3B
SPORTS/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, April 10, 1997
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Davis takes J.C. Smith reins
Continued from IB
recruiting, hoping to land play
ers who can make an impact.
“It’s just like when you go to
the Kentucky Derby,” Davis
said. “When they go to the
Kentucky Derby, the only thing
there is thoroughbreds. The oth
ers are out there in the field eat
ing briars, grass, onions and aU
that other stuff. We want to find
that good student-athlete.”
Following McNeill will be a
challenge, but Davis said he
looks forward to the opportunity
to keep Smith moving forward.
He knows there wiU be more
than a passing interest in the
program’s progress.
“Coach McNeiU laid a good
foundation, and we want to
build on that fovmdation. We’re
not replacing a team that was 0-
10 and had nowhere to go,”
Davis said....“Everybody wants
to follow a winner. The world
appreciates effort, but gives
credit for results. We’re going to
work at it.”
Biakabutuka recovery speedy
Continued from 1B
running backs, so injuries are
always going to happen. The key,
he says, is playing despite the
risk.
“You can play linebacker,
(defensive back) or whatever,”
Biakabutuka said, “and you’re
going to be exposed to situations
where you might get hurt. I can’t
be thinking like that. If I
approach it like that, ifU slow
down my game and in the NFL
you can’t do that. If you lose a
step, you lose the game.”
Biakabutuka wiU have some
competition for the halfback job
this season in Anthony Johnson,
who rushed for more than 1,000
yards in Biakabutuka’s absence.
The Panthers, however, are bet
ting on Biakabutuka returning
to the lineup as the featured
back.
“It feels good because it’s
telling me they trust me, they
believe in me,” he said. “As a
ruiming back, a football player,
an athlete, competition is what
drives you. Once I get back,
there’s going to be a competition.
It’s going to help him and me get
better because if we compete and
work hard because the other
guy’s working hard, it can do
nothing but make you better.”
McMillon checks his prospects
Continued from IB
whenever the opportunity pre
sents itself, that I can take
advantage of it.”
Factor in two new expansion
teams, the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays and the Arizona
Diamondbacks, creating 50
new jobs at the major league
level next season. McMillon
doesn’t want to close the door
with the Marlins but realizes
it may open wide somewhere
else.
“I really don’t know,” he said.
“They’re always making trades
and guys are getting hurt and
stuff, it’s just the nature of the
game. I think it would be a bit
premature to say right now
there’s no possibility with me
in the future with the Marlins.
“But the big goal is to be in
the big leagues. If I had to play
against the Marlins, I would
have no problems with that.”
For now McMillon is a
Knight and he wants to have a
good year. He’s close to home,
having played baseball at
Clemson, so family and friends
will be regular visitors to
Knights Castle. The Knights
also have a new manager, 43-
year-old Carlos Tosca,
Baseball America’s 1996 minor
league manager of the year.
Tosca’s a winner, 239-165 in
three years at Double-A
Portland.
“Tosca is a really good base
ball guy,” McMillon said. “He’s
a player’s manager and he
knows the game.
“We’ve got some prospects
here this year, last year we lost
a lot of close ball games, hope
fully with what Carlos brings,
with what Rick Williams, the
pitching coach brings, with the
new prospects. Maybe these
one-run games can be one-run
in our favor, so I’m looking for
ward to a good year this year.”
McMillon loves the cozy con
fines of the Castle but that can
also work against you if you
have a weak pitching staff.
The Knights feel they have a
pitching staff this year that
can keep the score down and
give the hitters a chance to
pull out some games.
“Playing in this park, it’s a
great hitters park but it’s a
pitchers nightmare,” McMillon
said. “But we’ve got some
pitchers who should be able to
make some adjustments and
be a lot more competitive. All
•in all, we’re going to be OK
All-stars in Yadkin Valley 2A
Continued from 16
easy to coach and has been a
well-mannered, sweet young
lady for as long as I have known
her.”
The 6-foot, 1-inch all-star aver
aged 16 points a game during
the 1996-97 campaign. Atwell
said that Wood “came into her
own” during the mid-point of the
season, dominating the paint
and scoring 32 points a game.
In addition to Yadkin Valley
honors, Wood was also named to
the all-conference and all-region
al teams, as well as all-
Piedmont.
