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GAME SCHEDULE nnMrmnm tto baseball at The Citadel, 6 p.m. Wednesday UUiN IAvj 1 U O MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Tennessee, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday „ . , „ ^ „ 0 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S SWIMMING at SEC Championships, Wed.-Sat. Story ideas? Questions? Comments? BASEBALL vs. Duquesne, 3 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com USC to go up against Vols Gamecocks can continue winning streak by defeating Tennessee BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team must stop the Tennessee Volunteer’s six-game winning streak in order to get its fourth consecutive win tonight at the Carolina Center. Carolina <10-11, 3-7 SEC) dropped its last meeting with the Vols, 60-56, in which Ivan Howell missed a 3-pointer in the last few seconds. Stanley Asumnu’s free throw clinched the win for UT. Kerbrell Brown scored 17 points in the loss, and Chuck Eidson added 14. Ron Slay’s 16 points led the Vols (15-6,7-3). “We played Tennessee two, three weeks ago up in Knoxville,” USC head coach Dave Odom said. “And I thought it was sort of an aberration. I don’t think anyone saw what a true South Carolina Tennessee match would be, sim ply because of foul trouble. Since then, Tennessee has obviously got ten better.” Since the last meeting, Tennessee has steadily improved with conference wins over Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas and Florida, as well as a nonconference victory over Massachusetts. UT is third in the SEC East and three games be hind first-place Kentucky, who they take on next week. “We’ve got more confidence,” Tennessee head coach Buzz Peterson said. “You go through so many times where you fail, and you get sick and tired of it. We’re not going through that any more.” In the five-game SEC winning streak, UT knocked off their first ranked opponent of the season when they took down the No. 17 Georgia Bulldogs. Slay scored 33 points on a 12-for-18 shooting day. Against then fourth-ranked Florida on Saturday, Slay and Crump scored 20 points and 19 points, respectively, in a 66-59 up set in Knoxville. The Vols trailed for most of the game until a Jon Higgins 3-pointer gave them a 51 50 lead with 5:15 to play. Slay added 23 points against Arkansas to nab his second straight SEC Player of the Week honor, the first conference player to do so since 1994. He is an All American candidate and leads the league in scoring with 21.8 points per game and is grabbing 7.4 re bounds per game. “The last game we played in Knoxville was the first time I’ve seen him in person,” Odom said. “In my mind, he’s the best player in the league. He’s shown me that he’s terrific. The two things that are different are their team de fense is much better and Ron Slay gives them star power.” Peterson thinks a win against Carolina in Columbia, where USC is 9-3 this season, will not be easy. “This is a much improved South Carolina team,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be a tougher challenge for us, because they are playing in their home gym.” Odom also thinks this will be a tough match-up and is worried about the Vol defense. “If you’re comparing this year’s team to last year’s, the defense is much, much better. The second thing is Ron Slay. We’re looking at this game as a great challenge,” hesaid. Tennessee holds a 21-18 lead in the overall series against USC, but the Gamecocks are 10-6 when fac ing UT in Columbia. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Carolina’s Tarence Kinsey, left, puts the ball up despite being swiped at by Arkansas’ Larry Satchell. The Gamecocks will be tested when Tennessee comes to town tonight. BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE (1AMEU0CK Just when they thought they could unpack from their latest trip, the 20th-ranked USC softball team heads back on the road this week end, traveling to Columbus, Ga., for the Lead-Off Classic Tournament. Last weekend, USC (7-4) visited Henderson, Nev., to take part in the Desert Classic Tournament, fin ishing 2-3 against a tough field that included several ranked opponents. The Gamecocks began the Desert Classic on a down note Friday, losing to top-ranked University of California at Los Angeles 12-0 in five innings. UCLA was paced by four home runs in the game, as pitchers Keira Goerl and Michelle Turner combined for U1C 911UIUUI. USC got the bats going later on in the day, with a 643 win over tour nament host University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Danielle Quinones went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs to lead the Gamecocks. Stacey Johnson pitched her first complete-game shutout of the season, striking out a season-high nine batters. Carolina also rang up a season high total of 13 hits in the game. The Gamecocks were sparked by a three-run sixth inning, which included Debralee Troesh’s two run single. Saturday, Carolina faced off against 23rd-ranked Oregon State and came away with a close one, winning 4-3 over the Beavers. The Gamecocks scored two runs in the first inning and added another in the third when Amber Curtis drove in Samantha Jennings. USC added its final nm in the sixth inning. Henkes held a shutout through six innings before Johnson came in, got the last out, and picked up her first save of the year. Henkes (4-1) received the victory. The Gamecocks faced 10th ranked Cal State-Fullerton that evening and could muster only one nm on four hits in a 6-1 loss. USC scored their only run of the game in FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Amber Curtis breaks from third base as Meghan Cornett bats against UNC-Greensboro. USC will travel to Columbus, Ga., to take part in the Lead-Off Classic Tournament this weekend. the third inning when Nancy Crane scored on Jodi Fittro’s ground out. CS-Fullerton’s bats broke through in the fifth inning, scor ing four runs on two home runs off Johnson. The Titans added two more runs in the sixth. Carolina faced fourth-ranked Nebraska in its final game of the Desert Classic and lost 9-1 in five innings. Melissa Sandel tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning, but Nebraska got another run in the fourth. Henkes replaced Johnson, giving up seven runs in the fifth inning to seal the loss. Johnson (3-2) took the loss for USC. Now the Gamecocks head to Columbus, Ga., this weekend to play a pair of top-10 teams. Washington and Michigan await Carolina on Friday and Saturday, respectively. USC lost 8-1 to Washington and 5-0 to the Wolverines last year. The Gamecocks will also play Temple on Friday before beginning bracket play on Sunday. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com use, The Citadel to meet at the Joe Gamecocks, Bulldogs will make up contest postponed on Sunday BY SHAWN ROURK THE GAMECOCK Much like this year’s Daytona 500, Mother Nature cut this past weekend’s Berkeley Co-op Shootout in Charleston short. However, unlike the 500, USC and The Citadel will make up the last scheduled of the Shootout today at Joe Riley Park. The struggling Citadel Bulldogs (0-2) will look to pick up their fi ret virtnrv nf the season against the 12th-ranked Gamecocks. USC has domi Melillo nated the meet ings between the two teams and hold a 1 OB 42-1 all-time record over The Citadel. South Carolina (4-1) will be looking to make it a clean sweep of the Shootout with a win. The Gamecocks’ bats will try to ride the wave they have been on lately. Led by sopho more Kevin Melillo and his .615 batting average, the team’s of fense has flourished in the past two games. Collectively, the team is hitting .315 in its first five games. The returning SEC champions also have five homers on the season includ ing two against James Madison in the first game of the Shootout. Trey McDaniel and Nick Gardiner are also helping the offensive charge. The two are batting .500 even and have also contributed heavily with their bats, knocking in seven RBIs. USC’s opponent won’t show any way to slow their bats down, as well. In the first two games of the season, Bulldog pitchers were lit up for 10 earned runs off 30 hits in two losses. The Citadel is looking to put left-handed pitcher Ryan Owens to the mound to start. This will be Owens’ first start of the season. The Gamecocks will likely send right-hander Aaron Rawl to the mound. Rawl has a 1.08 ERA and a 2-0 in 81/3 innings pitched. He also has the second highest total of strikeouts with 10. The Bulldogs’ hitters may help Rawl out. In their first two games they only have seven hitters with a batting average. However, freshman Trent Weathers, junior Chip Cannon and sophomore Chris Ard have provided most of the offense for the Citadel. Weathers is hitting .625, and Cannon and Ard are batting .429 apiece. The three have combined for five doubles and three RBIs as well. Farther down the line up, though, The strength fades. Other play ers like sopho more Josh Stackley and Rawl freshman Matt Matulia are having lukewarm starts. Stackley is hitting .111 after going l-for-4 in a 3-4 loss to Vanderbilt. Matulia went 1 for-6 in the first two games of the season, earning an average of .167. The one bright spot for the Bulldogs is their fielding. They only have two errors on the season compared to the Gamecocks, who have 10 so far. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com NHL’s elite put league in jeopardy \ MATT ROTHENBERG GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Rich teams driving up salaries, hurting league. If there is an Armageddon in the National Hockey League in 2004, as many people expect there to be, one cannot help but feel that there are several teams who have certainly done their part. After next season, the collective bar gaining agreement ceases be tween the league and its players. Most onlookers think that nego tiations are going to grind to a halt, putting part, if not most or all, of the 2004-05 season in jeop Naturally, the rising pay scale will be the main issue, though surely to be dis cussed will be the plight of some Bettman franchises, in cluding the Ottawa Senators, the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. But for all the problems going on with those teams, and similar small-market franchises, their large-market counterparts must be held to blame. There is no salary cap in hockey, and there won’t likely be one in the near fu ture. Commissioner Gary Bettman has also discounted the possibility of contraction. So, what can be done to save the teams that are bringing in less rev enue than others? Sadly, it’s un certain. For starters, teams can stop paying free agents well over market value. The one team known very well to do this is the New York Rangers. I am a Rangers fan; al ways have been, always will be. I was excited in 1994 when they won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, as any fan would be. But it was clear back then that their mis management was going to run them into the ground. In a series of deals at the trading deadline, the Rangers swapped many of their talented younger players for guys who knew how to win in the playoffs. Hindsight is always 20-20, so maybe back then, it was a good thing; but nearly 10 years later, it’s not looking promising for them or the league. New York has missed the play offs for five straight seasons and is on the outside □ looking in for this year’s postseason. They have the highest payroll in the game and nothing to show for it. Yet they al ways manage to Sather secure some of the best players, de spite getting little in return. In those years, the names read as a “Who’s Who” of the NHL: Pavel Bure, Mark Messier, Petr Nedved, Eric Lindros, Wayne Gretzky, Alexei Kovalev, Theoren Fleury and Luc Robitaille, just to name a few. In the end, the Rangers simply overpay these players, especially the ones with less name recogni tion than others. What happens is that players all over the league, < when negotiating, tend to use the Rangers’ salaries as an example, thereby driving up the prices across the board. Ten years ago, there were maybe a few dozen players earn ing well over $2 million per sea son. Now the average NHL salary has become higher than that of the National Football League. This has priced the smaller-mar ket teams out of competition. Yes, while they might have one or two star players, once those athletes’ 1 s ♦ ROTHENBERG, SEE PAGE 11