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7 marcn /.« GAME SCHEDULE “I V /^\ “I V |TT1 /'~\i MEN’S TENNIS vs. LSU, 2 p.m. Friday | « \ I Bril W 1 BASEBALL vs. Radford, 7 p.m. Friday CONTACT US Ml I K I —S,|£K155SE5C Sioo’ ideas? Questions? Comments? I B B B B 111 SOFTBALL vs. Miss. State (DH), 1 p.m. Saturday E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com B, W B B rW BASEBALL vs. Radford, 4 p.m. Saturday - ■ -■ Gamecocks top the Paladins BY SHAWN ROURK THE GAMECOCK Furman baseball head coach Ron Smith went up to USC base i ball head coach Ray Tanner after being defeated 9-2 and told him he didn’t expect South Carolina to bunt as much as it did. But, then again, what coach would really expect that from a team that is predominantly a power-hitting team? Even more, what coach would anticipate his opponent’s throwing down three bunts in a row to load the bases after it was already up 2-0? “I thought we were just trying to get in a position for a few more runs,” Tanner said. “We had some great bunts. It just so happened that after (Kevin) Melillo gets on, (Michael) Campbell had a pretty good bunt and he’s safe. (Brian) Buscher was just going to move them up to move them in scoring position, and then he put down an almost perfect bunt. It’s just coin cidental.” Melillo, Campbell and Buscher started the bottom of the fifth in ning with bunts for base hits. Landon Powell then scored all three players with a bases-clear ing double to right centerfield, his second double of the night, to put USC up 5-0. “It was a bases loaded with no outs situation, so I was trying to get something in the outfield, something I could drive,” Powell said. “He gave me a couple of pret ty good pitches, and then he gave me a change up; I was able to stay back on it and hit it pretty deep.” Powell, Campbell and Buscher combined for seven RBIs on the night. Buscher’s two RBIs came off a home run. in the seventh that put Carolina up 8-2. The Gamecocks added another run in the eighth to finish off the Paladins. Campbell went 3-for-4 on the night, while Powell hit 2-for-3 and Buscher went 2-for-5. The team combined for 11 hits in the game. Freshman Conor Lalor got his first start for South Carolina since USC’s game against Duquesne on Feb. 22. Lalor went 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win, striking out three, walking one and allowing both of Furman’s runs. At one point during the top of the fourth inning, Lalor had retired 10 bat ters he faced in a row. “He had great poise and com posure. And of the first six outs, he had two assists. I’m impressed with his maturity as a young pitcher,” Tanner said. Zach Reeves came one out away from earning the save. He struck out four of the nine Paladin batters he faced and re tired eight altogether in relief. “Zach Reeves was outstanding; he was really good tonight,” Tanner said. “I talked to him ear lier this week about maybe being a late guy out of the bullpen be cause he has a quick arm and goes after hitters pretty good.” With the win, South Carolina improves to 11-2 on the season and Furman falls to 7-4. USC will enter a three-game series at home this weekend against Radford. “This is fun for us, you know,” Powell said. “We don’t even have to practice. We get to play every day. I think everyone on this team aspires to play pro ball someday, and that’s what you do in pro ball. So we’re getting a taste of it. I think we love it.” First pitch for Friday’s game at Sarge Frye Field is scheduled for 7 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Landon Powell hits a grounder against Clemson on Sunday In Columbia. Powell had two doubles in three at-bats against Furman on Wednesday, collecting three RBIs in USC’s 9-2 victory. BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK After being on the road for the past three weekends, the 15th ranked Gamecock softball team feasted on some home cooking Wednesday evening. On the menu fonUSC were the Virginia Cavaliers, and Carolina took good care of them, sweeping a doubleheader with scores of 4-1 and 2-0. USC head coach Joyce Compton thought it was a decent performance but that the team wasn’t as energetic as she had hoped. “We figured out a way to win, but I didn’t think we played ex ceptionally well,” Compton said. “We were pretty lethargic in both games, really. We really didn’t hit the ball well until the last in ning. I was not happy with our at bats today, but sometimes these midweek games are the easiest to play, especially before SEC play.” USC 4-Virginia 1 USC jumped on the board ear ly in the first game, scoring its first two runs in the second in ning. Ashley Smith drew a walk to open the inning, and two bat ters later, Danielle Quinones drove a pitch from UVA’s Joanna Barstad over the