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SPORTS/CIie Charlotte ^ost
Thursday, June 8, 2006
For the Week of June 6 • 12, 2006
CLOSE
CALLS
School Mascot logos
■CATS REPRESENT:
SWAC and MEAC champs
did HBCUs proud in Div. I
baseball playoffs.
▼ B-CC, PRAIRIE VIEW DROP CLOSE DECI
SIONS TO D1 BASEBALL TOP SEEDS
UNDER THE BANNER
WHAT'S GOING ON IN AND AROUND BLACK COLLEGE SPORTS
BACK IN THE SWING: Former Jackson
State golfer Tim O’Neal played his best golf in weeks at the
Nationwide Tour's Rex
Hospital Open in Raleigh,
N.C. last week finishing in
the money for the first time
in six outings. O'Neal
played himself into con
tention with a five-under-
par opening round 66 on
^ , Thursday. He shot a one-
Kevin C. Cox / Wirelmage ■'
O’NEAL: Former JSU golfer “'■'i' ’2 on Friday to make
tees off in Saturday's third the cut at four-under 138. He
round of the Nationwide came back to shoot even-par
Tour^s Rex Hospital Open.
He finished in a tie for 17th at 71 on Saturday before mak-
8-under 276, his third top-20
finish of the young season.
ing a push into the top 20
with a final round three-
under 68. The high-light of his final round was an eagle-3 on
the par 5 finishing hole that landed him in a five-way tie for
17th at eight-under 276. South African Brendan Pappas
birdied the final hole to post a one-shot win over Charlie Wi
at 16-under 268 and take home the $81,000 top prize. O'Neal
took home $6,300 for his efforts and moved to No. 64 on the
tour's money list with $29,560. The top 20 money winners at
the end of the year on the Nationwide Tour earn exempt sta
tus to the PGA Tour. The talented Savannah, Ga. native had
missed five straight cuts after earning $23,000 in his first
three tournaments of the year including two top 20 finishes.
The missed cuts followed a layoff that included the birth of
his second child, nearly three-month old son, Timothy
Jayden. O’Neal and wife Melody are also parents of a five-
year-old daughter, Jordan.
MATHIS, WIMBUSH SIDELINED:
It was learned recently that two of the most produc
tive black college rookies from the 2005 NFL season will be
on the shelf for a while.
Houston Texans' kick returner extraordinaire Jerome
Mathis out of Hampton University
and Derrick Wimbush, the former
Fort Valley State University standout
running back who distinguished him
self as a kick returner, back-up fullback
and special tearris ace for the
Jacksonville Jaguars, both were diag
nosed with injuries that will cause
MATHIS them to miss some time possibly into
the 2006 season. Mathis, who earned Pro Bowl status in his
rookie year after finishing second in the NFL in kickoff
returns, underwent surgery Friday for an injury to his left
foot that is expected to cause him to miss at least the first
month of the 2006 season. Mathis was drafted in the fourth
round of the 2005 draft and averaged 28.6 yards on 54
returns and was the only NFL player to bring back two kick
offs for touchdowns last season. The scintillating speedster
had a league-high five returns of over 40 yards and added
five receptions for 65 yards and one touchdown as a receiv
er Mathis said he first experienced pain in the foot during
workouts for the Pro Bowl. After four months of rest and
treatments, the pain persisted and team doctors uncovered a
stress fracture that mandated the surgery. He will be off his
feet for at least a month following the surgery and will
require four months of rehabilitation.
Wimbush, who made the Jaguars'
squad as an undrafted free agent last
season, apparently broke a bone in his
left arm during voluntary workouts last
week that will require surgery. He was
sporting a heavy cast from his finger
tips to his left elbow after the final day
of ‘veterans' camp Friday, He could
possibly miss training camp and the
preseason. Wimbush set the team's sin
gle-season record for kickoff returns with 955 yards includ
ing a 91-yard return for touchdown against Arizona in
November. He also led the Jags with 18 special teams tack
les and had one of the team's two blocked kicks. He took
over at fullback when starter Greg Jones replaced the injured
Fred Taylor at tailback late in the season.
WIMBUSH
Bethime-Cookman, Prairie View
tough outs in NCAA baseball
Both give top seeds real battles before bowing out
B-CC head coach
MervyI Melendez
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
It's hard to tell who did better in the NCAA
Div. I baseball playoffs this past weekend,
MEAC champion Bethune-Cookman or
SWAC champion Prairie View A&M.
Both squads faced top seeds in their respec
tive regions and, as is starting to become a pat
tern in such affairs, they didn't do so badly.
After grabbing a 2-1 lead in the seventh
inning, B-CC dropped an opening round game to
the region's top-seed and host, SEC champion
Mississippi, 3-2 on Friday afternoon in Oxford,
Ms.
Prairie View held a 5-1 lead early on
Conference USA champ Rice, the No. 1 team in
the nation, the tournament's No. 2 overall seed
and host of the Houston Region, but the Owls
got a big break on a controversial call in the
eighth and scored in the bottom of the ninth to
pull out a dramatic 6-5 win Friday night.
