The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 18

EDDIE ROBINSON Schooled in the 'classics' Page2C PORT NFL 2C Baseball 4C Scoreboard 7C C2 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1993 Iowa ends Sounds9 championship charge Tarry AT Woody By LARRY TAFT Sports Writer DES MOINES, Iowa The Sounds Cinderella comeback bid to become the American Association champions has come to a bitter, disappointing conclusion. Karl Rhodes, in the role of the wicked stepmother, broke the Sounds' glass slipper and sounded the midnight hour's final toll with an llth-inning home run that gave the Iowa Cubs a 3-2 Game 7 win and the franchise's first American Association title. because this is such a great group of guys. I hurt for them," Nashville manager Rick Renick said in the somber Sounds clubhouse. This is a game of inches.

There were two or three times when just a few inches would have made the difference." The loss went to James Baldwin, who entered the game in the 10th after nine brilliant innings by starter Scott Ruffcorn. Baldwin had no trouble in the 10th, but his 0-1 curveball to Rhodes brought the game and series to a sudden end. "It was a good pitch, my best," Baldwin said of the down and away pitch which the left-handed hitting Rhodes hit over the left-field wall. Series most valuable player Jim Bullinger, who had saves in Games 2 and 3, was the winner last night with three innings of work. He gave up two hits and struck out five.

The Sounds had forced Game 7 by rallying to win Games 5 and 6 after trailing 3-1 in the best-of-sev-en series. Last night they also had to battle back after falling behind 1-0 in the first when Fernando Ramsey scored on Eddie Zambran-o's sacrifice fly. Nashville got both of its runs in the third when Norberto Martin followed Esteban Beltre's two-out single with a home run over the left-field fence. The Sounds' lead held at 2-1 from the third until the seventh when Doug Jennings opened with a double, went to third on Tommy Shields' single and was brought home by Matt Franco's sacrifice fly." "Now I know how Reggie Jackson felt," Rhodes said. "This is a fitting way for the season to end.

I don't know how many times this club has come from behind to win this year, but I new we had one more left in us." Last night's game before a crowd of 4,317 at Sec Taylor Stadium was the 28th time this season that the Cubs won in their last at-bat "I've had disappointments before as a player, coach and manager, but this is probably the toughest Getting off some SEC quick kicks Vols hope Gators will be guessing By DAVID CLIMER Sports Writer If anybody out there is faxing Tennessee's offensive playbook to Florida, it's going to take awhile. Tennessee's formations and deployment continue to multiply from one week to the next and offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe promises more X-and-0 additions on Saturday when the fifth-ranked Vols visit No. 9 Florida. -f 'W- 'tf 1 ,.1 vl "It doesn't bother me that the list grows from week to week," Cutcliffe says. "We're going to carry a lot to this game." And while varied formations everything from a wishbone to a no-back set are a staple of UT's offensive philosophy, Cutcliffe believes the multiple manner in which the Vols line up is a great benefit at a noisy stadium like Florida Field.

"By using a lot of formations, we hope we can clearly define where the defense lines up," Cutcliffe said. "When you do that, it Tennessee at Florida When Saturday, 2:30 p.m. TV Channel 2 4 k. 1 -M 1 I ft1' 1 Some beat-the-rush Southeastern Conference football predictions and observations: Tennessee will win the SEC East beat SEC West titlist Alabama in the Championship Game, and meet Florida State in the Sugar Bowl in a No. 1 vs.

No. 2 matchup for the national championship. If Vanderbilt can beat Ole Miss this week it will go on to post its first winning season in 11 years. If Vandy loses Saturday, it's looking at another 5-6 or 4-7 year. If Mississippi State loses another game there won't be a bull safe within a 100-mile radius of Stark-ville.

You can hear Jackie Sherrill whetting his knife right now. It's good to see football officials putting the clamps on those goofy player "celebrations" after any score, big play or announcement that someone has left their lights on the parking lot The in-your-face histrionics had gotten out of hand. The way it was going, they were going to need Dick Clark to officiate. Players aren't allowed to dance or bleed anymore in college football. Both rules are wise and proper if the refs use some reason.

Ray Goff is in trouble. The next NFL scout to get caught in Athens, after sundown is in bigger trouble. Any writer who names the top SEC quarterbacks and includes Eric Zeier and Steve Taneyhill without mentioning Jay Barker should be forced to interview a bowl scout Forget including Heath Shuler in the above listing he's in a different time zone, talent-wise. Danny Ford will violate the SECs no-chewing rule before the season is over Ford won't be able to eschew a chaw. Alabama wasn't at all happy about being held to three points in the second half by Vanderbilt and that's why the Tide tried to shove over that last-second TD.

