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<M> , ,1 3,.-'’ » ’ ••• ♦* -n--' 8 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, April 12,2004 ’ ^ - . , . Game.Schedule BASEBALL vs. Clemson, 7 p.m. Wednesday WOMEN’S TENNIS at SEC Tournament Printant " in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday V“>UI I'-dL.L MEN’S TENNIS at Arkansas, 2 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S GOLF at SEC Tournament E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu in Baton Rouge, La., Friday Baseball slips past SEC rival BY BRAD SENKIW AND TRAVIS BOLAND THE GAMECOCK The No. 6 USC baseball team (25-7,6-6 SEC), won its second con ference series of the season with two wins over the No. 16 Florida Gators (26-10,6-6). USC 5, Honda 4 Good Friday turned out to be just that for the Gamecocks as Landon Powell launched a game winning home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Gamecocks the 5-4 win, their first series-opening victory of the sea son. it ieeis gooa to get one out oi here, and our team did a good job of battling all day,” said Powell, who finished 3-for-5 on the game. Michael Campbell added a solo shot, and Brendan Winn hit a three-run homer to help give the Gamecocks an early lead that dwindled in the later innings. Freshman Arik Hempy recorded tfee win in relief, going two and one-third innings and giving up one hit and striking out four. USC scored first off Campbell’s shot to right field in the first in ning, and Florida tied it up with a solo home run from Ben Harrison in the fourth inning. Winn hit his home run with two outs in the sixth inning. Florida got a run in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth before Hempy came on with the bases loaded to get a strikeout that ended the inning. Carolina held Florida scoreless from then on to get the win. Florida 9, USC 8 The Gamecocks couldn’t over come four errors and wound up on the short end of a 9-8 game Saturday. Powell started the scor ing for Carolina with a two-run -home run in the bottom of the first inning. The home run was his sec ond of the series and was Powell’s ninth of the season. With a two run lead and Matt Campbell on the mound, the Gamecocks looked to be in good shape, but their de fense again would let them down. Florida put up five runs as the Gamecocks committed their first error of the afternoon. Florida would add anbther run in the fourth, pushing its lead to 6-2 and capitalizing on two Gamecock er rors in the inning. Carolina answered in the bot tom of the fourth when Ryan Mahoney had an RBI single scor ing Powell. The Gamecocks made tne score b-4 m me Dottom oi me sixth inning when Michael Campbell tripled and Brendan Winn doubled, scoring Campbell. Florida pushed the score to 7-4 in the top of seventh on the fourth Gamecock error. The bottom of the seventh would be Carolina’s big inning as it added four runs and took the lead 8-7. The Gamecocks loaded the bases and Michael Campbell hit his second triple of the game, clearing the bases. Campbell would then score on a Winn sin gle. The Gamecocks couldn’t hold the lead, though, as Florida went back on top 9-8 in the top of the ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 9 Pinkins doesn’t deserve to start For an entire year as a Gamecock columnist, I have at tempted to avoid the story that no Gamecock football fan wants to hear about. Like many other Gamecocks, I hoped that af ter two straight 5-7 football sea sons, the quar terback situa tion would get resolved in 2004. BEN SINCLAIR Apparently, as Graduate u- student in of publishing College of date, I am Education wrong. From comments head coach Lou Holtz has made during the spring, it appears that once again Dondrial Pinkins will be the starter when the Gamecocks open the 2004 football season. Holtz said after Friday’s practice that Syvelle Newton “would be the number two quarterback” and comments about Pinkins “shocking the SEC” this season seem to suggest the ob vious — another season with Pmkins as quarterback. However, if the USC football team is going to succeed in 2004 and beyond, it is going to have to find another quarterback and it must be this season. Pinkins is only 5-9 as a starter for the Gamecocks. Throw out meaning less victories against Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Lafayette and not only does the record look much worse, but it is easy to see that Pinkins just cannot lead a team to victory. It is apparent to Gamecock fans that the football team simply does not rally around Pinkins like successful teams ral ly around their quarterbacks. ♦ PINKINS, SEE PAGE 9 PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Catcher Landon Powell hit a game-winning home run against Florida Friday. Gamecocks become Gator feed in weekend rout PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK Stacey Johnson pitches during the weekend series with Florida. BY JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK It was a frustrating weekend in Gainesville, Fla., for the No. 25 USC softball team as the 16th ranked Florida Gators swept the Gamecocks 3-0 by scores of 2-0,4-3 and 5-3. UF2, USCO In game one of the three-game series on Saturday, a pitchers duel ensued. Both teams made a total of just three hits in the game. In a battle of the Staceys, UF’s Stacey Stevens came out on top, allowing just one hit in the con test. Stevens finished the game with five strikeouts on the day. Her counterpart, the Gamecocks’ Stacey Johnson, matched her pitch-for-pitch until the fourth in ning when a Mylin Prieto hit for Florida would be capitalized on by Kristen Butler, who homered to give the Gators a 2-0 lead. The lead was enough for UF, as