Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi • 11

Thursday, April 25, 1991 Hattiesburg AMERICAN 1 Quotable: "I was struggling last year, too, until I got to Firestone. I had won just over $20,000 to that point but picked it up from there. What disappoints me this year is that I did a lot of exercising to get in good shape for the winter tour, and all that hard work did not translate into success." Dave Ferraro, defending champion at the Pro Bowlers Association Firestone Tournament of Champions, on his struggles on the PBA Tour so far this year. Scoreboard, 2B Living, 4B Television, 5B Classified, 6-1 OB agles whip State, cast eyes on NCAA every inning. The first dozen came against the good pitchers.

Our confidence level is at a high now." Standouts and records abounded Wednesday. Consider: Senior right fielder Todd Nace set a school mark by getting a hit in his 24th straight game. Senior right-hander Mark Carson (7-2) won his fifth straight game and has not lost in the month of April. Senior second baseman Scotty Jurich moved past Ive Burnett to be come USM's all-time leader in runs scored (166) when he scored on Larry Wesson's sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. Junior reliever Tony Phillips kept adding to his own record for saves in a season notching his 10th.

USM pounded out 16 hits and had at least one hit in The Golden Eagles have 11 games left, seven in Hat-tiesburg. "We need to get up around 38 wins before the (Metro Conference) Tournament and that's tough with what we've got left," USM coach Hill Denson said. "We don't have a dog on the schedule. If we continue to play good baseball te rest of the season, the committee's got to look on us favorably on us. On April 4, the Golden Eagles stood at 16-16 after losing the first two games of a seven-game road trip.

USM has lost only two games since. "We've got the talent. The talent's there," USM junior third baseman Bill Selby said. "I think our confidence was in question. Now, we've proven we can beat the good teams.

We've proven that we beat the USM-State box, 2B By MIKE KNOBLER Gannett News Service STARKVILLE The University of Southern Mississippi has a point to make to the NCAA baseball committee. The red-hot Golden Eagles want a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, and they have spent the last three weeks making their case. USM won for the 14th time in 16 games by downing Mississippi State 7-1 Wednesday before 2,679 at Dudy Noble Stadium. The victory pushed USM to 30-18 on the year. State fell to 30-15.

Bulldogs' top two Southeastern Conference starters B.J. Wallace (8-3) and Chris George. Three other State pitchers followed. "I don't think any one. of them really pitched bad," State coach Ron Polk said.

USM just hit well. Eight of the nine starters collected hits and all nine reached base. Selby went five-for-five. Seven different Golden Eagles scored. Meanwhile, Carson and Phillips handcuffed the Bulldogs.

State managed only six hits and did not score until Pete GammiU's RBI double in the eighth inning. State and USM meet again next Tuesday and Wednesday at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. 24 Dins shed at age USM adds five to Sports Hall USM's Graves learns painful lesson in pros USM Spring Fling Friday 11 a.m. USM Spring Football-Media Golf Tournament, Hattiesburg Country Club. 7 p.m.

M-Club Hall of Fame Banquet, Jackie Dole Sherrill Center. Saturday 9 a.m. Track, USM vs. New Orleans, Hattiesburg High School track. 1 p.m.

Football, Black and Gold game, Roberts Stadium. 3:30 p.m. Baseball, USM vs. Cincinnati doubleheader, Pete Taylor Park. A $10 ticket is good for admission to both the football and baseball games and either a crawfish or sausage plate.

From Special Reports Four former University of Southern Mississippi football standouts and the Golden Eagles current head basketball coach will be inducted into the M-Club Sports Hall of Fame Friday night at 7 at the Jackie Dole Community Center. The new inductees include Bill Davis (football 1966, 1969-70), Larry Harrington Jr. (football 1976-78, baseball 1979-80), Glen Howe (football 1980-83), Earl Marshall (football 1956-57) and USM basketball coach M.K. Turk (1976-). The new members bring the Hall's total to 174 enshrinees.

Davis lettered in 1966, went into the service for a year before returning for the 1969-1970 seasons. A linebacker, he intercepted four passes in his final two seasons. He was elected defensive captain by his teammates in 1970. Davis is married to the former Brenda Talbert and the couple has two sons, Clay and Drew. Harrington lettered three years as a starter in football and two more as a baseball starter.

He joins his father, Larry, and uncle, Mickey, in the Hall of fame. Harrington is married to the former Rose Marie DiFatta and the couple has two sons, John and Zack. Howe lettered four years as a Golden Eagle and was a ninth-round draft pick by the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League. He played with the Falcons, Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets before retiring in 1989. Howe is married to the former Terri Lee and the couple has a daughter, Katie.

