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g THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, April 15, 2002 GAME SCHEDULE MEN'S TENNIS vs. Clemson at Belton, S.C., 3:30 p.m. Tuesday fj0NTA( IT US BASEBALL at Clemson, 7:15 p.m. Wednesday BASEBALL vs. LSU, 7 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? SOFTBALL at Florida (doubleheader), noon Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com TRACK AND FIELD at Georgia, Saturday SPRING FOOTBALL GAME “With the strength of arms of our quarterbacks, we can stretch out the field.... With linebackers, we are more solid. On the secondary, we have a problem at free safety. The spurs on the second unit are solid.” LOU HOLTZ use FOOTBALL HEAD COACH Dondrial Pinkins, quarterback of the White team during the first half, had a tough time courtesy of the Garnet defense. He later became quarterback of the Garnet team, however, and helped finish off the 53-48 victory. Because of the spring game rules, though, the game was more lopsided than the score let on; the starters handily finished off the rest of the Gamecocks and outscored the other players 78-6. PHOTO BY AARON HARK/THE GAMECOCK Gamecocks starters demolish reserves; Jenkins cements status BY JAMES STARNES THE GAMECOCK Corey Jenkins led a relentless offensive attack by the first team offense in Saturday’s spring foot ball game, with his Garnet squad outscoring the White team 78-6. The rising senior answered any remaining questions as to whether he is capable of being the man at quarterback this year. The Columbia native led all rushers with 91 yards on eight carries and led all passers by completing 11 of 18 for 245 yards and four touch downs, including an 80-yard strike to Andrea Gause. “Corey Jenkins did an excellent job. He performed very, very well,” head coach Lou Holtz said. He has “good arm strength, and we have got more speed at wide re ceiver. There was never a ques tion of the arm strength of Corey Jenkins. He just never hit the cut off man... He will only get better.” The Garnet team, which con sisted of the Gamecocks’ starters, led 42-17 at the half only to have the score reversed on them by Holtz to start the second half. Dondrial Pinkins, who moved over from the White team to the Garnet in the second half, scored a 3-yard touchdown run with 35 sec onds remaining for the “official” 53-48 Garnet victory. The starting offense racked up 615 total yards, with 282 of them on the ground and 333 of them in the air. Andrew Pinnock made a sound argument that life after Derek Watson will be OK, as he punished the White team defense for 80 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries. Thez Robinson, Gonzie Gray and Daccus Thurman also had nice afternoons running the football. The Carolina receiving corps was solid even without rising sophomore Matthew Thomas, who injured his ankle in a pick-up bas ketball game over spring break. “James Adkisson played well,” Holtz said. “He and Andrea Gause, they have got speed. With the strength of arms of our quarter backs, we can stretch out the field.” Adkisson, Gause and Robinson each caught four passes for the Garnet team, while Ricky Ricks had six receptions. Even with the departure of Brian Scott, the Gamecocks appear to have their most talented group 0/ receivers yet in the Holtz era. Ryan Brewer, the leading receiver returning from last year’s team, did not play. The downside to the offensive explosion is that it was Carolina’s defense giving up all those points. It should be noted, however, that Carolina ran its first team offense against the second team defense throughout most of the game, and, with the exception of a couple of' big plays, the coaches were pleased. “Depth is a problem, especially on the defensive line,” Holtz said. “Langston Moore and Dennis Quinn we know are solid. We have to replace John Stamper. With linebackers, we are more solid. On the secondary, we have a problem at free safety. The spurs on the sec ond unit are solid. “For us to be a good football team, George Gause has to be a dominant player. He is one of the best players on the team. We start ed him at linebacker, but with the development of (Lance) Laury, (Jeremiah) Garrison and lack of depth at defensive line, we had to put him on the line.” When asked at the post-game news conference whether Gause would remain on the second team defense, Holtz replied, “If George Gause is on the second unit, I don’t expect anybody to get a first down on us. I am a George Gause fan.” Rising senior Rashad Faison, last year’s leading tackier, injured his knee in the game and could not finish. The injury does not appear to be serious, though, and he should be fully recovered in the fall. There were about 18,000 fans in attendance. Before the game, awards were given out to out standing spring performers. Jenkins and linebacker Jermaine Lemon won MVP honors. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Baseball pounds Vanderbilt BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK Looking to make a statement af ter being swept by Arkansas, the No. 7 USC baseball team did just that with a three-game sweep of Vanderbilt this past weekend in Nashville. With the wins, the Gamecocks improved to 28-8 on the year and 9-5 in the SEC. Friday: USC 7, Vanderbilt 5 The Gamecocks came out swinging on Friday and tallied 16 hits, including Garris Gonce’s 10th home run of the season. Gonce fin ished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and third baseman Brian Buscher also picked up three hits. Despite jumping out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, Carolina gave up a run in the bot tom half of the inning. In the second inning, however, af ter a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Melillo, Buscher scored on a passed ball. Vandy attempted to draw closer, but with the score 4-3, Gonce hit his home run to put USC up by two runs. Pitcher Gary Bell (6-2) went 52/3 innings to pick up the win. He al lowed three runs on five hits. Blake Taylor and Aaron Rawl pitched in relief, with Rawl picking up his first career save. Vanderbilt’s Jeremy Sowers took the loss. Saturday: USC 10, Vanderbilt 1 The Gamecocks picked up Saturday where they left off Friday, with 11 hits and 10 runs to once again top the Commodores. Junior left-hander Steven Bondurant gave up five hits over 7 1/3 innings to pick up the win and improve to 5-0. In relief, Rocky Evans gave up only one hit. Carolina got on the board quick ly and went up 3-0 in the first in ning. Drew Meyer tripled and then scored when Vanderbilt left fielder John Kaye dropped Steve Thomas’ fly ball. Yaron Peters then hit his 13th home run of the year. The Commodores picked up their only run in the sixth inning off back-to-back doubles by Karl Nonemaker and Tony Mansolino. USC was led by Meyer, Thomas and Justin Harris, who each had two hits. John Protho, who went 2-for-6, led the Commodores. USC played errorless ball for the 18th time in 35 games. With the win and a Georgia loss, USC took a half-game lead in the SEC Eastern Division. Sunday: USC 20, Vanderbilt 13 For the fifth consecutive sea son, Carolina swept Vanderbilt af ter dCwning them 20-13 Sunday. The Gamecocks continued their potent offensive attack, with 22 hits and five home runs. In the first inning, USC scored six runs with a grand slam by Gonce and solo home runs by Landon Powell and Buscher. Buscher tallied two home runs on the afternoon. Peters picked up his 14th home run of the season in the eighth in ning. Meyer picked up four hits, which included two doubles. Trey Dyson and Melillo each had three hits, while Peters, Gonce, Buscher, Powell and Harris notched two apiece. Chris Spigner, the second of four Gamecocks pitchers, earned the win to improve to 4-0. Chris Maultsby, the second of seven Commodore pitchers, took the loss. The closest Vanderbilt came was within one run at 12-11 after six innings. USC now holds a game and a half lead in the SEC East. Comments on this stofy?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN/THE GAMECOCK In the first game against Vanderbilt on Friday, Garris Gonce, far right, hit his 10th home run and had two RBIs. Lady Gamecocks blank Kentucky in 3 straight games BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK The Lady Gamecocks softball team returned to its winning ways this past weekend with a three-game sweep of the Kentucky Wildcats. Carolina (34-12, 15-6 SEC) . blanked Kentucky 4-0 and 5-0 in Saturday’s doubleheader and shut out the Wildcats 2-0 Sunday. USC was looking to rebound off a tough extra-inning loss to Georgia as Kentucky (19-23,3-12) tried to play the role of spoiler in the SEC Eastern Division. Lady Gamecocks coach Joyce Compton was pleased with her team’s play against the Wildcats. “It feels good to get out swing ing again,” she said. “We need ed that as a team. I felt like we could’ve taken a nosedive after the loss. Kentucky is a good team with a lot of returning players, but I think our pitching did a good job of holding them down.” Game 1: USC 4, Kentucky 0 The Lady Gamecocks got on board early in the series opener and never looked back. Debralee Troesh’s first-inning single scored Amber Curtis, while Danielle Quinones’ second-in ning single brought in Melissa Sandel. USC added two more runs in the sixth inning on Quinones’ two-run single. Megan Matthews went the distance and scattered seven hits while striking out four. Game 2: USC 5, Kentucky 0 On Saturday, Carolina pitching once again stifled the Wildcats. Stacey Johnson threw a complete game two-hitter to earn the win and improve her record to 10-5. “Every team is good in the SEC,” Johnson said. “You have to come back each day and work twice as hard as the other day.” Quinones opened the scoring by driving in Adrianna Baggetta on a triple to center field in the third inning. After Kim Evans brought home Nancy Crane with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly, Quinones crossed the plate on Curtis’ single. Meghan Cornett capped the !» i ♦ SORE ALL, SEE PAGE 9