The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 18, 2001, Page 10, Image 10
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Gamecock Sports Schedule
■ Baseball vs. Clemson, 7 p.m. Wednesday
■ Baseball at Georgia, 6:30 p.m. Friday
■ Men’s and women’s golf at SEC Tournament, Friday-Sunday
■ Softball vs. Florida, 7:30 p.m. Saturday
'Che (BamtCOCk Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Kraft to transfer, but rest of team to stand by Odom
Special to The Gamecock
Travis Kraft won’t be on the sidelines for USC next season.
■ Eidson coming
back next semester
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
When Eddie Fogler resigned last
month, next season’s men’s basketball
roster became very uncertain. Rumors of
players transferring or leaving for the
NEA swirled around Columbia.
Many players were taking a “wait and
see” approach, waiting to see who the
next coach would be, and then deciding
if they felt they belonged.
After new coach Dave Odom met
with each player individually Friday, only
one player, Travis Kraft, expressed a desire
to transfer. Odom announced Saturday
that the sophomore forward would leave
the Gamecocks after this semester to
move closer his home in Mayville, N.D.
“Travis Kraft came to me Friday and
explained his personal situation would be
best served by relocating back to North
Dakota,” Odom said.
Kraft wasn’t in the “wait and see”
category, according to Odom.
“It is apparent to me that his decision
was made prior to my arrival at South
Carolina,” he said. “I respect his situation
and his family’s wishes, and we will do
everything we can to aid in his transfer
to another program.”
Other players, including Chuck
Eidson, were said to be thinking seriously
about leaving the team, but Odom said
Kraft was the only one who mentioned
transferring. Odom met with Eidson and
his parents last week and came out
confident Eidson would be in the garnet
and black next season.
“I think everything is going to work
out so that he’ll be back at the University
of South Carolina,” Odom told The State.
“I do not have any fear that that will
not occur.
“I have told him and his parents I
want him here. I know his teammates
want him here. In his heart of hearts, he
wants to be here. I know that. We’re going
to work diligently to make that happen.”
Pat Edson, Chuck’s father, confirmed
that statement to the newspaper last
Wednesday.
“Right now, he’s planning on going
to USC,” Pat Edson said. “We were very
impressed with Coach Odom.”
Eidson, who set a school record his
freshman season for steals and was named
to the SEC All-Freshman team, tore his
ACL against Vanderbilt mid missed the
second half of his sophomore season. He
left USC for the rest of the semester to
rehabilitate at his home in Summerville,
and that departure was what initially
sparked transfer rumors.
In losing Kraft, the Gamecocks lose
one of their best pure shooters. Kraft’s
smooth jump shot won one game this
season, a home game in January against
Florida. The sophomore came into the
game for the first time with a little more
than a second left mid drilled the game
winning 3-pointer front more than 25
feet, sending the Carolina Coliseum into
a frenzy.
When healthy, his shot could stretch
the best of defenses. Unfortunately, that
was rarely the case in his first two seasons
as a Gamecock. This past season, a foot
injury limited Kraft to only four games,
and he earned limited playing time in
each. He averaged 3.6 points and 1.0
rebounds over 29 games in two years.
When Odom arrived at USC, he said
he wanted the players to give him a
chance, and it looks as if the team has
done that by staying. A solid nucleus of
players has seemed to buy into the new
catch, and that can only mean good tilings
for the Gamecocks, who return four
starters front last season and lose only two
players to graduation.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Odom
brings in
a pair of
assistants
From Staff Reports
USC men’s basketball head coach
Dave Odom announced Monday the
additions of Frank Haith and Barry
Sanderson to the Gamecock coaching
staff.
“I’m pleased to announce that Frank
Haith and Barry Sanderson liave accepted
my invitation to join our staff at South
Carolina," said Odom, who was named
Carolina’s 30th basketball coach April
10 after a 12-year tenure as the head
coach at Wake Forest. “They are great
coaches mid even better human beings.
Our players mid our fans will enjoy getting
to know them, mid I expect they will
quickly become very much a part of the
University of South Carolina and the
i i . i iif n
Utoriiiutui icuiinv.
Haith just completed liis fifth season
on Odom’s staff at Wike Forest, where
lie served the past four yeats (1998-2001),
as well as on Odom’s first staff (1990
91). A 1988 graduate of Elon College,
Haith Ire held assistant coaching positions
at his alma mater, UNC Wilmington,
Texas A&M and Penn State. He lias been
part of six postseason teams in liis concliiiig
tenure.
Siuidcrson joined Wike Forest prior
to last season and is a 1990 graduate of
the University of Alabama. He has
been an assistant coach at Arkansas-Little
Rock, List Carolina, Lipscomb and Wike
Forest in his coacliing career, also serving
as a student assistant at Alabama and a
graduate assistant at Texas A&M and
Geoigia. Sanderson is tlie son of legendary
coach Wimp Sanderson and the brother
of Scott Sanderson, who graduated from
South Carolina and played in 114 games
from 1981-84.
Odom said that an announcement
regarding the remaining staff positions
will be made as soon as possible.
j I
_ rf - m.. • V «-_I
Sean Rayford/The Gamecock
Clemson will come in to rowdy Sarge Frye Field tonight to take on the Gamecocks. The Tigers won the last meeting of the two, 7-4.