Marshall played only two seasons at USM, but they were two of the best in school history. After playing I By CHUCK ABADIE AMERICAN Sports Editor The Kenny Graves story is the kind that should make every Little League and high school baseball coach think twice before asking a player to do that precious extra for the sake of victory. Graves, a superb athlete in high school at North Forrest from 1983-85 and a steady performer for four years at the University of Southern Mississippi from 1986-69, was an exceptional composite player with very few weaknesses on the diamond. He always had enormous enthusiasm for the game he loved the most. Desire and intensity were his most striking elements.

On March 30 of this year, Graves officially retired from professional baseball at the age of 24. "I've cried twice in my life when it was related to sports," Graves said. "The first was when I made the final out of the (1989) Metro Conference Tournament on a pitiful call by the umpire." The second was when he told Jerry Hunsicker, the director of minor league operations for the New York Mets, on March 29, that "I was retiring." The reason: Sore right arm. The limb that had helped him achieve a remarkable record for durability in high school as a pitcher and helped him reach the professional level as a catcher was gone. The pain in his elbow, which he admits today existed as far back as his high school playing days, became so bad he couldn't take it anymore.

Surgery to remove a bone spur last October provided only brief relief. When he reported for training camp at Port St. Lucie, in February, the pain was still there every time he threw. The doctors couldn't find the problem. They gave him a cortisone shot for pain, which Graves remembers vividly.

"The doctor had a three-inch needle," Staff, USM photos FORMER USM baseball standout Kenny Graves shows his stroke during his college playing career. Graves, who also starred at North Forrest High, has retired from pro basball after less than two seasons because of an arm injury. at East Central Junior College, Marshall was a member of the 1956 and 1957 Mississippi Southern College teams that went 8-1-1 and 7-2, respectively. Both squads played in the Tangerine Bowl. Marshall and wife, Bobbie, have sent three sons to USM: Michael Earl, Mickey Lee and Robert Wayne.

A graduate of Livingston (Ala.) University, Turk has led the Golden Eagles to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Prior to the NCAAs, USM had made four postseason trips to the National Invitation Tournament. The Golden Eagles won the 1987 NIT crown. Turk has compiled a 233-191 record in 15 seasons and has coached more games (424) than other Gold- See HALL, page3B Graves said. "I turned my head.

I couldn't watch it. He stuck me with it and when he finally found the spot, I couldn't believe it. It hurt so much." After waiting 72 hours, Graves tried to throw again. It felt fine at first, but then when he tried to put some muscle behind it the pain returned. Every day for two weeks, the pain stayed with him.

"After all that, they said, 'we can give you another I talked to my parents (Tommy and Shirley Graves) and they left it up to me. I refused it," he said. "And I didn't want another surgery. Maybe it would have helped, but I didn't feel it was best for me." So he came home to common grace followed him through his high school career at North Forrest, where he helped lead the Eagles to three straight state championships in baseball. Graves was the ultimate player in high school.

He hit for both percentage and power. He was flawless in the field, possessed a great arm, good instincts and rarely made a mental error. His record as a pitcher was well documented. He was an eye-popping 31-2 in three years. His earned-run-average was below 3.00.

As Graves looks back on all those accomplishments, he can only speculate and possibly see See GRAVES, page 3B Today, nearly a month has passed since that time and the pain in Graves' arm won't go away. "It still hurts me just to dry my hair in the morning," he said. "There is something else in there," Graves said grasping his elbow. "I haven't gone to another doctor to check it out." Graves was a relentless competitor throughout his playing days in organized baseball. At the age of 11, he played in the Dixie Youth World Series as a pitcher and shortstop.

At 14, he played in the Dixie Boys World Series. He was a Dixie Majors all-star for four years. His reputation for being a clutch hitter and athlete of un USM Sports Hall of Famers Meridian stops Hattiesburg, 5-1 Larry Harrington, Jr. Earl Marshall M.K. Turk I 10 ground-ball outs.

The Wildcats made five errors, four on grounders. Morgan struck out one and had 12 ground-ball outs. HHS committed two errors. "Matt was not on top of his game but he has such great courage he hung in there," Pierce said. "We also made some great defensive plays, by Robert Dews and Pat Peterson." Peterson hit two singles, Jason Milsap had a double and Ben Vance a single for Hattiesburg.

