The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 05, 1999, Page Page 5, Image 5
SEC AWARDS Tl
Southeastern Conference Th
champion Auburn dominated As
the 1999 SEC coaches' postsea- Gi
son awards, as coach Cliff Ellis co
was voted Coach of the Year. Re
Tiger forward Chris Porter was th<
selected SEC Player of the
Year.
Friday, March 5, 1999
Spigner.
by Todd Money ar
Sports Copy Editor af
In a matchup of freshmen start- w]
ing pitchers Wednesday, South Car- se
olina's bats came alive early and fast, p.
and the Gamecocks shredded Wofford, sc
13-3.
Chris Spigner, making his second ^
collegiate start, got his first win in a te
Carolina uniform. The Hopkins na- ba
tive muted the Terriers (1-6), pitch- je(
ing five scoreless innings for the vie- hi
tory.
"It's a dream come true," Spigner st
said. "Everybody backed me up, ga
they were loud, they stayed behind ^
me the whole time. That's all I could
ask for." ca
"For being a true freshman, [Spign- te:
er] was really good," USC coach Ray ca
Tanner said. "He's had two good
outings in a row now, and that's en- to
ujuictgmg. 1C2
Wofford hurler George Lehr, mak- le;
ing the first start of his college career,
didn't have the same good fortune, ho
Lehr was bombarded for nine runs, frc
four of them earned, in just 3 2-3 in- ba
nings.
Though there were two errors gn
made behind him, Lehr certainly hurt gl<
his own cause, hitting three batters coi
and walking two, throwing three wild in
pitches, and making an error himself, wi
The Gamecocks (9-3) took ad- an
vantage, scoring 10 runs in the first
four innings on just eight hits. in{
In the bottom half of the first, cen- be
ter fielder Nate Janowicz took a Lehr an
pitch high over the left center field
wall for his second dinger of the sea- br
son, a solo shot. th
He wasn't done, though. Coming m;
nn a pa in in the second with two outs tei
and Shane Nelson on second and Clint th
Collins on third, Janowicz hit a hard
single to left, scoring both runners, aft
"I'm just trying to let the ball get er
deep in on me, see it all the way in in
Winthrop loo
by Pete lacobelli
Associated Press thej
But
With tickets to sell, hotels to ^
book and tubas to tote maybe halfway c
across the country, athletics director
Tom Hickman needed fast advice on
Winthrop's first NCAA tournament e*T
appearance. an
Who better to call than his coun- ers',
terpart at the College of Charleston, ^anc
Jerry Baker?
"I want to get as much knowl- awaedge
of this as I can," Hickman said, ^
laughing. "We haven't gone through ^ac^
this a lot." v
But the College of Charleston has. ^CA
When both Winthrop and ^
Charleston locked up NCAA bids, some Hick
officials gladly deepened the relation- sPen
ship between the two schools since for- cials
mer Cougars assistant Gregg Marshall their
took over at Winthrop this past April. B
Sort of like a big brother watching Wint
out for a little brother? any s
"In a sense, it is," Charleston as- ^
sistant athletic director Tony Ciuffo looki
said. I," B;
USC begins ser
by Jared Kelowitz coul
Assistant Sports Editor sivei
sett<
This afternoon, the USC men's base- scor(
ball team begins a three- game series sh0u
with Duquesne. The Gamecocks will outfi
host the Dukes as part of a 10-game team
homestand that won't end until the St. 12 st
n i , j t\ c i , i-ii
ratty s L?ay nnaie against unon.
Today's contest at Sarge Frye Field
will be Duquesne's first game of the
1999 campaign. Coach Mike Wilson ?
puts a team on the field that includes
one preseason Ail-American and. k
eight returning starters. In all likeli- ^
hood, the Dukes will make a run at the
Atlantic 10 Conference title.
Junior B.J. Barns has rewritten the
Duquesne record books in just two years.
Last year, Barns, who both pitches and
plays the outfield, hit a school-record
20 home runs, knocked in 58 RBIs,
scored 55 runs and compiled 71 hits,
while also leading the team with a .420 was
batting average. Pago:
Last season, the Dukes broke a T
school record with a tally of 22 wins and stop j
got their first-ever berth in the Atlantic Kip 1
10 championship. USC
Stalls is an All-Atlantic 10 senior son \
catcher who, with Barns and Swished, know
combined for 53 round-trippers, and said,
was on the top three on the team in "I
RBIs and batting average as well, port
Though the club is filled with great hit- pitch(
ters, much of their success last season
;> V
IACK AND FIELD
le United States Track
sociation selected
imecock track and field
ach Curtis Frye as its
igional Indoor Coach of
2 Year. |
, Janowii
id just try to cover it," Janowicz said I
USC got another run in the third,
len catcher Marcos Rios scored from
cond base-on Terriers' shortstop MMl
anny Slade's error. That made the J
ore 5-0, Gamecocks.
