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UNC shortstop Ron Maurer dives back Into third after a missed
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Match with USG comes down
By ERIC WAGNON
Sat Writer
The enthusiastic, partisan crowd at
the UNC Tennis Center on Sunday
could smell upset in the air, but the
Tar Heel men's team just missed
grabbing it. The eighth-ranked South
Carolina Gamecocks withstood a
strong UNC comeback for a 5-4 win.
I think this is the best crowd
the most vocal crowd that weVe
had out here in a good while," UNC
coach Allen Morris said. "This is
Carolina tennis tradition. This is the
way it used to be and the way we'd
like to see it get back to."
The decision came down to the
final set of the number one doubles
match between UNC's team of
Don Johnson and David Pollack and
South Carolina's team of Stephane
Simian and Johan Karlen. North
Carolina needed to sweep the three
doubles matches to win after falling
behind 4-2 in the singles.
Morris pulled his team together
after the singles play for a pep talk.
I told them we were playing the
eighth-ranked team in the country,
and we could win all three doubles,"
Morris said. "I didn't want them to
be disappointed at being down. I
wanted them to forget . about the
singles."
The team responded well as the
number two and three Tar Heel
doubles teams managed straight-set
victories to set up the dramatic finish.
In the number one doubles match,
South Carolina won the first set 7
6 (7-3) in a tiebreaker. Johnson and
Pollack, however, inspired by the
Brower,
By NATALIE SEKICKY
Staff Writer
The USC-Spartanburg Rifles came
to Chapel Hill Sunday, and someone
forgot to pack the ammunition.
It probably wouldn't have mat
tered anyway, because the UNC
softball team took the guns right out
of their hands.
The Tar Heels swept a twin bill
from the Rifles, blanking them 6-0
and 10-0. North Carolina's record
improved to 26-13.
USC's pitching was no match for
North Carolina bats as the Tar Heels
banged out a total of 18 hits against
three USC pitchers. The Rifles could
manage only eight singles against
UNC hurlers Tracy Brower (17-6)
and Regina Finn (9-7). Brower
chalked up her seventh shutout, Finn
her fifth.
In the first game, UNC scored the
only run they needed in the bottom
of the first. Theresa Buscemi led off
with a walk, moved to second on
Vicki Parrott's sacrifice bunt, and
scored when the Tar Heels' leading
hitter, Tracey Narwid (.291), singled
to right field.
Narwid took second when USC
rightfielder Mary Jones threw home
in an effort to cut down Buscemi.
When Jones' throw sailed over
catcher Tracey Long's head to the
backstop, Narwid advanced to third.
From there, all Narwid needed was
a long sacrifice fly to left from cleanup
hitter Michelle Rupp to make it 2-0UNC.
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David Pollack
crowd and the UNC doubles wins on
the two neighboring courts, breezed
through the second set 6-1, winning
six straight after losing the opening
game of the set. Johnson and Pollack
fell behind in the final set 5-1 but
rebounded to bring the score to 5
4. With Simian serving, South Carol
ina won the game to capture the win.
"Simian is just a great player,"
Pollack said. "He's got a great serve,
and he's returning pretty well, so he
carried the team." Simian, of D'Ozon,
France, defeated Johnson 6-1,6-1 in
the number two singles. Simian
entered the match as the ninth-ranked
singles player in the country and half
of the fourth- and 21st-ranked dou
Finn blank Spartaobyre in
The second inning brought a USC
pitching change and four more runs
for the Tar Heels. Jenny Reed, who
was 4 for 6 on the day with two triples,
singled to center. Brower singled to
left, and Maggie Moline walked to
load the bases. A wild throw to the
plate by USC shortstop Monica
Henderson on Buscemi's ground ball
allowed Reed and Brower to score
and prompted USC coach Mark
Cooke to bring in pitcher Laura
Vinciguerra.
The change did nothing to slow the
Tar Heel attack. As in the first inning,
Buscemi, Parrott, Narwid and Rupp
combined to push runs across the
plate for UNC. Three of Vinciguerra's
first five pitches to Parrott made it
to the backstop. Moline was thrown
out attempting to score on the second
wild pitch, but Buscemi was success
ful on the third, and UNC led 5-0.
Parrott eventually walked and
moved to second on Narwid's sacfri
fice fly to center. Rupp then smacked
a line single to center, and Parrott,
with an evasive head-first slide, beat
a strong throw to the plate from Dana
Brasfield to round out North Carol
ina's scoring in the opener.
Head Coach Donna Papa credited
the Tar Heels' patience at the plate
for their success against the USC
pitching staff. "I think our hitters had
really good discipline at the plate,"
Papa said. "They were selective, so
it didn't really matter who the pitcher
was."