Both B-CC and Prairie View went on to lose
in elimination games Saturday but not before
shaking things up a bit with their Friday per
formances.
"Today (Friday) was our opportunity to
show the world that we can play that caliber of
baseball in a tough environment against the No.
1 team in the nation," said Wrandall Taylor, the
Prairie View starting pitcher vs. Rice in a quote
to the Houston Chronicle. "And we just missed it
by one run." Taylor allowed seven hits and three
runs over six tough innings.
B-CC coaches and players felt the same
way.
"To be honest with you, I totally expected to
win this game, and I believe you all saw that we
very well could have," said B-CC head coach
MervyI Melendez after the loss to Ole Miss., "I
love this group of guys, and we never back down
to competition. Our motto since I took over this
program has always been 'We will play anyone,
anywhere, anytime.' We love being the under
dog because there is absolutely no pressure, and
we played like that tonight."
RECAPS
Oie Miss 3, Bethune-Cookman 2
B-CC pitcher Richard Rodriguez (8-5)
gave up a run in the second inning and then shut
down Ole Miss (41-20) until back-to-back home
runs in the seventh knocked him and the Wildcats
(30-26) out of the opener.
Trailing 1-0 before a crowd of over 7,000 at
the Ole Miss home field, B-CC (30-26) scored
their runs with one out in the seventh.
Alejandro Jiminez singled through the left
side and then advanced to third on a single to
right field from Rob Caruso. Jiminez then scored
on a single through the right side by Colin Irvine
to even the score at one and leave runners at the
comers. Spencer Hill then doubled to left center
to drive in Camso, as Irvine was thrown out at
third trying to advance from first on the play. Ole
Miss starter Will Kline (5-2) then struck out Jose
Almonte to end the inning.
B-CC reliever Francisco Rodriguez shut
down the Rebels on three hits after Rodriguez,
who gave up five hits and three runs in six
innings, gave up the home runs. Garrett White
struck out the side in the ninth to get his ninth
save for Ole Miss.
Ole Miss outhit B-CC eight to six and both
teams played errorless ball.
Tulane 12, Bethune-Cookman 7
In the elimination game Saturday, B-CC (30-
27) fell behind 6-0 after two innings and despite
rallying late in the game could not get past the
Green Wave (42-20).
The 'Cats scored two third inning runs but
then gave up a single run in the fourth and five
more in the sixth to trail 12-3. After getting a sin
gle ran in the eighth on a one-out RBI-single by
Caruso, they made things interesting in the bot
tom of the ninth when centerfielder Jose Ortiz
reached on a leadoff error, Chris Henault walked
and Nabil Sagbini hammered a three-run homer
to right center off of Tulane reliever Matt Goebel
to cut the led to five. Goebel walked the next two
•batters he faced, but bounced back to get Caruso
to hit into a 3-6-1 double play and Irvine to fly
out to left to end the game.
B-CC used seven pitchers who gave up 13
hits. Starter Dustin Blackwell (7-7) who surren-
• dered four hits and five runs in just an inning and
a third, took the loss.
Rice 6, Prairie View 5
A controversial double-play call with the
bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth inning
with Prairie View leading 5-3 was crucial in the
Panthers' (33-21) opening round loss to top-
ranked Rice (51-10).
PVA&M third baseman Wilford White
grounded to Rice shortstop Brian Friday, who
PVA&M head coach
Michael Robertson
fired home to erase Roshard Shorter. Catcher
Danny Lehmann threw to first, but the ball
clipped White on the left foot and rolled into
right field. First-base umpire Danny Everett
called White out for running inside the baseline.
Two Panthers were Sent back to their bases, and
after a pitching change, Bryce Cox (4-1) struck
out Michael Richard to keep the deficit at two
runs.
"The key play of the ballgame was that crit
ical call by that umpire," Panthers coach
Michael Robertson told the Chronicle of
Everett's call. "I didn’t go to umpiring school,
but I believe that's the home plate umpire's call.
I know these officials are well trained, and they
did a good job up until that point. It was critical,
because it gave Rice the momentum."
Rice tied the game at 5 on a two-run homer
in the eighth and won in on an RBI single in the
ninth.
Prairie View DH Arthur Christal had the
big blow cracking a three-run home ran in the
Panthers' five-run third. PV starter Wrandal
Taylor wiggled out of several jams on the
mound and surrendered seven hits and three
runs in six innings. Reliever Joshua Terrell
took the loss.
Prairie View was trying to match the
shocker SWAC champ Texas Southern pulled
when they knocked off Rice in an opening
round game in 2004.
Arizona State 13, Prairie View 4
In the Panthers' elimination game, .Arizona
State (37-20) batted around in the second and
third innings scoring five runs in each to build
an insurmountable lead and send Prairie View
(33-22) home.
Panthers starter Matthew Chase (6-6) took
the loss, allowing 10 runs - six earned - and 10
hits in three innings. Prairie View got on the
board with two runs in the fifth thanks to an
error by Sun Devils' first baseman. Panthers
reliever Adrian Canales restored some order to
the game, retiring 12 straight from the fourth
through seventh innings. The Panthers closed
the gap to 11 -4 in the seventh with an RBI dou
ble from Brandon Whitby and a run-scoring
groundout from Wilford White. Arizona State
responded with two more in the eighth for the
final margin.
