PAGE 24 THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY SPORTS April18, 2000 'TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT BY CHRIS KERNER NFL Draft 2000 The answer: Mel Kiper Jr. The ques­ Cory Raymer and, most likely, Stephen to not make the Super Bowl would be well- Marshall Cbad Pennington tion: Who is the most recognizable Davis. They have even inked Ray Rhodes , placed injuries. Even then, however, this and West Virginia tight end Anthony . sports personality during the month of to a contract as their defensive coordinator. team still might have ·a good chance. If Becht. Getting Pennington so late in the April? Every. year around this time we What more could.this team possibly ne«li to Johnson goes down, Jeff George is waiting first round was a huge bonus because he are all subjected to this man's obsessive make a Super Bowl run? in the wings. If Davis gets hurt, Adrian is a potential starter in the NFL and was evaluation of every Their defense will improve. There is no Murrell will step in. There are not many projected to go eighth to the Steelers. player entering· the NFL draft, from way that it cannot. They now have a pass teams in the league that can boast that kind They also got what I consider the every college you have never heard of. rush~ They also have one of the best, ifnot of talent sleeper of the draft in the third round This year was no different as Kiper the best, secondarysin the league, especial­ Our hometown Ravens are trying to when they selected Florida State ·wide pegged Penn State1S Courtney Brown as ly if keep up receiver Laveranues Coles. Mostly the number-one pick, and, as it turned Dei on with the known for his part in the Dillard's depart­ ~~t, he-~s right. signs, ''These picks make this official: The Skins, ment store fiasco, Coles has been clocked Overall, the draft did not have that Even if and they in the 40 at 4.17 seconds and has tremen­ many surprises. The four blue-chip t h e Washington Redskins .will win Super Bo.wl didn't do dous athletic ability. He will develop into players were chosen as the top four as defense XXXV. That's it. No questions. No debate. such a a quality for the Jets. expected. Brown went to Cleveland can only Just mark it down and begin looking to 2001 bad job One other sleeper that I predict will first, La Var Arrington went next to the rea c h 1 a s t pay dividends in a big way is J.R. Redskins as did Chris Samuels of middle­ if you are a fan of another NFL team." weekend Redmond for the Patriots. He was select­ Alabama as the third pick and fourth of-the- them­ ed late in the third round, and with his was Florida' state's to the pack sta- selves. ability as a slashing sort of runner and his Bengals. Yes, you heard correctly, the tus, such as 15th or 16th in the NFL, they T h e y tremendous hands out of the backfield, Washington Redskins did gettwo of the will still make the end-.of-January party in started the day by signing Sam Adams from Redmond was a steal for New England. top three players in this draft. Miami. Think about it, this team was a Seattle to fill a spot in their depleted defen­ The former Arizona State star will be a These picks make this official: the botched field goal away from making the sive line. Then, with the fifth pick and tenth terrific reium man as welL Washington Redskins will win Super NFC Championship game last year, and pick overall, they filled tremendous needs Overall, of course, the Redskins got Bowl XXXV. That's it. No questions. that was with the league's 30th-ranked by drafting Jamal Lewis, a running back the best of the draft with the Jets taking a No debate. Just mark it down and begin defense. from Tennessee, at1d Trav\s Taylol'~ a game­ close second. Cleveland and Baltimore looking to 2001 if you are a fan of The offense willbe there. Brad Johnson ?re~king wide n~ceiver out of Steyy also deserve some consideration. another NFL team. proved last year that he is a quality quarter.:: Spurrier's high-flying Florida system. They On another note, I would like to send With the additions of Arrington .and back in this league when hejs healthy. The C011.tinued their.· stellar day by drafting. a congratulations out to baseball's Samuels in last weekend's NFI;- Draft, qffen.