SPORTS Technique • Friday, February 9, 2001 • 27 season off to traditional start with banquet and alumni game Tech squad tops baseball alumni in Saturday Guest speaker Peter Gammons praises national pastime; Coach Hall exhibition; Teixeira 3-for-4 with two doubles praises staff and stresses challenge of team’s preseason No. 1 ranking. Matthew Bryan a close contest. Last year, the team By John Rafferty Those items sold for $900, $600 son was 1994, when Garciaparra Sports Editor beat their alums by 16 points in a Special to the ’Nique and $55 respectively. The evening and Varitek led the Yellow Jackets 17-1 blowout. “It’s hard to judge raised over $17,000 for the baseball into the College World Series Cham- Last Saturday the Baseball Team [the team’s ability] when you’re play- After being ranked as the top program at Tech. pionship game in Omaha. The goals defeated their alumni in an exhibi- ing against your alumni,” Head college baseball team in the country Head Coach Danny Hall intro- for the team this year are to do the tion game by a score of 8-5 at Russ Coach Danny Hall said with re- following a 50-16 year in 2000, the duced the coaches, and outlined the same thing. Returning all position Chandler Stadium. spect to the performance and the Yellow Jacket baseball team starts goals for the team. He announced players from a team that batted .342 The Alumni struck first making Jackets’ No. 1 ranking the season today. The Jackets were that Assistant Coach Mike Trapas- last season, and adding redshirted it 1-0 in the top of the third with a Stanford transfer Brian Sager congratulated on their pre-season so was named as Baseball America’s leadoff man Matthew Boggs, the Kevin Gergel single and a Rick Lock- picked up the win with a couple of rating by Peter Gammons, the guest choice for the top assistant coach in Yellow Jackets look to be the most wood . Tech took it back runs and four hits in the six innings speaker at the Jackets’ baseball ban- the nation, and was also proud of talented team in the ACC this sea- to 2-1 with an RBI by Mark he spent on the field. “I don’t think quet last Friday at the Hilton Ho- son and hope to repeat as ACC Teixeira, who went 3-for-4 with two he threw as well today as I’ve seen tel. Gammons discussed how baseball Champions. Hall also relayed to the doubles, and a Bryan Prince sacri- him throw all spring,” said Hall. is and will continue to be the na- crowd that the post-season stadium fice fly. Only to have the alumni tie “He’s going to be a very good pitch- tion’s pastime, due to a strong his- The last time that Tech renovation will take place, and the it up in the next frame with a dou- er for us, though he had a hard time tory of picking up the nation in was ranked No. 1 in same architect that has worked with ble by Jason Atha, who scored on getting the ball down in the strike times of need. Enron Park, and the new Camden Mike Yancey’s RBI single. zone today.” The Yellow Jackets saw an at- the country going into Yards park will be the architect for It took till the Jackets second Returning to the field for Tech tendance of over 300 people at the the season was 1994, the new Russ Chandler Stadium. time around to grab the lead, post- was Matthew Boggs, who was out fundraiser, including current ma- Coach Hall also stressed the im- ing a Boggs run on a Prince RBI for the majority of last season with jor league baseball players Kevin when they ended up portance of crowd support, saying double and Teixeira on a Victor injuries, which still hindered him Brown, Jason Varitek, and Jim Poole. in the College World that it was important in both the Menocal RBI single to make it 4-2. Saturday. “He’s nursing a little bit All three starred as Tech players, play of the current team and also in The Jackets continued to build of a hamstring right now,” Hall said, and gave back to the program by Series Championship recruiting top stars to play at Tech their lead in the sixth bringing the “but he was on base…and it’s nice donating items for the charity auc- game in Omaha. in the future. He also said that the score to 7-2 on a Matt Murton RBI to see him back.” tion. Varitek, who in 1994 won the new ballpark, which will cost around single and a two-run double by Teix- Although