Thursday, June 5. 1975 the tar heel 13 Summer league baseball opens Saturday by Jim Thomas Sports Editor The North Carolina Collegiate Summer Baseball League begins its fifth year of operation this weekend despite the withdrawal of two schools for one year because of financial difficulties. Appalachian State and Campbell College dropped out of the summer league last week, reducing the number of teams from seven to five Carolina, Louisburg Junior College, East Carolina, UNC-Wilmington and Methodist. The Tar Heels open their 32-game schedule against East Carolina Saturday at Greenville before returning to Cary Boshamer Stadium for home contests against Wilmington Monday and Louisburg Tuesday. The fifth league member, Methodist, gets its season underway Sunday with a home game against East Carolina at Fayetteville. Louisburg was the runaway regular season champion last summer with a 21-8 record. Carolina finished second with an 18 1 2 mark but captured the tournament title by defeating the Hurricanes 6-4 in II innings. The Tar Heels won their last nine regular season games plus two more in the playoffs to wind up the summer with an 11-game winning streak. UNC coach Mike Roberts is optimistic about the Tar Heels chances of defending their summer league title with approximately half of the regular season varsity squad staying in Chapel Hill this summer. "Wilmington and Louisburg should be the favorites at the beginning of the season, but 1 feel we have the talent to compete with them from the start," said the confident young coach. "I will be disappointed if we don't come in either first or second place." With formal practice just beginning last Monday, only Steve Rackley, -Early Jones and Jimmy Baldwin are assured of starting positions, but Bill Lee, Mike Fox and Kevin Haeberle should man three of the four infield spots with Bob Thomson and Clay Johnson leading the mound staff. Thomson was scheduled to be the opening day pitcher Saturday, but the rising junior recently jammed his hand through a car window and had to undergo surgery on his left thumb. However, the 6-5 righthander should be available for the Tar Heels' first home game Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Boshamer against Wilmington. The Seahawks, who are currently competing in the NA1A national championships at St. Joseph, Mo., loom as the pre-season favorites to takeihe summer league crown. Wilmington failed to make the playoffs for the first time in league history last summer, finishing with a 6-25 record, but compiled a 27-9 record this past spring with the addition of three outstanding freshmen hurlers-Phil Lambert (7-1), Parker Davis (6-3) and Mike Hunter (4-2). Junior Randy Prosser, who was a starter early in the season, provides relief from the bullpen. Coach Bill Brooks also has a couple of .300 hitters -Van Lewis (.336) and Robert Pittman (.318), along with Larry File, who batted over .400 the last half of the regular season, to give UNC-W a potent hitting attack in addition to a strong pitching staff. Louisburg features two Carolina-bound players, outfielder Steve Coats and third baseman Randy Warrick, who UNC coach Walter Rabb is counting on to strengthen the Tar Heels' lineup next season. Coats batted .330 and set a school record with 12 home runs this past spring despite being hobbled by shin splints all season. The Louisburg slugger also smashed a record five home runs and four consecutive roundtrippcrs as the Hurricanes (31-5) finished third in the National Junior College Baseball Tournament last week at Grand Junction, Colo. Warrick, who was overwhelmingly voted the most outstanding player in last year's summer league, blistered the opposition for .a .380 batting average during the regular season. . Joining Coats and Warrick