• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1997-04-03_Vol62_No22_06

Thursday, April 3, 1997 n L_l mrrmM Cats Split Series with Clemson Western Carolina University's sluggers came away with an even split over highly-rated Clemson. The Clemson Tigers came into the home-away series tenth in the country. Western took the first game last Tuesday in Cullowhee 9-4 but could not pick up the sweep the following night m Clemson, as the Cats fell 14-9. The first game of the series saw Western come from behind late in the ball game to secure the 9-4 home victory. The Tigers broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning as Matthew LeCroy homered over the right field fence for the first run of the game. Clemson once again homered over the right field fence. Matt Padgett led off the inning with a solo shot that increased the Clemson lead to 2-0. Western answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Catamounts put together a solid three-hit inning scoring center fielder Martin Barrow off a base hit from shortstop, Chris Moore. This cut the Clemson margin to 2 to 1. The score would remain 2-1 until the bottom of the BRYAN SHARPE SPORTS EDITOR eighth inning. The Catamounts exploded in the inning with a whopping eight runs off six hits. Tracy Biggs came into pinch run for catcher J. P. Burwell after Burwell led the inning off with a single. Biggs moved up to second base after second baseman Jeff Sziksai successfully laid down a sacrifice bunt. This set up the tying run as designated hitter Dave McKay ripped a basehit to center field, allowing Biggs to score from second base. Two batters later, Western took the lead for good, as left fielder Chuck Koone singled in Sziksai. The eight-run eighth inning was highlighted by home runs by first baseman Alex Tolbert and Frankie Ward. Clemson put up two meaningless runs in the ninth inning as Western upset the Tigers 9-4. Brian Bain picked up the win for the Cats as he pitched nine solid innings, allowing just six hits, while striking out seven Tiger batters. Clemson wasted no time venting their anger on the Catamounts the following evening in Clemson. The Tigers jumped on the Cats for six first inning runs and never looked back as they won 14- 9. After the Cats found themselves down 6-0, right fielder Matt Stillwell led off the third inning with a base hit and advanced to second on a fielder's choice. This allowed Barrow to pick up the RBI by singling in Stillwell from second, and the gap ever so slightly to 6-1. The Cats, however, could not consistently shut down the Tigers' bats as Clemson picked up three more runs in the bottom of the third inning. This made the score 9-1 after just three innings of play. The Catamounts picked up two more runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by a Ward triple, which also drove in Moore from first base. Ward came into score on a groundout, cutting the deficit to 9-3. Clemson tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning and two more in the fifth inning to increase its lead to 12- 3. Tolbert then singled in third baseman Jeremy Bruce to draw Western to 12-4. Western trailed 14-4 heading into the eighth inning. The Cats attempted to make a rally, scoring four runs in the inning and cutting the Clemson lead to 14-8. The Cats added one final run in the ninth, but the Clemson lead proved to be to much for the Cats to overcome. Western is 3-4 against teams ranked in the top 25 in the country after the Clemson series. Records Fall at Florida Relays The WCU women's track and field team set one individual school record and two relay team records as WCU's men and women competed in the Florida Relays this past Thursday through Saturday in Gainesville, Fla. Senior Kristen Savery from Palm Harbor, Fla., beat her own WCU record in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:33.49. The old mark of 4:33.60 was set by Savery last season. Western's 4x400 relay team of Shawnta Person, Keeya McManus, Maggie Donahue, and Emily Redmon also bettered its own school mark with a time of 3:48.88, topping the old COURTESTY SPORTS INFORMATION mark of 3:49.34 set last year. A two-year old school record was broken in the women's 4x800 relay as McManus, Redmon, Savery, and Donahue teamed up for a run of 8:58.61, shattering the old mark of 9:13.13 set in 1995. In the men's competition, Western established season bests in nine different events. Included were Johnie Morrison's run 10.95 in the 100 meter, Randolph McCray's run of 50.21 in the 400, Bill Baldwin's 14:41.72 in the 5,000, Brian Ballard's 15.84 in the 110 hurdles, and Derek Lemay's 56.43 in the 400 hurdles. Other men's season highs were turned in by Jimmy Johnson in the triple jump (48-4.5), Chris Botti in the hammer (165-10), and Joe Condrey in the pole vault (14- 7.25). In addition to the record- breaking runs, women's season bests were posted by Daree Thompson in the 100 (11.97) and 200 (26.22), Jenny