PAGE 18 THE RETRIEVER SPORTS April 4, 1995 The DOG Retrievers Beat Colonials, Take ak.a Joe Wolf Two Of Three From CSU From DIAMOND, Page 17 ^bodies of the Retriever pitching staff, with Liberty. who seemed to be joining their class- So far this season, the Retriever would lead off the game with a triple mates on spring break. pitching staff has been better than|x~ and score off a wild pitch in the first Although the losses were against expected on the whole, although their , inning, and then freshman Ryan some stiff competition, the pitching stats have been inflated by their tern- . Schneider would score in the second and defense simply fell apart. First, porary six game collapse. Loewe,,. to give UMBC a 2-1 lead. That was the Dogs lost two one run games to who many picked to be a conference n all they needed as sophomore RHP their three-game series against player of the year candidate, hadj Jamie Bullen would relieve starter Greensboro. The third game was an come back to win three games in a ;; Brian Sullivan in the third inning and 11-10 loss and was the first of five row after two tough losses to start the give up two hits, no runs and strike games in a row in which the UMBC year before his record was evened at;[ j out three batters in 5 innings of work pitchers gave up at least 11 runs and 3-3 with the loss to Charleston Southern, j/ as the final score remained 2-1. an average of 16 hits, although the Meanwhile, the team's hitting is,;, Facts and Opinions From A Earlier in the week against George Dog's defense had 5 errors in the 11 - solid, if not spectacular. Four start- Washington, UMBC overcame three 10 loss to Greensboro. ers — Berman, Martin, Pruitt anc££ fielding errors to grab a 6-5 victory The losses included an 11-0 spank- sophomore outfielder Todd Dorsey,^ Mad, Mad March as Chris Archambault got the win in ing from Wake Forest, 11-3 from are hitting above .300. Berman at*°» relief. North Carolina and 18-4 from Lib- .353 and Martin .333, and 4 homers,?** The Retrievers have now won four Opinion: The sixty four team NCAA tournament format is still the greatest playoff system on earth. (Can erty. The only glimmer of hope came lead the team, while Pruitt has addecf of their last five games, and have you say Bowl Coalition?) as the UMBC offense exploded for 6 HRs and 16 RBIs. However, the j arisen from their spring break dol- Fact: The Not-So-Big 10 was a combined 1-6 (Thank god for Purdue!) in the tourney. That was the worst 23 hits and 27 runs to beat Delaware offense is not performing quite as^ j drums. After scoring a 9-3 upset of record of the seven conferences that sent more than three teams. State by an incredible 27-11 score. well as hoped because the Dog's are^ ! rival Maryland on March 14th, the Opinion: The NCAA looked really smart for inviting Manhattan to the tournament (I refuse to use the words Of note, junior SS Jeff Vincent set a not taking advantage of their home" ! Dogs began the break by taking the "big dance"!!), after the #13 Japers shocked Oklahoma. Six invitations to the "Big" Ten don't look that Retriever record with six hits in the field which is a prime hitter's park.'f, i first game of a doubleheader against prudent at this juncture. game, including two homers and two This week, the Retrievers will • UNC-Greensboro on the road. That Fact: The home-sweet-home Kemper Arena in Kansas City didn't turn out to be so sweet for Roy Williams doubles. travel down to Virginia to take on!i ' win was UMBC's fifth in a row. Un- and Kansas after all. Then, on Saturday March 25th, the Richmond and George Mason on, J fortunately, the Dogs would lose five Opinion: Though upsets make the tournament much more exciting, fans do lose out when stars like Kerry Dogs' pitchers returned from their Tuesday and Wednesday, and then j of their next six games as if some Kittles and Shawn Respert bid us a very early adieu. exodus, and the team took the last play George Mason again, at home,, strange alien impostors took over the Fact: If Baltimore had a real-city size arena, we'd be talking about the "Road to Baltimore" (as in Final two games of their three-game series on Thursday. Four), not just New Orleans, Seattle and Minneapolis. And if the 1995 first round is any indication, UMBC could be the host. Opinion: The Top Four upsets in the tournament were, in order: Old Dominion over Big East Champ Villanova, Weber State over Michigan State, Miami (OH) over Arizona (though