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w GAME SCHEDULE 11 MEN’S TENNIS at North Carolina, 2:30 p.m. Thursday rage la WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Georgia, 7 p.m. Thursday Wednesday, February 9, 2005 BASEBALL vs. Longwood, 3 p.m. Friday BASEBALL PREVIEW ..I I ■ A* •.Hi m'T ' j I Gamecock pitching staff ELOADS FOR 2005 By BRIAN SAAL THE GAMECOCK It’s the second week in February, which means the USC faithful is finally going to get its wish. That’s right, it’s baseball season, and one of the nation’s premier programs has reloaded. The 2004 season marked another successful trip to Omaha for Ray Tanner’s Gamecocks. Carolina finished 17-13 and received the No. 3 ranking at the end of the season. However, Tanner also saw six of his players leaving for the minor leagues. He went out and recruited 14 ballplayers, giving Carolina the ninth best recruiting class according to Baseball America. The group gives Carolina 14 new faces — seven from high school, seven from junior colleges. Major league teams had previously drafted six of the 14 players. Even though the Gamecocks said goodbye to just four pitchers, they will have seven new pitchers. Carolina starters Billy Buckner and Matt Campbell each abandoned their senior years to ‘play for the Kansas City Royals. USC will welcome back ace Aaron Rawl, who was selected along with third baseman Steve Pearce, as one of 58 players to be named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List. Rawl tossed a team-high 13 wins, allowing 4.28 runs per start last season. Of the seven pitchers spending their first season at Carolina, lefty Craig Thomas appears to have the most credentials. The Lexington High alumnus was named to the South Carolina 4A All-State team as a sophomore, junior and senior, and was a finalist for Mr. Baseball. Brandon White is not too far behind Thomas as South Carolina High School Sports Report’s 2003 South Carolina 4A Player of the Year after his junior season ended with an 11-2 record, 0.90 ERA and 133 strikeouts. Other newcomers looking to see some playing time are Brad Hocking, Jeff Jeffords and Trey Delk. Tanner does have options in the starting rotation with Jason Fletcher, Arik Hempy and Zac McCamie all seeing starts last season. Rawl will be the Friday starter, McCamie likely the Saturday starter and Fletcher wrapping up weekend series. That is what the rotation will look like for this weekend’s opening series against Longwood Community College. After losing Chad Blackwell also to the Royals, the Gamecocks will need a strong closer out of the bullpen to fill Blackwell’s 20 saves and 2.57 ERAs. Brent Marsh might be the guy Tanner puts in for save situations this season. The former Florida State recruit, who transferred to nearby Tallahassee Community College, was named FCCAA Pitcher of the Year after his freshman season as the best junior college relief pitcher. Marsh posted a 5 0 record with six saves and a 1.10 ERA last season. Carolina will also welcome junior Shawn Valdes-Fauli who is transferring from the Miami Hurricanes, but will be out for the season because of Tommy John surgery. Valdes-Fauli went 5-0 with a 3.02 ERA in his sophomore season in 2003. Gamecock fans will watch Cliff Donald, John Gregory and Andrew Cruse come out of the bullpen. Carolina will welcome back redshirts Andy Lambert, Josh McDonald, Conor Lalor and Forrest Beverly. Lalor and Beverly are both coming off Tommy John surgery. The Gamecocks did lose Heath Rollins. Rollins came out of the No. 1 recruiting class last season, and after ♦ Please see PITCHING, page 14 Super Bowl hangover leaves me complaining ■ Owens’gutsy play, Commentator’s idiocy define game of games This was the first year that I can remember where I have had no reason to pull for either team in the Super Bowl. I was hoping for a scoreless tie, or, even better, a rare double-forfeit. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was the last little bit of football I could watch to hold me over until the Garnet and Black game in April, I would not have even watched it. But since I did, here are a few of my thoughts on the Super Bowl. n — t SECOND-YEAR eVen get t0 POLITICAL the game SCIENCE itself, I want STUDENT . . to go ahead and have a little reader participation. I have a question for you: Has there ever been a commentator worse than Chris Collinsworth? Ever? Please, e mail me and let me know. At one point Sunday, McNabb threw a deep pass a solid 6 feet out of bounds, and Collinsworth responded with, “Clearly, the story of the game has been the great play of these young New England cornerbacks.” What? He threw the ball OUT OF BOUNDS. Yao Ming standing on Shaq’s shoulders couldn’t have caught that pass. Clearly the story of the game was how horrible Donovan McNabb played. Speaking of McNabb being horrible — who taught Donovan how to run the two-minute offense? It must have been the same guy that told him to grow a beard. I am almost positive he was trying not to win. He stepped onto the field with less than a minute remaining, no timeouts, in the shadow of his own goal line, and threw a dump pass in the middle of the field to Brian Westbrook for a whopping 0 yards. Not only did they not gain anything out of this, but a solid 20 seconds ticked off the clock. On the next play, McNabb stepped back and tried to throw a pass to a clearly covered wide receiver running a post down the middle of the field. Even if he caught it, he was going to get tackled in the middle of the field and the clock would have run out. Luckily, Donovan couldn’t hit the ocean with a football if he was riding first class on the Titanic, so the pass flew over the receiver’s head. ♦ Please see BROOM, page 14 ^ l NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Columbia center Matt Ulwelling, center, slaps at a puck as Charlotte defenders swarm around him. The Inferno took a 2-1 lead; but eventually fell to the Checkers 3-2 in an overtime shootout. inferno hockey falls in shootout By AJ BEMBRY THE GAMECOCK Tuesday night’s intra-divisional matchup between the Columbia Inferno and Charlotte Checkers didn't go quite the'ifay the Inferno had hoped: Heading into the game trailing the East Division leading Checkers by only two points, Columbia could have tied for the lead with a victory and almost stole a game from the Checkers. Columbia fell 3-2 after losing in a shoot-out. All-Star goalie Mike Minard was back in the net for the Inferno after a stint with the American Hockey League, and he quickly made his presence felt. Early in the first, Charlotte was able to sustain solid pressure in the Inferno zone. Minard shone early, allowing his teammates to gain a little confidence. Columbia’s patience paid off, resulting ♦ Please see INFERNO, page 14 USC softball sweeps 49ers in doubleheader By STEPHEN FASTENAU ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR The Gamecock softball team swept its doubleheader with Charlotte on Tuesday. Melanie Henkes pitched a four-hitter and center fielder Lisa Longo had two hits and two RBIs as USC took the first game, 4-0. Ashley Smith’s walk-off home run in game two broke a scoreless tie to give the Gamecocks a 3-0 win and the sweep. Henkes had six strikeouts and two walks in the complete game shutout. The game was the 49ers’ first of the season. Four of the Gamecocks’ seven hits were RBIs, as USC was also aided by three walks granted by Charlotte pitcher Kristen Bowen. First baseman Meghan Cornett also had two hits. Third baseman Kristin Hall and designated hitter Ashley Smith each added an RBI. After being held to just two hits in the first game, Charlotte came out swinging to start the second game. Sophomore KHsti Killough roped the first pitch of the game into center field for a stand-up double. Killough tagged up and went to third on a fly ball to right on the next at bat. USC pitcher Jessica Barnes settled down after that, retiring the next two batters to strand Killough at third. USC got a good start of its own after sophomore McKenna Hughes hit a two-out double. Freshmm Stefanie Norrhan nearly gave USC ? two-run lead, but her shot to right field sailed a foot wide of the foul pole. Norman flew out to right field two pitches later to end the inning. The Gamecocks threatened Charlotte again in the bottom of the third when they loaded the bases with only one out. A pop up and a hard line out to second by Norman stranded the runners and left the game in a 0-0 tie. The 49ers’ Becky Matthews stole second in the top of the fourth after reaching base on an infield single. Catcher Jamie West then hammered a shot to right ♦ Please see SOFT, page 14 KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK A Carolina infielder fields a ground ball in ' the Gamecock Invitational last Saturday.