The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 47

Section THE MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER AND ALABAMA JOURNAL. SUNDAY, MAY 22. 1988 6 Riddle: e- cane, "but we felled PHILLIP MARSHALL Delta eliminates Troy; Gamecocks in driver's seat By REGGIE BENSON Advertiser Sports Writer CLEVELAND, Miss. Delta State defeated Troy State 9-7 in the losers' bracket Saturday to knock the Trojans out of the South Central Regional tournament and deny them a chance to win their third straight NCAA Division II national championship. In the second game, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks moved closer to securing its fourth World Series' bid with a 13-3 victory over Central Missouri State.

CMSU's game with Delta State was rained out, forcing the Gamecocks to wait until today to determine their next opponent. JSU will meet the winner of the Delta State-Central Missouri game today at 4 p.m. for the region title. Should another game be necessary, it will be played Monday. It was -the first time since 1977 a Troy State team had lost its first two games in a regional tournament.

In 1977, in the South Regional at Lakeland, the Trojans lost to Eckerd College and Florida Southern. "WE CAME, but we failed," Troy State Head Coach Chase Riddle said. "Year-in and year-out we've gone to the regional tournament. And we've won it the last four years against four good teams every year. "But when the competition is real keen you have to play well and we didn't play as well as we can play.

We're not a great ball-club, but we're not as bad as we showed in the tournament." Second baseman Lou Henry said the Trojans were not supposed to win. "We had a few bad innings," Henry admitted. "We couldn't get a few big hits and we gave up some big innings. It's hard to explain it just wasn't meant to be. "You can't blame anybody.

But we didn't make the plays and you can't win if you don't make the plays." Delta State touched Troy State starter David Wuthrich for a run in the first, two in the second, one in the third and broke it open with four runs in the fourth. WITH DELTA State leading 4-2 in the fourth, the Statesmen went to work. Brian Cooke walked to open the inning. Mike Patterson sacrificed him to second and Mike Posey walked to put runners on first and second. Mike Kraft then hit a double play ball to shortstop Steve Fanning, but Henry threw the ball away at first, allowing Cooke to score for a 5-2 Delta State lead.

Scooter Tucker popped up in the infield, but it dropped in between four Trojans for a single and Kraft scored from second base for a 6-2 DSU advantage. Doug Brown then followed with a two-run homer to left for an 8-2 Delta State lead. Rodney Brooks relieved Wuthrich and got Mark Hayes to ground out to end the inning. "When you get behind, it's tough to play catch up," Riddle said. "We gave them five outs one inning and four another and when you do that, it's tough to win.

But our kids have nothing to be ashamed of. I didn't think we were out of it until the last out. If we could have got one in the air, we would have been back in the game." After the Statesmen scored one in the fifth to make it 9-3, Troy State began to rally. Henry walked to open the fifth and Lamar Smallwood doubled to left to put runners on second and third. After Fanning struck out, Brian Dunn doubled to score Henry and Smallwood and trim the score to 9-5.

Mark Dempsey reached on an error. Rick Shackle then relieved DSU starter Doug King. Steve Eaton grounded out to third to score Dunn to make it 9-6. That score lasted until the ninth. With one out, Brian Dunn singled to right.

John Maxwell, pinch running for Dunn, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Tucker. Please see GAMECOCKS, 2D tar oses top Upends Winning Colors for Preakness crown Knight's actions stir people up If Indiana Head Basketball Coach Bobby Knight did nothing else in his flirtation with New Mexico, he certainly got a lot of people stirred up. I commented in this space on Tuesday that New Mexico was fortunate Knight had decided to stay in Bloomington. Some people didn't agree, and they made their feelings known. Here are a couple of examples: Stephen Thompson of Prattville wrote: "I am absolutely outraged over your article about Robert Montgomery Knight.

This man is a winner. Maybe you have a problem with winners. All these incidents occurred because someone tried to push Knight over the edge. "If New Mexico had Knight, then the Lobos would be a national power. That's the facts.

Knight basketball is the best basketball. Maybe you're still angry because his team whipped your team in the NCAAs. The bottom line is that you don 't understand Knight. "One night with Knight and he would be your favor-. ite person in the world.

"By the way, how did an Alabama graduate become such an Auburn athletic supporter?" I HAVE absolutely no problem with winners, but I like winners who win with class. Knight can't live up to the same discipline he demands of others. As for someone trying to push him over the edge, I'd say he must be pretty easily pushed. As for Knight's team whipping "my team," the only team I have plays in the East Montgomery pre-minor baseball league. I have spent some time around Knight, and he still is not my favorite person in the world.

As for the parting shot of being an "Auburn athletic supporter," that's too silly to deserve an answer. Mark Hope of Montgomery wrote: "I would like for you to read the sports editorial about Bobby Knight that you wrote in The Advertiser 5-17-88, and then read the Associated Press release. "The articles speak for themselves. "I can't believe that you are going to tarnish a man who has produced three national titles, one NIT title and one USA Olympic gold medal team. "Please think of the influence he has on people, the winners in life he produces.

