The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 39

The Orlando Sentinel Wildcats' Gergley wins 150th in wild one, D-5 Saturday, September 17, 1988 0 OR wife- Browmiiirig Jerry Greene THE SPORTS COLUMN ASSOCIATED PRESS yf if I I i I I i II I ol I 1ft I -I -J 1 If A -f I- .7 1 V. j- beat them 5-0. Ryan is the all-time major-league no-hit leader with five. The last perfect game thrown in the National League was by Sandy Koufax of Los Angeles on Sept. 9, 1965, a 1-0 victory over Chicago.

Before Friday night's performance, Browning was best known for his fine rookie season in 1985 when he had a 20-9 record and became the first rookie in 30 years to win 20 games. The first perfect game on record was by J. Lee Richmond in 1880. Browning, 28, a native of Casper, was the Reds' No. 9 draft choice in 1982.

After his rookie season, Browning had a 14-13 record in 1986. He was 10-13 last season and spent part of the year in the minor leagues. Browning has won eight of his last nine decisions and has lost just two games since June 6. Browning got a decision for the first time in five starts this season against the Dodgers. He has allowed three earned runs or less in 25 of his 33 starts.

Dodger starter Tim Belcher (10-5) nearly matched Browning for the first five innings, allowing just a second-inning walk to Eric Davis. He lost his no-hitter and shutout when Barry Larkin broke doubled with two outs in the sixth. Chris Sabo followed with a high bouncer to third, and Jeff Hamilton's throw in the dirt eluded first baseman Mickey Hatcher for an error, allowing Larkin to score. The Dodgers maintained a seven-game lead over second-place Houston in the NL West and have a magic number of 10 to clinch the division. The Reds trail the Dodgers by 7W.

Boxes, roundups page D-3 CINCINNATI Cincinnati's Tom Browning pitched the 14th perfect game in major-league history Friday night, breezing past the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-0. Earlier this season, Browning flirted with a no-hitter, one of six broken up in the ninth inning this year. This time, he finished what he started for the first no-hitter in the major leagues since Milwaukee's Juan Nieves no-hit Baltimore, 7-0, April 15, 1987. In the ninth, Browning completed the no-hitter by getting Rick Dempsey on a fly ball to Paul O'Neill at the warning track in left field, Steve Sax on a grounder to shortstop and pinch-hitter Tracy Woodson on a strikeout to end the game. The Dodgers didn't come close to getting a hit, and Browning didn't need any luck to pitch this no-hittter.

Earlier this year, another Cincinnati pitcher came close to one when Ron Robinson was one strike away from a perfect game but yielded a single to Montreal's Wallace Johnson in the ninth. Nolan Ryan, Doug Drabek, Odell Jones and Mike Scott also had no-hitters broken up in the ninth inning this season. Browning (16-5) struck out seven and had the Dodgers well in hand all the way. Most of the balls hit were routine. He allowed eight balls to be hit out of the infield.

The last perfect game in the majors was by California's Mike Witt, a 1-0 victory over Texas on Sept. 30, 1984 the last day of the season. It was the first time the Dodgers had been no hit since Sept. 26, 1981, when Houston's Nolan Ryan ASSOCIATED PRESS Reds' Tom Browning was perfect Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. U.S.

swimmers will have luxury of personal coaches McDowell won't rest until Knights the best Some folks love diversity, the excitement of change. Not Gene McDowell. If he likes something he sticks with it. He likes successful football, and he likes the University of Central Florida, so he is sticking with both. And he is the bridge that is connecting one to the other.

Tonight, tonight won't be like any night. Those lyrics are from "The UCF Story," which is on the verge of being a hit in Orlando. Tonight the UCF Knights host Troy State, defending NCAA II champions. Troy State is ranked No. 1 in the country the Knights are No.

3. It doesn't take new math to figure out that the winner of tonight's game will be No. 1 in the country next week. McDowell, UCF athletic director and football coach, already has made his pick. "We're as much in awe of Troy State as Miami was of Florida State," McDowell said Friday over lunch at Ronnie's, his favorite restaurant for lunch for the past 22 years.

Is that any way for a coach to talk? The Trojans are in town. Those guys just might read this and then stick it on their locker-room wall. Where's the crying towel, Gene? Have you forgotten that the Trojans knocked your Knights out of the playoffs last year? Have you forgotten the score 31-10? Well, no, McDowell has not forgotten last year. But he ceased worrying about it long ago. And he has trouble shedding crocodile tears, because he believes in his team.

Ask him about the Knights, and his pride beats his common sense two out of three falls. "I don't think Troy State is better than we are. They have an outstanding team, but we think we have one, too. In fact, we are the best we have ever been in all respects." McDowell is talking about far more than being prepared to play one game with national ranking at stake. He's talking about a football program that almost died four years ago but now is close to being the best in its class.

Remember when the program had Bill Peterson as athletic director and Lou Sa-ban as coach? It wanted to go big time and wanted to do it now. The result was big losses and bigger debt. Saban did what he does best he split. Peterson held the fort and McDowell began to campaign for the job. Why? "In any industry there are three keys to success location, location and location.

