Friday April 21, 2000 Previous Article Sports Next Article

Look out NFL-the Jackets are on their way

Daniel Uhlig / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Quarterback Joe Hamilton, after four years on the flats, will be given a chance to prove himself in the NFL with the dominating Tampa Bay Buccaneers. By Rob Kischuk Buccaneers Fan Sunday marked the beginning of a professional career for several Georgia Tech seniors. Unlike many students who must interview, submit resumes and the like, these students were hand-picked. Seniors and Joe Hamilton and junior Dez White were selected in the ’s annual draft. From the initial back to back selection of Penn State’s prolific Courtney Brown by the Cleveland Browns and fellow Nittany Lion LaVar Arrington by the Washington Redskins to the last pick of the seventh round, the relatively unkown Michael Green of Northwestern State by the Chicago Bears, surprises and supposedly poor picks abounded, with relatively few draft day transactions. The Yellow Jacket selected in the draft was defensive standout, strong safety Travares Tillman. Tillman, a 6’ 2", 195 pound senior, was selected by the in the 2nd round as the 58th pick overall. He started for Tech for the past three seasons, garnering all-conference honors twice. In his time here, he racked up 236 tackles, the fourth highest career total in Tech history. He leaves with 7 career and 17 passes broken up. He joins a Buffalo draft class that is thin on marquis names and thick in talent. Most notable are first round pick , a defensive end from Arizona State and 3rd round gem , outside linebacker for the vaunted Virginia Tech defense of the past year. The next Yellow Jacket to join the ranks of the NFL elite was early departure wide receiver, Dez White. The 6’ 1", 220 pound receiver was selected in the third round by the Chicago Bears with the 69th overall pick. Even as the main target of oppsing defenses, Dez had a massively productive year, scorching opponents for 860 yards in 44 receptions, for an ACC leading 19.6 yards per catch average. His 146.9 yards per game in all purpose yardage ranked third in the conference and 17th nationally. In his three years here, White tied Tech’s record for career touchdown catches with 14 scores. He also rose to second on Tech’s record list in kickoff returns, return yardage, yards per return, and receiving yards, and ranks ninth in career total receptions. His time here has imprints not only in the record books, but also in the minds of fans. Many a spectacular score was made by Dez on the receiving end, and his threat as Tech’s number one receiver left defenses wide open to rising threats such as Kerry Watkins and Kelly Campbell. Tech fans can only imagine what an impact he might have had as a senior. Bears fans will need no such imagination. White joins a Chicago team that ranked last in their division, with double digits in the loss column. If he is able to overcome his catching hands which are widely regarded as suspect, he may be in contention to jump right into their lineup, on the receiving end of passes thrown by youthful UCLA alum, Cade McNown. Though not prolific in the win column, the Bears ranked 8th in the league in total offense, a statistic that will likely only improve with the addition of Tech speedster Dez White. If of New Mexico, drafted in the first round, can bolster a porous Chicago defense that ranked 30th in the league, Dez may once again have the opportunity to fare well in the post-season, as he did in the 1999 Gator Bowl, where he was named co-MVP. Also worth serious mention is the man who shared those MVP honors with Dez, Heisman trophy runner up Joe Hamilton. Certainly one of the most inspirational players to step onto the gridiron for Tech in recent years, his future in football remained in question well into the second day of the draft. Joe was a favorite amongst many draft pundits, but his slight stature, 5’ 10.5” and 190 pounds, led many a team to overlook his skills, presuming that he wasn’t suited for the professional game. Finally, in the seventh and final round of the draft, Hamilton was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 234th pick overall. He was the 9th and final quarterback selected in the draft. He joins perhaps the strongest team of any drafted Tech player, with perhaps the greatest potential impact on their team. “I“m going to be a guy with a lot of focus, a guy who“s going to grab the playbook and study it every chance I get. A guy who“s going to be prepared to try to compete for a starting job.” He may just get that chance. Last year, rookie quarterback Shaun King led the Buccaneers to the NFC championship game. Still, with only a few starts under his belt, Tulane alum King is by no means guaranteed the starting job, over either backup Eric Zeier or the newcomer Hamilton. Both King and Hamilton were considered undersized by many scouts and teams, a charge frequently leveled at the recently successful Doug Flutie. They may have found their niche under coach Tony Dungy. Tony was a star quarterback himself in his college years, passed on by the NFL because of his size. Bolstered by their defense last year, the Bucs fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula and brought in the Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator Len Steckel to call the shots. Steckel’s wide open offense will be well suited to Hamilton, who ran essentially a pro offense under Tech’s skilled offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen. If he does get the job, Joe will have no lack of potential targets, with former Florida Gator speedsters Jacquez Green and Reidell Anthony, as well as recently acquired two-time pro-bowler Keyshawn Johnson. This year’s draft was much more exciting for Tech fans than most, with three talented players selected to teams where they will have great opportunity to succeed. Notable but not drafted is linebacker Chris Edwards, who will likely have the opportunity to try to earn a roster spot. With this year’s high profile yellow jacket drafts, the legacy of Tech’s recent years of success will certainly live on in the NFL.