the alumni game isn’t Golden Spikes award as the best $10 million to build, will help Tech eira. a factor in Tech’s ranking, the Jack- player in college baseball, donated the work that Coach Guy did for secure future NCAA Regionals, an The Alumni refused to give into ets’ upcoming weekend is. Tech will his jersey from that season when he the offensive production of the team important aspect of advancing on their successors cutting the lead to travel to the Rice Invitational in played for the Team USA summer last year. He also stated how impor- to Nebraska for the College World 7-5 in the top of the eighth capital- Houston, Texas for their first regu- team. tant that Strength and Condition- Series. izing on a Tech error and a Mike lar season games. Also auctioned off during the ing Coach Steve Tamborra was in This weekend is an important Yancey RBI groundout. With contests on Friday against evening were ’s getting the team in game shape. first step in reaching that goal, as Tech made the last blow to bring Lamar, Saturday against Rice, and 1994 College World Series jersey, a Hall also stressed that the top Tech plays two top-rated teams in the final to 8-5 on a Chris Good- Sunday with Nebraska, the Jackets game-worn jersey pre-season ranking is more of a chal- Rice and Nebraska in the Rice Invi- man sacrifice fly. have a difficult road trip ahead. from the 2000 season, and tickets lenge than a curse. He said that the tational. The games can be heard in Despite the win, the team walked to the Jackets game against the Braves last time that Tech was ranked No. town on WREK Radio 91.1 or over away a little disappointed with such Jerry Wible contributed to this story. during Spring Training this year. 1 in the country going into the sea- the web at http://www.wrek.org.

yesterday was wave all your fingers at your neighbor day. i waved all my fingers at one of my favorite people. 28 • Friday, February 9, 2001 • Technique SPORTS

Tar Heels streak by Yellow Jackets in ACC contest Maryland from pg 32 By Terence Jones rest by a Tony Akins three-pointer Jones] value to our ballclub, when My Computer Crashed with 6:44 left in the first half. The he picked up the second foul, we Yellow Jackets shot just 36 percent were up 29-21. I took him out and Coming off of a huge win over (13-for-36) in the first half, includ- we went into the locker room down No. 2 Duke at Cameron Indoor ing 25 percent (3-for-12) from be- six,” said Hewitt. Stadium, No. 4 North Carolina was yond the arc. Maryland would cling to the lead poised for a letdown against Geor- “That run was obviously a back- until 7:08 remaining when Tech gia Tech, the Yellow Jackets having breaker,” Georgia Tech coach Paul took a 55-53 lead. a week of preparation for the game Hewitt said. “I was just hoping we The Jackets, who shot 50 per- compared to just two days of prepa- would get a basket.” cent in the second half, would nev- ration for the Tar Heels. It was another great defensive er trail again. None of that mattered. The Tar game for North Carolina who held “We have to be hungry,” says Heels overwhelmed the Yellow Jack- the Yellow Jackets to just 35 per- Terps coach Gary Williams, “We ets with superior size and talent cou- cent (27-for-77) shooting, mark- did not show the same intensity to pled with frenzied support from the ing the ninth time in the last 10 start the second half.” home crowd in Chapel Hill, NC. games the Tar Heels have held an The Terps were outscored 38- Joseph Forte scored 23 points opponent to 40 percent or less from 22 in the second and shot only 37 and pulled down nine rebounds to the field. percent on the half. The bulk of the lead the surging Tar Heels past the Georgia Tech center Alvin Jones, Terps 23 turnovers came in the sec- surprised Yellow Jackets, 82-69. last weeks ACC co-player of the ond half, but Williams didn’t feel North Carolina (19-2, 9-0) won its week, scored 16 points and pulled Tech’s press deserved the credit for 16th consecutive game and upped down 18 rebounds, but was over- the defensive presence. its record to a perfect 9-0 in the matched against the talented and “It was not the Georgia Tech ACC for the first time since the deep UNC front court that com- press that caused us trouble. We