The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 07, 2004, Page 12, Image 12
12 Game.Sehedule
SOFTBALL vs. Georgia, 4 p.m.
WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Marshall, 1 p.m.
Pnntart I Ic - BASEBALL at Clemson, 7:15 p.m.
UUIILdGL.Ua MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK at S.C. State
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PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK
Catcher Ashley Smith had one hit in each of USC’s games
against No. 6 Georgia in Tuesday’s doubleheader.
Softball splits
doubleheader
with Bulldogs
BY BRAD SENKIW
TIIK liAMKCOGK
■ The USC softball team faced one
of the nation’s best last night and
came away in pretty good shape
heading into today. The No. 23
Gamecocks (20-13, 9-11 SEC)
gained a split with No. 6 Georgia
Bulldogs (36-8,13-4) by taking the
first game 7-3 and belted 10 hits for
the team’s fourth win over a top
25 opponent this season. Carolina
wasn’t as offensive in the second
game and dominating pitching
doomed the Gamecocks as they
fell 3-0.
USC 7, Georgia 3
USC’s Meghan Cornett went 2
for-4 with an RBI as McKenna
Hughes and Ashley Smith added
a pair of RBIs each to blow by the
Bulldogs 7-3. Stacey Johnson (12
4) picked up the win, giving up
three earned runs on eight hits but
got enough offense from her team
mates to get the upset. Kasi
Carroll pitched a complete game
and moved to 8-3 on the year for
Georgia.
Carolina jumped out to an early
first-inning lead when Smith hit a
double to left field that brought
home Nancy Crane and Cornett.
Georgia cut the lead to 2-1 in the
fifth inning after Julie Milner
reached on a single to left. Melissa
Cook came on to pinch run for
Milner and scored two batters lat
er on a double down the left field
line by Nicole Barber.
In the bottom half of the fifth in
ning, the Gamecocks exploded for
four runs to take a 6-1 lead.
Cornett brought Melissa Sandel
home with a single and an errant
throw advanced her to second
base and Crane to third.
Hughes took advantage of run
ners in scoring position and
dropped a double to right field
that scored two more runs.
Hughes came home two batters
later after a Samantha Jennings
RBI single.
Carolina added a run in the
sixth inning on a sacrifice bunt by
Crane that scored Chrissy
Schoonmaker from third base.
The Bulldogs got two runs in the
top of the seventh by Barber, but
it wasn’t enough to match the
Gamecocks as they took the first
game in the three-game series.
Georgia 3, USC 0
Game two looked like a pitching
battle for the first four innings and
tinned into 3-0 series tying win for
Georgia. The Gamecocks were shut
down by Georgia’s Katie Griffith
(14-2), who allowed only two hits,
walked three and struck out 10 bat
ters. Jennings and Smith recorded
the only two hits for USC.
Aleca Johnson (3-3) stifled the
Georgia bats early, holding the
Bulldogs hitless for the first four
innings but gave up one run on
one hit before being replaced by
Melanie Henkes. Henkes gave up
six hits and two runs in the final
two innings.
Georgia struck first in the fifth
inning when Jade Jarvis hit a
two-out triple to left center, scor
ing Megan McAllister, who
reached after being hit by a
Johnson pitch. The Gamecocks
answered in the bottom half of the
inning by lining out and going
down on back-to-back strikeouts
to end the inning.
Georgia added to its lead in the
seventh inning to push ahead 3-0.
Ashley Godfrey pinch hit with
runners at the corners and one
out, singling to right field.
Milner scored on the play and
Barber loaded the bases with a sin
gle to left field on the next at bat.
Then Katie Lewis reached first on
a fielder’s choice, scoring Jarvis
from third.
Needing two runs in the final
inning, USC came away with noth
ing as it went down 1,2,3 to end
the game. The Gamecocks finish
off the series against UGA today
at 4 p.m.
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Baseball journeys to Clemson
to close out 8-game road tour
BY WES WOLFE
TIIK CAMKCOCK
The No. 6 USC baseball team
(23-5,4-5 SEC) will finish up its
eight-game road swing tonight at
Clemson (17-10,6-0 ACC), a team
which has won nine of its last 10
games.
