a championship level.
In three years, Bj has already
done more for the South Carolina
basketball program than perhaps
any player in two decades; and the
easy-going, kind-hearted way in
which he's done it has endeared him
to teammates, media and fans alike.
His parents, Bernard and Bever^
ly, have also become integral members
of the Gamecock family.
Anybody who has come into contact
with young man over the last
three years didn't just want him to
stay for his talent, they wanted him
to stay for who he is (and the quality,
selfless student-athlete that he represents).
That's why Bj's announcement
Monday that he would not
make himself eligible for the NBA
draft was front-page news; not just
front-page sports news. It was be^
cause of Bj Mckie the person, not just
Bj Mckie the player.
I know all of this may sound a bit
hokey, and I'm sure in the coming
months I'll immerse myself in all of ,
the same "on-court" talk every other
sportswriter wants to discuss (i.e.
"Will Bj play the point or won't he?");
but for the time being I'm just happy. '
A good friend is going to stick
around for a little while longer.
Equestrian
team takes
regional title
iav Ainyy
Staff writer WC yumn
Amy Bell displayed her talents at
Softwinds Farm this past weekend as
(% she came away with the Reserve
High Point Rider Regional Title. The 1
California native received a first- place *
finish in Open Fences.
Along with Bell, Mikel Cole received 1
a first place in the Walk, Trot, Canter
division. 1
Stacey George won a blue ribbon in
Walk, Trot and Jenifer Connor won the <
Intermediate Flat Division. 1
_ The Carolina equestrian team trav^
I els to Rome, Ga., for the Zone Finals
April 18 and 19. If they win there, the 1
team will travel to Syracuse, N.Y., for
the National Finals. i
me SEC
: 6 p.m.
it 1 p.m.
,fgia.
day and
ii^alvieb
orts editor BRYMi JOHNSTON
USC women's basketball coach Sun
Woltniio annnnnoo^ Thnrtj^ow
ai tt oxviuo aiuiuuiiV'CU imuouajr uic
jning of Katrina Lazic to a national
?er of intent to enroll and play basitball
for Carolina next year.
Lazic joins an early signing class
nked 16th-best in the nation by Girls
l-Start Report.
Those early signees include Shaunnski
Gortman, Jemecca Harrell,
aristina Hill, Melanie Murray, Jocen
Penn and Shannon Segres.
This is Walvius' first recruiting class
ace arriving in Columbia less than a
ar ago. Her staff signed three of the
p five players in the state as selected
Bauer, C
sports editor BRYAN JOHNSTON
Led by the strong pitching of Peter
Bauer and the consistent hitting
of Mike Curiy, Carolina picked up its
30th win of the season with a 8-2
victory over Furman Wednesday night
at Sarge Frye Field.
USC has its own version of "The
Big Unit" in 6-foot-8-inch Bauer. The
freshman from Silver Spring, Md.,
went five strong innings, picking up
his fifth win of the season.
"Peter hasn't had a lot of innings
lately," USC coach Ray Tanner said.
"He's been rested a little more than
we'd like him to be, but he came out
and gave us five quality innings. Then
[Jamie] Poston and [Patrick] Sextor
finished it up for us."
Furman was plagued by poor field
ing all night, committing a seasonhigh
seven errors.
The Gamecocks took advantage o:
those errors immediately, scoring ai
unearned run in the first.
Junior Mike Curry led off the in
ning with a single to left and reachec
third on an error by the rightfielder
He then scored when senior catchei
Mpn's. wot
? 7 -w?
sports editor BRYAN JOHNSTON pro
incl
In the first-annual South Carolina
State Collegiate Track and 17?
