The Daily Times from Salisbury, Maryland • 11

Salisbury, Md, Tuesday, January 15, 1991 THE DAILY TIMES Page 11 idle Redskins dreaiii of the HP Dave Broushton With erratic 1990 behind, time to think of improvement I IE UNDO Va. (AP) The Washington Redskins tried to The) last seven ffamea. I don't think anvhoHu mithlf put a frustrating playoff loss behind them Monday and take We had some tough teams to play and I felt goodabout that, their up-and-down season at a hopeful sign for things to We had our inconsistencies, but there were reasons." Gibbs come. said. "There's a lot of satisfaction," said offensive tackle Jim Barker bleeds blue Lachey, the only Kadi; tun to make the All-Pro team.

"We beat some good teams and achieved some of our goals, making the playoffs and beating the Eagles once we got in. We took a step closer, got a taste of It and hopefully we'll get there," They said it was realistic for the Redskins, who started out 5-3 before losing twice to the NFC East champion New York Giants in four weeks, to take serious aim at the division title next season. rrhe goings-on in the world nale, when a defensive line that was rebuilt during the year held the 49ers to just 46 yards rushing on 24 carries and 70 yards passing in tne second half. But Rypien. in his second season as the starter Interrupted seven weeks by a knee injury, threw 13 interceptions in his final six games.

Rypien rejected a contract offer and said he would play out his option, but his season reflected the Redskins' roller coaster. He followed a solid effort against the Eagles with 361 yards throwing against the 49ers, then threw three interceptions late in the game and deep in San Francisco territory that cost Washington a shot at the defending champions. "He's played some of the better games that have been played in the NFL this year," Gibbs said. "We also know he's capable of playing less than that Rypien, 20-12 as a starter, will be the Redskins starting auarterback going Into training camp. But Gibbs left open ie possibility for backup Stan Humphries to win the job.

"It can be done," Gibbs said. "We're not where we've had a quarterback who led us to the Super Bowl who we have no doubts about We don't have a Joe Theismann situation. It's closer than that." "Once training camp starts, I'll be competing for No. 1," said Humphries. I love the area, I love this team, but now I want to go in there and fight for the No.

1 job." "We took a step up and obviously we have to take another one," coach Joe Gibbs said after their year-end team meet- Despite finishing 104 for the second year in a row, Washington made the playoffs for the first time since 1987 and won its wild card game in Philadelphia before Joe Montana ended their season with Saturday's 28-10 loss in San Francisco. The loss left a bad taste with players who thought they could have won the final same, which was 21-10 in the third auarter when Mark Rypien threw three interceptions. But iey had said before the season that their goal was to get back in the playoffs and did that plus a little more. They got into the playoffs by beating Miami, Chicago and Buffalo in the last five weeks and were against playoff teams. "Last year we were criticized when we were 104 and people said we didn't play anybody," Gibbs said.

"This year, everybody has a good evaluation of our football team. We played almost everybody, except for a couple of the top tea- "For the younger guys, we had a feeling of how close we were to the Super end Jimmle Johnson said. "We beat (the 49ers) statistically all over the field, but a play here or there makes the difference." But many of the questions they had at the beginning of the season remained during their erratic course and remained in the loss at San Francisco. The defense, thought suspect going In, essentially carried the Redskins in the closing weeks. That held true in the fi of sports mean little -JL compared to those of the world of war.

But what better way to take a short break from it all than by talking about Salisbury's Tim Barker, a young American who's a dream: lie's being paid for playing baseball, our country national pastime. Barker has been home the last few months getting prepared for his third season as a professional baseball player. A sixth-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988 out of Virginia Commonwealth University, has been a shortstop in the Dodgers chain the past two seasons. Barker, 22, is optimistic about his future with the Dodgers. He had an excellent season last year in Class A Bakersfield.

Beina used at -every spot in the batting order 17 points in fourth quarter subdues North Dorchester except cleanup. Barker nit .271 with eight home runs and "about 63 RBI." In addition, Barker stole 35 bases, displaying that all-important characteristic for a middle infielder (unless you're Cal Ripken): speed. Barker should have a new By DAVE BROL'GHTON Daily Timet SporU Writer home this spring, and it should he San Antonio, Texas, where 7 the Class 2A San Antonio Dodgers reside. Barker was Informed this week that his contract has been sent from -Bakersfield to San Antonio. "It a good start, but I still have to make the team in SALISBURY The Wicomico High boys' basketball team hasn't been playing well lately, and Monday's contest with North Dorchester was no different.

But when it counted, junior point guard Chad Gillespie came to the rescue. Gillespie scored 17 of his team-high 23 points in the final quarter to help the Indians hold off sn upset bid by the scrappy Eagles and post a 75-67 victory In Bayside Conference action here. The win upped the Indians overall record to 7-6 while tne Eaglet dropped to 6-5. Gillespie hit on 8-of ll shots from the field and 7-of-9 free throws to pace the Indians, who trailed at halftime 33-31. Larry Austin added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the winners while Ryan Jones had a season-high 14 points.