are 1986-87 season. bined to score 47 of UNC’s 82 points. the ones that created the turnovers,” “It wasn’t an easy day to play on Tony Akins added 18 points and said Williams. the heels of our game Thursday,” 5 assists for the Yellow Jackets, who Tech’s strong defense was aided North Carolina coach Matt Doherty kept the game close in the second by freshman Marvin Lewis who had said. “I was worried about our emo- half, but still fell short of the out- five rebounds, but he left his mark tional state and our concentration. come Paul Hewitt expected from beyond the arc. The small forward I knew we’d want to have a good his club. was 3-4 in three point range and effort, but there’s sometimes a dif- “It’s February and morale victo- finished with 12 points. ference between wanting to have a ries don’t mean a whole lot right Tech faces their third top 25 team good effort and actually playing with now. We’re in a stretch drive where in a row Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the a good effort.” we’re trying to put together some Coliseum against sixth-ranked Vir- The Tar Heels started out slow, wins and make our case to the selec- ginia. then quickly turned the game into a tion committee,” said Hewitt. rout with a 27-2 run midway through The loss drops the Yellow Jack- the first half, including a streak of ets to 4-5 in the ACC, likely need- 23 straight points. The Yellow Jackets ing at least eight, possibly nine, By Robert Hill / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS (12-8, 4-5) went on a seven-minute conference wins to qualify for the Center Alvin Jones on the inside against the Maryland Terrapins. Jones scoring drought, eventually put to NCAA tournament in March. plays was essential to the Yellow Jackets 76-62 win last Saturday.

we do not only talk about dating. i just happened to be inspired that week. SPORTS Technique • Friday, February 9, 2001 • 29 Club Sport Spotlight: Ice Hockey team ranked No. 1 in Div. III By Derek Haynes by sophomore Jamie Ledyard, who Assistant Sports Editor has supplied rare offensive firepow- er from the blue line with 5 goals Baseball is not the only sport and 4 assists. ranked number one in the coun- The Jackets, who play their home try—the club hockey team is also games at the Cooler, face off against alone at the top. the Georgia Bulldogs at Philips Arena The Jackets (18-4-0, 12-1 CHS) Saturday night following the At- are ranked number one in club hock- lanta Thrashers vs. Florida Panthers ey’s division III and are in sole pos- game. Tickets can be purchased by session of first place in College calling Ticketmaster. Hockey South. Head Coach Greg “I’m really looking forward to Stathis believes the team has the the game, it will give us a lot of potential to claim the champion- exposure,” said Montague. ship. Hockey is one of Tech’s most “This is the best team we’ve had successful club sports. They rou- in my nine years,” said Stathis. “They tinely draw between 500-1000 peo- have a lot of character, are very quick, ple a game, and drew over 10,000 and are very disciplined.” in Savannah for their Thrasher Cup The Jackets are led by junior victory. The success of the club Shawn Montague, who was select- could prompt a jump to Division II ed as one of the top 50 players in the next season. country as a high school senior. He “It costs more money because of leads the Jackets in goals (17) and traveling expenses, but we are ready assists (15), good for 32 points. competitively,” said coach Stathis. The Jackets, who lost in the The ACHA National Champi- ACHA final last year, lost only one onship is being held at the Cooler player while picking up goalie Ro- March 1-4. Tech received an auto- By Kristi Odom / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS land Sperlich, a graduate student matic bid to the tournament, and Goalies Roland Sperlich and Chris Channer have helped solidify the Jackets between the pipes. The team will who played Division I hockey. joins South Florida and Florida in represent Tech against the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday night at Philips Arena after the Thrashers-Panthers game. Defensively, the Jackets are led representing College Hockey South. For more information on the Georgia Tech Ice Hockey Club team visit their webpage at http://www.gthockey.com