Field Championships, the USC
men's and women's track and field sid<
teams both won the team titles, ters
with the men winning 14 events La]
and the women winning 13 ter
events. me
Freshman Terrance Trammell me
proved to everyone he is back ten
on track by automatically quali- Sot
fying for the NCAA Champi- nas
onships in the 110-meter hurdles, (hij
breaking the school record at
13.64. wei
Trammell actually finished ter
second in the race to Olympic gold ten
medalist Allen Johnson, who Ka
;rains under USC coach Curtis Nai
?rye. Bro
Johnson broke the facility ven<
ecord set by Gus Kirkland in vau
L980 in the race, with the win- and
ling time of 13.58.
Tonique Williams broke her poii
iwn school record in the 100 me- ond
:ers to win the women's side at fini
11.60. poii
Williams later won the S.C
women's 200 meters at 24.50.
Ryan Harrison won the ham- Ari
mer with a season best and NCAA An;
Spc
The Gan
all signs
by the South Carolina Coaches Association
(Gortman, Hill and Murray).
Walvius led USC, in her first season as
head coach, to the team's best record in
four years and best conference record
in five years.
At this year's SEC Tournament,
Walvius led the Lady Gamecocks to
their first-ever victory in the conference
Dostseason Dlav in seven tries with a
76-61 win over LSU and an appearance
in the conference quarterfinals.
Lazic will come to USC rated as one
of the best talents in Europe as noted
by the Sports International Group. The
six-footer is a starter on the Yugoslavian
National team, averaging 23.7
points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and
South Carolina
PTim Angioli
a swing Wo
in the Gar
victory ove
right, Petei
five innings
six batters
his record U
SEAN RAYFC
. 1
urry lead
Ryan Bordenick reached on ap error
by the shortstop.
The Gamecocks struck again in
the fourth, scoring two runs. Junior
Eric Stanton led off with a walk and
moved to second when freshman
Mic Knox was hit by a pitch. With two
out, both runners advanced when Curry
laid down a perfect bunt to reach
i base. An error by the second baseman
on a routine grounder allowed both
i Stanton and Knox to score, making it
3-0.
i But Furman would battle back in
the fifth when it put two on the board,
i But the Gamecocks answered the Fur;
man challenge in the bottom half of
i the inning, answering with two of their
i own. Bordenick led off with a walk
and moved to third on Adam Poe's double
to the left-center gap. Knox's single
to center scored both runners, giving
Carolina a 5-2 advantage,
f Curry led off the sixth with his
i eighth homerun of the year, a line-drive
shot over the left-field wall.
"It was a fastball, kind of over the
1 heart," Curry said. "I didn't really think
it was gone; the ball really wasn't carr
rying that much tonight, but I hit it
nen's track
visional mark of 201-feet-7- I
ties.
Harrison won the discus at
l-feet-ll-inches.
Other winners on the men's
i were Riian Dempers (200 mes),
Marvin Watts (400 meters),
Monte Pennington (800 me- *
s), Graham Newman (1,500
ters), Martin Kerrigan (3,000
ters), Chad Bignell (5,000 mei),
Brad Snyder (shot put), Bert
in (javelin), Patrick Tvarkui
(pole vault) and C J Anderson
jhjump).
Winners on the women's side
re Charmaine Howell (400 mes),
Andrea Hallmon (800 me
3), Tonya Povey (1,500 meters), iff
ren Padula (3,000 meters), Erin
zinski (long jump), Crystal
wnlee (shot put), Loren ThouDt
(javelin), Kylene Nixon (pole I
It), Lisa Misipeka (hammer)
1 Michelle Fournier (discus), ul
The men's team totalled 252
its, 164 points ahead of sec- flHP^
-place S.C. State. The women V
ished with 205 points, 111
its better than second-place
. State.
