The Shreveport Journal from Shreveport, Louisiana • 37

Paul Manassch columnPagc 2D Southwood golfer shincsPagc 4D i i Remembering me uau Home openers show how far Captains have come SPORTS WRITER JohnJames Marshall I i A couple of weeks a go on a rai ny a tcmoon Shreveport Captains General Manager Jon Long was sitting in his office at Fair Grounds Field discussing the team's stature in profcssonal baseball He was beaming with pride as he talked about how the club was doing things in a "major league" way and how other major and minor league teams were noticing Just as Long was about to continue water began to pour down through the ceiling in hisoffice landing first on a wooden table and beginning to soak some papers he had on the table Co-workers rushed in to take emergency measurer Long didn't budge Instead he simply leaned back in his chairandsmiled For that leak seemed to be a sign to Long We may do things in a major-leaouewaybut we've still got minor-league problems They'll throw open the gales tonight at 5 30 and by the time every body gets situated Fair Grounds Field will be full Oh it won't be get-out-the-shoehorn filled but it'll be cozy Last year there were 44 1 6 in attendance That many should show up tonight maybe more "There's no way our season ticket holders could be any more fired up than they are" Captains' President Taj lor Moore said earlier this week They aren't the only ones All three television stations will do live telecasts from Fair Grounds icld today Both newspapers have run a team picture You can't listen to the radio without being reminded that the homneopener is tonight Going to the Captains' game is the "in" thing these days These days Moore and Long can look back on some of those Opening Nights from the past and laugh Only they didn't seem so funny then If want want to chronicle the decline of Shreveport baseball you would need to look no further than the attendance on opening nights In 1948 thecrowd was 10059 the largest Opening ight crowd in Shreveport baseball history Within seven years the number had dwindled down to 3807 and kept going downhill until 1 96 1 when Shreveport had 21 37 in its last year before leaving the minor leagues When baseball came back in 1968 there were 3828 on hand and in 1969 the crowd was listed as 7199 That may have been the first but certainly not the last attendance figure to be padded at a sports event in Shreveport That year Pak-A-Sak stores and Shreveport Sports Foundation bought all the tickets to try to draw the biggest crowd in history It would not be the last time that scheme was pulled After 1971 theCaptains never drew more than l876foran Opening Night wice there was less than 1000 In 1978 there almost wasn't anopener at all That was the last year of the Captains' association with the Pirates organzation That year there were quite a few Latin players on the team Upon arriving in Shreveport from spring training they came to the office and asked for an advance on their salary That's not unusual but "they were asking for five si and seven hundred dollars" Moore said "Ho could we give them that? We had no money" So Moore called the Pirates who basically said Please see CAPTAINS Page 2D Sec a nd be seen I'd be willing to bet you there are as many hard core baseball fans there tonight as there are people ho leave without seeing a single pitch And that is what is so surprising about the way Captains' baseball hascaught on Sure when 721 3 showed upon the Opening Night of Fair Grounds Field in it was a social event of momumental proportions But two years later the Captains still have a pretty good base of people to draw from That base is composed of the same people who have hit SPAR Stadium with a hydrogen bomb three years ago The Captains will draw more people tonight than they did in the first seven games of 1 985 There's the distinct possibility that they'll draw more in the first homestand this year than they did during the first half of 1985 The fact that the gates are being opened at 530 90 minutes before a pitch is thrown should immediately tell you how things have changed Three years ago the gates could have been opened nine minutes before game time andeverybody would have had plenty of time to find a seat SPORTS EDITOR Jerry Byrd new coach starts job LOS ANGELES (AP) Jim Har-rick got busy in his full first day as UCLA's new basketball coach today and he admitted his work was cut out for him "Recruiting that is my No 1 priority sitting here right Harrick said at a packed campus news conference Tuesday "I've got to get things firmed Actually there's not a whole lot to firm up Today was the first day of the late signing period for college basketball players but UCLA has only two scholarships available Harrick the coach at Pcpperdine in nearby Malibu the last nine years and a former UCLA assistant was named on Tuesday to succeed Walt Ilazzard who was fired 13 days ago The Bruins know who they want to give one of their two