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Baseball CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 homers. Junior Steve Pearce and sophomore Steven Tolleson also had multi-hit games for USC. UNCW would fight back from a 4-0 deficit to close the lead to 4-3, but USC scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to stretch their lead to 7-3, and would hold on to win the game 7-4. Junior pitcher Chad Blackwell came in the top of the ninth in ning and retired the Seahawks in order to record his third save of the season. USC-20 UNCW-3 USC continued to shine on Saturdays, as the red-hot bats of the Gamecocks led them to a 20-3 the season was junior pitcher Aaron Rawl, who retired 13 of the first 14 hitters he faced. Rawl pitched six innings, allowing only three hits to improve his record to 2-0. USC-12 UNCW-0 Sunday was deja vu for Gamecock fans, as an impressive combo of hitting and pitching from USC led to a 12-0 dismantling ofUNCW. Picking up his first win of the season in his first start was junior pitcher Matt Campbell, who joined Tanner last summer on the silver medal winning USA national team. Campbell pitched five and two-thirds innings, recording nine strikeouts and allowing only three hits. In what is becoming habit, the USC bats were mighty again in game three. Carolina added to their weekend power fest with an other four home rims, giving them 10 for the series. Gamecocks going yard on Sunday included Pearce with five, Bryan Triplett with one, Winn with three and Melillo with five. Pearce had three RBIs on the day, while Winn and Melillo added two RBIs apiece. Winn and Melillo homered back to back in the third inning; the third time USC has hit back to-back home runs this season. USC will now look ahead to next weekend when they will face Duquesne, Radford and George Mason. First pitch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is set for 3 p.m. at Sarge Frye Field. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu — Sinclair CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 and Greg Maddux can prevent Steve Bartman from “interfering” with a chance to win a champi onship this season. Until the most infamous foul ball in baseball his tory, the Cubs were well on their way to eliminating the eventual World Champion Florida Marlins. I will concede the Yankees clearly have the best team on pa per. The lineup consists of future Hall of Fame players Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Bernie Williams. All-Stars like Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada and the rest of the Yankee lineup will have great pitches to look at. This team might score more runs than any in history. However, as an Atlanta Braves fan, I can tell you how much a high-powered offense accounts for in the post-season. Besides, the best team on paper has not won the Wqrld Series for several years in a row now. This is more than just a trend; it is be coming the norm. In the last three years, publications predicted teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants to win the World Series. Few were pick ing the last two champions, the Anaheim Angels and the Florida Marlins, to even make the play offs. In fact, the Marlins won the World Series last season after fir ing manager Jeff Torberg and re placing him mid-season with Jack McKeown. For all we know, the Philadelphia Phillies could be ready to make a magical run through this October. Talk of winning a champi onship at this point is ridiculous. There are several teams out there that have the pitching to compete with the high-powered Yankees this fall. If payrolls make champi onships, then George Steinbrenner would have bought a few more. For those who believe the New York Yankees are already World Champions and baseball season is practically over before it begins, I leave you with one last remark. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training next week. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu Softball CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 There can be only one team crowned champion, but this time it wasn’t the Highlanders. The Gamecocks lit up Radford’s Jennifer Bosley (2-2) like a Christmas tree, scoring 11 runs on only nine hits in just over four innings. USC’s Melanie Henkes (4-0) went five innings, holding Radford to three runs on seven hits to carry the Gamecocks to 7 0. Hughes homered in her sec ond straight game, going l-for-2 with four RBIs. Right fielder Melissa Sandel went 2-for-3 for the Gamecocks with two runs and two RBIs. USC-2 CofC-0 The Gamecocks continued their dominance’ in the Invitational by shutting out the Cougars again Sunday after noon. Curtis drove in both of the Gamecocks’ runs, while Stacey Johnson and Aleca Johnson combined their efforts for the shutout, including nine strike outs. The game was a stalemate, until USC broke through in the fifth inning when Curtis drove in freshmen Hughes and Schoonmaker. The Gamecocks sealed the victory in the sev enth when Aleca Johnson came in to relieve Stacey Johnson. Aleca Johnson proceeded to strike out the side after inher iting a runner on second. After allowing the runner to get to third after a wild pitch, Johnson regained her compo sure and closed out the game for Carolina. • The Gamecocks travel to Columbus, Ga. Friday to play in the Lead-Off Classic with games against Fresno State, Princeton and Arizona State. The first game, on Friday, is against Fresno State at noon. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu .I Women CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 first half of play, effectively putting the game out of reach for Carolina. The Gamecocks played the Bulldogs close in the second half but couldn’t make up the point differential from the first half. Senior guard Kelly Morrone, who was Oof-1 from the field with one assist and four turnovers in the first half, stepped it up in the second half when she scored all her 10 points. The win by Georgia comes on the heels of the team dismissing its leading scorer, center Kara Braxton. The 6-foot, 6-inch junior was dismissed from the program because of her fifth violation of team rules. “I’m disappointed,” UGA head coach Andy Landers said. “As a coach, you never want to be in this position. You never want any of your players to be in this posi tion. But you can only extend * someone so many chances. Kara has been given sufficient oppor tunities to adhere to our team policies. At this point, I think it is in everyone’s best interest, in cluding Kara’s, to move forward.” Carolina will play its last away game of the season at Kentucky in Lexington, with a start time of 7 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail garnecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Men CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 the Gamecocks will be playing for a high seed, not only in March Madness, but also in the SEC Tournament. The next game for Carolina is Wednesday on the road against Florida. The Gamecocks will be forced to make a quick turnaround and recompose themselves if they wish to hold on to that outside chance of win ning the SEC East and gaining the No. 1 seed going into the SEC Tournament. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Club.corner Men’s rugby drowns Pirates in comeback The USC men’s rugby team beat East Carolina on Saturday, 32-24. After trailing 17-10 at the half, the Gamecocks took the lead with twelve minutes to play and stayed ahead until the end of the game. Bobby McNamara, Andrew Czerski and O.T. Dayse played very well and helped improve the team’s division record to 2-0. Carolina finishes up its division matches this weekend, when the Gamecocks travel to UNC Wilmington on Saturday and play host to N.C. State on Sunday. \ LSAT (How would A GMAT l you score? I “ DAT iaKe a practice test at Kaplan’s Test Drive and find out. February 28 th at 10am University of South Carolina Gambrel! Hall To register, call or visit us online today! 1-800-KAP-TEST kaptest.com/testdrive Test Prep and Admissions •Test Hwwi •# registered iradwtwfcs of their respective owners. I Vote Todai I Student Government Elections ' I Monday, February 23 Tuesday, February 2b | victory of the Seahawks. “This was the best game we’ve played all season; we did every thing extremely well today,” Tanner said. “We made some great plays defensively; we had some quality at bats; and I told them after the game that this was our best game.” Carolina hit three home runs for the second consecutive day and finished with a 20-hit perfor mance. Senior catcher Landon Powell broke out of his early sea son hitting woes, hitting the first pitch he saw over the left center field wall. Melillo and Pearce also hit their fourth home runs for USC. Pearce and sophomore Davy Gregg both recorded four RBIs on the day, while Melillo raised his RBI total to 12 with three in the game. Notching his second victory of 1. Log onto vip.sc.edu I 2. Click on the "Personal" tab 3. Select "Student Body Elections" 4. Voteforthe candidate of your choice View candidates' platforms at www.sg.sc.edu