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Gamecock Sports _ !USC baseball on a roll i Charlie Wallace Senior Writer March has always been my favorite month of the year. For starters, my birthday is on the 26th and this year I will become legal, which means I am one step closer to be coming less of a college student and more of a man. No doubt, this is a scary thought to those who know me. Easter happens occasionally in March, and in Columbia the Lord makes sure it is always an amazing day weather-wise. March is also enjoyable because the first signs of spring start to blossom around the same time. Dogwoods bloom, bees come out of nowhere, pollen starts to make you sneeze... OK, maybe that’s not too good. But shorts do become en vogue again as jeans and long-sleeve shirts start to take up more closet space than in months past. Girls also start to wear near nothing and months of tanning bed money is well spent, as brown skin shows up out of nowhere and the majority of the male race starts to lust even more. March Madness is in rull swing as highly-skilled basketball teams vie for the title of national champion. And in every cornfield, dusty dia mond and blacktop street across Ameri ca, kids break out baseball bats and Amer-. ica’s pastime is reborn for the first time of the new year. But this March, there is something special in the air. South Carolina baseball is still undefeated. A 20-0 record in base ball, in any league or skill level, is simply unheard of. In a game where a player is consid ered talented if he is successful at bat 30 percent of the time, perfection of any kind is a gem. The perfect game, the no-hitter, the 5-for-5 showing at the plate on a giv en day is newsworthy. Winning 20 games in a row? C^ie word describes it: special. The Gamecock baseball team, always one of the university’s more successful clubs, started the season on a mission, and after winning their first 10 or so games, people started taking notice. How long will it last? When will they finally lose? Carolina kept winning and winning, and their first major test of the year ap peared when USC traveled to Auburn last weekend. The result? Three more wins for the Gamecocks. In the nation’s toughest baseball con ference, as well as all-around sports league, winning on the road is extremely tough. However, defeating a team three times in a row on their home turf is unheard of. Especially when the team is ranked as high as No. 4. Yes, this year’s version of the Carolina baseball team is special. My prediction is that at the end of the baseball season, as students are work ing or struggling through Maymester class es, there will be many new household names. Bauer, Bouknight, McHenry, Kel ly, McBeth and Barber are names that ring a bell. However, when summer invades spring’s territory, these names, among others, will be all too common. To put in perspective how talented this team is, the 20 wins in a row is a con ference record. Louisiana State, a traditional SEC powerhouse, held the old record of 19 wins in a row when it did so in 1997. The Tigers won the national championship that year. inai s now naiu wuiiuug uuu iu<uiy consecutive games: To accomplish this feat, a team must have strongpitching, solid defense and timely hitting. Carolina has all these ingredients and more. In a game where aluminum bats make final scores skyrocket into the dou ble digits, pitching depth is a rarity. Carolina has two to three All-Amer ica candidates in the rotation, some thing probably not two other teams in the country have. Add a steady defense led by players who could be playing in the minor leagues if they had chosen to, as well as batters who can place a ball anywhere on the field or put one pnto the adjacent softball field, baseball this March has fans excited. So this Sl Patrick’s Day weekend (an other reason March is great), instead of going out and having too much fun with your green-colored drink of choice, do something radical and old-fashioned. Spend some time at the old ballpark, getting a tan and watching your Gamecocks whip the Florida Gators and keep doing what they do best: winning. Softball from page B1 a streak similar to the first-inning show ing against Furman batters. McCutcheon caught a pop fly in the infield and McMillin struck out two. Afterwards, USC once again took