The Gamecocks took the first
two games of the season against
the Tigers, a 5-2 win at home
March 6 and an 8-7 victory in 10
innings at Clemson March 7.
Even though Clemson has
caught fire in the past two weeks,
USC head coach Ray Tanner said
the Tigers were just as good when
Carolina played them a month
ago.
“I thought they were a good
club the whole time,” Tanner
said. “I know they had a couple
bumps in the road early on, but
they were a good club. We knew
that, and they knew that and they
were going to get it going. But I
don’t think it matters anyway
when you play.
“You know, if we were under
.500 and they were undefeated,
when you play a rival it doesn’t
matter.”
Starting for USC in the game
is Zac McCamie, who has a 2-0
record on the season and a 2.29
ERA with wins against
Charleston Southern and
Wofford. The two wins were also
the only two games McCamie has
started all season.
“I am excited, honored, and
happy to get the start against
Clemson,” McCamie said.
“I think of it as a great oppor
tunity to show what I can do, to
show Carolina fans that I can
pitch. Hopefully I will do the best
I can and get a win for our
team.”
Clemson is heading into the
match-up with a full head of
steam after sweeping ACC foes
Wake Forest and Maryland, and
taking both games against
Georgia.
Starting for Clemson will be
Kris Harvey, who is 5-0 with a 3.13
ERA. Harvey’s last win was a 6-2
victory at Georgia, in which he
pitched seven innings, allowing
two runs while striking out sev
en batters.
Carolina will have to be able to
put some runs on the Tiger pitch
ing, since Clemson is averaging
8.9 runs and 12.5 hits a game in its
last eight games.
USC will have to beat
Clemson, and the next few oppo
nents, without the services of
shortstop Steve Tolleson. The
sophomore had surgery on his
left knee on Tuesday to repair a
small defect in his medial menis
cus and is estimated to be out for
two to four weeks.
However, Tanner said that if
the surgery reveals the problem
to be more severe, Tolleson
could be out for the year.
Tolleson had 25 hits, two home
runs and five stolen bases before
being knocked out with what
was first thought to be an aggra
vation of an earlier hamstring
injury.
USC steps on the field against
Clemson at 7:15 p.m. at Doug
Kingsmore Stadium. Carolina
will return home this weekend
for a three-game series with
Florida.
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Spring.practice
Football develops teamwork,
continues emotional practices
BY WES WOLFE
TilK (JAMKCOCK
The USC football team con
tinued its string of emotional,
high-energy practices Tuesday,
assistant head coach Skip Holtz
said.
“Overall I thought it was a
very emotional day, a lot of team
work, a lot of excitement,” Holtz
said. “I came in here, I believe it
was after about the third prac
tice, the first day in pads, and I
said that if we go out and play
with that kind of emotion every
day, we’ll get better in the
spring.
“I thought today we had the
same emotional intensity about
it that we did at the very begin
ning.”
Holtz also said that all four
quarterbacks, Dondrial
Pinkins, Syvelle Newton, Mike
Rathe and Blake Mitchell, are
progressing well after their per
formances in the first scrim
mage of the year on Saturday.
However, the best praise was
saved for Newton, who has
moved to quarterback from
wide receiver.
“I think that Syvelle Newton
really showed up at that scrim
mage, he did some very good
things with his feet and he threw
the ball very well,” Holtz said. “I
believe he was four out of five
throwing the ball, threw the ball
accurately and really did a very
nice job of running the football
team.”
In the scrimmage Saturday,
the running game was the pri
mary focus of the offensive
plays, with 30 pass plays and 54
•
running plays. The next scrim
mage, set for Friday, will focus
more on the passing game.
Currently, Holtz is expecting to
run passing situations like third
down and eight yards, and two
minute drills.
“After today we’ll watch this
film and see what we need to do,
have our practice on Thursday
and talk about what we need to
do Friday,” Holtz said.
“Obviously the passing game is
going to be a point of emphasis
we’re going to need to hit, just
not for the quarterbacks, but for
the o-line and pass protection,
the wide receivers, for every
body.”