The game wouldn't get out of hand
itil the fourth inning, however. Afr
the Terriers failed to get past first
Lse in the top half, the Gamecocks
i off with Brian Roberts, who was
t by a pitch.
With Janowicz batting, Roberts
ole second, his 18th swipe in 12
tmes, and then reached third on a
ild pitch by Lehr.
After Janowicz walked, Roberts
me home on a misplayed pickoff atmpt
that saw Janowicz seemingly
ught between first and second.
Lehr muffed the ball when he went mmm.
cover first, however, letting Janows
reach second and USC take a 6-0
AH am Pno pamo lm novf fnr fVio
4 AVAUXXJ. X VV VUlilV U^/ UVAI/ 1U1 tliU j,
me club, drawing another wild pitch
>m Lehr, which gave Janowicz third m
After a sacrifice fly by Poe and a LgfcJj
oundout by Tim Angiolini, Rios sin- f|H
id to left. Lehr walked Bryon Jeffat,
the next batter, and was removed
favor of Irmo native B.J. Turner
th Gamecocks on first and second
d two out.
Turner didn't fare any better, walk- ?
I the first batter he faced, Mic Knox,
fore Nelson singled home Rios Game<
d Jeffcoat. and 2:
When Carolina's Clint Collins
ought home Knox with a liner up pjtche
e middle, the score was 10-0, and
my fans, likely fed up with the blus- strucj.
*y winds and chilly temperature of makir
e night, headed home. jn
Wofford got its first run of the game three
ter a pair of consecutive throwing seconc
rors by USC third baseman Collins er whe
the sixth.
ks to Charlesl
We know they accomplished what HSU
r did without help from anyone.
I feel there's a relationship there."
does Hickman.
Since Winthrop won the Big South
erence tournament last Saturday,
;sentially had to arrange four days
three nights for a party of play- pBjfek
coaches, officials, cheerleaders, ||^H|
I members and support staff trav- *?
r as close as Charlotte to as far w?ES
Y as Seattle. '
lickman had already called on 1
brd athletics director Greig Denvhose
Highlanders went to the *q-uI
As last year. sports ir
iaker, traveling to Colvunbia, said earlier t
man came down in midseason and tions.
t a day trailing Charleston offi- But
and asking about how they run clean of
sports programs. experier
laker said they're glad to help ^ J12
;hrop, but just as happy to help and^g
school asking for guidance. gtoj
iVe mostly get calls from schools coverag(
ng to move to (NCAA) Division Spend a
aker said.
ies with Duquc
^ KA + A ATfVAfl 4/\ UAAI:
atuiuutcu i?u men aggico- tu uatr
less on the basepaths. The Dukes go as 1(
3am records in steals (85) and runs necessj
3d (326). USC catcher Marcos Rios So :
Id have his hands full with junior have co
elder Rocky Kravetz, who was the starter
t's leading larcenist a year ago, with each,
eals on 15 tries. Close at his heels Aloi
Hadde
have a
for the
I really don't 2 0 an
now what to Bauer'
< ? the tea
xpect today." ?Ea
in whi<
Kip Bouknight pitcher
use Pitcher and ke
Tannei
done g
pleasec
The
senior second baseman Jaime kave b'
ne, thieving 10 bags on 13 attempts. eorge
he man who will have the task of scores (
ling this potent offense today is fx^Jrve
Bouknight. Bouknight, arguably Woffon
's best pitcher, is 2-0 on the sea- team so
vith a 1.00 ERA. "I really don't gi01 what
to expect today," Bouknight Tti?
is well-(
guess I'll look at the scouting re- seven Y
and just try to make some good were ba
3S. I know our defense will be there seven c
(5ami
spt
me nam
:z prop
^ % ^^BWPy lj| iflii" -.
