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ff GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US MP».pBf™»KlLa,rLSU' ,:3Sp,n Say MEN S TENNIS vs. Georgia, 2 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S TENNIS at Georgia, 2 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com SOFTBALL at Kentucky (DH), 12 p.m. Saturday " ■‘w • USC unable to stop Tigers Clemson 4 ^1# (21-6) g® use 2 (19-10) BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK As the loudspeakers at Sarge Frye Field belted out the theme song from “Rawhide,” it became a fitting song to describe the way Clemson starting pitcher Patrick Hogan was treating the Gamecocks with the efficiency of _ a cattle drive. Hogan went seven and two thirds innings, as the 20th-ranked Tigers defeated USC 4-2 on. Wednesday night in Columbia. , Clemson (21-6) now holds a 2-1 se ' ries lead with the final game scheduled for next Wednesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, home nf thp Ti pprs USC head coach Ray Tanner gave due credit to the victors fol lowing the game. “I thought Clemson played a great game, to be honest with you. They played well in all facets,” Tanner said. “Hogan certainly did his job on the mound. He stopped us all night long and made his pitches when he need ed to. They made some nice de fensive plays, as well.” Matt Campbell got the start for the Gamecocks (19-10) and held up through four innings before faltering in the fifth. Hogan was just too strong, however, and kept the Gamecocks scoreless into the eighth inning. As Campbell and the Gamecocks managed to stave off any Clemson scoring opportuni ties in the early innings, Carolina could not get on base. USC only managed two hits and three base runners over the first seven in nings, but finished with a little ex tra power late in the game. Yet Hogan’s pitching just kept mowing down the Carolina bat ters. As the “Rawhide” theme goes, for seven innings all Hogan could do was “head ’em up” and “move ’em on,” while “rollin’, rollin’, rollin’” through the USC batting order. “Hogan was certainly good. He did an excellent job of keeping us from getting too much across. We had the chance of going ahead ear ly. We had the opportunity to get our baserunners across and didn’t do it,” Tanner said. We didn’t have good at-bats in those situations. “It’s either Hogan was very good, or we had very poor at-bats. You have to give Patrick Hogan credit. He pitched a great game.” Clemson struck first in the fifth inning, wnen Micnael Johnson singled in Garrick Evans and Jeff Hourigan knocked home Johnson. Brad McCann tried to score on Hourigan’s hit, but was nailed at the plate on a throw from Michael Campbell to Landon Powell. Matt Campbell’s night was pretty much done fol lowing another hit that inning, and Conor Lalor was brought in to keep the game close. Lalor went through a quick sixth inning, but his luck ran out in the seventh inning as Johnson and McCann hit back-to-back solo home runs to extend the Tigers’ lead to 4-0. Hogan’s dominance of USC continued through the seventh, but he encountered a bit of trou ble as the Gamecocks attempted a rally in the eighth inning. Lead off batter Matt Riddle drew a walk, and Davy Gregg, pinch-run ning for Riddle, came home on a single by Bryan Triplett. The run was the end of the night for Hogan (1-1), who gave up one run on four hits, while walking two and striking out five. But the Gamecocks weren’t through. In the ninth inning, Nick Gardiner reached base on an error and scored on Jared Greenwood’s bloop single. With two runners on base, Michael Campbell hit into a double play to end the game. Matt Campbell (1-2), who was the losing pitcher at Clemson on March 1, received the loss again last night. He pitched four and two-thirds innings, during which he allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out five. Jon Coutlangus had two of USC’s six hits on the night, while Johnson led the Tigers with a 2 for-5 performance with two RBIs and two runs scored. “He’s an outstanding player. He’s had a tough year for him be cause so many people pitched around him. He got a couple pitches to hit tonight and he did a super job,” Tanner said of Johnson, who has four hits against USC this season, two of them for home runs. USC now heads to Louisiana State this weekend for a critical three-game SEC series. The im portance of these games is not lost on Carolina. “We’ve got to regroup; we have no choice,” Tanner said. “You’d like to be traveling after a win; you’re feeling a little bit better. But it’s no time to be feeling sorry about yourself. We’ve got to get ready to play, and we’ve got to play good.