Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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- Inside: ^ _ Schedule USC track & field does well at Raleigh Re- a Men s ,ennis at Clemson, Tue. , . , ■ Baseball vs. The Citadel, Wed. lays; tennis teams win two matches over . Women.s tennis at Mississippi State, weekend - Fri. ■ Men’s tennis vs. Mississippi, Fri. USC rolls Tide, sweeps series by Mark Piras Senior Writer The No.5 Gamecock baseball team swept the No. 12 Alabama Crimson Tide over the weekend, improving its record to 284,9-3 SEC. USC is now in first place in the Southeastern Conference. i USC 3, Alabama 1 (Sunday) With a live gamecock crowing from atop the first base dugout and a few fans waving brooms in the air, Alabama catch er Kelley Gulledge chopped a one-out in field single in the top of the ninth to load the bases. That hit drove Gamecock starter Scott Baiber (5-1) from the game and prevented USC from pitching three straight com plete games. Sophomore John Wesley came on to get the save, but not before Alabama managed to score its first run in 23 in nings. Barber’s performance, coming on the heels of incredible pitching performances by Kip Bouknight and Peter Bauer, com ) pleted a three-game sweep of Alabama in which the Crimson Tide were limited to a total of two runs, 16 hits and, amazing ly, no extra-base hits. “I can’t remember back-to-back-to back games where three pitchers have been that successful against a team the caliber of Alabama,” USC head coach Ray Tanner said. “Alabama averaged 10 runs a game last weekend and our guys did a tremendous job pitching them.” South Carolina took the early lead in the bottom of the second inning on a two out single to left by second baseman John McHemy that scored first baseman Tripp Kelly. McHenry drove in all three runs scored by the Gamecocks, hitting a two run home run through a strong wind blow ing in from left field two innings later. “Sometimes you have these days,” McHenry said, “and today was a good day to have one. I’m not the guy who usual ly brings in the RBIs, but today I did. Every day, it’s someone new. It was just a great opportunity for me to be in, and I capi talized on my opportunities.” Surprisingly, Brett Price was sched uled to start instead of Barber, but Tanner and pitching coach Jerry Meyers changed their mind when they learned that rain was a possibility for Sunday. “If the showers did come in and it was a rain-shortened game, you want your best guy out there for the most innings,” Tanner said. “Although Price has done a great job, Barber is a little ahead of him right now.” “I went out to eat with my parents af ter the game (Saturday),” Barber said. “I was coming back in the parking lot, and he drove up in his car and said, ‘You’re starting tomorrow.’ I said, ‘All right.’” Barber threw only 96 pitches before leaving in the ninth, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out five in record ing his fifth win of the season. USC 2, Alabama 0 (Saturday) Topping Friday’s pitching performance, Bauer (5-0) grabbed his fifth win of the season for the Gamecocks by shutting down Alabama in a complete game shutout win. The shutout was Alabama’s first in al most four years. The Tide was last shut out on March 30,1996. Bauer walked none, giving up five hits and striking out five batters. He threw on ly 97 pitches, and allowed a mere two run ners to reach second base. Only one bat ter reached a three-ball count. “His slider was good today,” Tanner said, “and he threw some excellent change ups to left-handed hitters. He was really sharp today.” Bauer set down eleven of the last twelve hitters to finish the game, throw ing less than ten pitches in each of the last three innings. 72 of his 97 pitches were strikes. “It was just a good day,” Bauer said. “Everybody was backing me up and [catch er Brandon] Pack had a great game be Baseball <1FF PArtF 40 JACUUtLYN rOSIUN UAMtCUCK OHUKIS Second baseman John McHenry watches his fourth inning home run sail out of the park Sunday against Alabama. The hbmer helped USC complete a three-game sweep of the Crimson Tide, 3-1. Softball squad takes two at Tennessee No. 18 Lady Gamecocks improve to 27-15 with victories in Knoxville Softball Roundup Gamecock Sports The No. 18 Lady Gamecock soft ball team went 2-1 in a three-game se ries with Eastern Division rival Ten nessee. South Carolina (27-15,8-7 SEC) took the first two games of the series as part of a 10-game road trip. Tennessee 16, USC 4 (Saturday) The Lady Vol bats combined with four Lady Gamecock errors to lead to UT’s 16-4 game two win. Junior Joyce McMillin (10-5) al lowed 12 runs in her 2.2 innings for • USC, but only three of the 12 were yearned: Heather Culver came in to finish, allowing four runs, two earned, in her 1.1 innings of work. USC jumped out to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and second in nings. McMillin walked and advanced to third on an Adrianna Baggetta sin gle to left field. McMillin would help her own cause, scoring on a Sondra Hall sacrifice fly. In the second, Megan Donohoo scored on a single down the left field line by Debralee Troesh. Tennessee came up with one run in the bottom of the second and a season-high 11 in the bottom of the third. UT would add another four runs in the bottom of the fourth. USC 4, Tennessee 2 (Saturday) The Lady Gamecocks jumped to an early lead in the top of the third in ning. McMillin lined a one-out single to left center. McMillin scored on sophomore designated player Bagget ta’s fourth home run of the season. The two-run bomb gave USC a 2-0 lead. The Lady Vols came roaring back in the bottom of the fourth. Melissa Radley started the inning with a double over the head of left fielder Jodi Fittro. With two outs, Holly El lison put runners on first and third with an infield single. Maura Mollet came up with the big two-out double to deep right, scor ing both Radley and Elli son to tie the game. Carolina took the lead for good in the ijop of the seventh when senior Kendra McCutcheon walked with one out. McMillin gave USC the win with her team-leading sixth home run of the sea son. McMillin now has 22 RBIs this season to lead the squad. Despite allowing seven hits and walking two, starting pitcher Megan Matthews would Settle down. Matthews (15-10) retired the final 10 batters after giving up the