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■>» 10 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, June 9, 2004 PIGURE 0P THE WEEK cAC r l S 9; Number of RBIs by USC baseball’s Steve Pearce in E-mail US at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu three games at the Columbia Regional last weekend. »» —- ... . ■ I. - - ■ i . ■ ■■ , ■■■■ - Carolina wastes no time making Super Regional BY JOEL WALLACE THE GAMECOCK The USC baseball team swept through the NCAA Regional last weekend at Sarge Frye Field for the second year in a row, securing a Super Regional against East Carolina beginning June 12. use 12, The Citadel 4 The Citadel showed up with no signs of being intimidated by the overall No. 2 national seed in the first game of the regional. The teams were stalemated at two runs apiece until the bottom of the fourth inning when Ryan Mahoney put the Gamecocks ahead for good with a two-run homer. USC extended its lead by eight runs in the sixth and sev enth innings, propelled by a pair of three-run home runs by Steve Pearce and Mark Stanley. “We got off to a good start tonight,” Pearce said. “This is a big win for this team. Our offense was seeing the ball well, and I think we did a good job of getting some timely hits.” The Gamecocks advanced to the winners’ bracket to face UNC, who defeated Coastal Carolina earlier Friday afternoon. USC 5, UNC 2 UNC jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Tar Heel catcher Chris Ianetta singled off USC starter Matt Campbell with two outs. The Tar Heels scored their only two runs of the game when Marshall Hubbard homered to left-center field. Once again, the Gamecocks were reluctant to allow a team to stay in front of them for too long. In the bottom of the first, Steven Tolleson and Triplett singled and Melillo’s two-out RBI single scored Tolleson. Pearce came to bat and drove a Daniel Bard pitch out of 4IAL ten* m \> PHOTO BY MELISSA WALLACE/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Mark Stanley scores a run on Steve Pearce’s double in the second Inning of Sunday’s game against UNC. the park, putting the Gamecocks up 4-2. USC added a run in the eighth inning when Pearce hit his third homer of the series and his 19th of the season, leaving the score 5-2. “I feel really good at the plate right now,” Pearce said after the game. “I’m seeing lots of fastballs, and I’ve been able to smash them pretty good.” Campbell was a magician on the mound for USC, going seven and two-thirds innings and tying his season high with 11 strikeouts, fooling the Tar Heels all day with his curveball. “(He) has a lot of pitches, and when he is on his game, he’s as good as anyone in the country,” USC head coach Ray Tanner said about Campbell after the game. use 7, UNC 6 The Gamecocks rode Pearce’s hot bat to victory once again Sunday. Pearce, the Regional MVP, went 3-for-4 at the plate with two clutch RBIs to bring his week end total to nine. Billy Buckner started the game for USC but left after the third in ning with the score knotted at 4-4. USC’s Jason Fletcher came on in relief, giving them five innings of solid pitching, including six strikeouts and just one run al lowed. i cusiuu iiiuiuucu auci i ctuvc was hit by a pitch in the fourth in ning. Melillo was next to bat, and after taking a pitch deep for a two run homer, had words with UNC catcher Chris Ianetta. A warning ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 11 Parents ’pressure on young athletes at all-time high As a young man growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, my parents emphasized my involve ment in sports programs around our communi ty. This was not a problem because Iloved sports and en joyed playing just about any JONATHAN sport that you HILLYARD “Uld Slg" 8 . kid up for. First-year electronic Whether it journalism was baseball, student basketball, football or soc cer, I loved to be involved and continued to participate through out my upbringing. But, there is a very disturbing phenomenon occurring in youth athletics today. Parents and coaches have taken their child’s athletic experiences to another level, which is detrimental to the well-being of the kids playing sports. Many dads today have fallen into what I call the “Earl Woods Syndrome.” At the first sign of athletic ability, the father pushes the son or daughter to the limit, thinking that one day his child could be the one on TV making millions in a particular sport. When I was growing up, my parents were very supportive, but not pushy, when it came to athletics. My father sat me down one day and explained that, while I had a good deal of athlet ic talent, the odds of me becom ing a professional athlete were slim to none, and I should not de pend on athletics for a career. That’s when I decided to pursue sports journalism. There are fathers today that would not dream of having such a talk with their kid. In fact, in today’s youth athletics, many children are forced by their par ents to choose one sport to play at ages as early as 10. This is a ridiculous notion that should not be an option to any parent of a young athlete. Playing differ ent sports is the main reason I have respect for all sports today, and without those experiences, I would definitely not have the knowledge of sports I have to day. Parents and coaches are also pushing children physically more than should ever be done. Football programs are now im plementing heavy weight train ing in ages as low as 12 years old. Young pitchers in baseball are suffering a great deal earlier in life from wear and tear than ever before. With fall, winter, summer and AAU leagues, youngsters are playing baseball year round. While such programs have their advantages, they also have very harmful effects. Coaches are teaching curveballs to pitch ers as young as 12, a pitch that is not recommended until at least high school because of the serious effects it can have on the elbow. Tommy John surgery is at an all-time high in America because of such effects on the arms of fairly young pitchers. Atlanta braves pitcher Paul Byrd has now been sidelined for a year and a half recovering from this surgery. If a grown man can sustain such an injury, imagine the effects on a high school pitcher who is forced to play year-round baseball and throw curveballs, sliders and changeups. Parents who are focused on making their child the next ♦ HILLYARD, SEE PAGE 11