scholarships to 6-foot-10 center Don MacLcan of nearby Simi Valley High MacLcan is considered one of the finest prep prospects in the country and he has said he would not announce his decision until UCLA named a coach Another center Andre Lamoureux of Los Alamitos High in Orange County made a verbal commitment to attend UCLA but that could change considering his commitment came when ilazzard was coach UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis admitted he had hoped to hire a coach much earlier but it happen mainly because several big-name coaches were interviewed but none took the job Among them were North Carolina State's Jim Valvano who visited the school but withdrew from contention on April 2 and Larry Brown who was offered the job last Thursday night and accepted it but changed his mind the next day deciding to stay with national champion Kansas "Deadlines came and went many Dalis said "It will always be that way in this business" Harrick said he didn't care about not being UCLA's first choice for the job "Did you know that John Wooden was the fourth choice at UCLA? I'm Harrick said referring to the legendary coach who led the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in 12 years before retiring in 1975 it was good enough for him it's good enough for me I knew that when I was in Kansas City (for the NCAA Final Four April Harrick who signed a four-year contract has high hopes for the future "I've worked every day of the last 28 years to prepare myself for this opportunity" he said know the magnitude of this program I know what we can Journal photo by Kevin Borfram Roy Gilbert scores first run In the first inning os Louisiana Tech catcher Ed Beuerlein waits for a late throw The Gents hold their early lead and lost 7-3 Tuesday night at Fair Grounds Field Tech hurler Bulldogs 7 Gents 3 signee broke juco scoring record Kevin Goosby a 6-4 sharpshooter from Grayson County Community College is the latest addition to an impressive list of incoming basketball prospects for Centenary's Gents Goosby a native of Elba Ala averaged 287 points per game to rank seventh in national juco scoring for Coach Tim Williams' Grayson County with single game highs of 61 points against Southwest Christian and 52 against Weatherford He has been Most Valuable Player of the North Texas Junior College Conference for two years and was a first-team selection on the Region 5 all-star team both years In two years he scored 30 or more points in 1 5 games THE BEST had in the seven years been here" Williams says of Goosby who set school season and one-game scoring records He signed a letter of intent with Centenary assistant coach Larry Bagley this morning joining former Airline High standout Larry Robinson of Eastern Oklahoma Junior College and West Monroe guard Robert Shelton in a banner crop of Centenary recruits Other additions to the Gents' roster next season will be 6-7 John Burkhalter a transfer from Tulsa and 6-6 Troy Grigg who was redshirted as a freshman this year Robinson won All-America honors at Eastern Oklahoma JC scoring 1 293 points and pulling down 450 rebounds in two years He averaged 241 points and 70 rebounds per game this season and was voted the Most Valuable Player in both the Bi-State East Junior College Conference and Region 2 (Oklahoma-Arkansas) His single-game highs were 38 in his first season and 37 this year Shelton averaged 2 19 points 1 1 rebounds and 7 assists per game for a 22-12 West Monroe team that handed state champion Ruston one of its three losses He made seven three-point shotsinone game His coach at West Monroe Sidney Smith considers Shelton the best point guard in Louisiana "Robert gets the ball where you want it" said Smith is a tremendous open floor passer who is just like another coach on the Although there were five seniors on the 1987-88 team only one of them guard Cedric Ellis had much playing time last season AS EXPECTED Ruston High's Anthony Dade signed a letter of intent with Louisiana Tech this morning Dade who averaged 181 points and 112 rebounds per game to lead the Bearcats to their first state championship since 1962 was selected Class AAAA Valuable in the Top 24 state tournament He also was the MVP of District 3-AAAA Dade said he made his decision to attend Tech two weeks ago isn't so much that it is close to home" he explained think I adjusted to leaving home It was more the we sign another player we can be content with our recruiting season" said Louisiana Tech Coach Tommy Joe Eagles Dade completes the picture He has all the ability in the world to be an impact player immediately He has great physical talent but the thing that has impressed me the most is his willingness to do whatever it takes to help his team win" Dade joins preseason signees Collier "PJ" Brown and Broderick Cox of Winnfield and guard JoJo Goldsmith of Stamps Ark as Bulldog Please see BYRD Page 4D the wind blowing in from left field Tech outfielder Steve Davison drifted back to the