The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 28, 2003, Page 7, Image 7
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, March 28, 2003
T^k r\ ~r"k rri Oi *game schedule
CONTACT US VJI |U/f I 'VJ WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Auburn, 2 p.m. Friday
I I II ^ I l MEN’S TENNIS at Auburn, 2 p.m. Friday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I \ / I I I k I BASEBALL vs. Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. Friday
E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com V/ M V, -' SOFTBALL at Auburn (DH), 1 p.m. Saturday
«
USC sweeps Lady Razorbacks
BY BRAD SENKIW
THE GAMECOCK
The USC softball team swept a
series on the road this week at
Arkansas (16-21,4-11 SEC) after get
ting strong pitching; the team al
lowed only four runs in the three
games. After taming the Lady
Razorbacks 5-2 and 6-1 in
Tuesday’s doubleheader, the
Gamecocks (22-7, 6-2) finished off
the sweep with a 5-1 win on
Wednesday.
Game 1: USC 5 - Ark. 1
The Gamecocks were in control
early and rode Stacey Johnson’s
strong pitching to a 5-1 victory.
Johnson (9-4) pitched a complete
game while allowing only two
runs, none earned, on four hits and
three strikeouts. Heather
Schlichtman (6-8) recorded the loss
and gave up all five runs on six
hits.
Meghan Cornett, who went 1
for-2 with two RBIs, got things
rolling for Carolina in the second
inning when she hit a double to
right field that scored Danielle
Quinones and Ashley Smith. Jodi
Fittro put the game away in the
fifth inning with a three-run home
run to left field. Debralee Troesh
also contributed with a 2-for-4 hit
ting performance.
Arkansas’ only two runs came
a half-inning later, when Julie
Young and Blaire Woodward
scored on three Gamecock er
rors.
Game 2: USC 6 - Ark. 1
USC kept its timely bats going
in the second game of the double
header as Amber Curtis went 3
for-4 with an RBI and Cornett
added a 2-for-3 game and two
RBIs. Nancy Crane chipped in
with a 3-for-3 hitting perfor
mance.
Melanie Henkes (11-2) got the
win as she pitched three innings
and allowed only one earned run.
Aleca Johnson relieved Henkes in
the fifth to close the game out and
record her second save of the sea
son. Johnson struck out seven of
the nine batters she faced.
Carolina struck early once
again with two runs each in the
second and third innings.
Cornett connected on a two-run
home run, her first of the season,
in the second inning, and Crane
scored on an error, while
Quinones brought Curtis home
in the third.
Arkansas picked up its only
run in the fourth before Curtis’
RBI double and an RBI single from
Fittro in the seventh.
Game 3: USC 5 - Ark. 1
Carolina got Troesh’s seventh
home run of the year and a strong
relief appearance from Aleca
Johnson to win all three games of
the series. Stacey Johnson start
ed the game but after hitting two
consecutive batters in the second
inning, was pulled.
Aleca Johnson then took over
and allowed a solo shot by Long
and nothing else. Johnson pitched
the remaining 5 1/3 innings and
had five strikeouts to retire 16 of
the final 17 batters she faced.
Troesh led the way, going 2-for
4 with three RBIs while Curtis
went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Troesh’s home run got the
Gamecocks on the board in the
fifth inning, and USC added two
more runs in the seventh on
Arkansas errors. Long’s home run
came in the bottom of the seventh,
but it wasn’t enough to stop the
Gamecocks from capping their
eighth win in nine games.
USC now looks ahead to this
weekend, when the team travels
to Auburn for a three-game series
against the Tigers.
Auburn (16-16,8-8) is in third
place in the SEC Western Division
and defeated Alabama
FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
USC’s Meghan Cornett tags out LaDonia Hughes of LSU In a game earlier this season. Corbett
earned a two-run home run, her first of the season, in a game against Arkansas on Tuesday.
Birmingham 5-2 on Wednesday for
its sixth-straight victory. Auburn
swept Ole Miss last weekend after
taking two of three from
Arkansas.
The Tigers are led offensively by
Sara Dean, who is batting .306 with
four home rims and 13 RBIs, and
Ashley Griffin, who is hitting .330
with nine RBIs. Although Paige
Jones is hitting .164 in only 61 at
bats, she leads the team in RBIs (17)
and is tied for home runs (4).