neither pitcher would allow another hit until the seventh inning, when McKenna Hughes recorded USC’s only hit of the day. However, USC could not capitalize and lost in sev en innings. UF4, USC 3 In game two of Saturday’s dou bleheader, USC seemed to have the Gators’ number. Carolina took what UF gave it early in the game with three runs in the first two innings. Once again, the pitching took over as the game saw three scoreless innings heading into the sixth. The Gator bats finally caught up with reliever Melanie Henkes, scoring a total of four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The ral ly was started at the beginning of the inning when Florida’s Jenilee Garner hit a leadoff single. After loading the bases, Prieto got the scoring started with a two-run double. The Gators would add two runs off a Butler RBI and USC fielding errors. The Gamecocks could not answer in the top of the seventh, losing to UF, 4-3. UF5, USC 3 Trying to avoid the sweep, USC jumped off to another early lead in Sunday’s game three. In the top of the first inning, Nancy Crane would score off a sacrifice fly from Hughes, giving the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead. Carolina added to that lead in the top of the fourth inning, when Hughes hit a home run over the center-field wall. However, in a repeated theme on the weekend, the Gamecocks could not hold the Gator offense at bay. The Florida run started in the bottom of the fourth inning with one run, and two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. in tne bottom of the tourtn, USC catcher Ashley Smith was unable to handle a throw from third base that would have saved a run, which was scored by UF’s Shelley Stevens. In the fifth inning, the Gators’ Mandy Schuerman start ed a two-out rally with a single, which was followed by a Melissa Zick home run, giving the Gators a 3-2 lead. Despite a sixth-inning run for USC, Florida put up another two run inning in the sixth. After load ing the bases, Florida got one run off an errant throw over the catch er’s head and a Garner single, bringing the game to its final score of 5-3. USC will now turn its attention to next weekend, when the team will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on No. 10 Alabama in a three game series. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Mi eke I son finally gets it right in Masters tournament victory BY DOUG FERGUSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AUGUSTA, GA.-Finally! Phil Mickelson’s agonizing pur suit of a major ended Sunday at the Masters when he made an 18 foot birdie putt on the final hole, a spectacular conclusion to a back nine duel with Ernie Els. Gone is that ugly streak of be ing O-for-42 in golfs biggest events. Gone are questions about Mickelson’s game and whether it could stand up to the scrutiny of a major championship. He delivered a command per formance to the very end, with two birdies on the final three holes for a 3-under 69 that gave him a one-stroke victory over Els. -—~The putt curled into the back of - -the hole, setting off an enormous -cfieer. Mickelson jumped_and tHrust his fists, then kissed his ball When he plucked it from the cup. “Oh my God!” he said as he walked off the green and into the arms of his wife and three children. Until Sunday, he was known as the best player to have never won a major. Now, he’s simply one of the best in the game. His awesome skills were on full display along the back nine at Augusta National, and they had to be. Els was flawless, making two eagles in his round of 67 that looked as though it would be x enough to get the green jacket he covets, and the third leg of the Grand Slam. But Mickelson was more deter mined than ever. He rattled off three straight birdies to stay in range, caught Els with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th and then had the stage to him self on No. 18. Despite a half-dozen close calls • in the majors, Mickelson had nev er come to the final hole with a share of the lead. He never had the final say. On this day, he refused to let his chance get away. He smartly played 3-wood off the tee to avoid the bunkers and hit his approach behind the hole. Mickelson got a huge break with Chris DiMarco blasted out of a greenside bunker and just beyond Mickelson’s ball marker, giving him the line on the biggest putt of his life. “I just couldn’t believe that ball fell in there,” Mickelson said. Before walking into the scoring hut to sign his card, Mickelson held daughter Sophia and said, “Daddy won. Can you believe it?” Mickelson, who shot a 31 on the back, finished at 9-under 279. Mike Weir, whose victory last year made him the first southpaw to win the Masters, slipped the green jacket on the most famous Lefty in golf. It was a bitter end for Els, who now kno^ys how Mickelson has felt all these years. The big South African did nothing wrong over the final 12 holes, salvaged four crucial pars along the way and it still wasn’t enough. “I think Phil deserved this one,” Els said. “He won this one. He didn’t lose it like some of his other ones. Full credit to him.” K. J. Choi holed a 5-iron from 220 yards on the 11th hole for eagle, kept his hopes alive with a 40-foot birdie putt on the 13th but wound up with a 69, three shots behind. Tiger Woods was long gone be fore the fireworks started. He made a double bogey — his third of the tournament — on the 13th hole and shot 71, leaving him 11 shots out of the lead in a tie for 22nd, his worst finish ever at the Masters. Woods now has gone seven ma jors without winning, and he has played his last five over par. ♦ MASTERS, SEE PAGE 9 Jhil Mlckelson celebrates in the third round of The Masters.