wall and made a leaping attempt for the catch He didn't catch it but he did hold Broussard to a single and Kemper was only able to move up to second Again Galvan was in major trouble Again he came through with two strikeouts After that he didn't get into any more trouble allowing only a single in the fifth and a single in the ninth before he was pulled in favor of Lee Hanta But with a little less wind things could have been different Had ball gone out it would have been a 5-3 game Instead he got the two strikeouts and prevented the runs from scoring thought it was out when it left his Galvan said kept looking back to see if it was going to stay in I was glad it After blowing a big chance in the fifth and leaving the bases loaded Tech took the lead for good in the sixth Centenary is now 22-14 overall and is scheduled to play double-headers Friday and Saturday against Hardin-Simmons at Centenary Park By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL Journal Sports Writer The numbers look quite impressive In 83 innings against Centenary Tuesday night at Fair Grounds Field Louisiana Tech's Mike Galvan allowed only five hits and struck out 1 1 while raising his record to 5-1 as the Bulldogs beat the Gents 7-3 Galvan got better as he went along in this game until he ran out of gas in the ninth had nothing he said But a quick check beyond Galvan's pitching line shows that he might be considered fortune to have made it as long as he did He opened the game by giving up two walks and a single He did prevent the floodgates from being opened but not before he gave up two runs on a sacrifice fly by Beau Broussard and a wild pitch So down 2-1 with a runner on second and still only one out Galvan was by no means off the hook "I was rushing he said was going to the plate too fast I had to get back into my groove" His groove was indeed found He struck out Easy Brigman and Jeff Smith to end the threat in the first inning and came back out in the second and struck out the side He was grooved out so much that he hadn't even realized that he had struck out five in a row until he returned to the dugout after the second inning "He had a rough first said Tech assistant coach Mike Kane "He was out of sync Once he settled down But things didn't get completely settled down until Galvan got out of another major jam in the third inning" Tech had posted single runs in each of the first three innings to lead 3-2 going into the bottom of the third Roy Gilbert doubled down the left field line to open the inning and scored on an error to tie the score With Robbie Kemper on first Broussard hit a deep fly ball to left At first it appeared that the ball would be a home run but with Robinson help find win column i Everyone is going to have to do what capable of doing no more no less And if that doesn't work than we'll try some different players That's not a threat or anything we just have to play The Orioles fell victim Tuesday to two three-run innings Kansas City struck for three in the fourth erasing a 1-0 Oriole lead on consecutive homers by Frank White and Bo Jackson The Royals added three more in the fifth with White driving in his third and fourth runs of the game with a single Ironically Cal Ripken Jr one of two sons of the fired manager in the starting lineup drove in the Orioles lone run with a first-inning sacrifice fly Ripken replaced the retiring Earl Weaver at the start of the 1987 season and under Ripken the Orioles finished sixth with a 67-95 record outscored 49-8 this season realistic enough to know I'm not going to wave a wand and change said Robinson who was the major league's first black manager with Cleveland from 1974-77 He also managed San Francisco from 1981-84 Robinson the third black to manage along with Larry Doby and Maury Wills think the Orioles need a major overhaul "I don't think the organization has hit rock bottom" Robinson said of the club that slipped to sixth place last year just four years after winning the World Series just a matter of putting it together and getting our heads up feel good about this he said "I think we need a total restructuring We have capable people I feel good about the personnel we have didn't give me any special instructions ALTIMORE(AP) Even a new manager couldn't help the Baltimore Orioles from setting a club record for losses at the start of the season Hall of Famer Frank Robinson the first and last black to manage in the major leagues was named as Orioles manager on Tuesday and he could only watch as Baltimore dropped its seventh in a row 6-1 to the Kansas City Royals "If I knew what would work I be sitting here" Robinson 52 said "I would be sitting on some island some Robinson might want to be sitting on an island if the Orioles continue in the manner that got Cal Ripken his predecessor fired Mark Gubicza and Dan Quisenberry combined on a two-hitter as Baltimore managed just two infield singles and hit only four balls out of the infield Baltimore has been i.