Carolina travels to Tempe, Kylene 1
z., this'weekend for the Sun women's
*el Classic at Arizona State. Field Ch
)RTS
lecock
i Yugosla
three steals per game. She will add Ini
depth and contend for a starting spot ret
in next year's backcourt. pei
Gortman is one of the most highly Mj
touted point guards in the nation and
was named The State newspaper's South Gr
Carolina Player of the Year after av- Vii
eraging 24.5 points, 15.6 rebounds and avi
5.2 assists per game. ass
The six-footer from Keenan High Hi
School has been named a Nike, Reebok
and Parade All-America and was se- to
lected as the 18th-best player in the ag
country and third-best player at her po- ga
sition by The Blue Star Report. ph
Harrell, a 6-foot-4-inch center, was
named a Nike All-America and the 21st- SE
best player at her position by Blue Star na
A Piirman 7
1# R Ml R 11II11 *m
nl (left) takes i J
Inesday night I't f lrl
necocks' 8-2 11 h 1^
r Furman. At PI || || llh^f ?
Bauer went [ ww
striking out
>RD The Gamecock
i ** H
r :"
r i
USC over ]
just good enough for it to get out of I w
here." th<
In his next at-bat, Curry led off
the eighth inning with a double down Qa
the left-field line. He moved to third SC(
on Derick Urquhart's sacrifice bunt ja
and scored on Adam Everett's single ceg
to left, pushing the lead to 7-2. .,
Everett moved to third on Bor- 1 y
denick's single to left and scored on
Poe's single to left field, giving Car- to1
olina to 8-2 lead. * j11
After walking the first batter of tin
the game, Bauer sat down 13 straight kii
Paladin batters. He allowed just two
hits, two unearned runs and struck 10
out six in running his record to 5-0. wil
Sophomore Jamie Poston pitched two Fr
innings of shut-out ball, striking out gu
three and senior Patrick Sexton
worked the final two innings, allow- ^
ing two hits. ^
Bauer said he felt confident, but
was shaky after walking the leadoff
man.
"After I walked the first guy, I we
looked in the dugout and coach Tan- to
ner was like 'Come on Peter','' Bauer in
said. "I kind of turned it up after that er
and realized that I had to get it going, th
A
teams cruis
v #4 *
m
^
Nixon failed to clear the bar on this
i pole vault Wednesday in the South C<
ampionships at USC's Weems Baskln tra
Nate says
the Blowf
is Monday
Scheduled
Dan Patri<
Marino an
ivian, w
lex. Harrell averaged 18 points, 12
xmnds, 4 blocked shots and 2 steals i?
r game at Oxon Hill High School in th
iryland. " Tl
Hill, a 5-foot-H-inch guard from St
eenville, chose USC over Clemson, Ai
rginia Tech and Wake Forest after
sraging 17.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 At
iists and 2.3 steals per game for Wade re
unpton High School.
Murray led Columbia High School Vi
the state championship after aver- to
ing 17 points and 11 rebounds per ye
me. She was voted one of the top five
lyers in the state by the SCCA. er
Penn will look to join her sister, All- 2.'
!C forward Annie Lester, in Caroli- pe
's frontcourt next year. fr(
" I
Li i
V
tc
tl
ft.
s
ii
Furman \
as in the rhythm pretty much from F
} get-go... after that first batter." e
Curry was the star at the plate for t
rolina, going 4-for-5 with three runs ^
>red and an RBI. The junior from
cksonville, Fla. said part of his suc;s
came from Furman's lack of qualon
the mound.
"I guess I was seeing it pretty good r
light, but the pitching wasn't all r
it good," Curry said. "I was hitg
the ball solid tonight, and they f
id of fell in for me." /
Up next for the Gamecocks (30-7, 1
4 SEC) is a three-game homestand i
th Georgia. USC will play at 7 p.m.
iday and Saturday and at 1 p.m.
nday. ^
Curry said he isn't familiar with
e Bulldog pitching, but expects a lot
offense in the series. r
1 don't know how much pitching (
ey have, but they hit the ball real v
ill," Curry said. "It's probably going
be a slug-fest. Maybe if we can mix ?
a good outing from one of our pitch- 1
s nriH shut them down one of the i
ree days." I t
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i
SEAN RAYFORD The Gamecock
attempt but held on to win the
irolina State Collegiate Track and
ck facility.
the fourth-annual Hootie and
ish Monday After the Masters
r at the University Club.
