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GAME SCHEDULE ’ BASEBALL at Clemson, 7:15 p.m. j * -m -,nnc SOFTBALL vs. Alabama, 1 p.m. Saturday Wednesday, April 13, 2005 FOOTBALL Garnet and Black game, 1 p.m. Saturday / USC renews rivalry with Clemson By MICHAEL FINNEGAN FOR THE GAMECOCK The USC baseball team looks to keep its nine-game winning streak intact today when it travels to the Upstate to renew its in-state rivalry with the Clemson Tigers. Carolina has won the first two games of the four-game series this year. The home-and-home series began at Clemson on March 12 and went to USC the next day. The Gamecocks won the games 6 3 and 6-5, respectively. In the first two games of the Clemson series, the trio of seniors Steve Pearce and Brendan Winn and junior Michael Campbell led the way for Carolina. Campbell went 4 for-9 with a double and triple in the two previous contests. Pearce and Winn both. hit home runs, accounting for five of the series’ 11 RBIs. For the two-game set, Winn had three hits, and Pearce had two. On the mound, USC was led by its two seniors and former SEC Pitchers of the Week Aaron Rawl and Zac McCamie. In the first game, Rawl pitched 5 2-3 innings for the win, allowing two earned runs. In the second game, McCamie kept the good pitching going six strong innings and also allowed two earned runs. However, the pitcher credited for the win in game two was freshman Andrew Cruise with junior Brent Marsh getting the last putout for the save. Clemson looks to also stay hot to end its two-game skid against Carolina this year. The Tigers are coming off a three-game sweep of ACC foe Duke, in which they trailed in all three games and found late-inning heroics to break all three wide open. Clemson scored at least nine runs in every game against the Blue Devils and ended the three-game series with a bang, scoring a record-high 12 runs in the eighth inning to take the game, 16-6. The Tigers are led offensively by their multi-positional junior Kris Harvey. Harvey hit two home runs during the Duke series and scored a team-high five runs in the finale. He also picked up the win in the first game of the series when he pitched seven strong innings, giving up only two earned runs. Also, Clemson will look to junior Travis Storrer to continue his hot hitting against the Gamecocks. In the two games earlier this year, he went 3 for-7 with a double and a home run. He also led the team with three RBIs. The Gamecocks will send Cruse to the mound to face the Tigers. Cruse is 3-0 on the season with a 2.49 ERA in 21 1-3 innings pitched. Clemson’s starter has yet to be announced. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. today at Clemson’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The game will be televised regionally on Comcast Sports Southeast. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gum.sc.edu KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK USC’s baseball team will travel to Clemson tonight to take on the Tigers in the third game of its four-game season series. Odom slams door on rumors KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK USC basketball coach Dave Odom makes a signal to his team in the Gamecock’s NIT quarterfinal victory over the Georgetown Hoyas in the Colonial Center. ■ USC basketball coach denies move to Virginia; Powell impresses scouts By STEPHEN FASTENAU ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Dave Odom slammed the door on rumors of his candidacy for the vacant head coaching position at the University of Virginia. But he didn’t leave the door locked. The USC basketball coach met with the media for a season-ending wrap-up Tuesday and talked extensively about the rumors for the first time since an April 4 statement that said he had not been contacted about the position. Odom said he was hurt by the rumors, which surfaced the weekend of the Final Four in St. Louis, and that they had caused his coaching staff and1 administration a good deal of anxiety. “I can look everybody in the eye and say that I am not a candidate, nor have I ever been a candidate for the University of Virginia job,” Odom said. Odom went on to say he was upset focus had shifted from the Gamecocks’ NIT Championship victory. The rumors surfaced following a wt_L:__n_*_— • j r\A— and Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage had talked and that Littlepage had offered Odom the position. Subsequent reports said sources close to Odom said he would accept the position if offered. “I don’t know about ‘sources close to me,’” Odom said. “But there’s one I sleep with every night. I didn’t tell her anything.” Odom said his coaches were upset that he hadn’t informed them, but that now “they know what is, what is not and they know what never was.” He said Mike McGee was upset as well, and that the USC athletics director’s advice was to find a way to stop things quickly. Odom was forced to talk to recruits having second doubts about signing with the Gamecocks to assure them he would be USC’s coach next season. “Bad information found its way to the media,” Odom said. “Bad information got worse. All people know are what they’ve been told.” The 62-year-old coach said he could not go so far as to rule out ever being a candidate at Virginia. The former Cavaliers assistant still has friends in Charlottesville whom Odom said would be hurt if he were to dismiss the possibility of returning. ODOM NOT YET SEEKING REPLACEMENT FOR STOKES The void on Odom’s coaching staff left by Ricky Stokes will not be filled anytime soon. The former USC assistant was hired by East Carolina before the end of the Gamecocks’ NIT run, and Odom said he is in no hurry to replace him. “I have done absolutely nothing on replacing (Stokes), other than think about it,” Odom said. Odom said he has not talked to potential candidates nor taken any phone calls ffom fellow head coaches touting their assistants for the position. “I don’t have to have a third head coach right at this minute.” POWELL TURNS HEADS AT TOURNAMENT USC senior Carlos Powell, hoping to be an NBA draft pick this summer, competed in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament last week. The tournament is the first showcase for college seniors wishing to be drafted and consists of 11 games during four days’ competition. Odom said various agents wishing to represent Powell had told him the 6-foot-7-inch forward had been more impressive . than they expected. Sixty-four players were invited to the tournament, held April 6-9, including the Tennessee Volunteers’ Major Wingate, a teammate of Powell’s when the two were in high school in Florence. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu ■ Pinkins, Newton seek to expunge larceny charges By JULIE HALENAR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS t Syvelle Newton and Dondrial Pinkins applied for a pretrial intervention program Tuesday morning after being charged with taking framed photographs of themselves playing football from Williams-Brice Stadium. Prosecutors said Freddy Saint-Preux, another player charged with theft, also will apply for the first-time offenders program that clears a person’s record if he completes community service and other steps such as counseling or restitution. The three Gamecocks and safety Rodriques Wilson were charged with petit larceny, a misdemeanor. They confessed to taking the framed action photographs from the stadium’s locker room area, according to arrest warrants. Newton and Saint-Preux have been practicing with the team. Newton is listed as the Gamecocks’ top receiver, while Saint-Preux will bring depth and size to the line. Pinkins, a fifth-year senior, is not eligible to play another season. Two other players, former tight end Brian Brownlee and offensive lineman WoodSy Telfort, were charged with grand larceny, a felony, in connection with the NICK ESARES, CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK Rising junior receiver Syvelle Newton, left, and senior quarterback Dondrial Pinkins applied for PTI on Tuesday in response to charges of petit larceny. theft of computer and video equipment taken from the stadium. Coach Steve Spurrier has said players facing felony counts won’t return to USC if the charges prove true. Telfort would be a senior next season. The university estimated that $18,000 worth of equipment and photographs were taken Nov. 22, shortly after the Gamecocks were told they would not go to a bowl game as punishment for an on-field brawl with Clemson. The stolen items were returned. Other USC players face criminal charges or have been dismissed from the team in what has been a chaotic offseason for the ♦GAMECOCKS, page 13 Simpson, Boyd return to field after recovery, QBs improve By BRIAN DAVIS FOR THE GAMECOCK On a spectacular day in Columbia, the USC football team battled the blazing sun for several hours as junior running back Coty Boyd and sophomore free safety Ko Simpson returned to action. Offense was in full effect at coach Steve Spurrier’s Monday practice, as surprising and recurrent stars highlighted the play. OFFENSE Rcdshirt sophomore quarterback Blake Mitchell and redshirt freshman quarterback Antonio Heffner took the majority of snaps. Mitchell performed solidly under no pressure from the defense. Upon an impending defensive line blitz or shadowing coverage of his receivers, Mitchell hesitated and made errors, including an interception, a fumbled snap and a safety in drills. “I’m scared to death of our protection right now,” Spurrier said after practice. “We’re not as sound as we need to be.” ♦ SPRING, page 13 bpring football excitement brews, yields inevitables ■ My notable predictions concerning a few statistics you won’t find in the recap It’s almost here. Finally. As I’m writing this, it is Monday night, and there are four days, 15 hours, 34 minutes and five seconds until tjie Garnet and Black Spring Game. But who’s counting? I know that every other week I bust out a football column, but if you go to school here and you aren’t excited about Steve Spurrier’s first year as a Gamecock, then you probably stopped reading my columns a long time ago. Either that or you may be dead. Perhaps in a coma. I’m not sure. JAKE But that’s not BROOM important. In just a few short SECOND-YEAR days, I’ll be rising with science the sun in preparation STUDENT for the game. Even though I have to set two separate alarm clocks to get up tor class, 111 proDaDly sit straight up in bed Saturday morning like Juan Valdez is picking coffee beans outside my window. There is nothing else like it. Anyway, I’m obviously a little too excited about this, and because you’ve read this far and maybe you are too, here are a few Wednesday-Before-The Garnet-and-Black-Game-Statistic Predictions. (Eight hyphens in one sentence? That’s a new Gamecock record). Number of times I hope to see the quarterback run the ball straight up the middle for a 2-yard loss while everybody in the stadium lets out a collective groan: 0 Number of times I’ll hear a drunk fraternity guy yell out “NIT CHAMPS! WOOO!”: 3 SPF of the sunscreen I should be wearing: 20,000 SPF of the sunscreen I will be wearing: 0 Days that I will be basically paralyzed because of third-degree sunburn: 3 Percentage of people in the crowd wearing those dumb “Got Spurrier?” T shirts: 42 Percentage of people in the crowd wearing those dumb “Got Spurrier?” T shirts that were wearing a “Got Lou?” T shirt last September: 97 Word I promised I’d work into this column at least once: Epic. Number of times I will hit my shin on the steps while I’m walking to my seat because I will be trying to talk to the person in front of me and wave at somebody in the stands at the same time: 1 Number of times I’ll say something like “Spurrier is the man or “Steve is my cousin” during the duration of the game: 61 Number of times I’ll hear somebody make that “well at least we know we’ll win this one!” joke: 4 t i r ■ • .*< ii v-»i pcupic iiiai win auudii^ laugh at that joke: 0 Probability that I will hear some guy behind me complain about every single play call even though we have the best offensive coach in the nation: 100 percent Number of times I will turn around and give that guy the “Don’t You Ever Talk About My Boy Steve Like That Look”: 7 Number of people wearing visors for the first time in their lives and looking incredibly goofy: 26,303 Number of hotdogs I will consume before, during and after the game: 8.27 Number of hotdogs I will regret consuming before, during, and after the game: 6 Words I am getting tattooed on my back immediately following the game: Steve and Jake — BFF. f I ♦ BROOM, page 13