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK Conor Lalor gave up back-to-back home runs in the 4-2 loss to Clemson on Wednesday at Sarge Frye Field. Carolina drops series against Lady Vols Amber Curtis picked up two RBIs in the series loss to the Lady Vols. USC now heads to Kentucky for a three-game series. T Tennessee i (33-13, 6-6 SEC) gffi use o (25-10,9-5) BY TRAVIS BOLAND THE GAMECOCK The USC softball team (25-10, 9-5 SEC) lost its first SEC series this season when it dropped the third game of its series against the Tennessee Lady Vols (33-13,6 6 SEC) 1-0. For the second straight day, the Gamecock bats were si lenced by Tennessee pitcher Stephanie Humphrey (11-2). Humphrey, who threw a no-hit ter against the Gamecocks on Tuesday, as she threw another five innings, giving up two hits and striking out three. “We were more disciplined at the plate today,” USC head coach Joyce Compton said. “Give Humphrey credit, our offense was non-existent.” Stacey Johnson (12-5) took the loss for the Gamecocks, pitching five and two-third innings, allow ing one unearned run and strik ing out five. The story of the game was the Gamecock defense, which had five errors, three in the sixth inning that led to the only run of the game. “Our defense was poor today; we need to be more solid,’ Compton said. “We need our se niors to step up and have every body play their role.” The game started out as a pitchers’ duel with both starting pitchers allowing just one hit through the first three innings. The first Tennessee threat was in the top of the fourth inning. After Johnson retired the first two bat ters, Stacey Jennings hit a grounder back to Johnson, who overthrew Meghan Cornett at first. The error allowed Jennings to go to second. Angela Brewer followed the error with a single that put runners on the corners. After a walk to Blaine Teasley to load the bases, Johnson got Ellisha Humphrey to ground out, ending the threat. The Lady Vols threatened again in the top of the fifth inning when Kristi Durant singled with two outs. Amber Rhinehart fol lowed with a double that put base runners on second and third, but Johnson was able to get out of trouble again as she got Lauren Mattox to ground out to Cornett. Johnson was able to pitch out of trouble all game, but was un able to get out of the sixth inning. The Lady Vols led off the inning with a line drive by Jennings that hit off Johnson’s glove. Jennings advanced to second on a throw ing error by Ashley Smith and moved to third on a ground cut by Brewer. Jennings then scored the only run of the game on an RBI ground out by Teasley. Ellisha Humphrey hit a line drive off Debralee Troesh’s glove for the third error of the inning and Mandie Fishback singled. Aleca Johnson came in to get the last out of the inning when she struck out Katherine Card. With the exception of Jodi Fittro, who went 2-for-3 with two singles, the Gamecocks could get nothing going with the bats. Jennings came in to pitch the last two innings for the Lady Vols and notched her third save of the sea son. The Gamecocks have now been held scoreless in 15 straight innings and have managed only three hits in that time. The Gamecocks will look to get back on track this weekend as they travel to Kentucky for a three-game set with the Wildcats (9-26,1-14). Kentucky is coming off a doubleheader loss to in-state rival Eastern Kentucky. The Wildcats are led at the plate by se nior Nikki Jones, who leads the team in batting average (.406), hits (43) and doubles (8). Amy Kendall, who leads the staff in ERA (4.08), wins (6), innings pitched (128 and two-thirds) and strikeouts (47), leads the pitching staff. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com BRIEFLY Men’s tennis get past Yellow Jackets The 20th-ranked USC men's tennis team (14-4) knocked off 23-ranked Georgia Tech 5-2 on Wednesday in Atlanta. Carolina is 7-0 against Region II opponents and has won six of the last seven matches played at Georgia Tech, as well as 11 of its last 12 meetings with the Yellow Jackets. Carolina lost in doubles 2-1 With USC's Marcus Westman and Ben Atkinson winning the Gamecocks only doubles point 8-2. USC did its damage in sin gles play where it won five of the six matches with a ueDreaaer Keeping tne Gamecocks from a sweep. Angelo Niculescu won at No. 2 with his team-leading 13th dual match of the season with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Scott Schnugg. Carl Wermee defeated Wes Nott 6-1,1-6,6-4 to remain undefeated at 5-0 at No. 4. Westman and Atkinson clinched victories at No. 3 and No. 5, while Tom Eklund won in straight sets at No. 6. Seth Rose lost at No.l to Roger Anderson 4-6,6-0,7-6 (5). USC takes on 2002 National runner-up and 19th ranked Georgia