The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 14, 2004, Page 9, Image 9
9
Game.Schedule
BASEBALL vs. Clemson, 7 p.m.
Pnnt^rt WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Ole Miss in SEC Tournament
V»UI v at Nashville, Tenn., Thursday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? MEN’S TENNIS at Arkansas, 2 p.m. Friday
E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
Gamecocks look to end series
BY JOEL WALLACE
AND WES WOLFE
THE GAMECOCK
The decisive game in the sea:
son series between the USC base
ball team and the Clemson Tigers
will take place under the lights
at Sarge Frye Field tonight at 7
p.m.
The Gamecocks (25-7,6-6 SEC)
own a 2-1 advantage over the
Tigers (18-13, 6-3 ACC) this sea
son. Carolina defeated the Tigers
5-2 in their first meeting at the
Sarge on March 6 and traveled to
Clemson the next day to eke out
an 8-7 victory in extra innings.
The teams met again in Clemson
on April 7, and the Tigers pulled
off a 9-4 upset of the No. 6
Gamecocks.
Carolina is coming off of a
heart-stopping weekend of play
against the Florida Gators. The
Gamecocks won the series 2-1,
with both wins tallied by fresh
man southpaw Arik Hempy (2-0).
Each game was decided by just
one run.
The series victory was the fifth
consecutive series win over the
Gators.
The Gamecocks’ senior catcher
Landon Powell continues to add
to his resume after being named
to the Golden Spikes Award
watch list last week. Powell hit a
game-winning home run for
Carolina in USC’s 5-4 win Friday
against Florida.
For the series, Powell had two
home runs, giving him 34 for his
career at South Carolina, tying
him for ninth on the USC all-time
list. So far this season, Powell is
batting .383 with nine home runs,
10 doubles and 40 RBIs.
Another Gamecock prone to
leaving his mark on the record
books is sophomore outfielder
Michael Campbell. After tying a
school record earlier this season
♦ BASEBALL, SEEPAGE 10
PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Outfielder Michael Campbell swings at a low pitch in a game against Florida last weekend.
Brothers face off in state rivalry
BY WES WOLFE
THE GAMECOCK
It’s a little unusual for two
brothers from New York to go to
college in South Carolina. It’s even
more unusual for those brothers
to be playing baseball for the
state’s biggest rivals.
Collin Mahoney arrived first,
playing catcher for Clemson. Then
his brother, Ryan, was lured to
Carolina by USC baseball coach
Ray Tanner.
“We liked Ryan,” Tanner said.
“Collin was a year older and a lit
tle bit more advanced at the time,
but we liked what Ryan brought
to the table.”
Still, Tanner likes both of the
Mahoneys and there isn’t any ani
mosity between the brothers, who
played for two different high
schools.
“You know, I like them — I like
their parents, I like the young
men,” Tanner said. “Last
Wednesday when we played, be
fore the game they were out be
hind third base in short-left field,
just the two of them, and they
were having a brother conversa
tion. I just happened to see them
and I started yelling at them, and I
was just having a good time—I’m
not sure if Collin thought I was
kidding or not.”
Collin shouldn’t feel too bad,
though, as Tanner makes sure
Ryan keeps in contact with his
brother.
“Last year I would ask Ryan all
the time, ‘You talked to Collin to
day,”’ Tanner said. “And if he
hadn’t I’d get on him, ‘Call your
brother.’ And it seems like now ev
ery time I ask him he’s just done
talking to him.”
While the brothers came to col
lege as catchers, Collin developed.
a fastball that has been clocked in
the mid-90 miles per hour range
after an elbow injury. Since then,
he’s been getting looks at the
mound. Ryan said you have to
start your swing early to get a hit.
“Start swinging when his arm
comes back,” Ryan said. “He
throws the hardest I’ve ever seen. I
saw him throw 95 one time, and
that’s gas.”
With Collin already earning a
shot against Carolina in the series,
there’s a chance he’ll be back on the
mound at some point in tonight’s
game to face-off with his brother.
The Mahoney brothers not only
talk to each other, but faced off
against each other in the second
USC-Clemson game this season,
which the Gamecocks won in ex
tra innings. However, Collin got
the best of his brother in the at-bat.