with Arizona, no first round game is an upset anymore), Manhattan over Oklahoma. Fact: The ACC averaged almost three wins per team in the tournament (11-4, four teams). If Arkansas wins the Championship, the SEC will have averaged exactly three (15-4, five teams). No other conference aver- aged even two wins per team. Opinion: Players whose value shot up in the tournament: Oklahoma State's Bryant "Big Country" Reeves (I reckon!) and Randy Rutheford (though Rutheford disappeared in the Final Four game), UCLA's Tyus Edny (we already knew the O'Bannons were great.), Alabama's Antonio McDyess, Tulsa's Shea Seals, and Missis- sippi State's Erick Dampier. Fact: For the first time in six years there will not be an ACC team in the Championship Game. Opinion: The two second-round plays that had the biggest impact on the Final Four: Tyus Edny's coast-to- coast lay-up to help UCLA get by Missouri, Lawrence Moten's calling of a non-existent time out after Lucious Jackson intercepted an Arkansas pass with Syracuse in the lead and only 4.3 seconds remaining. The ensuing technical foul allowed Arkansas to tie the game in regulation and win in overtime. Fact: Trivia Quiz: Which team was eliminated in the first round as a #2 seed, a #3 seed and a #5 seed in three of the last four years? Answer: Lute Olson's Arizona Wildcats. (They made the Final Four the other year.) Opinion: The following players missed a great opportunity to show the nation their stuff: Kerry Kittles, Shawn Respert, Fred Moiberg (Iowa State), Ryan Minor (Oklahoma) and Alan Henderson (Indiana). Fact'.The Sporting News picked Shawn Respert as its Player-of-the-Year, while Sports Illustrated chose Jerry I Stackhouse for the same award. Neubar Kamalian / Retriever Staffs Opinion: They were both wrong. Joe Smith led arguably the best conference in college basketball in scoring Jason Pruitt follows through in the Retrievers' come-from-behind 6-5 win over George Washington. The' and rebounding and its pretty obvious where Maryland would be without him. If Smith is not the choice, then senior first baseman leads the team with six home runs. both Ed O'Bannon and Rasheed Wallace are more deserving than Respert and Stackhouse. Fact: Arkansas had won its five tournament games going into the championship by an average of only 5.4 points. UCLA won its five by an average 25 point margin. Opinion: It only took me 10 seconds to see how good Penn guard Jerome Allen really is. In those ten seconds he hit a three pointer, stole the inbounds pass and hit another three to cut a nine point overtime deficit down THE JUDAIC STUDIES PROGRAM CORDIALLY INVITES V I to three points against Alabama at the Baltimore Arena. Fact: There really were a lot of people who thought that Stanford would beat Connecticut in the Women's THE UMBC COMMUNITY TO HEAR Semi-Final game. UConn won by 27. Opinion: Its a good thing Nolan Richardson doesn't coach the Huskies, otherwise we'd hear him whine about not getting enough respect till the end of the millennium. Fact: CBS tried to milk the Michael Jordan situation with a special between-the-games segment on Jordan's NCAA experience and some historic NCAA moments. Opinion: The whole thing was cheesy (though the Grant Hill to Christian Laetner pass for the game-winning turnaround J vs. Kentucky in 1992 still gives me chills) and Pat O'Brien, who actually makes me physically ill, made it even more annoying. (Bob Costas where are you?) Fact: If Joe Smith and Rasheed Wallace enter the NBA draft this year, each will be a lottery (as in you win millions) pick. Dr. Francois Opinion: Neither of them are ready to play in the NBA. Fact: Entering the championship round, 14 games had been won by the lower seeded team. Opinion:The officiating in the Women's Final was pathetic. Either get another ref or better ones. ■ i Rochat <; i CLub SpORT UpdATE i UMBC Volleyball Club Wins Conference Crown I i The UMBC Volleyball Club finished its regular season with a big win over crosstown rival Loyola, 15-4,15- discuss his research on 12,15-8. The Dogs were led by freshman middle hitter John Schickert (9 kills, 8 digs), whose consistent s i defense and blocking paved the way to victory. The team used a total of 10 players and got strong performances from Dong Chung, Aaron Wibberly and Chris Northam off the bench. With UMBC's starting squad on the court for the first game, Loyola found themselves overmatched and the Retrievers rolled from there.