left field wall for a two-run home run. The round tripper was the second of the sea son for Quinones. “We did what we needed to do to win the game today. I just saw the ball well, and I think we have • I a lot to learn from this game, and we can build off this game to get better for the game on Saturday,” Quinones said. Carolina added another run in the fifth inning, as Jodi Ffttro crossed the plate on Debralee Troesh’s double, while Kim Evans’ double in the sixth inning brought in Meghan Cornett to close the scoring for USC. Melanie Henkes took the mound for the Gamecocks in the opener and rolled through the first six innings, giv Henkes ing up one hit and striking out four batters, but struggled a little in the seventh. Henkes’ error put a runner on third base, who then came home on a double by Cavalier Sara Larquier. But Henkes regrouped and closed out the game, earn ing her seventh win of the sea son and her sixth complete game. “Some of my pitches went flat and didn’t break, so they took ad vantage of my mistakes, and that’s how it worked out,” Henkes said. The Gamecocks compiled six hits in the games, while allowing only three by Virginia. USC 2 - Virginia 0 Carolina and Virginia were locked in a tight battle in the nightcap, but the Gamecocks pre vailed with two hits late in the game. Scoreless after four-and-a-half innings of play, Cornett opened the Gamecocks’ half of the fifth inning with a single, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Evans then brought Cornett around to score on a triple. Troesh hit a triple in the fol lowing inning, coming home on Quinones’ base hit. “They hit the ball well today. I think they’re both being pretty disciplined up there, and they’re getting some good swings. When that happens, they’re capable of hitting the ball well,” Compton said of Quinones and Troesh. Pitchers Aleca Johnson and Stacey Johnson combined for the shutout, with Aleca Johnson (1- Quinones 1) earning jhe vic tory. Erin Horn gave up two runs on five hits to take the loss for Virginia. “Aleca threw four strong in nings, and then Stacey came in and showed them a change of pace,” Compton said. The Gamecocks will continue their homestand over the week end, with a doubleheader against Mississippi State on Saturday starting at 1 p.m from Beckham Field. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com SrOKTo CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Matt Brad Jill Morgan Kevin Matt The Gamecock’s readers and Rothenberg Senkiw Martin Ford Fellner Mitchell staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor in Asst. Photo News Staff Reader of with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Writer the Week weekend’s games. (Rankings (44-26) (49-21) (48-22) (47-23) (44-26) (49-21) are from the Associated Press.) 4 Texas at 5 Ukianoma Oklahoma TexasTexas TexasTexasTexas 6 Kansas at Missouri ‘ _ Kansas Kansas Kansas Kansas Missouri Kansas 10 Duke at North CarolinaDuke Duke~ _ Duke UNC UNtT Duke_ 16 Notre Dame at Georgetown UND_ Georgetown UND UND Georgetown UND Ark.-Pinel3iuffatMiss. Valley St. MVSU_MVSU Ark.-P.B. MVSU MVSU MVSU 2 Kentucky at 3 Florida Kentucky Kentucky Florida Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky * Auburn at 23 Mississippi St. Miss. St._Auburn^ Miss. St. Auburn Auburn Auburn Alabama at LSU _LSU_LSU LSU LSU Alabama LSU Clemson at Georgia Tech _Clemson_Ga. Tech Ga.Tech Ga. Tech Ga. Tech Ga. Tech 25Georgia at USC Georgia Georgia USC USC UScT Georgia 77-59 85-68 74.70 79-61 81-80 65-63 LAST WEEK’S WINNER: Meg Moore (9-1) - The Assistant Mix Editor comes out on top in last week’s Sports Challenge. Moore tied with Senkiw and Martin with a 9-1 record, but came closest in the tie-breaker. Slot copy editor Tricia Ridgway and reader of the week Gina Jones tied for fourth with 7-3 records. Rothenberg is having a difficult Sports Challenge in basketball (he went 6-4 last week), but invites readers to keep an eye out for The Gamecock's NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Pool, which begins after spring break. WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail.your selections next week to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. If you’re picked and have the best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want. Gamecocks beat Rebels, will play Mississippi State Ok Ole Miss 94 mu (IMS)' eUSC 79 (22-6) BY DOUGLAS PILS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARK. - Sarah Burgess had a career-high 23 points off the bench to carry No. 16 South Carolina to a 79-64 victo ry over Mississippi on Thursday in the first round of the Southeastern Conference wom en’s basketball tournament. Burgess’ previous career-high was 15 in the regular-season finale against the Lady Rebels, who