The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 23, 2001, Page 8, Image 8
Gamecock Sports Schedule
■ Men’s tennis vs. Kentucky, 2 p.m. Friday
■ Women’s tennis vs. Ole Miss, 2 p.m. Friday
■ Track and field in Weems Baskin Relays, Friday-Saturday
■ Baseball vs. Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. Friday
IOC (Bamecock Friday, March 23, 2001
»
Baseball team looks to rebound against Vanderbilt
Special to The Gamecock
Chris Plummer and the USC baseball team have had problems leav
ing runners on base. The Gamecocks left 19 runners on base in
their two losses to Tennessee this past weekend.
■ USC coming off
its first series loss
of the 2001 season
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
With Wednesday’s nonconference
match-up with Wofford canceled due to
inclement weather, the USC baseball team
now turns its attention to a three-game
series this weekend with Vanderbilt at
Saige Frye Field.
The Gamecocks (194,4-2 SEC) have
lost their past two games and are coming
off their first loss of a regular-season series
since last season. As a result, the team
dropped to No. 7 in the Baseball America
poll after being ranked No. 2 last week.
However, the team is confident it can
make its way back up the polls at home
against the Commodores (15-6,4-2 SEC)
starting Friday night.
“It definitely hurt to lose two out of
three ... but you can’t beat yourself up
and take that to the next game,” right
fielder Brennan Dees said. “If that’s the
case, then you’ll just play the same way
you did before.
“You just have to flush it and go on
to the next game. If we do that, then we’ll
be in good shape.”
Vanderbilt has been a surprise in the
SEC, taking two of three games from
Mississippi State and Alabama.
The Commodores have been led
offensively by first baseman Sean
Luellwitz, who is hitting .400 and has a
team-high 28 hits and 14 RBIs. Luellwitz’s
double in the bottom of the ninth last
Friday night clinched a 4-3 win against
Mississippi State.
Left fielder Karl Nonemaker (.324
average) and third baseman Ashley
Freeman (14 RBIs) add depth to the
Commodore lineup. Nonemaker got
his 200th career hit last Saturday.
Steven Faulkner (3-0) is the ace of
the Vandy pitching staff. The right-hander
leads the team in strikeouts with 33 in 43
innings pitched. Jeff Little (3-1) and Claris
Maultsby (4-2) are projected to start on
Saturday and Sunday.
USC head coach Ray Tanner sees the
Commodores as a dangerous team, just
like every other team in the SEC.
“[The Commodores] have already
won the series from Alabama and
Mississippi State,” he said. “There aren’t
any weak teams in this conference.”
Tanner was concerned about how
many runners the Gamecocks left on base
in last weekend’s series with Tennessee
— seven on Saturday and 12 on Sunday.
He’s confident, however, that his team
can change its fortune.
“Maturity and getting hits will change
everything in a hurry,” he said. “I am
disappointed that we have left some
runners, but that’s part of the game, and
I don’t expect it to be a usual occurrence.”
Kip Bouknight (5-0) will make his
usual Friday start on the mound for the
Gamecocks. Bouknight pitched a two
hitter in USC’s 6-0 win last Friday. Gary
Bell (5-2) and Chris Spigner (4-1) will
start the other two days. Tanner said the
Tennessee losses couldn’t be blamed on
his starting pitchers.
“All three of our guys pitched well
enough to win,” he said “Without a doubt,
they did a great job. Our pitching staff has
done a tremendous job all year long and
has given us a chance to win.”
■ LOCATION: Sarge Frye
Field
■ TIMES: 7 p.m. Friday, 4
p.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Sunday
■ RADIO: WVOC 540 AM
■ RECORDS: USC (19-4,
4-2 SEC), Vandy (15-6, 4
2)
The postponed Wofford game will be
made up at 7 p.rn. May 1 in Spartanburg.
Friday’s opener against the Commodores
is also scheduled for a 7 p.nt. start.
The sports desk am be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Track and Field
Eiland balances
football, track
■ Outback Bowl hero a top hurdler for USC
f Pf- '
by Steven Drummond
The Kjamecock
i *
9 i* •*>*«*•
Deandre Eiland’s first year of collie has been
one to remember.
