The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 03, 2006, Page 8, Image 8
„ Game schedule
THIWtAMEGOGK Wednesday
__ _ ' Softball vs. Georgia, 5 and 7 p.m.
—I "V ^ ^ ^ Baseball vs. Clemson, 7 p.m.
Page 8 ^ Monday, April 3,2006
■——————^I—; Hill iMilll llll— I— ■IHI—I1IIII HHIHi i IH1H1HIIMMI lullIIij|—
James Chance / The Associated Press
USC’s Michael Campbell slides home for a score against LSU. The Gamecocks swept the Tigers over the weekend series in Baton Rouge.
Taming the Tigers
Gamecocks use balanced pitching, hitting to sweep LSU on Bayou
Rlex Riley
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
The domination effect
from last weekend’s series
with Florida traveled with
No. 5 USC (26-3, 8-1
SEC) to the bayou, as the
Gamecocks pounded out
double-digit wins against
No. 15 LSU (20-10, 2
7 SEC) on Friday (12-2)
and Saturday (18-4) before
having to sweat out a nail
bitter on Sunday (2-1).
“We’re going to hit the
halfway point this weekend
and I can’t ask anymore
of my team than what
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■Mi
I’ve gotten to this point,”
Coach Ray Tanner told
Gamecockcentral.com.
“We’ve gotten better since
day one. We’ve improved
at just about every facet of
the game. But we’re only at
the halfway point and we
have a long way to go.”
Up 2-1 in the fifth inning
of the first game of the
series, USC poured it on
to the Tigers in the sixth,
bringing six Gamecocks
home to push ahead 9-1.
Carolina finished with
12 hits, including home
runs from the hot-hitting
Neil Giesler and a Justin
Smoak three-run shot in
the eighth.
USC pitchers Arik
Hempy and Andrew Cruse
combined to hold LSU to
just six hits all game, as the
Gamecocks took a 12-2 win
in game one of the series.
The hard hitting
continued Saturday as USC
exploded for another 18
hits, including four homers
from Michael Campbell (3
run), Robbie Grinestaff, (3
run) Trent Kline (2-run),
and Smoak (2-run).
The hitting overshadowed
a huge performance by
freshmen pitcher Mike
Cisco who allowed three
hits and two runs in seven
innings of work. The
outing, his second longest
of the season, gave him
the win and improved the
freshman to 4-0.
“We have been getting
beat by a better ball club •
right now, and our guys
are hurting,” LSU coach
Smoke Laval said. “South
Carolina is good, and they
have been playing at their
best right now.”
Saturday’s matchup was
a bit of a change from the
batting practice feel of the
previous two games.
Instead of a battle of the
bats, the game turned into
a pitchers duel, as starter
Forrest Beverly gave up
one run on four hits and
struck out four.
But it was the relief
pitching of Wynn Pelzer
that did the Tigers in, as he
worked over four innings of
shutout baseball.
His biggest pitch came
in the ninth as the bases
sat loaded and Pelzer got
Jordan Mayer to fly out to
center, ending the game
and giving USC the 2-1
BRSCBflLL • 9
Juan Bias / THE GAMECOCK
Sophomore receiver Sidney Rice has been named to
the NationalChamps.net All-America team.
Sports
Rice named to online
All-America team for
2006season
Sidney Rice continues to
garner honors in preparation
for the coming season,
as the sophomore from
Gaffney has been named
to the NationalChamps.net
preseason second team All
America squad.
Rice, who grabbed 1,143
yards and 13 touchdowns
last season, will miss
the remainder of spring
practice due to a broken
thumb sustained while
playing basketball. He
was an All-SEC selection
last year after leading the
league in receiving yards
and touchdown catches.
His 103.9 yards per game
was the fifth best total in
the country. Rice also had
a record setting streak of
eight consecutive games
with a touchdown, a USC
single-season record.
Joining Rice as an
underclassmen second
team receiver is Georgia
Tech junior Calvin
Johnson. Notre Dame’s Jeff
Samardzija and Southern
Cal’s Dwayne Jarrett ^re the
first-team receivers. _
Softball stumbles
against LSU
over weekend
To say scoring wasn’t at
a premium for the USC
softball team over the
weekend might be the
understatement of the year,
as the Gamecocks failed
to score a run in all three
games against No. 11 LSU.
The Gamecocks recorded
just four hits in three games,
as the Tigers took victories
of 1-0, 9-0, and 8-0. ,
LSU improved to 35-5
on the season as USC falls
to 22-17i
Title game
lost flavor
when good
teams fell
Championship game not
worth watching without
Cinderella, Big Baby
For the first time that I
can remember, I really don’t
care who wins the NCAA
tournament.
I was pulling
for George
Mason to beat
Florida. Seeing
George Mason
head coach
Jim Larranaga
go through
about 72 - -n,. ,
. Third-year
straight hours poUtical
of interviews science
hopped up on student
his patented
Dunkin’ Donuts coffee
would have been fun to
watch.
I was also pulling for
LSU to beat UCLA. The
longer LSU wins, the more
Glen “Big Baby” Davis
gets interviewed live on
television — that alone was
reason enough to pull for
them. He is the next Charles
Barkley, and I mean that as
a compliment. All he needs
is a horrible golf swing and
a gambling problem.
What is left, after both of
the teams that I was pulling
for lost, is the first National
Championship game in
memory that I could
actually sleep through.
On one side there is
UCLA, a school so far
away that it almost doesn’t
seem to exist. UCLA has
already won 11 National
Championships. I think that
is more than enough for one
school. They don’t seem to
do anything outstandingly
well, but somehow they keep
winning by playing defense
and hitting a shot every now
and then. They don’t really
have any extraordinary front
court players, and their two
best players, guards Jordan
Farmer and Aaron Afflalo,
were a combined 10 for 38
in the previous two games.
They win by not losing.
I can hardly contain my,
excitement.
One more game for
UCLA means about 286,031
more shots of former coach
John Wooden sitting in the
stands. I understand he is
probably the best coach
in the history of college
basketball, but why show
him on TV every 3 minutes?
He is 95 years old. Literally,
95 years old. I once heard
him say he thinks dunking
should be made illegal. I
think it is about time to
let old John just be a fan.
Once you say that dunking,
the aspect of the game that
now makes it as popular as
it is, should be illegal, you
are crossing into the same
territory as that crazy uncle
that nobody wants to talk
to at family functions.
On the other side there is
Florida.
Florida has head coach
Billy Donovan, who is
hogging all the hair gel.
They have guard Lee
Humphrey, who is hogging
all the white guy jokes. And
they have forward Joakim
Noah, who is hogging all
the ugly.
One more game for
Florida means about 9,207
more comments about
Noah. It is like Jim Nanjfz