What better location than Orlando?" True, but you've got to have a plan. McDowell has one. His plan is for the Knights to be the best they can be at one level before progressing to another. Right now they are trying to be the best NCAA II school in the nation and they are very close. Troy State is the only NCAA II opponent that has beaten them.

Soon they will advance to NCAA I-AA. And they will stay at that level until they master it. Then and only then will they consider taking the final step to join the Gators, Seminoles and Hurricanes in the collegiate big leagues. It's a good plan. All it requires is good athletes and good coaches, along with solid support from the faculty, student body and community.

The Knights have the athletes and coaches. Paul Lounsberry, for example, is the Knights' offensive-line coach. He's a young coach with a future but will not abandon UCF just for any other position. "Hey, if Notre Dame, Florida or FSU called, I would have trouble hanging up," Lounsberry said. "But look at most jobs I could get right now.

They might look like an advancement now, but in five years I'd be better off at UCF." The commitment from faculty, student body and community is growing steadily, too. Why? Because the Knights are winning. Another secret to success. So a large crowd should be at Florida Citrus Bowl-Orlando tonight to see UCF play for a No. 1 ranking.

But suppose the Knights should lose? It's doubtful the Trojans are just going to donate their national ranking to UCF's program, you know. A loss will be disappointing. And with some powerful NCAA I-AA schools still to come, a loss tonight could cost UCF a berth in the playoffs, along with that national ranking. That's reality. But a loss will not destroy the program because the program is real now, too.

If the Knights can't be the best NCAA II team in the nation this year, then they can try again next year. And when they are ready, they'll advance another step. Gene McDowell likes to do it that way. Why? Because it works, I By Bill Buchalter OF THE SENTINEL STAFF TODAY ON TELEVISION 4 p.m. Women's platform diving, men's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming, boxing preliminaries, volleyball, (L), 7:30 p.m.

Men's gymnastics, (L), 12:30 a.m. TODAY'S MAIN EVENTS Men's basketball, United States vs. Spain; China vs. Egypt, Canada vs. Brazil, Australia vs.

Puerto Rico, cycling, men's 100K team time trial, diving, women's prelims. sport. "It's the first time USS U.S. Swimming made the commitment to bring as many personal coaches as possible," Quick said. "The day has come where each individual athlete deserves his own coach." That day has turned into extra weeks of intensive training between coach and athlete, keeping to prescribed goals and training regimens that had prepared swimmers to make the team.

Quick is U.S. Swimming's National Team Coach as well as the new women's coach at Please see SWIM, D-11 SEOUL, South Korea It was a Quick decision but one that wasn't made in haste. When Olympic Swim Coach Richard Quick made the decision to include personal coaches in the Olympic family, he set in motion an idea most swimming coaches welcomed. "Richard made the decision four days into training camp, and we started scrambling," said Jeff Dimond, information director for U.S. Swimming, national governing body for the Seoul '88 THE SUMMER OLYMPICS VttilnH.

WH' NBA rookies to be tested for drugs FSU hopes to be heard in clash with Clemson By Barry Cooper OF THE SENTINEL STAFF By Melissa Isaacson is? OF THE SENTINEL STAFF WHEN: Today at 2:30 p.m. WHERE: At Memorial Stadium, Clemson, S.C. TV: at 2:30 p.m. RADIO: WWNZ-AM (740), Orlando. LINE: FSU by Vfr points.

WEATHER: Thunderstorms likey, high 83. Bowl records S7 10t fnciemsor? 8 Hr FSU --2 6:. PALM BEACH GARDENS -When NBA training camps open next month, rookies will be handed more than a playbook. They will be tested for cocaine and heroin abuse, and players who test positive immediately will be suspended for one year without pay. The program, announced by the NBA during the opening day of the league meetings, is aimed at curbing the number of players who enter the NBA already addicted to drugs.

Commissioner David Stern said the league gained permission from the players union to implement the plan. Each rookie will be tested by urinalysis, but the date of the tests won't be announced. Players who test positive will have to undergo treatment before being reinstated. But no matter how quickly the player is rehabilitated, his suspension will be for one year. "This step is further evidence that our players recognize that the drug problem is one that both sides A season-saver is not exactly what the Florida State Seminoles had planned for Week No.

3. But here they are, heading into Clemson, S.C. the famed Death Valley before an expected crowd of 83,000 and a national television (CBS, WCPX-Ch. 6) audience, trying strangely to salvage an already disappointing year. "A loss would knock us out of the national picture," FSU Coach Bobby Bowden said.

"A 1-2 record won't do it." And a victory? "It would put us back in a favorable light with me," he said. "I'd feet a lot better about us, and it would be a big confidence-builder for us. It would re-emphasize the fact that we were not ready to play against Miami when we thought we were." It will be the first time that two top 10 teams have met in Clemson. The No. 10 Seminoles are looking to stay in the rankings after a 31-0 drubbing to Miami followed by an easy victory against Southern Miss, but the No.

3 Tigers have more important things on their minds, something the Seminoles can relate to a national championship. Clemson could be playing for that title at the Citrus Bowl in Or- Please see GAME, D-6 cl I Wins Losses Ties Wjn percentages: I Clemson: .643 FSU: .559 BRENOA WEAVER PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Danny Ford, Clemson have been successful in bowl games. VI UAH' Please see NBA, D-8 1.