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Red hot baseball team extends streak to 15 By Seth Andrews The King of Baseball The Tech baseball team can“t be stopped. They swept the Virginia Cavaliers with relative ease this past weekend, and now face their toughest opponent this weekend, when they travel to Daniel Uhlig / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Tallahassee to Richard Lewis has been a consistent bat for the Tech baseball team, playing aa key role in their current win streak. play the Florida State Seminoles. Tech will need both against Florida State, who come into the game with a 37- 7 record, ranked number one in the nation. Tech leads in the ACC standings, but the Seminoles will be a great test for them. The winner of this weekend“s series will assume the top spot in the conference. They are led offensively by last year“s ACC player of the year, Marshall McDougal. In one game last year he had six home runs and 16 runs batted in. A respectable collegiate season in a single game. Needless to say, the Semioles will betough. Tech has played great in preparation for this series, especially against the Virginia Cavaliers and the Georgia Southern Eagles. In the opener of the series against Virginia, Cory Vance took the hill, looking to improve on his 7- 1 record. He got early run support from the Tech batsmen in the bottom of the first inning. Richard Lewis led off the game with a walk, and then came around to score on a Mark Teixeira triple. Teixeira then scored on a groundout by Bryan Prince. Virginia then responded to tie the game at 2-2 in the third inning on a home run from Jon Benik. Tech then responded in the bottom half of the inning, as Teixeira scored on a Prince double, and then Prince scored on an RBI single from Jason Basil. Vance then took over and did not allow another run, going eight innings and striking out seven Cavaliers. Tech would add two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. After Tyler Parker reached on an error, Brad Stockton drove him in on a double. Stockton then scored on a single from Richard Lewis. Tech would add single runs in the fifth and seventh innings to make the score 8-2 going into the ninth inning. Closer Andy Mitchell then came in to seal the deal, but gave up a two run homer to Michael Floyd before slamming the door on the Cavs. Richard Lewis extended his hitting streak to 27 games. In the second game of the series Tech came out and scored quickly. In the home half of the first inning Tech opened up a 3-0 lead. Lewis was hit by a pitch, and scored on a double by Prince. Teixeira, who walked, scored on a single by Derek Goffena. Prince then scored on a sacrifice fly by Basil. Three runs would be all that starter Rhett Parrot would need, and he only allowed one run over six strong innings. Parrot struck out five batters and scattered five Cavalier hits. Teixeira hit his home run number 13 on the season in the third inning to extend the lead to 4-0. Virginia loaded the bases on two infield singles and a walk, but Parrot got out of the jam only allowing one run to cross the plate on a fielder“s choice. Freshman hurler Jeff Watchko came in to pitch the final three innings to earn his fourth save of the year. Tech would add another insurance run in the eight on an RBI single by Prince. The Lewis hitting streak ended at 27 games, one shy of the school record, but Teixeira and Goffena extended their streaks to 16 and 15 games respectively. The final game of the series featured Steve Kelly on the mound for the Jackets. In front of the third largest crowd of the season Tech struck early and often. Prince doubled in Menocal to start to scoring barrage, then Teixeira scored on an RBI single from Goffena. Prince then scored on a sacrifice fly from Basil to make the lead 3-0 after one inning. Tech added three more runs on a three run blast from Prince in the third inning to double their lead. More long distance fireworks occurred in the fifth inning as Teixeira hit his thirteenth homer of the season that also drove in Menocal. Wes Rynders scored in the sixth inning on a Lewis single to make the lead 9-0. Meanwhile, the Tech hurlers were pitching a great game from the mound. Kelly threw six scoreless innings, surviving five hits and four walks. Freshman Phillip Perry then threw a scoreless inning, but things came unraveled in the Virginia eighth. After Cameron recorded two outs, he loaded the bases on two walks and a single. The bases were cleared when Ryan Kalamaya hit athree run double to make the score 9-3. Tech then fought back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, keyed by two Virginia errors. The Tech pitching did not have better success in the ninth inning, but the game was already decided. Virginia did tack on three runs to make the game appear more respectable, as the Jackets won 12-6. Tech returned to action Tuesday against the Georgia Southern Eagles. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they came to town facing arguably the hottest team in college baseball. The Eagles tried to show that they could compete with the Jackets, hitting six singles in the top of the first that scored three runs. Tech came back in the bottom of the inning to score two runs, as Prince and Goffena had RBI singles. The offense put two more runs on the board in the third inning with the help of two errors, and a single run in the fourth on a sac fly from Teixeira. Parker hit a two run homer in the fifth inning to add to the Tech lead, making the score 8-3 in favor of the Jackets. After Ben Sheeter“s trouble in the first inning, he settled down to only allow one more hit to the Eagles during his time on the hill. He struck out five batters in seven innings of work. The Tech offense still put nine more runs on the board in the game, with three coming in the seventh and six in the eighth. Derek Goffena had a great game, with four hits and four runs batted in. He extended his hitting streak to 17 games. Wednesday, the Jackets continued their winning ways in a second contest against Georgia Southern, finishing the series in style with 22-8 victory. Freshman Phillip Perry picked up his second win of the season allowing three runs and two hits in five innings. Still, the true story of this game was the offense. Each Tech starter was responsible for at least one hit on the night, with six batters contributing two apiece. The Eagles aided Tech’s hot bats by surrendering twelve unearned runs on four errors. Tyler Parker and John Henry Kail each contributed a home run to the offensive showcase. Not to be overshadowed, Derek Goffena extended his hitting streak to 18 games, while Mark Teixeira stayed one step ahead with a 19 game hitting streak. Tech’s toughest series of the year is this weekend. “I“m very pleased with the way that we have finished things before we really get serious in the next few weeks,” said Tech head coach Danny Hall. “And I“m sure that Florida State will be ready for us this weekend and it should make for a great series.” Taking the hill on Friday will be Cory Vance. He is 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA in five starts against ACC foes. Parrott will pitch Saturday while Kelly will get the ball on Sunday. “Our pitching staff has come together, and we“re going to need them to continue to throw well down the stretch to give us a chance, said Hall. “I know that were are going to face better pitching with some of the clubs that we have yet to play, so it“s critical that we“re pitching it good and playing good defense as well.” The offense will be in good hands. Lewis leads the team in hitting, with a .485 clip. Teixeira is nipping at his heels for the team lead, batting a cool .471. Teixeira leads the team in homers with 13 and runs batted in with 55. “Mark Teixeira and Richard Lewis have certainly been hot, but we“ve had a lot of different guys step up,” said Hall. “Bryan Prince had a great weekend. Victor Menocal has swung the bat good and Brad Stockton has gotten some big hits for us. But I think we“re having different guys contribute offensively and that“s good to see. You need that to have a good team offense.” Tech will need to be running on all cylinders to have a chance at beating Florida State, but a 33-8 record and a fifteen game winning streak prove that Tech isn“t just another team. Expect a hard fought series with some offensive shootouts. Tech would do great if they come out of Tallahassee with two victories, and amaze many with a sweep, which would extend the continuing win streak to an astonishing 18 games straight.