Warfford in the 5,000 (19.06.67), Rahma Mateen in the 100 hurdles (14.66) and high jump (5-3.75), LaKeeva Brooks in the 400 hurdles (67.24), and LaSha Jackson in the shot put (45-9.75) and javelin (125-9). The women's 4x200 relay team of Maria Hyman, Person, Kamilah Gabriel, and Thompson also had a season- best run of 1:40.00. The next scheduled competition for Coach Danny Williamson's men and women is Saturday, April 5, at the Clemson Invitational in Clemson, S.C. Western Carolina University's golf team placed eighth out of 12 teams this past Thursday and Friday in the 1997 Wellman Women's Collegiate Invitational, held at the Wellman Club in Johnsonville, S.C. Western shot a combined 694, breaking the school's record for a two- round tournament score and shattering che old record by an astounding 28 strokes. Each team's top five individual scores for two rounds are calculated to determine the winner of the team competition of the tournament. WCUSets Golf Records BRYAN SHARPE SPORTS EDITOR Parris also established a new school record for a two-round total ofl64. The Catamounts were led by freshman Sarah Parris, who shot a 164 (83 and 81) in two rounds, placing 21st out of approximately 65 golfers. Parris' second-round score of 81 broke the individual record for a round by a Catamount. WCU sophomore Summer Brannock broke the previous school mark earlier that round with a score of 82 before Parris did her one better after the completion other second round. Brannock shot a 168 for her two- round score, placing her 30th overall for the competition. Other notable performances were Jessica Blake and teammate Carrie Shaffer, who each shot a 174 two-round total that enabled them to tie for a respectable 41st place finish. The Cats' next golf tournament, the Campbell Classic, is scheduled for this weekend, April 6-8. The competition will be held at the Keith Hills Country Club in Buies Creek, N.C. The following weekend, April 15-15, thfi Catamounts will participate in the Southern Conference Championship in Greensboro, N.C. WrestlinqUpdate vfYtiv Gte& \te dett Welcome back to Wrestling Update, Cullowhee's number one source for wrestling commentary. It took a lot of channel surfing skill to watch wrestling and the NCAA final. Luckily I have a lot of experience. On WWF Monday Night Raw, the tag team champs Owen Hart and the Bulldog faced each other for the European Championship. As the match was approaching a finish, Brett Hart broke up the action. He convinced Owen and the Bulldog that it wasn't worth dividing the family for the benefit ofthe unappreciative fans. Owen and Brett are brothers and the Bulldog is married to their sister. Sounds like a soap opera, doesn't it? These three are seemingly reforming the Hart Foundation. Hunter Hearst Helmsly and Gold Dust wrestled, and their respective girlfriends were banned from ringside. Gold Dust appeared to have the match in control when Helmsly's freakish sidekick, Chyna, came in and attacked Gold Dust. She even beat up wrestling legend and head of WWF security, the infamous Pat Paterson. It took a handful of referees to prevent Gold Dust from attacking the phar- maceutically enlarged Chyna. This rivalry could go on for a long time. It appeared that there was going to be a reunion between WWF champ the Undertaker and his former manager, Paul Bearer. The Undertaker evidently was not ready to forgive the doublecrossing Bearer and attacked him. Then one of Paul's wrestlers, Mankind, came out from underneath the ring and blinded the Undertaker with a quick blaze of firelight. Psycho Sid came to help the Undertaker, but it was too late. Watch for the Undertaker and Mankind to wrestle again soon. "Stone Cold" Steve Aus tin was interviewed by Vince McMahon. Brett Hart interrupted via the big screen present at all Raw shows. He pleaded with Austin to leave him alone. Austin said Hart would have to kill him first. Austin has become a fan favorite, and is one of the better personalities in the WWF. The Honkey Tonk Man tried to recruit the new Double J, country singer Jesse James. James apparently declined Honkey Tonk's offer by smashing the guitar he handed Jesse. Rocky Miavia defended his Intercontinental belt against Brett Hart in the main event. Brett had Miavia on the outside in a figure four around the ring post when Steve Austin interfered and broke the hold. Owen and the Bulldog came to the aid of Brett and began pummeling Austin. Then Animal and Hawk, the Legion of Doom, came and chased the Hart Foundation. The LOD faces Owen and the Bulldog for the tag team title during the next pay per view, In Your House, coming in a few weeks. Tennis Team Improves to 10-4 The Catamount tennis team continues its impressive season, crushing Appalachian State University 6-1 and UNC- A 8-1. This improved the Cats' record to 10-4 on the year. WCU swept five straight single matches en route to blowing out conference rival Appalachian last Thursday in