The series begins Saturday
with the first game of a double
header at 1 p.m. and Sunday’s fi
nale, also at 1 p.m., in Auburn,
Ala.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@kotmail.com
Tennis continues dominance
over Clemson with close win
tftf Clemson 3
(18-7)
use 4
(13-2)
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE GAMECOCK
The rivalry between 18th
ranked South Carolina and
Clemson has always been a high
ly competitive one, and nothing
proved that more than when the
two schools faced off on the
courts of USC’s Sam Daniel
Tennis Center on Wednesday.
Carolina (13-2) prevailed 4-3 over
the Tigers (18-7), thanks in part
to earning a critical point in dou
bles play.
“It is great to get a win against
Clemson, no matter what sport
you play them in,” USC head
coach Kent DeMars said. “We
knew they were a very good team
coming in with 18 wins. A couple
of our guys were out of the line
up today, but we proved to be the
better team. We are tickled to
death to get this win.”
The afternoon looked as if it
would begin in Carolina’s favor,
but Clemson made sure that the
Gamecocks didn’t get the doubles
point too easily. The Tigers’ pair
of Nathan Thompson and
Jarmaine Jenkins won the first
doubles match 8-5 over Tom
Eklund and Marcus Westman,
but USC took the other two.
Despite having commanding
leads in the second and third dou
bles matches, USC relented a bit,
yet hung on for the wins. Seth
Rose and Ben Atkinson had a 6-2
lead over Damiisa Robinson and
John Boetsch, but the Tigers
came back before bow
ing out 8-6 to Rose and
Atkinson. USC’s
Angelo Niculescu and
Geraldo Knorr led
Clemson’s Sander
Koning and Brett
Twente 6-1 before the
Tiger duo tied the
match at eight apiece.
Niculescu and Knorr
took the tiebreaker to
win 9-8, earning the
Gamecocks a point
that would later prove
critical.
DeMars said he
thought the final dou
bles match was a turn
ing point in the over
all competition.
In singles play, the
Gamecocks had a bit
of difficulty against
the Tigers. Rose had
one of the less-com
petitive singles
matches, and he won
easily over the Tigers’
Thompson, 6-3, 6-2.
Niculescu dropped
the second singles
contest 4-6, 3-6 to
Koning, as Clem6on
kept the match close.
USC began to take
the upper hand as
Westman defeated
Jenkins 6-1,3-6,7-6 in
third singles.
Westman had a 4-1
lead in the final set
FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Geraldo Knorr, pictured, and Angelo Niculescu won the third doubles
match over Clemson. The doubles point proved critical in USC’s victory.
I
when Jenkins made a comeback
but pulled it out in a tiebreaker.
Eklund clinched the victory in
fourth singles, defeating
Robinson 6-2,7-6. The second set
went back and forth before
Eklund won the tiebreaker.
Clemson won the fifth singles
match over Atkinson and the
sixth over Knorr.
The win marked USC’s eighth
straight victory over the Tigers,
the longest active winning streak
over Clemson. Carolina leads the
overall series 39-30.
On tap for the Gamecocks this
weekend is a pair of matches, the
first on Friday at 29th-ranked
Auburn, followed by a contest
against 16th-ranked Alabama.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Gamecocks drop
fourth in a row with
defeat by Paladins
tit use 5
(16-9)
Furman 7
(11-11) 7
BY TRAVIS BOLAND
THE GAMECOCK
The USC baseball team (16-9,1-5
SEC) dropped its fourth straight
game Wednesday night in a 7-5
loss to the Furman Paladins (11
11). The Gamecocks and the
Paladins played in front of more
than 1,022 fans at Greenville
Municipal Stadium.
Furman was led by catcher
Derek Norman, who went 2-for-3
with three RBIs, and Patrick
Griffin, who won his third game
of the season
tm_~ J ;_a—i, n 1 n l-3 ™
X 11V X U1UUXI1U IW11 (XXV/ 1VUVX
the bottom of the first, when Nick
Wajda scored the first of his three
runs on a Dominick Frankey sin
gle. The Gamecocks got the run
back in the top of the second in
ning when Landon Powell scored
on a Justin Harris groundout.
The Paladins took the lead for
good in the fifth by scoring four
runs to push their lead to 5-1. Sam
McClain hit a bases-loaded single
to plate two runs, followed by RBIs
from Norman and Stephen
Hildreth.
USC began a comeback in the
sixth inning when Michael
Campbell doubled, scoring Bryan
Triplett and Hank Parks and cut
ting the Paladin lead to 5-3
Norman answered with a two-run
double of his own in the bottom
of the inning, pushing the lead to
7-3.
The Gamecocks tried to come
back again in the seventh, when
they loaded the bases with only
one out.