He started the yrarthis fall by having a MVP
like performance for-the Gamecock football
team, snagging two interceptions in USC’s Outback
Bowl win and earning; Freshman All-American and
Freshman All-SEC honors. Now Eiland is a hurdler
for the USC track and field team, one of the country’s
best track programs. $
“The Outback Bowl was nice,” Eiland said of
Carolina’s 24-7 win over Ohio State. “It was a good
feeling to step out ther£ and get two picks, and then
to come back home and hear how excited everyone
was.”
Eiland started the season on the bench behind
starting safety Antoine Nesmith, but took over the
starting spot when Nesmith suffered a year-ending
injury against Arkansas.
“I started the season thinking I was going to be
redshirted, but then when Nesmith went down in
die Arkansas game, the coaches were like, it’s time
to get ready to play,”’ Eiland said. “I knew I had
to turn it up.”
When the football season ended, Eiland didn’t
take a break. Instead, he joined head coach Curtis
Frye and the USC track team.
Despite his early success on the gridiron, Eiland
said track is still his first love.
“I’ve been running since eighth grade,” he said.
“I went out for track in seventh grade and I didn’t
even make it. In eighth grade, I barely made [the
team], but I wasn’t that good. In nintligrade, I finally
got to be pretty good on the track”
For many people, it would be impossible to
finish a long, physically taxing football season and
then jump right into another sport as demanding
as track, but Eiland made die transition smoothly.
“The transition from football to track is not that
hard, because they are a lot alike,” he said. “Both
sports involve a lot of technique. Football is definitely
more physically demanding, but both sports are one
in the same because you have to be mentally
sharp and in great shape physically to be successful.”
Eiland came to USC from Tupelo, Miss., where
he was a track star in high school. He was a state
champion in the 110-meter hurdles and was the
National High School record holder in the 55
yard dash (7.70). Eland received scholarship offers
from many colleges at first, but they tailed off later.
“In the beginning, a lot of schools were recruiting
me for football and track, but when I got my ACT
scores back, they weren’t as high as I would have
liked and a lot of schools started falling off,” Eland
said. “But South Carolina and a couple of others
stuck with me, so when I received the score I needed,
I wanted to repay them.”
The great tradition of the USC track program
weighed heavily in Eiland’s decision to come to
Carolina. USC sent a number of track athletes to
the Olympics last fall, and Eiland wanted to be a
part.
“The track program really got me,” he said. “I
looked at what great athletes USC had in Terrence
Trammell and the Barber sisters, plus Coach Frye,
who is the best hurdle coach in the nation, and it
had a big impact on me.”
Eiland has started this track season strong for
the Gamecocks, winning his first collegiate race
in the 60-meter hurdles. He believes if he has a shot
at making the Olympics in 2004, it will be
because of Frye’s help.
“If I have what it takes to get to the Olympics,
it’s because of what Coach Frye has taught me,”
Eiland said. “He’s helped me so much with my
technique, and he’s taught me how to do the little
things right.”
Eiland said he has been lucky enough to be
coached by two outstanding, but different, coaches,
in Frye and football head coach Lou Holtz.
Eiland see page 9
- II I ——---_J
Special to The Gamecock
Deandre Eiland plays at defensive back for the USC football team in the fall, and in
the spring he runs track for the Gamecocks.
Carolina
to host first
home meet
this Friday
BY MANESHKA
Eliatamby
The Gamecock
After a tremendous indoor season,
the Gamecock track and field team is
back in action — this time outdoors in
its own Weems Baskin Relays.
The Gamecocks competed at their
tirst outdoor meet
last weekend at the
Miami Invitational
and took five
individual titles.
Today, they go into
their second outdoor
competition and
look to build
momentum tor an FRYE
outdoor season just
as successful as the indoor one it just
completed.
Ten schools from around the East
Coast are expected to participate at the
meet. The visitors include such schools
as Maryland-Eastern Shore, St. John’s
and Appalachian State.