“That match-up that they had,
what was it—game two,” Tanner
said. “That was a classic. I’m sit
ting there — I’m enjoying it, and I
can imagine how his parents were
♦ BROTHERS, SEE PAGE 10
Football completes last practice of spring
BY WES WOLFE
THE GAMECOCK
The USC football team hit the
field for its last practice of the
spring yesterday, but as the day
ended, there were questions about
whether the Spring Game on
Saturday would be a real game or
a glorified scrimmage.
Word on the format of the Spring
Game should come Thursday. The
game could be played based on a
point system based off individual
plays and not touchdowns, field
goals and extra points.
USC head coach Lou Holtz
threatened to have the Spring
Game in a non-traditional format
if center Fran Person hasn’t recov
ered from the mild concussion he
suffered in the scrimmage April 10,
considering how thin the
Gamecocks are at center.
Offensive lineman Chris White
said after practice yesterday that
he’d be happy for Person to get
healthy.
“I talked to him today on cam
pus, I was like, ‘Man, you got to get
right,’” White said. “I just told
him, I was like, ‘If you don’t think
you can go, don’t go in there and
jeopardize your health.’”
Whichever way the game is
played, the Carolina offense will
try and pull it together and hold
on to the ball, something that has
been an issue in spring practice.
“There’s been quite a bit of fum
bling this spring,” quarterback
Dondrial Pinkins said. “It just gets
to a point, a point in time where
we can’t hold on to it.”
However, Pinkins said that the
fumbling isn’t because of any new
wrinkles put in the play calling,
but a simple inability to hold on to
the ball.
Pinkins will also try not to fum
ble his position as the presumptive
starting quarterback by putting in
a fine performance Saturday..
“Yeah, it’s my job,” Pinkins
said. “I’m going out to solidify it,
and if I don’t, you know, somebody
will take over or we’ll come back
this summer and look at it again.”
Pinkins also said he’s enjoying
running the I-back and split-back
formations and how the run is
opening up play action pass oppor
tunities.
Running back Demetris
Summers also likes the new I-back
looks this spring.
“I think the fullback is most of
all standing back there in the I-for
mation so I can see what the
linebackers are doing, and that’s
helping me out,” Summers said.
USC’s final action of the spring
will be at the Spring Game
Saturday at 1 p.m.
PHOTO BY MARK SCHILUNG/THE GAMECOCK
Quarterback Syvelle Newton tosses a pass during practice.
Head coach Lou Holtz said Newton will be the probable back-up.
Mickelson’s win
means changes
in golf hierarchy
As his putt for birdie on the
72nd hole fell to the bottom of the
cup, Phil Mickelson made it
clear to us all that golf does not
rely solely on Tiger Woods to
reach new
heights. In fact,
the previously
majorless
Mickelson final
«ly breaking
through in what
were the best
nine holes in
JONATHAN Masters history
HILLYARD was exactly
First-year \frhat golf need
electronic ed.
journalism For years we
student . have been talk
ing about how
unbelievable Tiger Woods is and
how there is nobody in golf who
could challenge him — in skill
or popularity. Golf has finally
found its answer for such a prob
lem. How fitting was it that the
year one of the tournament’s
most popular champions,
Arnold Palmer, called it quits is
the same year that Mickelson,
arguably the tournament’s most
popular winner ever, ends his
streak of winless majors.
Many now say that
Mickelson, also known as
“Lefty,” is going to be a constant
force in majors to come. Lefty
obviously has the talent to con
sistently play with Tiger at his
best. That is why we were all
shocked that he hadn’t already
won a major. Popularity, how
ever, was not an area in which
we expected Tiger to be chal
lenged in. While watching the
replay of the final hole of the
Masters, I focused on the reac
tion of the crowd when the putt
fell. Every single person stand
ing around the 18th green leaped
in excitement when Mickelson
finally ended his losing streak.
I sat in my home, usually divid
ed between a number of golfers,
and watched my entire family—
including my mom, who knows
about as much about golf as I
know about croquet, yell in ju
bilation at such a magnificent
sight.
Don’t get me wrong, Tiger is
still extremely important to the
game. However, he is better for
the sport as one half of a Palmer
vs. Nicklaus type rivalry be
tween he and the smile-ridden
Lefty. Golf has been fortunate
enough to see epic battles over
the last few years between play
ers such as Mickelson and
Payne Stewart, Tiger and Bob
May and many others, but we
have not had the showdown that
golf deserves and hopefully will
get.
