1996_04 The Daily Collegian April 1996

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Monday, Apri 8,1996
Sports
Sports Editor: Brian R. Fisher
Telephone: (209) 278-5733
'Dogs lose rubber match to Aztecs
(Saturday's game)
San Diego State 6
Fresno State 2
(Friday's game)
San Diego State 9
Fresno State 4
(Thursday's game)
San Diego State 2
Fresno State 3
Men's Tennis
San Diego State 1
#6 Fresno State 6
|        SCHEDULE        1
Today's Games
• Golf—Far Western Inercollegiate
hosted by San Jose State—@
Pasatiempo Country Club, All day.
• Football—spring practice—near
Bulldog Stadium, approximately 3
p.m.
Tomorrow's Games
• Baseball @ Santa Clara, 7 p.m.
Wednesday. April 10
Football—spring practice—near
Bulldog Stadium, approximately 3
p.m.
1    SPORT SHORTS    1
Parker honored nationally
as player of the week
Freshman right-handed pitcher
Lindsay Parker was honored as the
National Player of the Week by the*
National Softball Coaches Associa¬
tion last week.
The award came just a day after
being named the Western Athletic
Conference's Player of the Week,
Parker is the only undefeated
pitcher on the Bulldogs' staff with a
9-0 record. She leads the team in
ERA (0.78), while ranking second in
wins (9). shutouts (6), innings
pitched (63.0) and strikeouts (41).
^..This marks the thrid time in two
years that Fresno State was
recognized individually. Junior right
fielder Robyn Yorke captured the
honor twice last year.
—Sports Information
\ Spring football practice
to begin today f
The FresnoJState football team
will begin spring practice today at
approximately 3 p.m. at the field
near Bulldog Stadium.
The practice period will last for
IS days and will conclude with an
intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday,
• May 4.
Sports Information
By Brian R. Fisher
Sports Editor
The Fresno State baseball team's
spring break was hardly pleasant,
as the Bulldogs dropped three of
four games during the week, includ¬
ing Saturday's 6-2 loss to confer¬
ence rival San Diego State at
Beiden Field.
But although the Bulldogs (23-
18, 11-6 in Western Athletic Con¬
ference play) failed to gain any
ground on the WAC's Western Di¬
vision leader, Cal State Northridge,
Head Coach Bob Bennett is far
from giving up on the season. .
"We're not out of this thing by
any means,'.' he said. "If anything,
this is a red flag telling us that we
better work our tails off if we want
to see the post-season."
Amen.
In the series' final game against
the Aztecs, the Bulldogs looked
more like the team that took the
field in the first month of the sea¬
son, rather than the team which had
won 15 of 17 games prior to facing
the Aztecs (23-16,9-8 in WAC).
Third baseman Craig da Luz's
botched the Aztecs' Kalin Foulds
grounder on the first play of the
game, and then threw the ball away
setting the tone for what would be
an afternoon of errors and missed
opportunties.
The Bulldogs had five miscues
in all and left eight runners on base.
That didn't bode well for Fresno
State pitcher Scott Navarro (5-2)
sho did all he could for five and a
third innings as he allowed San Di¬
ego State to just two earned runs.
"Scott battled to keep the score
down, but we couldn't field the ball
and we couldn't get him any run
support," Bennett said.
Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the
eighth, the Bulldogs got a shot of¬
fense from junior right fielder
Derek Feramisco, who hit a two-
run homer over the left field wall
off Aztec releiver Jeff Dufek.
"I really though we were back
in the ballgame at that point,"
Bennett said.
But just as quickly as a window
of opportunity opened, the Bulldogs
closed it right on themselves.
With two out in the tpj) of the
ninth, Aztec center fielder Stewart
Smothers hit a ground rule double
over the right-center field wall. Two
pitches later, Rene Rodriguez
reached base and advanced to sec¬
ond on an error by first baseman
Pete Hennecke. Foulds batted next
Please see 'DOGS, Page 7.