Brower was virtually untouchable
Monday
14The Daily Tar Heel
come w
,i?L - r
squeeze play. The Tar Heels went
bles teams with teammates Steve
Longley and Ken Diller, respectively.
Diller, who has suffered from a
troublesome back injury, was orig
inally scheduled to play with Simian
on Sunday. After losing to Pollack
6-2, 6-4 at number one singles,
however, USC's coaches decided to
let Karlen play in his place, due to
Diller's injury.
At the number one singles slot,
against Diller, ranked 65th
nationally, Pollack, ranked 69th,
started strong, winning three of the
first four games. "In the last couple
matches I started to come in more
be a little more aggressive and I'm
playing well," Pollack said. "He's had
some chronic back problems, so I
think they we're just trying to rest
him (in the doubles). I don't think
it affected him in the singles, though."
UNC freshman Bryan Jones, of
Kings Mountain, N.C., lost a close
three-set match against Steve Lon
gley, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Jones' number
three singles match was the last
singles match to finish, so the crowd,
knowing that a Longley win would
give the Gamecocks a 4-2 lead, helped
inspire Jones to fight back from a
5-3 deficit in the final set. After Jones
knotted the score at 5-5, Longley,
ranked 21st nationally, broke Jones'
serve and won his serve on a 3-3 no
ad point to win 7-5.
"The crowd almost helped pull us
through this match," Morris said.
"Particularly down here with Bryan
(Jones), the crowd was behind him,
and he got pumped up."
Unlike Jones' match, teammate
throughout the contest. She scattered
four singles over seven innings' work,
piling up seven strikeouts and allow
ing three walks. Her control of the
strike zone and ability to get USC
hitters to swing repeatedly at her riser,
which starts out in the strike zone
and quickly rises out of it as it crosses
the plate, left the Rifles' hitters
confused and eight of their base
runners stranded.
On the season, Brower has an ERA
of 1.13, has struck out 87 and has
allowed 57 walks. She has 20 com
plete games in 22 starts.
The second game featured more of
the same from both teams. In their
first at bat, the Tar Heels produced
three runs against Vinciguerra.
Buscemi beat out a grounder to short
for an infield hit, and once again
Parrott sacrificed her to second.
Narwid was out at first on a chop
to third baseman Aneisa Bittner, and
Buscemi advanced to third. A wild
pitch by Vinciguerra put Carolina in
the scoring column.
Rupp singled to left, and senior
Tracey Beine followed suit. With two
out and runners on first and second,
Gina Elmore, who was 3-3 in the
second game, lofted a drive over USC
left fielder Wendy Merchant's head
for a double. After one inning, North
Carolina led 3-0.
In the third inning, UNC sent 11
battters to the plate and erupted for
five runs. Narwid walked, took
See SOFTBALL page 8
Monday, April 17, 1989
O jP
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DTH David Surowiecki
on to win, 7-6, in 11 innings.
chamice
to final set
Andre Janasik's match went just two
sets, but it may have been no less
grueling. Janasik lost 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)
to Karlen. Karlen played almost
entirely from the baseline, making for
some very long rallies. Janasik was
up 5-3, serving for the second set,,
when Karlen won the next two games
to tie the score at 5-5. The players
each won their service games to force
the tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker,
Karlen won four straight points after
the tiebreaker score had been tied at"
three to win the set and match.
In the number five singles position,
sophomore Thomas Tanner, of
Rocky Mount, N.C., picked up North
Carolina's second singles win, 6-2, 4
6, 6-3, over Lou Gloria.
UNC's Jimmy Weilbaecher, a
senior out of Asheville, almost forced
a third set against Dave Herman, but
lost in the second set tiebreaker to
fall 64, 7-6.
In the crucial number two doubles
match, Janasik and Weilbacher
defeated Longley and Rich Lynch, 7
5, 6-1. Jones and Joe Frierson picked
up another Tar Heel doubles victory
at the number three slot, winning 7
5, 6-3 over Gloria and Erick Sydour.
With the loss, the Tar Heels
dropped to 15-8 on the season.
Looking toward the ACC tourna
ment, scheduled for April 21-23 at
Clemson, the South Carolina match
gave the team some valuable expe
rience against quality competition. "It
was a real dogfight," Morris said. "I'm
disappointed we didnt win, but going
into the ACC, this has to give us
confidence."
WW
4
First baseman Jena Houttekier
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Murray sets UNC
field record, page 8
Levis leads
rebirth as Tar Heels
take two from Pack
By DAVE GLENN
Sports Editor
It seemed ironic that the UNC
baseball team would get a brand new
scoreboard at Boshamer Stadium in
1989.