Boone. Janie Wicklund, Tara Livengood, Tania Sigman, Katie Probst, and Michelle Munse all posted singles victories for the Cats. Western also faired well in doubles compe- BRYAN SHARPE SPORTS EDITOR tition, as Wicklund and I ivengood and the team of Munse and Terryjean Youtz kept the Catamounts momentum going to beat ASU 6-1 in competition. Tuesday afternoon WCU took all singles matches, including four straight set victories as they pummeled UNC- A8-1. This marked the second time this season that the Lady Cats have gotten the best of the Lady Bulldogs this year. "We have done a lot of good things so far this season," said Head Coach Fred Weinman. "We have been winning the close matches due to a great deal of individual determination. Our challenge now is to step up and defeat the Southern Conference schools that are remaining on the schedule." Western's final home match of the regular season is scheduled for Friday, April 4. The Lady Cats will host Furman at 3 p.m. in conference play at the Reid Tennis Center. WCU Sweeps ASD Western Carolina was firing on all cylinders March 29-30 as they took their high-octane offense to Boone for a three- game series with Appalachian State. When the dust cleared and the weekend was done, the Cats had three more wins, pushing their record to 25-12-1 overall and 11-4 in the Southern Conference. That record is good enough for first place. Western Carolina scored 52 runs on 54 hits, including nine home runs. Western has now hit 76 dingers this season. In the first game of a Saturday doubleheader, the Cats set the stage for the weekend. They got the series started off right with an 18-4 shellacking of the home-standing Mounties. Third baseman Jeremy Bruce led the way for Western, going five for seven at the plate and driving in six runs. Chris Moore, J.P. Burwell, Jeff Sziksai, and Matt Stillwell each had three hits a piece and combined for 10 RBIs. The Cats held a scant 6-4 lead going into the top of the fourth when Western exploded for six runs and took control defensively, holding the Mountaineers scoreless in the final seven innings. Western scored six runs on five hits in their half of the fourth, including a grand slam home run by Bruce with only one out. The Cats sent 11 men to the plate and stranded two in the pivotal inning. Mark DeFelice ran his Chad Garrett, Staff Writer record to seven up and two down as he scattered 13 hits over eight innings, walking none, and striking out seven ASU batsmen. Western stayed hot in game two of Saturday's double-dip, destroying Appalachian State 26-6. The Cats piled up 20 hits and watched the Apps commit seven errors. ASU was never in this game as the Cats scored five runs in the first inning, five in the fifth, and nine in the seventh. WCU catcher Frankie Ward hit for the cycle—home run, triple, double, and a single—and drove in four runs. Matt Stillwell went three for she with four RBIs, and center fielder Martin Barrow was four for seven with two runs batted in. With the game in hand going into the top of the final inning, Ward and Stillwell led it off by smashing back to back homers as the cats exploded for a nine-run inning. Clark Maxwell (5-1) pitched six solid innings of baseball, walking four and striking-out six. The Cats wrapped up the record-breaking sweep on Sunday with an 8-2 victory. Although the score was nowhere near as outrageous as the two previous games, this game was never really close either. The Cats jumped out to a 3-1 lead after one inning of play, and Appalachian got no closer. Western scored three more runs in the third, one of them on a double steal in which Alex Tolbert stole home and Dave McKay stole second to give Western a 6-1 advantage. In the Western Carolina half of the seventh inning, Jeff Sziksai doubled in Chris Moore for an insurance run. Western's starting pitcher Chris Davidson took care of the rest. Davidson struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh and then set down the last six men he faced, in order to complete a six hit, eight strike out complete game. Davidson pushed his record to 2-3 with his best performance of the year. Moore was two for four with three runs batted in, and Tolbert finished two for three with two RBIs, including his conference- leading fifteenth round-tripper of the season. ' Western now looks ahead to a three-game series with The Citadel this weekend in Charleston, where the Cats will try to shore up their hold on the Southern Conference's top spot. The Citadel is currently in second place, and a good showing for the Cats would go a long way in their bid for the regular-season championship. The Cats have now won eight of their last nine games.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1997-04-03
  • Date digitized: 2020-01-13
• Extent
  • Dimension: 14" x 11.25"
  • Pages: 14 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1997-04-03_Vol62_No22
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library