runs. Matthews won her third game of the week. USC 7, Tennessee 2 (Fri day) In a battle of the 1999 co-SEC Eastern Divi sion Champions, the No. 18 Lady Gamecocks defeated the Lady Vols 7-2 in the first of a four-game series. The win moved USC to 26-14, 7-6 in the SEC, and was the Lady Gamecocks’ 900th program win. The Lady Gamecocks took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, capitalizing on a Lady Vol error by second baseman Amanda Venable. Fittrc reached first on the erroi and moved to second on hei team-leading sixth stolen base of the season. Fittrc moved to third on a wile pitch. Senior Sondra Hall gave USC the lead with £ single up the middle. The Lady Vols threat ened in the bottom of the second, loading the bases or a walk and two Lady Game cock errors. Matthews would get out of the inning with a fielder’s choice anc getting Ellison to strike out looking for the second time in the game. USC scored four unearned runs in the top of the third to increase the lead to 5-0. McMillin led off the in ning with a single to short left field and was sacrificed over by Baggetta. Hall came up with her second hit of the game, moving McMillin to third. Adrienne Genovese reached on an er ror that should have ended the inning and scored Hall. Donohoo then came up big with a two-out home run to left field. The homer was Donohoo’s fourth of the season and first since spraining her wrist on March 11. The Lady Vols cut the lead to 5-2 in the fourth inning with a big two-out double by Ellison. Both April Phillips, who singled, and Radley, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on Elli son’s double. Carolina plated two more runs in the top of the fifth with another two out rally. Hall reached on a fielder’s choice. Hall would advance to second on a two-out intentional walk of Dono hoo tp put runners on first and second. Both Hall and Donohoo advanced a base on an illegal pitch. K.im Schultze lined a two-out single, scoring both runners to give USC a 7-2 lead. The two runs scored in the fifth were the only earned runs allowed through five innings pitched. Matthews earned her 15 th win of the season, pitching seven innings. Matthews allowed six hits and struck out four. The Lady Gamecocks are atop the SEC Eastern Division, but are fourth in tne conference standings. ubL. nas 18 games remaining in the season, eight at Beckham Field. Twelve of the games are against SEC opponents. However, only one opponent, Louisiana State, is ranked in the national polls. USC will play four games at Lex ington, Ky., on Friday and Saturday. The Lady Gamecocks are 10-2 all-time against the Lady Wildcats. 1 __i Sean Rayford Photo Editor Kendra McCutcheon throws to first to make the lout during the Florida series. oEAN r\ATrOKU VjAMLUUUK OfUKIi Danielle Quinones slides under the tag in USC’s series against Florida. Carolina took three games against Tennessee this weekend as part of a 10-game road trip. ■ > Horse race or bender? Shannon Rooke Sports Editor iney came in noraes. College students, retired citizens, maybe even some famous faces. With the gates of the 68th running of the Carolina Cup opening at nine in the morning, most of them were there by ten. And drunk as hell by eleven. Fraternity tents lined the outside of the track and colorfully packed College Park to its limit, kegs and coolers re flected the sun in the beautiful blue sky and pastel dresses with big matching hats could be seen stumbling all around the grounds. All coming out to see the horses and who would win each of the six races, right? Yeah, nice try. When I asked one quite inebriated student what time the races began, he looked at me like I had just inquired about who really shot Kennedy, replied “races?” and then proceeded to tell me he should sit down somewhere. But the bets were pouring in from all over the Springdale Race Course. From who? Well, I saw one group of students throwing money in a pile and yelling that they wanted to bet on the 22nd horse in the race. See, that wouldn’t have been that bad of an idea except there aren’t that many horses on the track. But, then again, they were from Ciemson, so the way I see it, they don’t matter much any way. But then there was the guy at the tent next to me who threw down enough money to support Dale Carter’s drug habit for a week or so and bet on the horse labeled No. 6. When one of his friends asked him why he would want to do that, he calmly explained that was his jersey number in high school, so it was obviously going to win. Sunday’s edition of The State quot ed an elderly man who said he has been going to the Cup for years and has nev er even seen the horses. Yeah, I guess a thundering herd of 1,000-pound animals would be kind of hard to miss. I just would like to know two things: What was he drinking? And could I please have some? Although this baffled me a great deal, it seemed to be the general consensus on the grounds of the Steeplechase Cap ital of America. Just another sporting event that has developed into another reason for the upper-class crowd of South Carolina to get drunk, yell at the top of its lungs and not get arrested for any of it. Kind of like tailgating for USC foot ball games, I suppose. Except this time, there’s no losing involved. Also, the food is better, the drinks are nicer and even the blue and pink por ta-potties had a certain rich and classy look to them. So never mind the fact that most of the people who came out to watch the “sport of kings” would probably have to read their local newspapers or watch the news coverage on televisioa to even re member what the weather was like or who was there. It’s a social event, right? I just wish all of them could have seen this timeless sport at its best. Three photo finishes, one April Fools’-like ending for a favored horse and I think I even saw a horse run by our tent without a rider once. For those who could actually focus on the track, it was a pretty interesting day of sports. But, don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that any of this is bad. In fact, I had agreat time. I got to laugh at a lot of really funny-dressed people trying to be classy while falling all over themselves and pretending to know what they were actually there to do. One girl slurringly claimed we were there to “cheer the pretty horsies on.” Just proves my point even more.