Page 1:1 Previous Article Next Article Friday April 21, 2000 Previous Article Sports Next Article

Softball travels to UNC with high hopes

Dale Russell / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS The Tech softball team has lost four of its last five games, but hopes to turn things around against the highly competitive Tar Heels of North Carolina. By Mindy Wiggins Cockadoodledoooo!!! The past week has not been a pleasant one for the Yellow Jacket softball team, and things only look tougher for this weekend, when the Jackets will travel to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina in a two-game set. The Jackets have only managed to post a 1-4 record since last Thursday, and now they will head to North Carolina with a 25-27 overall record, 3-5 in the ACC. They hope to gain some momentum in the games against the Heels this weekend so that they can go into the last few games of the season with the hopes of finishing with a record of at least .500. The stint with bad luck started last Thursday against Troy State (28-24). Things looked promising at first, with the Jackets taking the first game of the doubleheader by a score of 2-0. The Yellow Jackets scored two unearned runs in the top of the third on two singles and a Trojan error. After back-to- back singles from Susanne Miller and Jamie Frost, Lauren Schwartz reached on an error by the Troy State pitcher, allowing both Frost and Miller to score. That would be the only offense the Jackets would need in game one as Jamie Frost pitched seven strong innings allowing only four hits in the game and pitching her third shut-out this season. Her record improves to 14-10 on the year. In game two, the tables turned. Tech jumped out to a 4-1 lead in game two, only to see the Trojans score four runs in the bottom of the sixth to win the game, 5-4. The bad news continued for the Jackets over the weekend as they faced Virginia (21-33, 2-2) in a doubleheader on Saturday, losing both games by scores of 4-2 and 4-1. In game one, Virginia took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third as Johanna Kaiser led off the inning with a single to center field and later scored on a wild pitch by Jamie Smith. Tech took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth as Kori Jacobson singled and Beth Warren doubled to right field to drive in Jacobson. Warren advanced to third as second baseman Amy Peay threw the ball into the dugout, which allowed Warren to score. However, the Cavaliers would bounce back and add three runs in their next at-bat as Kaiser led off with a single. After McCabe entered the game as a pinch-runner for Kaiser, she advanced to second on a sacrifice and then scored on a double from Meaghan Young. Peay followed with a double to left field, driving in Young, allowing Virginia to take a 3-2 lead. Ruby Rojas reached base on a error by Jamie Frost, allowing Peay to score the Cavaliers fourth run. Jamie Smith received the loss for the Jackets, after pitching seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and walking two. In the second game of the afternoon, Virginia had nine hits and capitalized on four Yellow Jackets errors for their 4-1 win. The Cavaliers scored a run in the top of the second and third to lead 2-0. In the top of the third, two errors by Frost allowed a run for Virginia as Peay singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Breshears. The Jackets closed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth as Knobbe belted her 16th homerun of the season and 39th of her career. However, Virginia came back and increased their lead to 4-1 as they scored two runs in the top of the seventh. The luck didn’t change on Wednesday afternoon when the Jackets traveled to Mississippi State to take on the 37-16 Bulldogs. Despite a strong effort from first baseman Erin Hawley, who had two hits and an RBI on the afternoon, Tech couldn’t muster a win, as the Bulldogs were victorious by a score of 3- 2. The Bulldogs scored a run in their first at-bat as Keri McCallum singled through the right side and later stole third and reached home on an error by catcher Anne Knobbe. Their lead increased to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth. Tech closed the gap as they scored two runs in the top of the fifth. Styer and Frost led off the inning with back-to-back singles and then Schwartz hit a single up the middle to score Styer. Schwartz would later score in that inning on an RBI single from Hawley. Jamie Smith (14-13) received the loss for Tech as she pitched seven innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits. Head coach Kate Madden hopes that the Jackets can pull something together against UNC, another difficult team. “North Carolina has won a lot of games against very good competition this season,” she said. “We are looking forward to the challenge."

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