advan tage of it’s turn at bat. Sophomore left fielder Adrianna-Baggetta reached base on a walk by Furman pitcher Kelly Jack (9-9). . Baggetta advanced to second on a sac rifice bunt by freshman designated play er Debralpe Troesh. Next at bat, senior second baseman Kim Schultze hit a double to center field which brought in Baggetta and moved the score to 2-0. With only one out and a runner still on base, the inning was far from over. Freshman Danielle Quinones popped a double into center field to put Schultze on third and USC was ready to run. When McCutcheon’s fourth hit on the day, an infield grounder, was recovered and then dropped, Schultze scored. The Lady Gamecocks three-run lead stood firm until play erupted in the fifth and final inning. Fittro started the inning with an ad vance to first. Furman’s pitcher helped USC by walking McCutcheon and moving Fittro to second McMillin fol lowed by hitting a strong grounder through second base. McMillin took first and loaded the bases. This was just the first of several times the bases would be filled with Lady Game cocks players in the fifth. Genovese slammed a line drive to left field, gaining two bases and bringing in Fittro and McCutcheon to advance USC to a 5-0 lead Next up was freshman firs): baseman Kate Morrison, in for Sondra Hall. Mor rison singled to center, bringing in Mc Cutcheon for the Gamecocks’ sixth run and moving Genovese to third Baggetta was walked on four consec utive pitches to load the bases again. Troesh's infield single was recovered by die Furman shortstop and thrown to the plate to tag out Genovese and prevent a Gamecock run. But, the bases were loaded a third time. Furman’s luck only worsened. Schultze’s pop to left centerfield was caught and dropped, allowing Morrison to score, and the Gamecocks were ahead by sev en, with Baggetta, Troesh and Schultze re maining on base. To end the game, Quinones was hit by a pitch and given first. This moved the diird-base runner, Baggetta, in for the eighth Gamecock run. USC won by mercy rule. The Lady Gamecock softball team will play host to Florida this weekend at Beckham Field. * 2000 USC Softball Statistics (through M<--ch 17) G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB Avg. IS Jodi Flora 24 49 8 20 0 0 0 9 4 .408 12 Joyce McMillin 27 83 15 28 2 0 5 17 3 .337 20 Jamie Williams 5 6 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 .333 33 Megan Donohoo 25 81 16 26 1 0 3 10 2 .321 22 Debralee Troesh 17 30 6 9 1 0 0 6 0 .300 21 AdrianmBaggwta 26 69 It 20 3 1 2 12 0 .290 7 Adrienne Genovese ' 25 73 14 .21 1 0 0 3 1 .288 11 Danielle Quinones 26 18 3 5 0 0 0 5 0 .278 8 Sandra Hall 27 83 8 22 4 0 0 11 0 265 1 Kendra McCatcheon 27 75 7 18 0 0 0 8 1 .240 17 Kim Scholia 27 69 11 14 4 0 0 9 1 .203 5 Megan Matthew. 13 302620 0 20.200 9 Kate Morrison 9 5 1100 0 00.200 IS Heather Culver 22 40 1 6 0 0 0 4 0 .150 10 Pam Collins 2 21000 0 0 0.000 4 Kim Evans 9 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 ERA IP H R ER BB SO W L Sv U Joyce McMBHn 0.92 59.0 29 8 6 17 5S 8 1 0 15 Heather Culver M2 6.1 3 I I 0 4 10 0 5 Megan Matthews 1.74 124.0 82 36 24 33 124 10 8 3 2000 season ticket prices to remain the same Football Roundup Gamecock Sports Season football tickets for USC home games next year will cost virtually the same as they did last season. In fact, the total price will be $ 1 less than a year ago. The USC Athletic Ticket Office has announced that a season ticket for the Gamecocks’ six home games in 2000 will cost $134, compared to $135 in 1999. Single game tickets will remain at $20 for home contests with New Mexico State on Sept. 2, Eastern Michigan on Sept. 16, Mississippi State on Sept. 23 and Arkansas on Oct. 14. Tickets for home games against Geor gia on Sept. 9 and Tennessee on Oct. 28 will be $27. “Wfe wanted to keep our season tick et prices along the same lines as last year’s and we were able to accomplish that,” said Chris Massaro, associate athletics di rector. “The $27 ticket for the Georgia and Tennessee games simply is an ad justment for high-demand games and is consistent for what our fans paid for those games on the road a year ago.” Ticket prices for USC’s away games are as follows: Alabama, $26; Kentucky,. $22; Vanderbilt, $30; Florida, $22; and Clemson, $32. 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