In reading your editorial, there are no winners, only losers the image put in the eye of the public. I am presently sending compies of this letter and the sports front page on 5-17-88 to Bloomington and Indianapolis. I DO THINK of the influence Knight has on people. I wonder what kind of influence a man is who can't control his temper, who says a four-letter word beginning with is his favorite in the English language because it is the most versatile, who pulls his team off the floor because he doesn't like the officiating, who attacks policemen, who attacks fans, who trivializes rape. Maybe you think that influence is good.

I think it stinks, regardless of how many championships the man has won. P.S. Send it on. BALTIMORE (AP) Risen Star, a strapping colt from way down yonder in New Orleans, turned the Preakness into the Baltimore blues for Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors. Risen Star, whose trainer and co-owner had been reluctant to enter him, took the lead approaching the quarter pole and went on to beat Brian's Time by 1 lengths Saturday at Pimlico.

Winning Colors finished another VA lengths back and 2V4 lengths ahead of Private Terms, failing in her bid to become the first filly to win two Triple Crown races. HER LOSS also meant yet another year without a Triple Crown winner. There hasn't been one since Affirmed in 1978. Ronnie Lamarque, who owns Risen Star with trainer Louie Roussel III, stood in the winner's circle and sang a tribute to his victorious colt to the tune of "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans," and then cut loose with "New York, New York." New York and the 154-mile Belmont Stakes on June 11 is where Risen Star is headed. Winning Colors will also start in the Belmont and will become only the second filly to run in all three Triple Crown races.

The only one so far was 1980 Derby winner Genuine Risk, who finished second in each of the other two races. "I'm disappointed that we lost. I'm not disappointed in the way she ran," said the filly's trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The Belmont could be the battle of the bonus.

A $1 million bonus is paid to the horse that collects the most Triple Crown points, based on five for a win, three for second and one for third. Risen Star, third in the Derby, and Winning Colors each If: AP wirepholo Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye sits atop Risen Star Star won the Preakness Saturday at Pimlico have six points. Brian's Time and Forty Niner each have three. Lukas also felt things might have been different if the Preaknesshad been run on a fast track. The track was muddy for the first six races and the condition was then changed to good.

THE TRACK WAS muddy the last few days and looked like a swamp Saturday morning. "This is the best racehorse I've had in 20 years, and I don't want to run him on an off-track if I don't have to," said Roussel, who had entered Risen Star on Thursday only after a visit from Frank DeFran-cis, the Pimlico president, Wednesday night. Lamarque, on the other hand, wanted Risen Star to race and said, "I just can't wait to see his face when the big horse comes across the finish first and Louie Roussel is recognized as a great trainer, which he is." "The thrill is the greatest in the world," said Roussel, the majority stockholder of the Fairgrounds race track in New Orleans. Risen Star paid $15.60, $7.80 and $4 and earned $403,700 for his fifth victory in seven starts this year. Brian's Time, ridden by Angel Cordero, returned $6.40 and $3.60.

He had been sixth in the Derby. Winning Colors, ridden by Gary Stevens, was $3.40 to show. Risen Star raced 1 3-16 miles in 1:56 1-5. Completing the order of finish in the $536,200 race were Cefis, Regal Classic, Forty Niner, Sorry About That and Finder's Choice. Each starter carried 126 pounds except the filly, who carried 121.

3 wins lift Colts to title By ROBERT DAWSON Journal Sports Writer SELMA When the Hooper Academy baseball team lost its first game in the APSA state baseball tournament, the Colts knew they had a long, hard road ahead of them if they were to capture the championship. But Hooper fought to stay alive in the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tournament, and Saturday night at Bolch Park the upstart Colts completed the improbable task of winning three games in one day. The last victory was a 3-2 victory over Morgan Academy that gave Hooper its first state baseball championship. To get to the final game, the Colts defeated Glenwood 5-4 and Morgan 4-2 earlier in the day. Hooper, by virtue of being in the losers' bracket, had to defeat the previosly unbeaten Senators twice.

AGAINST GLENWOOD, Bart Pascal singled home the game-winning run in the sixth inning while Steven Helms came on in relief to pitch 6'Ascoreless innings to get the win. In the opener against Morgan, Jimmy Messick tossed an eight-hitter to give Hooper a 4-2 win, setting the stage for the dramatic finale. Carroll McGuire went the distance in the championship game for his second win of the tournament, but it was right fielder Bill Sellers' game-saving play in the bottom of the seventh that allowed the Colts to win. With Hooper holding its slim 3-2 lead, Morgan rallied in the seventh and had runners at second and third with one out. Morgan's Larry Jones then hit a sinking line drive to right field, but Sellers charged full speed, made the catch, and fired to second to get Felding Watts out and complete the double play that gave Hooper the title.

"It took strength and courage and faith, which only comes from the Lord," said weary but elated Hooper Head Coach Johnny Butler. "Nobody thought we could win three in a row. These kids have shown so much courage and they have done so much work. Bill Sellers made some kind of play to end the game, and McGuire, Messick, Helms all did great jobs. This was really something." Hooper drew first blood in the champi- Please see HOOPER, 2D FOR A WHILE, Colorado Head Coach Bill McCartney thought he'd pulled off one of the ing coups of the year.