~iv~ li:qe is ste}l.dily .becoJtring the p.ew quality pcx;ket pas&~r in Louisville's Chris Jronman, Baltimore's own Cal Ripken Jr. the Skins have filled every hole t.tiat they version of the Hogs., especially witli the Redman. for cr~c.tqng the. 3,000 hit barrier on · had to following las.t .season. They~ ve addition of Samuels. Westbrook· r:md Another successful team in the draft was Saturday. The certain Hall of Farner con- brought in Br:uce ·Smith.for . a.dded p~ss Con.lle~l.,. both had tOOO-yard seasonstlast the , who, thanks to th¢ ctinues to reach riill.estone after milestone rush, Mark Carrier for jntimida;liOil ip year, while Stephe,q.Alc;i:Xander is prim,¢d to K~yshawn ~ohilsondeal with tl;ie Bucs,,had in his tremendous career. lie is the third­ the secondarY, Jeff \George ... as ia vt;rjJ b(X;¢me the Jay.Novacek of Norv Tun;ler's tol:ffi . fri;~t . ~pu~~ pic~. 1:11~Y l.}S~d \hose be~t bitting shortstop of all f!me behind quality back.tip arid p<>ssioly even Deion offense. ' ~ides w~ell as the~ g~t aq~~y defe~siv~ H~nus . W~gne,r al!d Ernie .Banks~ That"s Sanders event,~ally. Not to tpent~on the There are no weak..links on this te3:1Il.: pne~in Te~es8ee'~ S~~un ' Ellis, South. some pretty elit~ comp(,Uly. Th John Apra~a.tt:J, beirtg So great= number eight! Baseball Enjoys Early Success in Conference Play from BASEBALL, page 28 The Delaware bats would get at UMBC pitchers for sixteen runs on seventeen hits game again with two runners on base. Just in the contest. Retriever hitters never like he had done in the third inning, seemed to come out of their slumber as Maetrales took Watkins' delivery over the Delaware's starter Jeff Romond scattered fence for another three run shot, bringing five hits while allowing three runs and fan­ his RBI total to six on the day. A costly ning nine UMBC batters. error by sophomore shortstop Jared Boyd UMBC senior co-captain Scott Crandell allowed the inning to continue, but Watkins was not pleased wit~ the performance, would eventually get out of the jam after "That was not us out there, it's not how we allowing five runs, only two of which were play, but watch out for us this weekend. It earned. The Retrievers would find them­ will be the time when we make a state­ selves in an 8-0 hole heading into the fifth. ment." Senior Ray Hall entered the game in the The Retrievers were not able to make fifth with one out and was greeted unkind­ the statement they were hoping for over the ly by the Blue Hens' Kris Dufner as he weekend, splitting its doubleheader versus dented the UMBC scoreboard with a solo Wagner on Saturday. They dropped the first blast to right. However, Hall would settle game 13-3, but rebounded 7-5 in the second down after the homerun and would not contest. The split raised the Retriever allow any more runs through another record to 19-15-1, 7-4 in NBC play. inning and a half of work. UMBC jumped out to an early 2-0 lead Amy Banowetz I Retriever Weekly Staff UMBC tried to rally, scoring one in the over the Seahawks after two innings, but Swing and a Hit: Freshmen Peter Tschiffley has been a key contributor to the fifth and another in the sixth to crawl to 9- that lead would not hold long as Wagner baseball team's early success. 2. However, any hope of a comeback was scored five runs in the fourth inning, three dashed in the top of the eighth inning after runs in the fifth inning and five :tnore runs runs in the rout. Boyd also added his second homerun of the Delaware peppered UMBC pitcher Eric in the sixth inning. UMBC starter Tom UMBC rebounded well in the second season in the 7-5 win. UMBC starter Bill Weltmer for seven more runs. The crushing Bloom was knocked out early in the contest half of the doubleheader. Junior third base­ Kasten was hit hard, allowing five earned blow in the inning was from Dufner, who and was unable to get his pitches working man Andy Hawkey went- 3-3 at the plate runs in just 3.1 innings of work, but senior delivered his second long ball of the day before his early exit. Bloom's batmates and drove in the winning run with his sac­ reliever Ira Carlson filled in well, tossing when he tattooed Weltmer's offering over were unable to muster anything on offense rifice fly in the sixth inning, bringing in the center field fence for a grand slam. to help their pitchenoM, s.-cofing> j&strlffirtf~ ~ophomore Greg Deboy. Sophomore Jared see PITCHING, page 25