The Item from Sumter, South Carolina • 25

i SPOR Thursday May 21 1992 Professional Amateur High Schools Youths The ITEM ID Boy Duomer Kevin McLendon By ROBBIE EVANS ITEM Sports Editor 'I ITEM Sports Writer when Thompsdn second and throw from the plate eluded Reich- ard v' '-r- The Gamecocks pulled into a 3-3 tie ri the sixth again thanks to the Ontrell McCray reached second on an infield error to begin the inning Goodroe followed with an infield" single moving McCray to third and advancing to Second himself om a throwing error Betchman drove McCray home with a sacrifice fly and Goodroe scored on a passed ball Both teams had opportunities to win the game in the seventh and eighth innings The Gamecocks wasted a double by Andrew Nelson in the top of the seventh In See SUMTER page 5D ter the previous Wednesday opened the game with a perfect (hree innings) Randy Goodroe became the first baserunner and first run in the fourth After walking Goodroe moved to second on a wild pitch to third on Bo infield oufand then scored bn a wjl4 pitch cutting South lead to 2-1 i- Hoshour who pitched out of trouble the5 entire game allowed the third run in the fifth Jay Rowers was hit by a pitch with one out Powers was forced at second on Mel grounder to Betchman at shortstop but second baseman Jeff Reich-ard threw wildly to first allowing Young to advance to second Young moved to third on a single by Cade Thompson and scored their runs South Florence junked out to a '2-0 lead against Gamecock starter Chad Hoshour I in the second inning) Tommy Farbroughled off with a single and stole Second base With two down Chris Campbell bounced a triple over the head of Jody Dean in left field to BOYKIN score Farbrough and then crossed the plate on a wild pitch Meanwhile Sumter was getting nothing against the Todd Martin Martin who was roughed up in a 10-8 loss to'Sum- FLORENCE Maybe what goes around does come arptndSumter which blamed a missed 9th-mning opportunity Rfor 64 loss to Lancaster Monday took advantage of every South Florence mistake in a 5-3 victory Wednesday night in Florence As a result Sumter will Lancaster for the lower state baseball championship Friday at Sumter High School Brian Boykin was the hero of win thanks to his two-run home run In the eighth inning but the Gamecocks could thank the Bruins for the rest of 2-point landing Just baseball Maynard USC ride hot streak into regional By DENNIS BRUNSON ITEM Sports Writer Playing in the Louisiana Su- perdome in the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament was an experience University of South Carolina pitcher Wally Maynard soon forget was exciting with the big Speedway part of Sumter culture The iris Festival an annual celebration of culture and history begins in earnest today A host of festivities many of which are sports-related are scheduled throughout the area over the course of the next few days The Iris Festival tennis tourna pient took place last weekend at palmetto Park The Iris Festival golf tourna- ment will be held this weekend at takewood Links A professional rodeo will be in tjjwn Friday and Saturday nights at Dillon Park I Tennis has been a popular re-dreational sport in Sumter for a douple of decades The popularity of golf has skyrocketed within the past few years with new courses popping up seemingly every other month I The rodeo is a relatively new event in the area an invasion from the West where it has long been a favorite spectator sport If any sportis a part of the culture of this area though it is automobile racing The Sumter Rebel Speedway came into existence sometime during the 1950s and for practically every weekend since then the roar of engines has emanated from the dirt track located on the Wedgefield Highway With Darlington International Raceway barely a throw Sway and with several other NASCAR Winston Cup events within easy driving distance racing has long had a strong fan base in Sumter and the surrounding area Nothing the Item publishes in ts sports pages elicits more reader response than racing-related Jtories whether they be about a Winston Cup race in Daytona or a Saturday-night program at the umter track Sportswriters have een verbally beaten into submission by callers expounding upon (he virtues andor shortcomings of pale Earnhardt or local driver Freddie Truesdale I why it is so appropriate that the Sumter Rebel Speedway Is putting on a special program in Conjunction with the Iris Festival The track gates will open today at 5:30 pm and Night thunder" will get underway sometime around 8 tonight The main attraction is a 50-lap utlaw late model race with a 2000 prize to the Winner Track promoter Bobby Sisson is expect- ing his largest late model field of the season with drivers coming in (rom all over the Southeast Area fans will recognize names such as tuck Simmons Ed Basey and Ed Gibbons all of whom are expected to compete tonight Sisson stages "big such qs program several times each year Much of the local racing season though consists ofthe regular Saturday night program Sumter is full of weekend warriors who spend much of their free time during the week working on a beat-up Monte Carlo to get it in shape to take a few circuits around the track during the Pure Stock race Saturday night 4 Sumter is full of Saturday-night speedsters who forego summer va- cations so that the extra money can be used to help maintain a sleek Super Stock machine While the late model teams are racing for $2000 tonight the crowd will be cheering wildly When the Pure Stock drivers take their considerably less expensive machines around the track for considerably less money the crowd will be cheering wildly When now-retired drivers took (heir considerably slower machines around the track for practically no money 30 years ago the crowd cheered wildly To many racing fans racing is much more than a sport a part Of their heritage a why there are so many in which granddad helps build the car son does (he driving and grandson works on the crew awaiting the day when he will be allowed behind the wheel why it is so