According to McCartney, offensive lineman Ed King of Phenix City committed to play for Colorado. Generally considered the top prospect in Alabama and one of the top offensive line prospects in the country, King signed with Auburn. "He said he was coming," said McCartney, who was here Tuesday to speak to the Jimmy Hitchcock Award banquet. "He still had a visit to Auburn left, and he said he was going to try to get out of it. When he went on and visited, we knew we might be in trouble." McCartney said Colorado contacted King in the process of contacting the top 100 players in the country.

McCartney called him when he was in Montgomery for the Blue-Gray All Star Football Classic. "We told him we just wanted him to visit and see what he thought," McCartney said. "There's a lot of pressure on a kid like that, but he's his own man. He visited and he really liked it. We thought we were going to get him." But Auburn, the school next door, got him instead.

"He's going to be a great one," McCartney said. "He can start as a freshman." i1 rn Ml LANIER LEADERS Patterson, Fuller top 6A All-Metro More all-stars, 4D By ROBERT DAWSON Journal Sports Writer When the Sidney Lanier baseball team opened the 1988 season with an 0-5 record, Robert Fuller and DeJuan Patterson were simply hoping to achieve respectability. As it turned out, the Poets caught fire, gained confidence, and advanced as far as the state semifinals, where they were defeated by Satsuma. But even with that defeat, Lanier advanced farther than any other area team, and along the way managed to do what no other team had done all season defeat Central of Phenix City. And as a fitting end to that impressive campaign, Fuller and Patterson have been named the Montgomery Advertiser and Alabama Journal's 6A All-Metro Coach and Player of the Year, respectively, as voted by their peers.

IN ADDITION TO Patterson, Lanier placed three other players Steve Hicks, E.J. Brophy and Clemmon Barlow on the 6A All-Metro team. Jeff Davis had the most players voted to the squad, with Robby Robinson, Tim Miller, Jeff Crane, Jeff Mackin, Mike Horn and Darrell McCain a.11 picking up All-Metro honors. Robert E. Lee's Billy Russell and Jeff Tarver, along with Carver's Marvin Richards, round out the squad.

Fuller, who guided the Poets to their highest finish since assuming the coaching duties at Lanier, was honored by the award, but said there were many other people behind the scenes who also contributed. "I'm more than pleased that the coaches voted me this honor," Fuller said. "It feels real good. But behind the Lanier baseball team 'is another team who really supported us. Please see FULLER, 2D McCARTNEY HAS coached Colorado out of the Big Eight's second division in recent years with the help of the wishbone offense.

But McCartney is not one who believes the wishbone is the greatest offense ever invented. "Where I am with all that, is I believe the wishbone has a lot of inherent advantages," McCartney said. "However, I don't believe the wishbone will enable you to move the ball against a great defense. Look what happened to Oklahoma against Miami. "We will keep wishbone personnel in the game, but we run from a variety of formations.

We are flexible." i i Journal photo by Jay Sailors DeJuan Patterson, left, Coach Robert Fuller share thought pair led Lanier to the AHSAA 6A semifinals 6A All-Metro TROY STATE has finished what surely must be one of the great years in Division II history. The Trojans already have won a national championship in football and reached the final four in basketball. They reached the NCAA South Central Regional in baseball before being eliminated. They finished sixth nationally in golf. It was a disappointment for the Trojans to fall short of a fourth consecutive Division II World Series appearance and third consecutive national baseball championship, but this has still been a year to remember.

Take a bow, along with your coaches and athletes. Athletic Director Robert Earl Stewart. You deserve it. School Ht. Wt.

Class P-Steve Hicks Lanier 5-11 175 Soph. P-Robby Robinson JD 6-5 215 Jr. IB-Tim Miller JD 6-2 185 Jr. 2B-Jeff Crane JD 5-8 150 Jr. 3B-MikeHorn JD 5-10 170 Soph.

SS-Jeff Mackin JD 6-1 170 Jr. Brophy Lanier 6-2 210 Sr. OF-Darreli McCain JD 6-4 175 Jr. OF-Clemmon Barlow Lanier 6-1 180 Sr. OF-Marvin Richards Carver 5-10 165 Jr.

U-Billy Russell Lee 5-10 165 Jr. DH-Jeff Tarver Lee 5-8 155 Sr. SPEAKING OF the Division II World Series, tickets are on sale and moving well. The tournament gets under way Friday afternoon. Even without Troy State, it will be five days of excellent college baseball.

Player of the Year DeJuan Patterson, Lanier Coach of the Year Robert Fuller, Lanier Honorable Mention: David Mainor, Lee; Brad Edge, Lee; John Gluschick, Lee; Bert Mabra, Lanier; Craig Sides, Jeff Davis; Blake Parrott, Prattville; Shane White, Prattville; James Witcher, Carver; Trent Hollan, Carver; Cedric Johnson, Carver. The writer is sports editor of The Advertiser..