Sports Information
Pitching ace. Fresno State freshman pitcher Jeff Weaver was
dominating once again in the Bulldogs 3-2, win over San Diego
State last Wednesday. ^
After a few hurdles, Harrison
poised to make a run at Olympics
By Paul Martinez
Assistant Sports Editor
Two weeks before she was
.scheduled to come to the United
States from Canada for college,
Fresno State's Ardin Harrison
found herself in a difficult positon.
She had signed a letter of intent
to run track at the University of
New Mexico, but because of a mis¬
read in her transcripts due to a dif¬
ferent grading system used by
Canada, New Mexico denied her
entrance.
"I called [the school] constantly
[to talk about the problem] but the
coacji was never there," Harrison
said. "It was costing me hundreds
of dollars in phone calls. The coach
was always out of the office, and
two weeks before school was sup¬
posed to start, he went on vacation."
fp Enter Fresno State Head
Women's Track Coach Tom Pagani.
^'He had called to recruit me ear¬
lier/* Harrison said.
^Harrison and her father, Jim, fi¬
nally called the NCAA to inquire
whether she was cleared of her ob¬
ligation to New Mexico. When she
found out she had she headed to
Fresno State.
"We were waiting, all packed up
and ready to go. The call [from the
NCAA office] came at 2 p.m., and
we were on the road [to Fresno] by
four."
Jim, who was a 12-year Na-
I tipnal Hockey League veteran who
I played for Boston, Toronto and
Paul Martinez —The Daily Collegian
Mother and child. Fresno State track member Ardin Harrison said
she has more energy since the birth of her son, Nathan.
Edmonton, initially spoke to Ardin
about Fresno State, as a part of his
new college recruiting program. "I
was sort of the guinea pig for it,"
she said.
Not long after Harrison arrived,
romance bloomed between her and
Todd Reich, a former Fresno State
standout who still holds the record
in the men's javelin.
She had a successful first sea¬
son, 1993-94, competing in the 400-
hurdles, 400-sprints and on the
4x400 relay squad.
But Harrison said she notice a
change in her stamina.
'Toward the end offhe season I
started slowing down," Harrison
said. "My last meet I ran really hor¬
ribly, then I found out I was preg¬
nant."
Harrison said that the Bulldog
coaching staff, especially Pole
Vaulting Coach Bob Fraley, knew
it right away.
"Coach Fraley would say that I
kept knocking the bar off with my
stomach," she said.
Nathan Gray Wolf was born
over a year ago. The normal expec¬
tation would have been for Harrison
to quit running, at least competi¬
tively. But the sophomore dis¬
agrees.
"Having a baby is no disadvan¬
tage. NCAA rules prohibit penal¬
izing a woman for having a baby,
so I didn't even lose a year [of eli-
Plpasp w HARRISON Paw 7.
'Dogs net 26th
consecutive
home win
By Troy Wagner
Sports Writer
The 6th-ranked Bulldog men's
tennis team defeated San Diego
State, 6-1, in Fresno State's final .
regular season home match Satur¬
day afternoon.
Fresno State has now won 26
consecutive dual matches at home,
a streak that started during the
1992-93 season.
The Bulldogs, with an altered
doubles lineup, took the doubles
point after taking two of three
doubles matches from the Aztecs.
At the No. 1 doubles position,
senior Bryan Juinio teamed with
sophomore Fredrik Bergh to defeat
Mike Bannister and Eric Faulk, 8-
5. At No. 2, freshman Kelly Gullett
and sophomore P.J. Dortnire de¬
feated Steve Adamson and Frank
Morgan, 8-2. At No. 3, junior Rucri
Rivera—who is graduating in May
— teamed "with junior Phil King,
but lost 8-4 to Blake Pearson and
Jason Pearson.
"We mixed the doubles up a little
bit," said Bulldog Head Coach Pe¬
ter Smith, whose career record im¬
proved to 130-91 (80-44 at Fresno
State) with Fresno State's win.
"San Diego [State] is real strong
in doubles so it was nice to see us
get the [doubles] point with a dif¬
ferent lineup," Smith said.
Pleasp ^ STRFAK. Paw 7.