Last season, the Gamecocks
never used the fullback posi
tion, as the only person classi
fied as a fullback on the roster
played on the practice squad.
Still, Holtz is impressed with
the effort by converted full
backs Brandon Schweitzer and
Jaime Peters.
tsranaon scnweitzer s real
ly made an excellent adjustment
to it; he’s done a very nice job,”
Holtz said. “He’s very intelli
gent, knows what he’s doing,
knows the offense, knows where
to go, he’s heady, he’s smart,
he’s intelligent, he’s all those
things.
“Jaime Peters has shown
some excellent promise. He’s
big, he’s physical, he’s 252
pounds, I believe, right now.”
The passing game and the
running game should be of in
terest to the fullbacks, though,
only as far as the blocking as
♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE 13
PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK
Wide receiver Matthew Thomas goes up for a catch during
practice Tuesday. The Spring Game is April 17 at 1 p.m.
MLB’s attention finally on the field
After one of the most eventful
off-seasons in recent memory,
America’s fa
vorite pastime is
ready to get
■jMH cranked up once
again. With last
weekend’s true
opening game in
Baltimore and
this week’s ini
JONATHAN tial contests, we
HILLYARD finally get to
First-year shut up about
electronic steroids, unfair
SK?” trades and all
that mess and fo
cus on a game
that used to be top dog in our
country.
First of all, what in the world
was MLB thinking when it decid
ed to hold its first games in
•Japan? Think about the premise
of this. America’s favorite pas
time is holding its “opening day”
in a country that is largely re
sponsible for the stoppage of the
sport 60 years ago. It made me
sick to my stomach that the first
pitch of the season was thrown
out at 5 a.m. when the entire
country, save a couple thousand
college students, was asleep. Does
this really help the game of base
ball? A colleague of mine called
the Japanese openers “kind of
like the Canadian baseball teams.
They don’t really do anything to
help the game.”
OK, pushing the foreign-held
opener aside, I am sick and tired
of hearing about steroids. The lat
est cry is from former pitcher
Jack McDowell, who said that
maybe Cubs pitcher Mark Prior
is having nagging Achilles tendon
injuries because of steroid use.
Have you seen Mark Prior lately,
Jack? The kid is tall and lanky.
For some reason I don’t associate
that with the juice. Oh, and how
did Barry Bonds respond to all the
BALCO and steroid outcries? He
started his own Web site. Way to
go Barry, because that’s going to
clear everything up. Nothing will
be settled until a player says
screw the players unipn and takes
the friggin’ test on national TV.
By the way, Bonds hit juiced
home run No. 649 Monday, bring
ing him within one of his godfa
ther Willie Mays:
It was probably good for base
ball that Alex Rodriguez, ar
guably the game’s best player,
was traded to a winning team.
The Yankees on the other hand —
well, let’s not go there. The truth
is that the off-season moves made
by not only the Yankees, but the
Cubs, Astros, Red Sox, Angels and
many others make for a very in
teresting season. Watching the
storylines unfold should be quite
a treat. Can Andy Petite and
Roger Clemens move their suc
cess from the Big Apple to the
most unsuccessful playoff team in
history? The Astros sure hope so.
Can the Cubs and the Red Sox fi
nally get the monkeys off their
backs? Can the new-look Braves
(new look being a synonym for
most likely overmatched) take
home their 13th straight division
title in the most unlikely of sea
sons? The list of possible great sto
ries is longer than it has been in
recent memory.
That being said, baseball needs
a great season in the worst way.
After a decade of players com
plaining about money and now
the press all over players every
pill, the game is known for every
thing but what happens on the
field. As much as it made me want
to hurl, Aaron Boone’s home run
in extra innings in the ALCS last
year was fantastic for baseball, be
cause it brought the attention
back to the field. That is some
thing the game is sorely missing.
We need the Boston and New
York rivalry, we need Bonds’
quest for Hank Aaron’s record,
and we need Greg Maddux’s
chase for 300 wins. So as your fa
vorite team takes the field for the
first time this week, stop all the
complaining, stop all the specu
lation, and for the first time in
years, enjoy what truly is
America’s favorite pastime.