USC in need of some breaks
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
Any head coach will tell you that
sometimes it takes a little more than
talent and hard work to win games.
Sometimes you need a few lucky breaks
along the way.
Wltile hist year’s Gamecock baseball
team certainly had all of the above, this
year’s squad has seen little go their way
at crucial moments during the season.
Case in point: last weekend’s series
at Mississippi State. The Gamecocks,
fresh off a 6-2 win against the Bulldogs
this past Friday, lost two heartbreakers
on Saturday and Sunday by one run each.
On Saturday, USC fell 4-3 in 11 innings,
and on Sunday, a tltree-run home run in
the bottom of the ninth by MSU’s Jon
Knott erased a two-run Carolina lead
for an 8-7 Bulldogs win.
“It seems like every game we got
into last year that was in the balance, we
found a way to win,” USC head coach
Ray Tanner said. “It just seemed like it
happened game after game after game.
We just won so much.”
At this point last season, the
Gamecocks were rolling along at 36-4
and were atop the SEC standings. Now,
they’re 29-11 and sitting at .500 in the
SEC with a 9-9 record. They’ve also lost
their last three conference series and
seven of their last nine conference games.
“We just haven’t got a lot of the good
breaks like we did last year,” shortstop
Drew Meyer said. “Last year, everytliing
was going our way, and this year, it’s just
tiie opposite. From now on, I guess we’ve
got to make our breaks and quit expecting
them just to come to us.”
The No. 16 Gamecocks will have a
chance to start turning things around
tonight when they take on No. 12
Clemson (25-13) at Saige Frye Field. It
will be the third meeting between the
rivals this season. USC blew out the
Tigers 21 -8 in the first meeting at Doug
Kingsmore Stadium on March 3, but
Clemson rebounded the next day to take
down the Gamecocks 74 at Sarge Frye.
“It could be a big win for us,” Meyer
said of tonight’s game. “It can be an
energy boost for us, because right now,
we’re kind of down, and we’re looking
for things to build on. A win versus
■ LOCATION: Sarge Frye
Field
■ TIME: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Clemson would definitely do that.”
Tanner agrees that a win tonight
would do wonders for the Gamecocks’
confidence going into a crucial three
Clemson see page n
Baseball
America’s
NCAA Top 25
1. Stanford
2. LSU
3. Nebraska
4. Rice
5. Notre Dame
6. Miami (FL)
7. Florida St.
8. Southern Cal
9. Ga. Tech
10. CS-Fullerton
11. Tulane
12. Clemson
13. Pepperdine
14. Tennessee
15. Arizona St.
16. USC
17. Central Fla.
18. Ole Miss
19. East Carolina
20. Baylor
21. S. Alabama
22. Stetson
23. Wake Forest
24. Texas
25. Miss. St.
Softball splits games with Furman
ii y Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
When the USC softball team dropped the first
game of a doublcheadcr against Furman Tuesday
night, it marked the team’s third straight defeat.
The Gamecocks had lost the last two games of a
three-game scries against Kentucky this past
weekend.
However, the Gamecocks (31 -15-1) was once
again able to turn to freshman hurlcr Stacey Johnson
to pull themselves out of their slump.
Johnson pitched a one-hit shutout in the second
game of the doubleheader at licckhiun Field, and
the No. 19 Giunccocks were able to regain their
winning edge with a 4-0 blanking of the Paladins
(22-221.
Johnson has become a reliable source of
efficiency for Carolina on the mound this season.
Wptlt Tuesday night’s win, she improved her record
lo a team-best 16-4. She also added six strikeouts
in the winning effort.
“[The win] was needed for our team in general
;ts a booster,” Johnson said. “Once you get into a
losing streak, it’s hard to get out of it, and I think
it was good for us to jump on them early.”
USC, after being trounced 1 -0 in game one
despite 14 strikeouts from Megan Matthews, got
its ollcnse going quickly in g.unc two. Third baseman
Adrianna Baggclla hit an RBI single in the first
inning to score Mcgiut Donohoo ;uid give Carolina
iui early advantage.
“It’s always good to gel that insurance run,”
Johnson said idler the giunc.
That run was all she would need. Donohoo
added another RBI, and errors by the Paladins would
bring in two more runs, but it wouldn’t have
muttered; Johnson had Furman’s offense at her
mercy.
Despite her impressive record, Johnson is still
waiting to pitch her best game.
“I still don’t think I’ve thrown my best game
yet, and I just hope to keep on improving,” she
said.
Baggctta finished 3-for-3 in the second game
with a run scored ;uid thinks the win will give the
tciun confidence for its upcoming scries with SEC
Eiist rival Florida. The Gamecocks haven steady
lead in the division standings, but the Gators arc
right behind USC in the No. 2 spot and could
threaten to move up with a couple of wins this
weekend.
“I think this game will help us build
(momentum),” BiiggclUt said. “It was important to
get the first | win|, it will get us on the right track.”
I'lw spoi ls desk can bo reached at
gamecocksports@hotniail.com
L___i-:-—-—
Aaron Hark/The Gamecock
Gamecocks Amber Curtis (left) and Debralee Troesh congratulate each other
after a big play during a game against Tennessee earlier this season. 1