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christina had an awesome birthday. thanks to all those that made it awesome. New Yellow Jacket faces for 2001 season Recruiting from page 32 Indeed, lineman accounted for staff took the setbacks in stride and Offense Ht. Wt Hometown High School nearly half of the 24 recruits taken went on to finish with another stel- QB Damarius Bilbo 6-3 200 Moss Point, Miss. Moss Point by Tech. And the news only gets lar, nationally ranked class. better for the Jackets as two of the “When you look at the talent Rahshan Johnson 6-1 190 Middleburg Heights, Ohio Midpark offensive linemen, Garren Findlay level and the grades of the class, I Dawan Landry 6-2 200 Ama, La. Hahnville of North Logan, Utah, and Gavin think the assistant coaches did an A.J. Suggs* 6-4 200 Powder Springs, Ga. McEachern Tarquinio of Wheeler High School outstanding job,” said O’Leary. “We in Marietta, Ga. are already enrolled covered 11 states, so they really TE Salih Besirevic 6-7 260 Denver, Co. South at Tech and will be participating in scoured the country to find the right RB 6-3 240 Evans, Ga. Lakeside-Evans spring practices. guys.” The position of most surprise Tech signed a total of seven players WR Levon Thomas 6-0 180 College Park, Ga. Banneker for Tech had to be the quarterback from Georgia, five from Florida, OL Nathan Dorsey 6-6 325 New Orleans, La. St. Augustine position. With the Jackets return- three from Louisiana, two from Garren Findlay 6-5 290 North Logan, Utah Sky View / Snow College ing three scholarship quarterbacks California, and one each from Col- for next season and another on the orado, Mississippi, New Jersey, Tex- Brad Honeycutt 6-4 290 Mesquite, Texas Mesquite way in Tennessee transfer A.J. Suggs, as, Ohio, Minnesota, and Utah, Gavin Tarquinio 6-3 265 Marietta, Ga. Wheeler most would have thought the Jack- leading some to speculate that Tech ets to be pretty well set at that posi- took on a bit of ‘national’ recruiting Andy Tidwell-Neal 6-4 280 Plymouth, Minn. Wayzata tion. O’Leary, however, couldn’t stance this year. Kyle Wallace 6-5 280 Suwanee. Ga. Collins Hill resist the allure of the three extremely O’Leary responded to the spec- Defense athletic and talented signal callers ulation by saying, “We have always that landed on the Flats. been a big in-state team. I think you DL LeRon Lee 6-2 265 Ft. Pierce, Fla. St. Lucie West Centennial “We brought in three very tal- need to recruit your state very well DE Omar Billy 6-2 255 Orlando, Fla. Colonial ented quarterbacks,” said O’Leary. to succeed. Once you address cer- “I hope that the quarterbacks we tain areas you have to go out of Eric Henderson 6-3 255 New Orleans, La. Edna Karr have here will have a good spring, state. We have recruited in Califor- Travis Parker 6-3 240 Hacienda Heights, Calif. Los Altos because if not, I’ll be looking at the nia and Texas and were received Scott Wolf 6-4 240 Davie, Fla. St. Thomas Aquinas freshmen behind George Godsey. I very well.” think they are that talented. All three Tech has now put together a string LB Tabugbo Anyansi 6-1 210 Austell, Ga. Pebblebrook are outstanding players and are very of three or four very solid recruiting Gerris Bowers-Wilkinson 6-3 215 Oakland, Calif. Skyline similar in what they can do as far as classes and has begun to emerge as running and throwing the football.” one of the leading recruiting pow- Tony Hargrove 6-4 235 Port Charlotte, Fla. Port Charlotte Not to be overlooked are the ers in the nation, typically seen as E.J. Kuale 6-2 210 Daytona Beach, Fla. Mainland many challenges that were present- precursor for success on a national DB James Butler 6-3 190 Bainbridge, Ga. Bainbridge ed to coach O’Leary and his staff in scale, as in national championship. the recruiting process, including the If the Jackets keep pulling in classes Dennis Davis 6-0 180 Atco, N.J. Edgewood loss of offensive coordinator and of the caliber seen this year and of Reuben Houston 6-0 200 Peachtree City, Ga. Starr’s Mill Broyles Award winner Ralph years past, glory days most certainly Friedgen to Maryland, as well as the await. DT Casey Loesch* 6-3 275 St. Petersburg, Fla. St. Petersburg negative shadow cast by a disap- *Transfer pointing loss to LSU in the Peach For information on contributing email Bowl. Remarkably, O’Leary and his [email protected]