I to appear are Tiger Woods,
:k of ESPN, Brett Favre, Dan
id Hercules' Kevin Sorbo.
Page 7
>rtman
Both a Nike and Reebok All-Amer
i, the 5-foot-11-inch Penn was rated
e 15th-best player in the country by
ie All-Star Girl's Report and was a
reet & Smith Honorable Mention Allnerica.
A two-time All-State selection from
lanta, Penn averaged 25 points, 10
bounds and three steals per game.
Segres, who hails from Dale City,
u, helped lead Gar-Field High School
the state championship her senior
ar.
A Reebok All-America, Segres avaged
19.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and
7 steals per game while shooting 56 '
rcent from the field and 71 percent
)m the free throw line.
5ro baseball
)verrated
i"l Before I
week's diawould
like
Bj* usually g
don't say to
many peo
\ ' pie. Thank
;hawn SINGLETON you, Bj, for
<ingkton}:16 electing to
_ I play one
more sea>n
here at USC and not leaving earto
play with the greedy bastards of
le NBA. All I ask is that you lead us
i the second round of the NCAA
luraament.
After taking a week off to outwit
le Feds, USC's Most Dangerous
[an has returned with more bitches,
ripes and complaints for your readlg
pleasure.
It's that time of year again when
ithers take their sons to see jerks
lil seven out of 10 times and get
aid millions to do it. If you guessed
aseball season, you get a cookie.
With expansion in Tampa and
'hoenix, pitching is further diluted,
specially in the already pitching-opional
American League where more
iomers are hit than at a Dartv at
louth Tower. Not even Pedro Marinez
can keep Ken Griffey, Jr., Albert
Belle, or Juan Gonzalez from
hattering Roger Maris' record. Yes, I
lid say that the single-season homeun
record will be broken in the Jurior
Circuit.
My pick to make the World Series
rom here is the New York Yankees.
Is much as I hate them, they're
oaded from top to bottom like bullets
n Chow-Yun Fat's 45. With the addiions
of Chuck Knoblauch and Chili
)avis, they should power past Cleveand
and Baltimore.
On to the National League, where
eal baseball is played. Milwaukee
las been welcomed back to the Selior
Circuit with open arms and may
:ontend in a division that's about as
lgly as Paula Jones.
In 1997, Houston won this division
with an 84-78 record. Had my
^ew York Mets, who finished third
n the NL East last year, played in
iiis cheesy division, they would have
won it by four games. Look for the
Mets to challenge Atlanta this year.
Don't look for the Marlins to win
75 games this year. Their new motto
is "Wait til last year." Maybe Wayne
Huizenga took a page from the
brains in Montreal.
Oh, I forgot. This is Canada,
where stupidity runs rampant and
flatulence is commonplace, according
to Terence and Philip. The Montreal
Expos have had more fire sales since
1994 than a flea market in Pelion.
Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Marquis
Grissom and other all-stars have
been dealt away by these tightwads.
If you hate Canucks as much as I do,
and you want to get out of Montreal,
become an all-star for the Expos.
I haven't forgotten about you idiots
in Toronto, either. I will never
forgive the Braves or the Phillies for
embarrassing the National League
by losing to these guys. They embarrassed
Major League Baseball and
the United States with their treachery
and should be deported there.
My pick to make the Series from
lere are the guys who made choking
stylish long before Latrell Sprewell
? the Atlanta Braves. Who else is
oetter from the National League?
Look for them to get past the
Dodgers and Astros.
Finally, as much as it pains me to
write this, I will pick the Yankees to
defeat the Braves in seven games.
I am already preparing my wall
for the front Page of the New York
Times when it says, "Yankees Burn
Atlanta ? For The Third Time." ~~