Brad Vance, who had at least one hit in each of Hattiesburg's first 20 games, had his streak stopped. He flew out to left field twice and hit into a fielder's choice. For Meridian, McCoy finished with three singles and Driskoll hit two singles. in a game of ground balls and nice defensive plays until the seventh inning, when the Wildcats tacked on their final three runs. McCoy singled, McCleon walked and both scored on Henry Tanksley's triple to right-center field.

Driskoll's second single of the night made it 5-1, Meridian. "The rain had kept us inside the past eight days so I was real impressed with the way we hung in there with a good baseball team," McFarland said. "I felt that if we could have held Meridian in the first inning, the game might have turned out different," Pierce said. "But looking at it from the other side, if Meridian could have scored some of their baserunners they left on we could have got beat worse." Hickman struck out four and had the seventh inning, and had the host Tigers hitting the ball on the ground throughout the game. "We concentrated on keeping the pitches down," Meridian coach Bill McFarland said.

"We know Hattiesburg can scream the ball into the alleys if you get it waist-high. We wanted to keep it down at the knees." The game was a pitching duel between Hickman (6-1) and Hat-tiesburg's Matt Morgan (9-1) until the seventh inning. Meridian scored twice in the first inning on an error and singles by Marcus McCoy, Dexter McDleon and Norman Driskoll. Hattiesburg came back with a run in the second inning. Pat Peterson drove in the unearned run with the first of his two singles.

Hickman and Morgan hooked up By ALAN HINTON AMERICAN Sports Writer The Meridian Wildcats jumped into first place in Division 5-AAAAA Wednesday night with a 5-1 baseball win over Hattiesburg High at Harrington Park. Meridian improved to 16-5 overall and 3-1 in Division 5-AAAAA action. Hattiesburg fell to 14-7 and 3-2. Brandon also has two division losses "It's anybody's ballgame now," Hattiesburg coach Jim Pierce said. "If Brandon was to beat Meridian (next Tuesday) and we beat Mur-rah (next Tuesday), there would be a three-way tie for first place.

"If Meridian beats Brandon, then Meridian would be No. 1 and we would be No. 2." Pitcher Richard Hickman limited Hattiesburg to only four hits, two in A Glen Howe Bill Davis 1 Shaw fights Hattiesburg's Brian Shaw (right) will be among the U.S. boxing team members that will take on a Canadian team in a dual meet Friday at Biloxi. PAGE 3B kThe Portland Trail Blazers have been installed as favorites to win the NBA title, according to USA TODAY oddsmaker Danny Sheridan.

The Blazers, who finished the regular season with the league's best record, are 3-1 favorites. Second choice is Chicago at 4-1, followed by the L.A. Lakers at 5-1, Boston at 6-1, San Antonio at 8-1 and Detroit at 10-1. 6:30 p.m. Major league baseball (Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati), WGN.

6:30 p.m. Bowling (LPBT Fair Lanes Open), ESPN. 7 p.m. NBA playoffs (New York at Chicago), TNT. 8 p.m.

Boxing (Todd Foster vs. Oscar Lopez, lightweights), ESPN. 9:30 p.m. NBA playoffs (Houston at Los Angeles Lakers), TNT. iUSM safety Kerry Valrie is expected in Detroit today to sign a free-agent contract with the Lions of the NFL.

Also, USM cornerback Ben Washington met with Atlanta officials Wednes-day. The New York Giants also are interested. Other state free agents: Ole Miss defensive tackle Doug Jacobs (Denver) and Delta State fullback Fred Word (Cleveland). Chicago 1, St. Louis 0 Houston 1 Cincinnati 0 Los Angeles 8, Atlanta 4 BOX SCORES, 2B College scores USM 7, Miss.

State 1 Carey 1.DSU0 (1st) DSU 6, Carey 2 (2nd) Ole Miss 4, Miss. College 1 SLU5, MVSU2(1st) (2nd) JSU 3, Nicholls State 0 AL scores Minnesota 7, Oakland 4 California 9, Seattle 5 Toronto 6, Boston 1 Texas 8, Milwaukee 2 Kansas City 4, Cleveland 2 Baltimore 5, Chicago 1 STANDINGS, 2B NL scores San Fran. 6, San Diego 1 Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1 New York 7, Philadelphia 3 Tough split Nick Hillman and Stanley Pierce combined to shut out Delta State Wednesday in the first game of doubleheader. PAGE 3B Final fling The USM football team conducted its final full-scale scrimmage Wednesday prior to the spring game Saturday. PAGE 3B.