USC’s women finished second overall
two weeks ago in the NCAA Indoor
Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The
Gamecock men finished 16th. NCAA
winners for Carolina were sprinter
Demetria Washington and the women’s
4X400 relay team.
Being only the second outdoor meet
of the season though, head coach
Curtis Frye isn’t expecting any spectacular
performances. He is hopeful, however,
that the athletes participating will achieve
some personal bests and a few NCAA
provisional qualifiers. Both the coaches
Track seepages
Gamecock men’s soccer team signs four players for next fall
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
USC men’s soccer coach Mark
Berson announced Tuesday that the
Gamecocks have signed four recruits to
play next season.
According to Berson, all four players
have attacking abilities and will strengthen
an offense that scored 41 goals in 2000.
The incoming class is a diverse blend
coming from as close as South Carolina
and as far west as Utah. It includes
forward/midfieldcr Jacob" Cavanaugh,
midfielder Ricky Francis, forward Anthony
Stovall and midfielder Kotby Runagcr.
Cavanaugh, a native of Sandy, Utah,
was first team all-region and all-stale
his junior and senior scasonsrat Alla High
School. He was named Gatoradc Player
of the Year his junior season, and, according
to Berson, is a versatile goal-scorer.
“Jacob is an effective attacking player
who brings good speed to our team,”
Berson said. “He has the ability to take
players on and finish goals. He will help
us on the right flank and up top at striker.”
Francis brings playmaking ability from
Santa Teresa, N.M. Like Cavanaugh,
Francis was a Gatorade Player of the Year.
In his junior year at Santa Teresa High
School, Francis led the state in scoring.
His senior year, he set the state record for
assists with 35 and led Siuita Teresa to the
state title. Willi Francis on the team, Suita
Teresa didn’t lose a game in district play
over four years.
“Ricky is a tremendous competitor
who will help us in the middle of the
midfield,” Berson said of Francis, who
was bom in London. “He has good range
and pace. He distributes the ball well. An
unselfish player, Ricky makes a lot of
other players better through the work rate
and intensity he brings to the game.”
Stovall, an Elgin native, becomes only
the second player on the Gamecocks team
from South Carolina. Sophomore Michael
Kozak is from Florence.
“Anthony brings good pace and
attacking ability to our front line,” Berson
said. “He can beat players and has good
finishing ability. Anthony’s quickness
creates a lot of opportunities.”
Stovall attends Ridge View High
School ;uid was named to the all-region
tCiun his senior season.
Rounding out the qlass is Runager, a
Philadelphia native who was all-district
his senior year at Jamestown High School.
The 6-foot-2 midfielder is the son of Max
Runager, a punter for USC’s football team
from 1974-78 who also played 10 seasons
in the National Football League.
“Kolby will help bolster us in the
midfield,” Berson said. “He is equally
comfortable on the left or in the middle.
Kolby has good attacking ability and vision
and keeps the ball well. He has good size
and strength.”
The four players will add depth to a
Gamecock team that finished 12-4-3 tliis
season and lost to Duke in the first round
of the NCAA Tournament. Carolina will
lose only two seniors to graduation,
defender Chris Lockwixxl and goalkeeper
Henry Ring. Ring was chosen in the third
round of Major League Soccer’s entry
draft.
“We are very pleased with this
recruiting class,” said Berson, who
acknowledges that the class won’t be able
to step in and make a huge difference right
away.
“Certainly, there is an adjustment
to the college game,” he said. “But as
these young men develop, they will be
able to contribute to our program.”
This season’s freshman class was
productive for USC. Forward Ryan Daley
was the team ’s second-leading scorer with
10 goals and five assists for 25 points.
Daley also scored six game-winning goals.
Midfielders Jack Cummings and Robert
Rosenberg each scored eight points, tying
for fourth on the team.
The sports desk am he reached at
gamecocksportsfehotmaiLcom
2001 USC Men’s Soccer Recruits
Jacob Cavanaugh
Ricky Francis
Anthony Stovall
Kolby Runager
Forward/Midfielder
Midfielder
Forward
Midfielder
Sandy, Utah
Santa Teresa, N.M.
Elgin
Philadelphia