cock designated hitter Tim Angiolini
2 RBIs. USC's record is 9-3. The teai
len, in the eighth, Gamecock on a
r Brett Kondro came on and got olina
st two outs before the Terriers most
for four hits and two more runs, in foi
tg the score 10-3. A
the bottom half, USC added lineu
runs, two of them on Nelson's the g
1 homer of the year and anothn
J ay Lambert scored from third we gc
r* -? -r /-^ A
:on tor 1NCA
made
Jfl ^
J| namei
SE MARSHALL bigges
Me
5y're looking around for those Kresst
is that have had success, and H e
1 us." Charlt
fo had called on Winthrop team e
iformation director Jack Frost orativi
his week to offer congratula- hind h
Ma
Frost picked Ciuffo's brain things
all NCAA requirements and ter
ices before they hung up. ^ ney
is been a busy time for Frost Charle
staff. TT
.... Hp
Sports is visiting campus to
ies and footage for its NCAA w 1
i. The Los Aneeles Times will tor are
week with the Eagles, Frost ^(
samep
mse today
: me, so I'm just gonna try and H
Dng as I can and do whatever's n
ary to help the team."
far this season, the Gamecocks
mpiled a record of 9-3, with three
s recording at least two victories
ng with Bouknight, junior Randy ||
n and sophomore Peter Bauer
lso helped to pick up the slack
Gamecocks' offense. Hadden is
d has an ERA of 1.35, while
3-1 on the season, is second on
m in strikeouts,
rly on, there were a few games
:h we did not hit well, but the
s picked their game up a notch
pt us in the games," coach Ray
said. "The pitching staff has
Teat so far. I am extremely
I with them."
; last few games, Carolina's bats
egun to wake up. USC swept
Washington last weekend by
)f 6-0, 9-2, and 15-10. Wednesrning,
the Gamecocks blew out
113-3. The leading hitter on the
far is senior outfielder Tim AnGamecocks'
offensive arsenal
iistributed, though, as the first
litters in Wednesday's lineup
itting over .300, with six of the
tearing the .400 plateau.
tcock A
irts
ecock
el USC
Hb
Sr xgptifa x V
* iH9
is hitting more than .500 so fai
m wilt host Duquesne at 3 p.m. t
Tate Osterman wild pitch. Car's
bullpen did well, just as it has
of the season, giving up two runs
lr innings.
lso, Wofford's 1-2-3 hitters in the
p went a combined l-for-15 in
ame, with eight strikeouts.
Ve really swung the bats well,
>t some runs on the board," TanA
Tournan
or a diary of one of the tourna- i
; longest shots. 1
offo has dealt with the onslaught
rear since 1994, when Charleston j
the first of its three previous
. appearances.
en the Cougars were the tourit
darlings whose coach, John ^
;, moved South from New York ?
d a former NAIA club to the t
t dance in college basketball,
irshall spent eight seasons on 0
;'s staff.
i was an assistant on ^
iston's first NCAA tournament
r
ind keeps a painted, commem- 1
} basketball on a high shelf beis
desk. k
irshall said one of the hardest e
was calling Kresse in 1997 af- n
; Marshall Thundering Herd,
j team, missed the NCAAs while ^
iston made it. t
said the emptiness was overing.
Now, both he and his men- ^
in.
i be wonderful if we were in the Is
lflpp sn fYwrh Krps?p mnlH mmp f:
V ; v ' * J:, >
f? * < /.-:' **
^Ll?
ie USC softball team made its d<
r the first time this season at
iter today's game against Alabar
SCHEDULE <
Baseball vs. Duquesne,
p.m. today, Saige Frye Fi
Softball vs. Alabama, 3
and vs. Maryland, 5 p.m.
today, at Tampa, Fla.
F/\
IU Will
"WiT
;
- ' . . &- ' I *:: -:
Sean Rayford Photo Editi
r this season, with two home rur
oday.
ner said. "I'm extremely pleased wit
our pitching staff."
Box Score
by inning
R H E
WOFFORD 000 001 020 3 7 5
CAROLINA 131 500 03x 13 11 3
lent advice
n our locker room and I could go ii
lis," Marshall said. "It'd be great.
Baker and Ciuffo say Charlestoi
las rolled out its plan for NCA^
irrangements.
There was such a lull, Baker wa
eaving the office for a few days befon
mnday's bid party at the USS York
own.
"There's only so much you can g<
iver," he said.
Meanwhile, Marshall an<
Vinthrop have had trouble keeping
ocus just on basketball.
Practice on Wednesday started 3(
ninutes late because of all the cam
ras and reporters. "It was worse thai
nedia day," Frost said.