So far Ba-ma has played just well enough to get by Tulane and Vandy, it's going to have to pick it up if it hopes to win another national title. Nobody can blame Bama for wanting to score; but don't insult our intelligence by telling us that the Tide's first-team offense wasn't trying get the ball in the end zone on that dive with five seconds left Kentucky couldn't hold onto the lead over Florida for a final minute to secure its biggest football victory in years. That's why in football, Kentucky's Kentucky. Florida QB Terry Dean, the player Steve Spurrier back in July told us with a straight face might be better than Shane Mat- thews, threw four interceptions against Kentucky. He had to be yanked out of the game before he hit somebody in the stands.

Spurrier is either a terrible judge of quarterbacks or a terrific story-teller. Steve Taneyhill's mouth-run-neth-over act will wear thin with a few more South Carolina losses. Cocky is cute only if you're winning. LSU, Arkansas and Auburn have looked considerably better than expected after two games. Mississippi State and Georgia may flip for the Flop Award.

It's starting to dawn on coaches: Dun, playing the SEC Championship Game in Birmingham every year is like spotting the Crimson Tide six points each time it participates. Who would you rather have in the trenches: Billy "Dog" Brewer or "Sparky" Woods? Larry Woody is a sports writer and columnist (or The Tennessean. AP Braves' third-base coach Jimy Williams congratulates Ron Gant on his game-winning three-run blast. Gant's three-run homer rescues Atlanta, 7-6 makes it easier for every player on the offense, especially the quarterback, to recognize what the best running play or the best pass patterns are. "If you stick with three or four basic formations, the defense can give you a dozen different looks and it can create some indecision for the offense when you need to change the play." Florida defensive coordinator Ron Zook, a one-time Vol assistant, normally uses a variety of alignments and blitzes to force the action.

Cutcliffe's theory is that multiple offensive formations will force Zook to stick with more basic deployment or keep him from disguising his blitzes and pass coverages as effectively. "They're very multiple on defense, very creative," Cutcliffe said. "What I hope to do is get players in position to make plays. That's the whole idea of all the formations to get the offensive players in a position where they can show their skill and ability. "It's always a chess match on Saturday but it's more of a chess match when you've got a multiple offense against a multiple defense." But it will be a loud chess match.

UT's offense is practicing in front of blaring loud speakers to simulate the din of Florida Field, with QB Heath Shuler using hand signals to communicate at the line of scrimmage. "We have a system in place that we believe will help us communicate offensively, and our multiple formations are part of that system," Cutcliffe said. It puts pressure on Shuler, who must get the signal from the sideline, make sure he has the proper personnel in the huddle, relay the play, check the formation when he gets to the line and survey the defense all while the 25-second play clock is ticking. "There are so many things going on, so many things going through my mind," said Shuler, who admits that he occasionally forgets what snap count he called in the huddle and has to ask center Bubba Miller. "Sometimes I can't remember if I called it on one or on two.

I lean over and say, 'Bubba, what did I ATLANTA (AP) It may have been the biggest victory of the year for the Atlanta Braves. There's no doubt it was the biggest homer of Ron Gant's career. Gant's three-run homer capped a five-run ninth inning and Atlanta continued its amazing roll with a 7-6 win against Cincinnati last night The Braves have won seven of eight and 28 of 34 and are 3y2 games in front of San Francisco in the NL West The Giants earlier lost their eighth in a row, 3-1 to Chicago. "I feel like this is the biggest one of my career," said Gant, who took over the NL lead in RBIs with 107. "It helped us come back from four runs down and even in the game.

"I didn't deserve to be in there the way I've been pitching," said Dibble, whose ERA jumped to 5.90. Ryan Klesko hit a two-run homer off Johnny Ruffin with one out in the ninth to make it 6-4. Jeff Reardon came on for the Reds and allowed a double to Otis Nixon and a single to Jeff Blauser to bring on Dibble. The Reds broke a 1-1 tie against starter Kent Mercker in the sixth as Chris Sabo led off with a single. The Reds added three runs in the eighth against reliever Mark Wohlers on a two-run single by Juan Samuel and an RBI double by Brumfield.