at 2 p.m. on Friday at Sam Daniel Tennis Center, where the Gamecocks are un defeated this season. The match with Georgia begins a five-game home stand that will end the Gamecocks’ season. On Sunday, USC faces off against Tennessee at 1 p.m. Tickets on sale for spring football The USC Athletics ticket of fice is now selling tickets for the USC spring football game. The game is scheduled for April 12 at Williams-Brice Stadium at 1 p.m. Tickets will be on sale at the office on Rosewood Drive as well as that morning at the stadium box office. The price for tickets is $2 for vouth. $5 for adults. $10 for an entire lamily ana tree tor USC students. The proceeds from ticket sales are going to the USC Lettermen's Association. Track to compete in SEC Quad Meet The USC men's and women's track teams will take on the top teams in the SEC East this weekend at the a SEC Quad Meet. The event kicks off Saturday at the Weems Baskin Track and Field in Columbia, with field events beginning at 10:30 a.m. and running events at 2 p.m. Carolina had a strong per formance last weekend at the Florida Relays in Gainesville. USC had 13 first-place finishes and recorded three event records and three facility records on its way to record ing 13 first-place finishes. USC also received 40 top-10 finish es and 19 NCAA Regional qual ifiers over the four-day com petition. Freshman Kenneth Ferguson’s time of 49.27 was a personal-best in the 400-meter hurdles, which is the top time in the nation. Ferguson is the third USC athlete to hold a top national mark during 2003. USC's home schedule comes to a close April 9 with the South Carolina Staje Championships. Baseball season is sure to be a hot one SHAWN ROURK gXmecocksports@hotmail.com Here are a few tidbits for the MLB long-haul. Now that the weather has warmed up and people are actual ly getting out and enjoying the weather, it’s time to turn some at tention to America’s past time. I would be remiss as a sportswriter not to offer my two cents into the brand new MLB sea son. Granted, I know I am a little late in the predictions, but if Dan Patrick from ESPN can do it, why can’t I? So here’s a few bits of pre dictions and notes on the fledgling year: ♦ The Atlanta Braves will be "nothing without Tom Glavine. The Hotlanta turncoat played a major role in the Braves’ pitching rotation this past season. Since Lriavine went to tne iviets, me Braves have lost their first few games of the season. Leo Mazzone’s ability to harness new talent stays the same, but very few lineups can miss having Glavine and Kevin Millwood playing for division rivals. Plus, the duo of Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine is one of the most prolific of MLB history. They were practically inseparable in Atlanta, and now, they do not have each other as teammates to fall back on. ♦ On the other hand, Tom Glavine is nothing without the Braves. Did anyone ever hear about Tom Glavine before he came to the Braves? Didn’t think so. He’s so much a staple of Atlanta that ESPN.com still shows him in the Braves hat. So it is no wonder why Glavine got lit up for 15 runs, a franchise record for runs allowed, in the Mets opening game. ♦ The Cubs will do well this year. Yep, I said it. I am a die-hard Cubs fan and I think they are go ing to do well. I don’t think they are going all the way though. That will take another year. Acquiring Dusty Baker as manager, howev er, was one of the better moves they have made. ♦ The A’s still have the best pitching roster in the American League. Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder are three pitch ers in a row that no team should want to face over a series. Add in Ricardo Rincon and Jeremy Fikac, and that is a recipe for a lot of wins this season. ♦ The Yankees will be strong this year, despite losing every one’s favorite player: Derek Jeter. Jeter dislocated his shoul der wnue sliding into tmrd base in a game against the Blue Jays. Erick Almonte is no Jeter, but he did go 2-5 in his first outing as a Yankee. If he keeps getting on base, one of the other eight all star caliber players ought to be able to bring him in. Hideki Matsui is one of the better play ers the Yankees acquired in the offseason. So far, his .286 batting average is comparable, but I see him getting better as the season goes forward. ♦ Cincinnati will have to get its act together quick ly if it wants to make a serious run for the champi onship. I have heard that Ken Griffey Jr.’s in the best shape of his career this year. G rlffey So far this season, he”s already bat ting .273 with a homerun. Not a bad start for any player. But if your last name is Griffey, then that is expected of you. Rourk is a first-year print