1997_03 The Daily Collegian March 1997

              , THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Monday, March 3,1997
Sports
Sports Editor: Luis Hernandez
Telephone: (209) 278-5733
CORNER
| WAC STANDINGS \
Men's Basketball
Pacific Division
Fresno State
12-4
Hawai'i
12-4
Colorado St.
11-5
UNLV
11-5
Wyoming
8-8-
San Jose St
5-11
San Dieco St."
5-11
Air Force
2-14
Mountain Division
Utah
Tulsa
New Mexico
TCU
SMU
UTEP
Rice
BYU
14-1
12-4
11-5
7-9
7-9
6-10
6-10
0-1 7
Grudge match
■ Insight defeats Daily
Collegian in softball
game-.
Professor George Flynn's
seventh inning pinch hit sparked
a six-run uprising by the staff of
the Insight in the first annual
Daily Collegian vs. Insight soft-
ball game.
Despite heroically scoring
five runs in the bottom of the
seventh inning, the Daily Colle¬
gian staff could not overcome an
11 -run deficit and lost 18-12.
"I was just happy Professor
Flynn didn't have a heart attack
running the bases." said James
M. Ward. Daily Collegian edi¬
tor-in-chief, about the 59-year-
old mass communications and
journalism professor. "We came
to play, but Insight just wanted
it more than us. You have to give
credit to Insight. They could ac¬
tually catch the ball, unlike the
Collegian staff."
Ryan McKee, Insight photo
editor, hit three home runs and
was named Most Valuable
Player.
Matthew Hart. Daily Colle¬
gian news editor, smashed two
home runs, but made several key
errors at short stop.
— Staff report
Men's basketball team captures division title
■»_-*«(.-• j >m»i j  .       . Wh^fhrr  it   wn«  th«»  fationi*
By David Childers
The Dally Collegian
It was a game that- never should
have been that eventful.
It was a Western Athletic Con¬
ference Pacific Division Champion¬
ship that was supposed to be
wrapped up weeks ago.
Yet. in the end. it was a some¬
what ugly 103-92 win at lowly San
Diego State that finally got the
Fresno State men's basketball team
to where expectations put them be¬
fore the first game was ever played.
"We didn't execute like I thought
we should." said senior Dominick
Young. "But the outcome was great.
It was one of those up and down
games, there were a lot of turnovers,
but we just pulled it off. It was a
great win for us."
Young could just as easily been
talking about the Bulldogs season.
Two disastrous road trips, which ac¬
counted for all four of Fresno
State's losses in league play, nearly
put the championship out of reach
by the time this weekend's series
rolled around.
"We could have easily finished
Forwad Daymond Forney scored 24 points in the game against
San Diego State to lead the Bulldogs to their division title
fourth coming into this weekend."
said Bulldogs Coach Jerry
Tarkanian "But we ended up win¬
ning it so I feel wonderful. We knew
what we had to do. and we got it
done this weekend."
Thursday it was a road win at
first-place Hawaii that started the
weekend sweep. Saturday it was a
survival contest on the Aztec's se¬
nior night that helped improve the
Bulldogs' chances heading into this
weeks WAC Tournament.
"1 am really proud of this
group," said Tarkanian "We needed
this weekend. This was great lor our
kids because everybody had writ¬
ten us off. They have overcome a
lot of adversity. They hung in there
and did a great job."
Whether it was the fatigue
caused by the return trip from Ha¬
waii, or the inspired play of San
Diego State on a night that they
honored their seniors and had noth¬
ing on the line, the Bulldogs let sev¬
eral early leads slip away and the
Aztecs tied the score at 45 by half-
time.
The emotion could carry an
overmatched Aztec team only so
far, though, and the Bulldogs de¬
fense and offense both responded
when it came time to decide the fate
of the season.
Defensively, the Bulldogs set a
school record by blocking 14 shots;
with Danyell Mackhn and
Daymond Forney getting five
apiece. Forney tied a career-high
with 24 points, and Macklin
dwarfed his 3.3 points per game
average with a career-high 13.
Offensively, though, everybody
on the court was an after-thought
compared to Chris Herren. Herren.
who set his career-high with 35
points against Hawaii in the first
game of the weekend trip, scored
another 35 against the Aztecs.
Please see Champions page 7
Diamond 'Dogs sweeps Grand Canyon
By Erik Pfeifle
The Daily Collegian
Without having complete com¬
mand of his pitches or the benefit
of a sound defensive performance
behind him. Casey Rowe was able
to help the Fresno State Bulldog
baseball team complete its first
sweep of the year against Grand
Canyon with a 6-2 win game yes¬
terday at Beiden Field.