in the lineup are fleet centerfielder Charlie Stevens and first baseman Sonny Wooten, who hit .335 and knocked 1 1 home runs this past spring. The only significant loss of last summer's regular season champs is Clemson-bound hurler Ron Musselman (9-2), who Louisburg Coach Russ Fraser called "as good as any college pitcher 1 saw all season." East Carolina returns to the league after a year's absence. The Pirates, who dropped out last summer as a result of losing 1 1 players off the varsity squad, recovered from a slow start this past spring to finish the season with a 17-12 record and third in the Southern Conference. The Pirates, who defeated SC champ Citadel (21-7) twice during the last week of the season and split with pre-season favorite Wilmington, will have their top three pitchers competing this summer Steve Herring (3-2. 2.79 ERA), Bob Feeney (4-0, 2.62) and Dean Reavis (6-2, 1.8 1) -along with the second leading hitter, second baseman Steve Bryant (324). In addition, the lineup will be bolstered by the return of Glen Card, who batted over .300 for Louisburg last summer but missed the regular season due to a knee operation. Methodist will be joining the league for the first time this summer. The Monarchs compiled a 27-14 record this past spring and reached the finals of NCAA Division 29 before bowing to Wilmington in extra innings. Coach Paul Sanderford has his top three pitchers competing Sam Tolar(4-4, 1.44), Mitch Davis (6-2. 2.56) and Earl Bunn(6-4, 1.58) in addition to the leading hitter, second baseman John Donaldson (.333, 35 RBI), who is considered to be a prime pro prospect. O o o e o o o o o o o e e e o e o o o o o o o (Among other things) WEDNESDAY, JUNE j IS K iff L 3A.ii.il 11 XL IXUtllL XlXiVXl XILVUXL Jlli-'Xl ILU. J-r VVUJ ft Q) IU ARD'S 215 S. Elliot Rd. Next to Plaza Theaters On SALE: Sea Dog Jeans Reg. 10.50 OD Canvas Yucca Pack Reg. 7.50. Nylon Yucca Pack Reg. 10.50 $850 $375 $525 Shortsleeve Chambray Shirts $5 00 Reg. 6.95 Tank Tops $200 Reg. 2.49 Vinyl Ponchos$225 Reg. 2.75 JUNE 11 & 12 c BACKYARD SALE - from 3-7 p.m, in lot behind the store! o o o fo o o -other exciting specials. Come by RICHARD'S for your FREE LEI! ooooeeeooooooooooooooeeooooooooeooooeeoooeoeooooooooooooooooooooo t Crossword Puzzler ACROSS 1 Devoured 4 Note of scale 6 Shut 11 Opened with a lancet ' 13 Mourn greatly 15 Part of "to be" 16 Soap plant 18 Icelandic writ ing 19 Things, in law 21 Region 22 A continent (abbr.) 23 Flag 26 Negative 29 Quarrel 31 Sandbar 33 Greek letter 34 French article 35 Be in debt 38 Unit Of Por tuguese currency 39 Preposition 40 Faroe Islands whirlwind 41 Girl's name 43 Emmets 45 Bitter vetch 47 Tell 50 Exclamation 52 District in Germany 53 Press for pay ment 56 Norse god - 58 Go in 60 Conjunction 61 Trade 63 Musical studies 65 Defeats 66 Compass point 67 Poem DOWN 1 Wmglike 2 Domesticate 3 Printer s measure 4 Sweetheart 5 Decorate 6 Tidier 7 Note of scale 8 Foreboding 9 Style of auto mobile 10 Goal 12 Symbol for calcium 14 Symbol for tan " talum 17 Shakespearian king 20 Resort 24 Short jacket 25 Golf mound 27 Leave out 28 Large casks 29 Plumlike fruit SO Equal 32 Decree 36 Emerged vic torious 37 Rubbers on pencils 42 Island off Ire- 33pF 3SF lx S3 all I3I-MNI mm rvMi l MlQl UlNlV iLJin win ar N IN ffl? 3 land 44 Man's nickname 46 English county 48 Evaluates 49 Rugged moun tain crest 51 Emmets 54 Employed 55 Part of face 56 River in Siberia 57 Bespatter 59 Symbol for ruthenium 62 Latin conjunc tion 64 Note of scale r 3 3 jjm4""" 5 jjjjd 7 8 10 n 12 5f3 '" " 14 15 338 16 17 18 1? 20 21 8 22 23 24 25 26 27 28" 29 30 31 32 bgg 33 AO ttS41 42 $808 15 46 47 48 49 " 5051 52 53" 54 55 56 57 XXX 58 59 60 61 62 '9 Distr. by United Feature Syndicate. 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