Hickman had to plan for NCA/
ootball playoffs while an administra
or at Ferrum (Va.) College betweer
985-88.
That prepared him for some of th<
ICAA logistics rush, "but this has beer
airly time consuming," he said.
V. 1: "
I
an? > ?
Scan Rayford I'hoto Editor
3but in the 1999 L/SA Today poll
No. 13. The Lady Gamecocks
na in Tampa, Fla., at 13-4.
?
NATE SAYS...
3 Nate says the airplane
leld. Buddy Holly died in was
the "American Pie," the title
p.m., of the Don McLean song.
Page 5
NASCAR
hopes for
i closer racing
in Las Vegas
by Mike Harris
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS ? Mark Martin suspects
I it might be the same old thing, new rules
or no new rules.
Martin won the inaugural Las Vegas
400 last March, leading a rout where Ford
captured 13 of the top 14 places. NASCAR
didn't likp thp lnnlr of that rarp ? nlnncr
with some others ? and changed the aero...
dynamic rules before the last race of the
season in hopes of evening out the competition.
But Martin, coming off a victory in
Rockingham, N.C., says additional downforce
won't necessarily make the Winston
Cup series more competitive or bring slower
cars closer to the front.
"The spoilers and air dams making better
races is yet to be seen," he said. "I think
you will be able to run side by side," where
before it was difficult to do.
"If you had a lOth-place car at Las Vegas
and eyerybody just put spoilers and
air dams on, you'd still have a lOth-place
car. So I think you've got to figure out how
to get your car driving as good and going
as fast as the guy that's leading."
sr But Rusty W allace's crew chief thinks
is the move mandated by NASCAR before
the final race last year to raise the rear
^ spoilers and lower the front air dams ?
giving the cars more traction in the
turns ? could make the second Winston
Cup trip to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway
a memorable one.
"The likelihood of a driver being able
to run away with the thing is not too great,"
Robin Pemberton said. "The tire grip
I and driver-control aspects really make me
feel like this could be a race that they talk
about for many months to come.
"We're all just hoping that it's us that
they're doing the most talking about."
It won't take much for that to happen.
Wallace finished third last year in the
? inaugural Las Vegas race, when Martin
^ led a Ford sweep of the top seven positions.
^ "The new air dam and spoiler rules now
in effect are going to make the competition
really tight," Pemberton said. "The
s cars are going to be able to race two abreast
and maybe even three abreast in some instances."
That might help the General Motors
3 cars, badly outrun in Las Vegas and not
much of a factor for most of 1998. The
j only Chevrolet to prosper last year was
that of Winston Cup champion Jeff Gor
don, a winner in a record-tying 13 of 33
races.
Bobby Labonte's Pontiac won twice,
but there were only three more GM vic1
tories. Fords won the other 15 races.
"Hopefully, with the new spoiler rules,
^ all the GM cars can be better," Gordon said.
"I know the Fords haven't slowed up any."
j Gordon is seeking to tie a record with
his third straight championship and fourth
overall. A year ago, he finished 17th on the
11/2-mile Las Vegas oval.
1 "It was just a matter of not being able
to run the car competitively under the
t circumstances. We iust weren't verv eood"
he said.
This is the third event of the 34-race
season. The first two races do not reflect
what's in store at many tracks.
At Daytona International Speedway,
where cars always run with power-robbing
carburetor restrictor plates, Gordon won
the season-opening Daytona 500. Chevys
took four of the top five spots there.
At the Dura-Lube 400 two weeks ago
at North Carolina Motor Speedway was
perhaps a better example of the aerodynamic
rules. Fords took four of the top five
spots, but GM managed a top-10 split.
But speeds on that 1.017-mile oval are
about 12 mph slower than those in Las Vegas,
where downforce will be a bigger issue
because the track is banked at just 12
degrees in the corners. At The Rock, the
banking ranges from 22 to 25 degrees.
Gordon's crew chief, Ray Evernham,
called the Las Vegas finish last year
"embarrassing," and vowed a massive effort
to solve the problem.
If he is to make a move toward the top
of the standings, Gordon can't have another
Rockingham. After winning at Daytona,
he fell to 10 spots by finishing 39th
at Rockingham ? the victim of a rare Hendrick
Motorsports occurrence, a blown engine.
"Nobody who is competing for the
championship can afford two bad races in
a row," Gordon said. "We just hope we're
as competitive in Las Vegas as we think
J we will be."