We haven t seen two players
such as the King and the Golden
Bear go face to face to be called
golfs best in recent years.
Woods and Mickelson, who are
without a doubt the sport’s two
most popular players, have a
chance to give golf something it
has not had in a very long time
— a rivalry. No offense to Ernie
Els, who is without a doubt one
of golf s'best, but imagine this
past weekend with Tiger in
Ernie’s place, setting the bar
higher and higher for
Mickelson, who answered every
challenge he was given.
The days of Tiger’s blowout
major victories are over and
hopefully so are the days of
Mickelson’s major tournament
woes. Now, what the whole
country deserves is a show
down. The best thing that can
happen from here is for Tiger to
come out of his current major
drought and be paired with
Mickelson on the final day of the
next major championship,
June’s U.S. Open. Then there
will be no excuses, no disap
pointments, just an epic battle
between golfs two brightest
stars.
NBA ruling thwarts
triple-double attempt
BY PAUL NEWBERRY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — Bob Sura didn’t
make any pretense about it.
Urged on by his teammates in
a blowout game, the Atlanta
Hawks’ journeyman guard in
tentionally missed a layup just
before the buzzer so he could get
the rebound and make his small
mark in history.
Sura was trying to become the
first NBA player in seven years
with three straight triple-dou
bles. The game was essentially
over. What the heck?
The NBA didn’t see it that
way. Less than 24 hours after
Sura’s bit of self-gratification,
the league ruled Tuesday that he
wouldn’t be rewarded for inten
tionally missing a shot.
The field goal attempt was tak
en away, which wiped out the re
bound. Sura was left with 22
points, 11 assists and nine re
bounds —not 10—in the Hawks’
129-107 victory over the New
Jersey Nets on Monday night.
so mucn ior naving mree
straight games with double fig
ures in scoring, rebounding and
assists — a feat last accom
plished by Grant Hill in 1997.
After flying to Boston for
Atlanta’s regular-season finale
Wednesday night, Sura issued a
statement through a team
spokesman.
“I’m disappointed that my at
tempt to turn my third triple-dou
ble caused so much controversy,”
he said. “It was never my inten
tion to make a mockery of our
sport and to take any attention
away from our huge win over the
Nets. If anyone was offended by
my actions, I sincerely apologize.”
Sura’s motives didn’t seem all
that sinister — “it was kind of a
reaction thing,” he said after the
game — but he joined the grow
ing list of players and coaches
who have resorted to under
handed tactics in an attempt to
pad individual stats.
Ricky Davis, then with
Cleveland, took matters to the
extreme last season when he in
tentionally missed a shot at the
wrong basket, with the idea of
getting his own rebound and fin
ishing off the first triple-double
of his career.
It didn’t work—the NBA has
a rule against trying to score for
the opposing team. After his at
tempt, Davis was bear-hugged by
an angry Utah player, fined by
his own team and roundly con
demned for his blatant attempt
at personal glory.
Davis wasn’t the first Six years
ago, Connecticut women’s bas
ketball star Nykesha Sales, lost
for the season with a torn
Achilles’ tendon, hobbled onto the
court at the start of a game to
make an uncontested layup that
gave her the school scoring
record.
in uanuai _y ui ecu uay
quarterback Brett Favre ap
peared to take a dive so New
York Giants defender Michael
Strahan could set the single-sea
son sack record. Both players de
nied they were in cahoots.
The NBA,’s basketball opera
tion department made the deci
sion not to count Sura’s rebound.
“I don’t know if there are any
messages in this,” said Brian
Mclntrye, a league spokesman.
“We saw something that needed
to be corrected, so we made the
correction.”
The NBA cited a rule that
states, “A field goal attempt is a
player’s attempt to shoot the ball
into the basket for a field goal.”
Because Sura wasn’t trying to
make the shot, he shouldn’t get
credit for a field goal attempted.
Therefore, no rebound, the NBA
said.
In the final minutes, Sura’s
teammates kept pumping up
shots, hoping to give him a le
♦ NBA, SEE PAGE 10