McCOY
BCSP Notes
Bethune-Cookman dismisses track coach
Bethune-Cookman Director of Athletics, Lynn W. Thompson,
announced that the school has elected not to renew the appointment of
current head women's and men's track & field head coach Walter
McCoy for the 2006-07 academic term.
McCoy took over as men's and women's track
coach in September of 2003. This season McCoy’s
teams finished seventh (men) and 10th (women) in out
door competition. Indoors, the B-CC women were last
(11th) while the men finished ninth. McCoy, a native of
Daytona Beach, was a five-time all-American quarter-
miler at Florida State
The announcement was made on Monday, June 5, and the screen
ing process for new candidates is set to begin immediately.
Salter out as Jackson State baseball coach
After six years guiding the Jackson State baseball program, head
coach Mark Salter will not have his contract renewed.
The Tigers were leading the SWAC a month ago with an 18-6
conference mark before they were forced to forfeit four
games for using an ineligible pitcher. Five days later,
JSU had to forfeit most of its SWAC wins when it was
found that two academically ineligible players had
played throughout the season. The forfeits knocked JSU
to the bottom of the SWAC standings, forced them out
of the conference tournament and ended the season.
Former longtime head baseball coach and current
Athletic Director Robert Braddy however told the
Jackson Clarion-Ledger that the recent debacle had nothing to do with
Salter's dismissal. Salter was 147-129-1 during his tenure. He was 22-
17 overall and had the top Div. I hitting attack (.359) this season.
"Regardless of how it looks, this decision had noth
ing to do with the ineligible players," Braddy told the
newspaper. "It had to do with performance on the field.
I wanted to go in a different direction and concluded that
Mark (Salter) was not in those plans.
When I think of success, I think of championships
and we haven't had any of those lately," Braddy said. "I
realize a championship could have happened this year BRADDY
before the forfeits, but that's just how it was." ■
Braddy said a nationwide search for a replacement would begin
immediately. Assistant coach Omar Johnson was named interim coach
after Salter was suspended on May 10.
Cheyney names new women's basketball coach
Cheyney University Director of Athletics Patric D. Simon has
announced that Darryl Brown will take over as interim head women's
basketball coach. Brown replaces Jada Pierce who left after two sea
sons to become an assistant coach at a Division I program.
"Brown demonstrated a tremendous work ethic since his arrival on
campus two years ago," said Simon. " I expect him to turn this program
SALTER
back around to the glory days of the late 70’s and early
80’s when Cheyney was competing for the national
championship. I look forward to Coach Brown's long
tenure as a guiding force for the Cheyney women's bas
ketball program.”
"Growing up in Pennsylvania, becoming the head
coach at Cheyney University has always been a dream
of mine," said Brown who'began his coaching career
working with youth in the Police Athletic League and
had stints as an assistant at Norristown Area High BROWN
School and on the collegiate level. Brown is a graduate
of Overbrook High School and The Fox School of Business at Temple
University.
Grambling makes three head coaching changes
Grambling State University is looking for three new head coaches.
Baseball coach James Randall, softball coach Connie Garcee and soc
cer coach Cesar Martinez have all been let go.
Six HBCU student-athletes selected for
USOC Leadership Program
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The United States Olympic
Cormnittee has selected 32 minority student leaders from colleges and
institutions across the country, including six from HBCUs, for the
USOC’s Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere (F.L.A.M.E.)
program,
The F.L.A.M.E. program will be held at the U.S. Olympic Training
Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 9-11, 2006. and is presented
by Tyson Foods, Inc., an official sponsor of the United States Olympic
Team and official supplier to the U.S. Olympic Training Centers.
For the first time, the program will focus on educating and develop
ing youth at the college level, specifically, freshman and sophomore stu
dent leaders. This new shift from mentoring high school students as done
in years past is part of the program's goal to provide career opportunities
for minorities within the U.S. Olympic Movement.
Each of the 32 participants will travel to Colorado Springs and live
among the athletes in training by residing in dormitories and eating along
side U. S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls.
Participants in this year's program represent 30 colleges and univer
sities and hail from 20 states across the U.S. HBCUs represented were
Clark Atlanta University, Fisk University, Fort Valley State
University, Florida A&M University, Morehouse College and North
Carolina Central University.
HBCU students in the 2006 F.L,A.M.E class are:
Markeisha Cassidy Dawson, 18, Clark Atlanta, Riverside, Calif.
Steven Jackson, 20, Fort Valley State, Warner Robins, Ga.
Jason Julien, 20, Florida A&M, Hampton, Ga.
Alexander Lakes, 19, Morehouse, Atlanta, Ga.
Reginald Oziogu, 20, North Carolina Central, Durham, N.C.
Jeshua Rahming, 18, Fisk, Corona, Calif.
©AZEEZ Communications, Inc. VOL. XII, NO. 4