The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 13, 2005, Page 12, Image 12
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