just assume that this boxes are christina’s and not matt’s page 32 Club Hockey ranked No. 1 Baseball Season Kickoff The Georgia Tech Ice Hockey Club Team The Jackets face their alumni predecessors SPORTS takes on Georgia this Saturday at Philips and Coach Hall speaks about his season Arena after the Trashers game. Page 30 outlook at this year’s banquet. Page 27 Technique • Friday, February 9, 2001 Tech inks solid Lady Jackets drop two Jackets meet Virginia straight in ACC recruiting class The ladies fell 85-63 to North By Terence Jones Carolina at home last Thursday only Georgia Best to pack their bags and head to Flor- ida State to suffer a 89-69 loss to the Georgia Tech signed a much- Seminoles. The pair of losses bring heralded class of 24 student athletes the ladies to 11-10 overall and 2-8 to national letters of intent Wednes- in the ACC. day morning, announced head coach George O’Leary. Three stellar out- Men’s Tennis takes two of-state quarterbacks highlight the class, along with 11 linemen and in double-header the Georgia division 5-A high school The Men’s Tennis team beat the player of the year. UNC Charlotte 49ers 4-3 in a thriller Tech filled needs at almost every at Bill Moore Tennis Center last position, and stockpiled at others, Saturday morning and went on to including the quarterback position, top Georgia neighbor Mercer 7-0 with highly touted Damarius Bilbo the same afternoon. of Moss Point, Miss., Dawan Lan- dry of Ama, La., and Rahshan Jacket swimmers finish Johnson of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. The needs on both the offen- regular season 11-3 sive and defensive lines were helped by the addition of studs Nathan Tech swimmers finished their Dorsey of New Orleans, La., and season 11-3 with a 164-130 away Kyle Wallace of Collins Hill High By Robert Hill / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS win over a strong Western Ken- School in Suwanee, Ga. Rounding Jon Babul and Halston Lane share their excitement over Tech’s win against Maryland. Center Alvin Jones’ tucky team. The Yellow Jacket swim- out the class of exceptional recruits defense and point guard Tony Akins’ offensive performance helped the Jackets conquer the ACC foe. mers will have a week off before was Georgia division 5-A high school No. 6 Virginia at Georgia Tech they head to the ACC champion- player of the year Reuben Houston ships. Virginia Cavaliers (16-5, 5-5 ACC) of Star’s Mill High School in Peacht- Georgia Tech (13-8, 5-5 ACC) ree City, Ga. Tech also picked up Sunday, Feb. 11, 1:30 p.m. Track returns with 11 commitments from two of the best linebackers in the nation in Gerris top-10 finishes Frontcourt Coaching Intangibles Bowers-Wilkinson of Oakland, The Track and Field team took Alvin Jones is one of the best Paul Hewitt has the Jackets play- Virginia can’t lose two in a Calif. and Tabugbo Anyansi (pro- home 11 top-10 finishes and a pair centers in the ACC, he’ll be fac- ing at the top of their game. It is a row; Tech needs a win to keep nounced tie-Boo-bo on-Yon-zee) of of top-5s from last weekends Flori- ing another good one in Travis guarantee that the Jackets will be their drive for the NCAA Tour- Pebblebrook High School in Aus- da Invitational in Gainsville, Fla. Watson (13.4 ppg, 9.7 rpg). Jones prepared when they step on the nament alive. If the Jackets sweep tell, Ga. The Jackets will head to either the has a knack for frustrating oppos- court. Pete Gillen has moved the Virginia, it will be hard to ig- “When you look at this class over- Valentine Invitational in Blacksburg, ing centers, 8 have fouled out Cavs from the back of the Top 25 nore the Jackets come the next all, I think athleticism and academ- Va., or at the Iowa State Classic in against him. to number 6, their highest slot since Top 25 vote. ics, it has been the best class since I Ames, Iowa this weekend. have been at Georgia Tech,” said ADVANTAGE: VIRGINIA 1983. ADVANTAGE: EVEN O’Leary. “We’ve helped our foot- ADVANTAGE: GT ball team in many areas, and every Backcourt Prediction Softball starts Spring at one of these players is academically Jacket point guard Tony Akins Bench Virginia will be focused after Georgia Southern qualified, so I’m very happy with tied his season high scoring out- Against Maryland, 10 Jackets losing to NC State, look for the this class and I’m anxious to see put against Maryland with 28. saw significant action. 