It was evident yesterday what
type of a game it w'as going to be
defensively for the Bulldogs when
the first batter to face Rowe hit what
appeared to be a routine line-out to
right field.
However, Simon Tafoya, playing
for an injured^erek Feramisco.
froze on the ball hit to him and was
unable to recover in rime as the ball
landed over his head for a double,
which could have just as easily been
ruled an error.
Casey Rowe
double in the gap to score the run.
Casey Rowe then bore down and
was able to get the next two bat¬
ters out on a strike-out and a
ground out to short.
"I really try to go for the strike¬
out after an error happens," said
Rowe. "Coach (Bob Bennett) al¬
ways says don't walk a batter af¬
ter an error or don't allow a hit
after an error because that is how
rallies get started."
Offensively, the Bulldogs tied
the game in the second inning when
Giuseppe Chiaramonte slammed
his eighth home run of the year just
to the right of center field.
Jason DeCanio and Jeff Prieto
each followed Chiaramonte with
singles. Simon Tafoya then loaded
the bases when his chopper to first
was hobbled by first baseman Ryan
Holtorf.
After Joe Gerber hit into a force
.out at home. Kevin Hook came
through and lined a single to left
field that scored Prieto and Tafoya
to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead that
they would never relinquish.
After two errors by Hook al¬
lowed the Antelopes to close the
gap to 3-2. Josh Hannah smacked a
two run bases loaded double to left
field to give the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead.
They scored their last run of the
game in the seventh when Derrick
Levingston knocked in Larry
Rupcich with a double to right-cen-
Tom Graham entered in the
ninth inning, and gave up a home
run to clean-up hitter John Hamel.
Casey Rowe got the victory and im¬
proved to 3-0 while allowing six
hits and lowering his earned run
average to below two runs a game.
"He (Rowe) was a little ragged
today. In some ways it was typical
Casey Rowe and in some ways not.
He was pitching behind in the count
a lot-which is not the way Casey
pitches, but he is very tenacious and
when he did get behind in the count
he came back (to get the batter
out)." Bennett said.
The Bulldogs (9-10.4-2) will go
to Pepperdine this Tuesday before
returning-to Beiden Field for a
weekend series against the Aztecs
of San Diego State.
Berg brings defensive presence to Softball team
By Kael Moffat
The Daily Collegian
So what is the feminine form of
the word "wizard"? Priestess? Sor¬
ceress? Whatever it is, it has to be
the nickname of Fresno State soft-
ball shortstop Randi Berg.
For those of us who are still be¬
moaning the retirement of The Wiz¬
ard of Ozzie, Ozzie Smith, one of.
the best major league shortstops of
all time, all we have to do is show
up to Bulldogs diamond to watch
the Fresno State Bulldog women's
softball team and we get to see the
same kind of magic.
"Randi is the best shortstop in
the nation. Bar none," said Bulldogs
head coach Margie Wright. "She
IJP*-'-
makes plays
that    others
SrUJj
can't."
Rand i' s
['y%    ^Z"7   Jfi,
twin "sister.
- Fresno State
^■r        -j*
center fielder.
Jg^Hl.LuO^
Laura Berg
went one step
Randi Berg
further.
"She's one of
the best short-
stops in the world, she really is,"
said Laura.
Berg re-proved her dominance
at her position on Saturday night in
Fresno State's doubleheader against
the University of Utah Lady Utes.
In the first game. Berg recorded
seven assists in a Bulldog victory.
Not a bad game's work.
In the marathon second game of
the double header (12 innings),
however. Berg pulled out some
plays that even the Wizard of Ozzie
would have been proud of, albeit
in a losing effort.
With one out in the fifth, Ute
right fielder. Sandy Rhea, belted a
bouncer off the glove of Bulldog
pitcher Jennifer Clark that looked
like it was headed into center field.
That was when Berg snagged the
ball and gunned it to Angela
Cervantez at first for the second out
of the inning.
The next Utah batter was Lisa
Hashimoto a speedy freshman who
caught Laura Berg cheating up in
center field, driving a fly ball over
her head. Laura chasdefyhe ball to
the fence, picked it up and threw it
to Randi. who turned and threw a
picture perfect cut-off throw to
Trina Puckett at third to cut down
Hashimoto trying to stretch a solid
double into a triple.
"I was just thinking 'Get the ball
to Randi' and I did," Laura said,
"and [Randi] did the rest."
"I thought [Hashimoto] was
quicker, but once I got the ball, I
knew we could get her," said Randi.
In the tenth inning. Berg showed
incredible range, chasing down a
pop-fly that flared away from the
infield towards the left field line for
the third out of the inning.
Please see BERG page 7