led' 54-53 with 10:12 left. USC (22-6) trailed on three oc casions in the second half, but the Gamecocks took control with a 16 0 run. They opened and closed the game with runs of 26-10. USC advances to meet No. 10 Mississippi State in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. on Friday. Burgess’ 3 pointer with 8:08 remaining gave Carolina a 58-54 lead and she hit another the next time down the Burgess floor. She made eight of 11 from the field, including seven of 10 3 pointers. Ole Miss (12-16) could not stop the Gamecocks when it mattered, missing seven shots and commit ting three turnovers before Amber Watts’ layup with about 3 minutes to go left USC with a 69-56 lead. Petra Ujhelyi added 16 points for the Gamecocks, while Jocelyn Penn had 13 points. Genice Terry led Ole Miss with 18 points and Watts scored 15. Ole Miss clawed back into the game after seven turnovers in the first six minutes led to 11 South Carolina points, putting the Lady Rebels in a 16-6 hole. - USC’s lead was 29-14 with 8:56 left in the half after Burgess came off the bench and hit three straight 3-pointers. Ole Miss trimmed the lead to under 10 points with a 17-9 run with six points from Ashley Johnson and five by Terry. The Lady Rebels cut the lead to 38-31 when point guard Carletta Brown made a steal and scored on a fast break with 1:50 left in the half. USC’s postseason hopes fade with road loss to Crimson Tide BY TRAVIS BOLAND THE GAMECOCK While the Alabama Crimson Tide was celebrating senior night, it was a freshman who helped sink the Gamecocks and give the Tide an 82-59 victory Wednesday at the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Alabama freshman Kennedy Winston posted his seventh straight double-digit scoring effort with 22 points — a career high. Winston also pulled down eight re bounds and was 9-for-ll from the ffee-throw line. The story of the game was re bounding, in which Alabama (17-9, 7-8 SEC) completely out-hustled the Gamecocks (12-14, 6-9). The Crimson Tide had 45 rebounds — including 13 offensively — which made USC’s 26 total rebounds pale in comparison. Erwin Dudley led the Tide with 13 rebounds, and Kenny Walker chipped in with 10. Dudley also scored 17 points for Alabama. “We were totally dominated in side,” USC head coach Dave Odom said. “It’s hard to win at this lev el if you don’t rebound the ball any better than we did.” The Gamecocks held a seven r———-j-————— ■ ■> . point lead early in the game, but the Crimson Tide scored 11 straight points and went on a 19-5 run, which gave the team a 28-19 lead. USC clawed its way back into the game, scoring the last four points of the half to cut the lead to 30-27. Carolina shot well in the first half, making 40.6 percent of its shots and limiting Alabama to a 34.4 field-goal percentage. The second half, however, was all Alabama. The Crimson Tide built its lead to 61-40 resulting from a 15-1 run. The wheels slowly began coming off for the Gamecocks when Tony Kitchings had to sit with four fouls midway through the second half and Kerbrell Brown injured his right ankle after hitting a 3-pointer. Kitchings led the Gamecocks with 13 points, while Carlos Powell added 12 points and Brown had 11 in the loss. Carolina shot only 37 percent from the field in the second half, making only three 3-pointers all game. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide completed 18-of-26 shots after halftime. “I don’t know what happened in the second half,” Powell said. “We just didn’t fight, basically. We gave up too easy. The whole sec ond half, we just didn’t play hard, and you saw the end result.” USC will close the regular sea son Sunday against the 25th ranked Georgia Bulldogs. USC will be honoring its four seniors — Marius Petravicius, Tony Kitchings, Chris Warren and Chuck Eidson—as they play their last game at Carolina. In their last meeting, on Feb. 22, the Bulldogs defeated USC 79-66 in Athens. That night, Jarvis Hayes scored 26 points to lead Georgia, while Chris Warren led USC with 15 points. Georgia is coming off a huge 82 81 win at home over the third ranked Florida Gators on Tuesday, when Hayes nailed a 12 footer with 14 seconds remaining. But the Bulldogs are in the midst of a controversy surrounding the program; it centers on assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr., the son of head coach Jim Harrick and a for mer player. The Gamecocks and Bulldogs will clash at the Carolina Center on Sunday with a 12 p.m. tip-off. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com —— S — — I —i—r 1 i KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR The Gamecock’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Pool. BRING YOUR FILLED BRACKETS TO ROOM 333 OF THE RUSSELL HOUSE BY 10 A.M. THURSDAY, MARCH 20.