25 percent Cavaliers to come out strong from Softball will make the trip down what they can do.” Virginia has a solid backcourt. of the Jacket’s scoring is from the the start. When they do the op- to Statesboro for their first spring “We brought in six offensive line- Every UVA starter averages dou- bench. Three bench-players see sig- posing team is in trouble—Vir- game this Saturday and won’t re- men and five defensive linemen, so ble figures. Roger Mason averag- nificant action coming in for Mary- ginia has had leads of 20 or more turn back to Atlanta for their home that was the thrust of the class.” es 14.7 ppg. land. points in 11 of their wins. The opener until the February 24 match- ADVANTAGE: EVEN ADVANTAGE: GT Cavaliers get revenge 85-76. up against Troy State. See Recruiting, page 31 Jacket giant-killers top No. 13 Terrapins By Derek Haynes 64-62 lead, was unable to get any land coach Gary Williams. Assistant Sports Editor sort of rhythm going on the offen- Jones forced Maryland Center sive end in arguably their most cru- Lonny Baxter into early foul trou- Saturday Night Live big man cial possession of the game. As the ble, and allowed Baxter only 3 points Chris Farley was great, but he was shot clock wound down to zero, on 1-5 shooting. All-American can- best when he was with the annoy- Akins launched a three from NBA didate Terence Morris was held to ing David Spade. The two most range just to the right of the top of 4-17 shooting thanks to Jones’ in- different in size on SNL were the the key. side presence and the collective ef- perfect complements – one playful Nothing but net. fort from forwards Halston Lane, and childlike, the other sarcastic and “I just took what they gave me,” Jon Babul, and Michael Isenhour. mean. said Akins. The only Maryland players who Tuesday night against Maryland Akins and Jones were two of the had any success were the shooting (15-7, 7-4 ACC), Tech found the only players playing February qual- guards. Juan Dixon, Maryland’s lead- perfect unlikely tandem, a tandem ity basketball. The teams combined ing scorer, had 18 and reserve Drew that led Tech to its third win against for 43 turnovers, Maryland with 23 Nicholas added 15. a top-25 team. and Tech with 20. Nicholas and Dixon led Mary- 5-11 junior point guard Tony “It wasn’t a pretty one,” said head land to a 40-34 halftime lead, a lead Akins scored a career high 28 points, coach Paul Hewitt, “We’re definitely that was created in the absence of including a crucial three pointer with not going to send this one to Spring- one man, Alvin Jones. 1:09 remaining, and senior center field.” With Tech leading 29-21, and Alvin Jones had 11 points, 11 re- Tech, a tournament bubble team, Jones in foul trouble Hewitt knew bounds, and 3 blocks as the Jack- is not going to be discriminatory the big man needed a breather. At ets(13-8, 5-5 ACC) knocked off 13th about the quality of their wins. The 5:48 remaining in the first, Tech ranked Maryland 72-62 in front of Jackets held the bigger Terps to a held a eight point lead. 8,802 at the Coliseum. season-low 62 points, well below A little more than two minutes Akins, who was 8-for-11 from their scoring average of 88.6. As later, the Terps had a 30-29 lead the field and 3-for-3 from the three usual, center Alvin Jones was the that would be pushed to 40-34 head- point line, had several clutch plays dominant factor on defense. ing into the half. in the Tuesday night contest. None “He’s selective in his blocks. He “If anybody doubted his [Alvin By Daniel Uhlig / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS was bigger than his shot with 1:09 makes it tough to score. Basically, Darryl LaBarrie scores on a fast break in Tech’s Tuesday contest with No. left in the game. Tech, hanging to a he controls the lane,” said Mary- See Maryland, page 29 13 Maryland. LaBarrie has been a regular coming off the bench for Tech.