After all, neither the Tar Heels nor
their opponents had been scoring a
whole lot of runs in the present
campaign. Zeros had become almost
fashionable.
But Sunday, with the N.C. State
Wolfpack as their guests, the Tar
Heels lit up the new scoreboard to
the tune of 13 runs and 20 hits,
sweeping a doubleheader from the
hard-hitting State squad.
The Tar Heels upped their record
to 22-10 with the victory and sport
a 10-2 ACC record, second only to
Clemson's 10-1 in the conference. The
Wolfpack dropped to 24-12-2, 7-7 in
ACC competition.
In game one, the Tar Heels
opponent on the hill was Wolfpack
starting pitcher Preston Poag, who
doubles as one of State's starting
quarterbacks on the football team.
Considering the events to come, the
Tar Heels might have had Poag
thinking about becoming a one-sport
man. But not baseball. Poag learned
that when you throw a baseball, it
often comes flying back at you at
tremendous speeds.
The Tar Heels proved that point
time after time.
With the Tar Heels trailing 4-1 in
the fifth inning, second baseman
Dave Arendas got the Tar Heels
rolling with a one-out single to center.
After Darren Villani grounded out
short to first, Jesse Levis came up
big once again for UNC.
The junior backstop, batting lead
off for the first time in his UNC
career, smashed an 0-1 Poag fastball
over the 336-foot sign down the right
field line for a two-run blast, his
fourth home run of the year. Levis,
who was hitting .364 entering Sun
day's action, was 5 for 8 on the
afternoon with a double and four
RBIs to go with the homer.
The Tar Heels' next batter, senior
center fielder Tom Nevin, continued
his emergence from an early-season
slump with a follow-up shot to left
center field. Nevin's solo shot seemed
to carry forever, finally landing just
beyond the outstretched glove of
State left fielder Steve Shingledecker
to bring the Tar Heels even at 4-4.
UNC coach Mike Roberts said that
was the turning point. "We got the
back-to-back home runs, and that put
us right back in the ball game," he
said.
The Tar Heels' three-run fourth
inning gave UNC starter Michael
Hoog another no-decision, his fourth
consecutive start without a win or a
loss.
softtbaDi
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stretches to complete a double
offensive
UNC reliever Jim Dougherty took
the mound for the Tar Heels in the
sixth inning, as Roberts went to his
ace to hold off the Pack in this game
scheduled for seven innings as part
one of the twinbill.
But Dougherty promptly coughed
up a two-run homer to State first
baseman Steve Shepard, who annih
ilated UNC pitchers all afternoon
Shepard, who finished the day with
three homers, a double, three runs
scored and five RBIs, smashed a
Dougherty fastball over the 352-foot
mark in right-center field to give the
Pack the lead at 6-4.
"We just couldnt get Shepard out
all day," Roberts acknowledged.
But Tar Heel pitchers Dougherty,
Brad Woodall and Rich Fernandez
got everyone else out and watched
as the Tar Heels mounted yet another
comeback.
Nevin, who had four hits on the
day, led off the UNC sixth with one
of his two doubles to start the ralty
After a Mark Kingston walk and a
Ryan Howison sacrifice bunt, Ron
Maurer was hit by a pitch to load
the bases. Arendas played the clean
up role well, lining a two-run double
off the base of the left field fence,
scoring Nevin and Kingston to tie the
game at six.
After a scoreless seventh, the Tar
Heels survived a scare in the extra
frames when the Pack rallied in the
ninth against Woodall, who entered
the game an inning earlier.
Right fielder Chris Woodfin led
things off with a double to left field.
Then, the Tar Heels dug deep into
their bag of tricks to save the day.
With " Woodall straying from the
mound, Woodfin casually stepped off
of second base, only to find Arendas
with ball in glove tagging him
for the first out of the inning. It was
the old hidden ball trick, one that
UNC has used four times this year
in the late innings of close games.
Sunday, it made the difference.
"The hidden ball trick has been real
good to us," Roberts said. "If Wood
fin stays out there (at second), we
probably lose the ball game."
After a double (which would have
brought home the go-ahead run) and
a walk, Roberts went to Fernandez.
The sophomore from Philadelphia
got two fly outs to put an end to the
State rally.
The new scoreboard entertained
one of the season's larger crowds until
the 1 1th inning, when Nevin took the
spotlight. Nevin led off with a double
to left off State reliever Brian Bark,
who took the loss. Then, with Woo
dall bunting, Nevin strayed off second
but beat Bark's throw back to the bag.
Woodall was safe at first. On a similar
See BASEBALL page 9
sweep
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DTHTom Clark
play in Sunday's doubleheader
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