BRAVES TONIGHT I Host Cincinnati. TV: 6:35 p.m., TBS. I Giants drop 31z behind, on 4C. gives us a cushion in the race. "I know the Giants had to be watching and to see us snatch this win puts a lot of pressure on them," said Gant (35 homers), who leaped several feet in the air when his liner on the first pitch from Rob Dibble (1-4) hit the top of the left field fence and skipped over.

Dibble, who has blown nine saves this season, including five for Reds starter Jose Rijo, didn't understand why he was 'Dean' Brewer gives Vanderbilt high marks By LARRY WOODY Sports Writer When Ole Miss Coach Billy Brewer says the current Commodore squad is the best Vanderbilt has fielded in years, he speaks from experience. Brewer is the dean of Southeastern Conference football coaches, and Saturday in Oxford he sends his Rebels (1-1) against VU (1-1) for the llth time. "Vanderbilt has its most mature, experienced team in my 11 years at Ole Miss," Brewer said yesterday. "They've got good quickness, strength, and better athletes on defense than they've had in the past It's the most Impressive Vanderbilt team I've seen in many years. "When you've got all those seniors, you've come sive secondary was riddled by Alabama last week.

"I'm sure they were disappointed with their coverage," he said. "But in all honesty, a lot of that was Alabama making some great catches." Vandy Coach Gerry DiNardo is 2-0 against Ole Miss. Last year at Dudley Field the Commodores won 31-9 in a game Brewer termed "unusual." "It was a game in which they made two big plays a long run and a blocked field goal, and with the exception of that we played well enough to win, defensively," Brewer said. "But give Vanderbilt credit; they were a very opportunistic team." The year before, in Oxford, Vandy converted a late turnover into a winning field to spring an upset Brewer later said his team never recovered from that loss. to the point in your program where now is the time to be successful." The Rebels, meanwhile, lost to Auburn in their opener, then blasted UT-Chattanooga last week.

"We're still trying to find our personality as a football team," said Brewer. "We played a lot of people last week and got some indication of who our backups will be. But we're still not intense and aggressive enough. We're a traditionally slow-starting team but we've gotta pick it up in a hurry. Vanderbilt represents a real test" Although VU is quickly earning a reputation as a team that can't pass, Brewer said his defense still has to be ready: "Your defensive backs had better be disciplined and not go to sleep." On the other side of the ball, Vanderbilt's defen Vanderbilt at Ole Miss When Saturday, 6 p.m.

Radio 1510-AM TV None Next week Vanderbilt hosts Auburn, 7 p.m. AROUND THE DIAL Baseball blackout? Small-market APPOINTMENTS Ted Power, the assistant sports edi RESULTS AMERICAN LEAGUE Milwaukee 15, N.Y. 5 Toronto 14, Detroit 8 Boston 6, Baltimore 5 Oakland 15, Minnesota 2 Texas 7, Cleveland 4 Chicago 10, K.C. (11) California 15, Seattle 1 NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago 3, San Fran. 1 Atlanta 7, Cincinnati 6 Pittsburgh 8, Florida 1 Philadelphia 6, N.Y.

3 St Louis 5, Montreal 4 Colorado 6, Houston 4 LA. 5, San Diego 4 EH till k'i clubs are threatening to black out all non-network home games next season as a way to force a revenue-sharing agreement. Then, the only games guaranteed on TV FOOTBALL, RACING A deaf man in Cleveland who says TV blackouts of home football games discriminate against deaf people has filed a $1.4 billion federal lawsuit against the NFL and networks ABC, NBC and CBS. TV broadcasts of home games are blacked out In local viewing areas If the contest doesn't sell out 72 hours before ktckoff. Mark Martin crashed at Martinsville, Va, during a practice session yesterday.

The car was a total loss, but Martin escaped serious injury. tor at The Tennessean, is the new managing editorsports. He will lead the department which was headed by Sports Editor John Bibb until his retirement In February. Also named: Jimmy Davy, senior writer, and David Climer. senior writ SECTION EDITORS Ted Power, Managing EditorSports, 254014.

Seniors Writers: Jimmy Davy, 2594022; David Climer, 259402a To report sports news: 259-8010. Sports fax machine: 259-8826. The Atlanta Braves will be in the National League East under division realignment and thus get the Florida Marlins rivalry they wanted. The Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to join the Central. Ih would be 12 national broadcasts on ABC and NBC, and 75 broadcasts on ESPN.

Such an action would hurt superstates such as TBS and WGN. Listings, 7C. er. On 4E. POWER.