Derrick Shrieves helped on the boards with 11 rebounds to go with seven points. But it was Gillespie who took over for Wi spring training," Barker said Monday morning. "But at least they think I can make the club. It's a good step." Barker, a former Wicomico High star, had planned on honing his skills in Australia i at The Indians had erased the two-point half-time deficit with a 20-13 run in the third period and led by three, 51-48, going Into the fourth quarter. But Bryan Farrow (eight Eoints) and Kenny Williams (six points) ept the Eagles in the hunt with a Farrow basket tying the game at 58-58 with 5:11 remaining.

The teams were tied 64-64 with 2:37 left before the Indians closed out the game with an 11-3 spurt as Gillepsie supplied six points, Austin and Shrieves a pair of foul shots each and Ryan Jones a single free throw. Wi lli hit on 6-of-8 foul shots in the final 1 59. "If we could've gotten the lead in the fourth quarter I think we would've won the gime," said North Dorchester coach Vic urns. "We had our chances but we rushed a couple of shots there a the end. I thought we played well," added Burns.

"We outplayed Wi lli and they're a good team. We just lost our composure at the end." For North Dorchester, Farrow matched Gillespie with 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting and also totaled 12 rebounds. Also for the Eagles, Williams ended with 14 points with Mike Sampson and Brian Butler adding 11 and 10 points respectively. The Indians, who had lost five of their last six games entering Monday's contest, have Waller a bit concerned. "The kids are happy they won but they know they played poorly," said Waller, who won his 301st game.

"We're in some sort of mental slump, I don't know what it is." Added Waller: "We did play well the last 3:28 and we got the 'W' and two weeks from now nobody will care how we played." mis winter. However, ne uruie a bone in his left wrist during tne piayoiis last year tan injury he played six more games with). Instead, Barker has spent the winter months working out here, at Salisbury State University, and at Lay ton's Sports Club, where he been training with Fred Vanderveen of Personal lli wnen neeaea. -coacn (Butch Waller) said to just wait for my shot in the fourth quarter and don't Training Technioues and Assessments (PTTA). who notched a pair of three-point plays In addition to burying a three-pointer in the final eight minutes.

"Chad likes big games and big challenges' said Australian winner Ctttotfw Gabriels Sabatlnl was a winner at the Australian Open Monday, defeating Linda Harvey-Wild, 6-3, f-l. See story, page 13. Waller. It was close in the fourth quarter, I wasn't sure we were going to make it" "I'm just trying to get more strength and build up my speed a little bit," Barker said of his off-season goals. "I'm not working on anything specific.

But I think if I get stronger it'll help every part of my game." Like any ballplayer in the lower levels, Barker's had to withstand many long bus rides, for he and his Bakersfield teammates, the longest trip last year was the one to Reno, Nev. The ride took "six to Davis won't miss Astrodome seven hours," Barker said. 7 (playing proiessionai baseball harder than a lot of people think." said Barker, who spent his first season in Great Falls, Mont. "The season starts in the first week Of April and ends in late August. You play 142 games and have about 12 days off.

It's hard getting physically and mentally ready to play every day It's not like you can call In sick." Make no mistake, there's nothing else Tim Barker would rather be doing than chasing his dream of a maior league run home runs and it doesn't help the team, that doesn't do anything. But if I hit 20 and they're two- and three-run homers, that does a lot" To get Davis, the Orioles had to give two young pitchers Pete Harnlsch and Curt Schilling as well as 25-year-old outfielder Steve Fmlcy. "It's something we felt we had to do," manager Frank Robinson said. "We had to add someone to our lineup who is capable of hitting the ball out of the park and drive In some runs. We're not looking for Glenn Davis to come in here and make us a championship team.

But if he does what he's capable of doing, then that will make everyone else in the lineup that much better." The Astros unloaded Davis partly because they didn't want to pay his huge salary and partly because they weren't sure they could afford to sign him when his contract expires at the end of the season. There's no guarantee that the Orioles will get to keep him after this year either, but there are signs that Davis has no desire to make Baltimore a temporary home. The Orioles are moving Into a new stadium in 1992. and the specifications Indicate that it will be a hitter's park. Davis was almost drooling at the prospect of being the first to pull one out of the new park.

"I'm looking forward to being able to play there, to be a part of history," he said. "That makes the transition that much more BALTIMORE (AP) If nothing else. Glenn Davis expects to be able to sleep at night as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Davis, traded from Houston to Baltimore last week, was a virtual insomniac while playing with the Astros. That's an occupational hazard for a power-hitter who has to play half his games in the expansive Astrodome.