Brian Buscher, who has ex
tended his hitting streak to 14
games and has reached base safely
in 24 of 25 games, hit a sacrifice fly
that scored Jon Coiitlangus. A
Powell single then brought home
Steven Tolleson, but Paladin re
lief pitcher David Mitchell shut
down the rally, striking out
Campbell to end the threat.
Tom Mastny came on in relief
for the Paladins in the eighth and
retired the final six batters of the
game to earn his first save of the
season.
The loss was the fourth straight
for the Gamecocks and the first to
Furman since 2001, when the
Paladins beat the Gamecocks 5-4
in Columbia.
_j _ _ _
t 1UUUU uutt UXIUIO
tonight,” USC head coach Ray
Tanner told The Greenville News.
“We opened the door for them a lit
tle bit, and we failed to get the big
two-out hit, two-strike hit.”
Forrest Beverly took the loss
despite pitching 41/3 innings, giv
ing up two runs on two hits. The
Carolina bullpen pitched 3 2/3 in
nings, giving up five runs on eight
hits while walking three.
The Gamecocks will try to get
back in the win column when they
return home to face the Vanderbilt
Commodores (13-10,2-4) this week
end. Friday's series opener is
scheduled for 7 p.m., with USC’s
Steven Bondurant going against
Jeremy Sowers. Saturday’s game
begins at 4 p.m., and Sunday’s
starts at 1:30 p.m.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
CLUB CORNER
Racquetball Club
Racquetball Club President
Brook Bristow and Club
Treasurer Ben Edwards repeat
ed as USC doubles and team
tournament champions in the
intramural tournament this past
weekend. The club would like to .
congratulate them.
If you are interested in being
added to the club challenge lad
der, send an e-mail to
r acquet@gwm. sc. edu.
Bodybuilding Club
The Bodybuilding Club would
like to remind everyone that
Wednesday is the deadline to ap
ply for the Mr. and Ms. USC com
petition to be held April 12.
Entry forms are in the rack in
the front lobby of the Blatt P.E.
Center. You can also send an e
mail to hg@sc.edu and request
an entry form electronically.
Ultimate Frisbee
Club
There is a new Ultimate
Frisbee Club Team at USC. It
was started earlier this year and
has traveled to a few tourna
ments so far.
This past weekend, the
Gamecock Ultimate team trav
eled to Georgia Southern
University for a tournament,
and USC won its division.
The club is currently recruit
ing anybody interested. No expe
rience is necessary. Males and fe
males are encouraged to try it
out. Practices are Mondays and
Wednesdays from 9 to 11 p.m.,
and there are pickup games ev
ery Sunday at 2 p.m. For more in
formation, contact Bryan Vasser
at Vasser@mailbox.sc.edu or
544-0315.
Send your
club's news to
gamecocksports
@hotmail.com
to appear in
Club Corner.
4
BRIEFLY
A
Carolina to play
Auburn, Alabama
The 37th-ranked USC wom
en’s tennis team will play
Auburn and 20th-ranked
Alabama this weekend at home.
These are the last home match
es for the Gamecocks, with
three remaining matches on the
road. Carolina (11-5, 4-2 SEC)
has won four of its last five
matches and 18 in a row against
SEC Western Division teams
coming into the weekend.
Auburn (9-5, 2-4) trails the
all-time series against the
Gamecocks .15-1, and has
dropped the past 11 meetings
with USC.
Alabama (14-3,5-1) leads the
SEC Western Division and
trails the Gamecocks 8-4 in the
teams’ all-time series. USC won
its fifth straight match over the
Crimson Tide in last year’s 4-3
decision.
Carolina will honor three se
niors on Sunday. Admission is
free.
Friday’s match against
Auburn starts at 2 p.m., and
Sunday’s meeting with
Alabama begins at 2 p.m. at the
Maxcy Gregg Tennis Facility.
Bradley takes third
in preliminaries
USC men’s swimming and
diving team member Andy
Bradley finished in thifd place
on the 1-meter board in the pre
liminary competition at the
NCAA Championships.
Bradley, who has earned All
American honors, will compete
in the finals of the 1-meter
board and finished with a score
of 325.00 in the preliminaries.
Last weekend, women’s
divers Lauren King and Tracey
Richardson, who competed at
the NCAA Women’s Swimming
Championships, joined Bradley
with All-American honors.
Jennifer VanAssen was also
named an All-American for
USC in the 100- and 200-meter
freestyle competitions.
Tamas Szucs also competed
at the NCAA Championships
and finished 34th in the 500
freestyle with a time of 4:24^57.