Other Rowan players named
to the team include: West
Rowan’s Latoya Ramsey, Ebony
Pharr, and Kari Schenk, and
Salisbury High’s Ellanean
Phifer.
Woods primed for the Masters
Continued from IB
“Whether it’s realistic or not
remains to be seen in tourna
ment play. It all depends on if
you’re hot and you get all the
right breaks.”
When it comes to Woods, the
scope of what can and can’t be
done on the golf course — even
a course like Augusta
National, which extracted a 78
out of Greg Norman in last
year’s final round - has broad
ened considerably.
Woods, less than a year
removed from Stanford,
arrives at the Masters as one
of the favorites. It’s a role that
suits him just fine, even
though most Augusta experts
seem convinced that the bal
ance between talent and expe
rience leans considerably
toward the latter.
“I think there’s a learning
curve of playing Augusta and
the discipline of playing the
golf course, when to hit the
ball, when not, when it’s great,
when to make that par and
walk,” defending champion
Nick Faldo said. “It’s not
impossible (for Woods to win),
but I think that experience
does help here.”
Of course, Tiger doesn’t mind
being called a favorite. For
him, winning is the only thing
that matters each week, so it’s
quite natural that he expects
to be wearing a green jacket
Sunday. He’s a pro now, not
some schoolboy from Stanford.
“I didn’t take finals last
week. I didn’t write papers,”" he
said. “I was able to practice
getting ready for a tournament
like I normally do.”
Woods made the transition to
the pros with remarkable ease,
though he did run into a set
back at his last event. The
Players Championship. Going
against the strongest field he
has faced since leaving college.
Woods wound up tied for 31st
with a 1-over-par 289.
“I could feel what I was doing
wrong, especially at TPC,”
Woods said. “So I just went
back home, worked on a couple
of key things that Butch
(Harmon, his instructor) and I
have worked on over the years,
and the swing came back.”
His father, Earl Woods, will
be at Augusta National this
week even though he is still
recovering from heart bypass
surgery.
Woods faces staggering
expectations, which are only
heightened when someone like
Jack Nicklaus says he expects
Tiger to win more Masters
than Nicklaus (six titles) and
Arnold Palmer (four) com
bined.
“Only time will tell,” Woods
said. “He sees that there’s def
initely a chance that my game
is such that it suits this golf
course, and maybe one day I
may do that.”
And maybe he’ll shoot a 59
along the way.
Cardinals try to jump-start season
Continued from 1B
off.
games, and aren’t getting any
clutch relief pitching.
It all adds up to a big, fat zero.
That’s a big comedown for a
team that was 88-74, swept San
Diego in the first round of the
playoffs and then came within
one game of the World Series
before collapsing in the NL
championship series against
Atlanta.
La Russa predicted a repeat
division championship on con
secutive days in February, and
he’s never backed off that. He
noted that last season was no
wire-to-wire accomplishment.
Last year the Cardinals were
17-26 in mid-May before taking
“This isn’t going to be a faiiy
tale ride,” La Russa said. “It
wasn’t last year and it never is.
“You’ve just got to deal with the
adversity. It’s part of the season.”
The Cardinals have already
had more than their share.
They began the year with
starting pitchers Andy Benes
and Danny Jackson on the dis
abled Ust with rib-cage muscle
injuries. They lost set-up man
T.J. Mathews to a six-game sus
pension after he admitted
throwing at the Reds’ Bret
Boone in an exhibition game,
and left-handed relievers Rick
Honeycutt and Lance Painter
went dovm with injuries.
Outfielder Brian Jordan has
an injured back, Wiffie McGee
has a calf injury and second
baseman Dehno DeSbields land
ed awkwardly on first base last
week, severely spraining his
ankle. Center fielder Ray
Lankford won’t be back until at
least May after offseason rotator
cuff surgery.
“We haven’t had a lot of luck,”
general manager Walt Jocketty
said. “But it won’t be long before
we get a lot of these guys back.”
Mathews, whose presence was
sorely missed, returned to the
roster Tuesday. DeShields is
hopeful he can play by the week
end.
Still, reliever Tbny Fossas isn’t
one to look ahead to presumably
rosier times.
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