"It's a tough ballpark to hit In. The ball lust doesn't travel there," he said. "That ballpark was very frustrating to me. There would be many nights that I couldn't sleep, thinking about it. It eats at you.

It's a hitter's nightmare." Davis, speaking at a Monday news conference, said he could have hit at least five more homers a year if he played his home games elsewhere. Still, Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis were the only National League players to hit more homers than Davis' 144 over the past five years. Since Davis' major-league career began in 1984, the Astrodome has been the second-toughest stadium in which to hit a home run, trailing only St Louis. Davis averaged one homer every 16.2 at bats on the road and one every 21.9 trips at the Astrodome. Imagine what he'll be able to do In Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, where it's just 309 feet down the lines and 378 feet In the alleys.

Why. Davis could bloom Into another Cecil Fielder. "I look at each home run as a flower," he said. "You start building a little bouquet, and then you have something nice there. Career, even if it does mean seven-hour bus rides and $850 a splits By GEORGE McKIERNAN Special The DUy Time SALISBURY The Salisbury State University basketball teams split a double-header with Frost burg Stale University here Monday at the Maggs Center with the men rolling to an easy 121-92 victory, but the women dropping a hotly contested matchup against the nigh-flying Lady Bobcats, 79-71, in Eastern States Athletic Conference action.

In the men's game, the Sea Gulls got off to a rather slow start before steadily pulling away from FSU in the latter part of the first half to gain their ninth win of their last eleven games, and set their ESAC record to 3-2. David Byer started off the game with a three-point shot from the right side and followed quickly with a bucket to give SSU a 9-0 lead inside the first minute of play. Bobcat guard Will Liggins and Gull Andre Foreman exchanged three-pointers, but Scott Kerr, of FSU, made one of two free throws and a long three-point shot from the left side to bring his team back into contention, tra-See GULLS, page 13 i month pay. And so Barker will head to the Dodgers spring training facility in Vero Beach. Glenn Davis as soon as late February, a ritual he hopes to repeat for years to come.

In a perfect world, people everywhere will be at peace, and Vln Scully will be describing the action as Tim Barker singles, swipes second and scores on a double by Darryl Strawberry. To Davis, a solo homer with the Orioles trailing by four runs might as well be a weed. Asked to predict the number of homers he'll hit this year, Davis replied, "I really don't thrive on numbers, trying to accomplish certain things. I play to win. If I hit 37 homers, that's great.

But if they're all one- jja ve urouemon is a sports iwrltertor The Daily Times Villanova throttles Mutombo, wins SPOUTS 1 oday INSIDE: TOP PREPS: Wymnn New-borns. Jeannie Hastings and Patricia Ayres were chosen The Dully Times Prep Athletes of the Week. Page 13 NHL 12 NBA 12 Local 13-14 Auto racing 11 NFL 14 PHILADELPHIA (AP) Villanova's Lance Miller said a Wildcat victory depended on where Georgetown's center watched the end of the game from the floor or the bench. Dikembe Mutombo had a perfect shooting night, 8-for-8 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line for 18 points. The Hoyas' pivot man also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked six shots.

But he was watching from the bench having fouled out with 1:51 to play as Villanova made 10 consecutive free throws in the final 2:04 to upset No. 19 Georgetown esse Monday night "We didn't want to be Intimidated by him, even though we know he is a good player. Miller, who scored 18 points, said of the 7-foot-2 senior. "We knew he'd get some blocks, but we wanted to take it right at him. We figured he'd probably foul out' When Mutombo did the Hoyas trailed 55-53 as Marc Dowdell broke the game's final tie with two free throws with 2:04 left.

Arron Bain converted the free throws on Mutom-bo's sixth foul to give Villanova a four-point lead. After Charles Harrison hit a free throw for Georgetown with 1:29 to go, Greg Woodard hit four straight free throws and Calvin Byrd made two more to give Villanova a 63-54 lead with 25 seconds to play. It was the first victory over fellow Big East member Georgetown (10-4, 2-2) for Villanova (94, 2-3) since Feb. 1, 1988, a streak that covered five losses. The last time the teams met, on Feb.

24, 1990, Georgetown beat Villanova 83-53 the largest margin of defeat ever In the series and no Wildcat scored In double figures. Miller said once Mutombo fouled out, the Wildcats were able to tighten their defense. "He was the go-to man. When he fouled out, we changed our defense rather than have to put three guys on him," Miller said. In addition to his team's defensive play, -Villanova coach Rollie Massimino said he was especially content with the Wildcats' rebounding.

They had a 38-33 advantage, with 20 coming off the offensive boards. "I thought Villanova did an excellent Job on the offensive boards," Hoyas coach John Thompson said. "I think the deciding factors were the offensive rebounds and the free throws." Georgetown was again without starting forward Alonzo Mourning, who has missed eight of nine games since straining the arch of his left against Duke on Dec. 5. lie played See GEORGETOWN, page 13.