appropriate that the speedway is taking part in this annual celebration of Sum-- culture and history WADE BOGGS steals second and watches Seattle second baseman Harold Reynolds land on his hands during 6-4 win Thursday Baseball results are on page 2D Charlotte pole another high for Elliott By PAUL NOWELL AP Sports Writer CONCORD NC (AP) Qualifying result! Wednesday lor Coc-Col 600 NASCAR Win- ton Cup itock car race (Positions 21-40 will determined Thursday): 10 Dick Tackle Ford 173455 mph 11 Ernie Irvan Chevrolet 173177 mph 12 Richard Petty Pontiac 172877 mph 13 Oale Earnhardt Chevrolet 172839 mph 14 Terry Labonte Oldsmoblle 172739 mph 15 Michael Waltrlp Pontiac 172669 mph 18 Ted Musgrave Ford 172667 mph 17 Davey Allison Ford 172662 mph IB Darrell Waltrlp Chevrolet 172557 mph 19 Geoff Bodlne Ford 172507 mph 20 Jimmy Hensley Ford 172309 mph ficial turf though The ball gets up on you too quick and rough on a pitcher I had one hit at me that I even While it is certainly a novelty final analysis on playing indoors is just baseball" Those three words seem to speak volumes about the attitude of Maynard and his Gamecock teammates over the last month of the season USC turned what could have potentially been a disastrous season into a second-place finish in the SEC East Division a third-place finish in the tournament and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1988 Carolina will begin play in the six-team Atlantic Regional in Coral Gables Fla against Notre Dame Friday at 11:30 am The 40-20 Gamecocks are the third seed while Notre Dame 45-13 is seeded fourth Miami the top-ranked team in the country is No 1 as well as being the host team certainly a tough re- glonal in" said Maynard a freshman relief pitcher teams like Notre Dame Miami (49-7) and North Carolina State (No 2 seed at 45-16) going to have to play well iri order to win it challenging to play with the best and if we play our best we can win South Carolina finished the season playing its best baseball of the year After getting off to a horrendous 1-9 start in initial season in the SEC the Gamecocks won 12 of their final 14 conference games to finish 13-11 and second to Florida in the East Maynard blames slow Start on the fact it just playing good baseball along we knew we had the talent- it was just a matter bf time before we came out and showed Maynard said was just a matter of us coming together We play up to See MAYNARD page 5DK 1 Bill Elliott Ford 175479 mph (New event record breaking Mark Martin's May 1991 mark of 174820 mph) 2 Kyle Petty Pontiac 175353 mph 3 Ricky Rudd Chevrolet 175245 mph 4 Brett Bodlne Ford 175109 mph 5 Mark Marlin Ford 174718 mph 6 Ken Schrader Chevrolet 174464 mph 7 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 174216 mph -i 8 Alan Kulwlekl Ford 174132 mph 9 Sterling Marlin Ford 173773 mph Allison will line up far back in the pack after qualifying a backup car 17th Wednesday with a lap of 172662 mph He had to scrap his beloved' Thunderbird after he wrecked in a dramatic crash moments after he beat Kyle Petty to the checkered flag to win Saturday all-star race The Winston lap also broke the event record of 174820 mph set last year by another Ford driver Mark Martin Petty powered his Pontiac around the 15-mile superspeed-way at 175353 mph to grab the side pole Ricky Rudd was the top Chevrolet driver qualifying third at 175245 mph He was followed by Brett Bodine in a Ford with a' clocking of 175109 mph and Mar- tin at 174718 mph The top 20 cars in the field were determined in qualifying The remaining 20 start- ing positions will be filled later CONCORD NC For Bill Elliott the 1992 Winston Cup season has been a microcosm of his racing career: racing seen the highest highs and the lowest lows" he said after posting the quickest lap around 15-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway Wednesday to win the pole for Coca-Cola 600 stock car race gone from winning the Winston Million to los- ing the championship to losing a crew 1 Elliott who teamed up this year with legendary owner Junior Johnson startled the stock car racing world when he won four straight races in March He followed it with a mediocre April remember thinking in March I knew there was going to be a bad he sid in the last race of the 1990 season when crewman Mike Rich was killed in a pit road accident Now locked in a tight points race Elliott knows his starting po- sition is vital if he hopes to win 600-mile marathon the longest on the Winston Cup circuit want to start up front" he said not on the pole you better be in the top 10 at just know Elliott started the month of May off strong with a second-place finish at Talladega -Ala which helped him remain just 67 points behind Davey Allison in the points race Elliott won the Winston Cup championship in 1988 Three years earlier he won a $1 million bonus for winning three of the Big Four races The low ebb of his career came Penn State agrees to play in Blockbuster Bowl toward the postseason" The Orange Sugar Cotton and Fiesta bowls earlier this year signed a commitment with Notre Dame and members of the Atlantic Coast Big East Big Eight Southeastern and Southwest conferences The Big Ten has deals with the Citrus Holiday and Rose bowls opponent to be named later Penn State will be an independent until September 1993 when its football team joins Big Ten play Athletic director Jim Tarman said the signing was inappropriate given circumstances which forced Penn State to assume an aggressive and accelerated posture STATE COLLEGE Pa (AP) This season fans will not experience the drama of waiting through a football season to see which bowl picks Penn State Unless they fail to win six games the Nit-tany Lions will play Jab 1 in the Blockbuster Bowl at Fort Lauderdale Fla against an 8 pm Cleveland at Chicago AMERICAN LEAGUE Milwaukee at Detroit 7:35 pm Kansas City at Texas 8:35 pm NATIONAL LEAGUE Pittsburgh at San Francisco 3:35 pm New York at San Diego 4:05 pm SS 8 pm NBA Playotls: Eastern Conference Final Series Game Two Cleveland at Chicago (TNT) 9 pm Professional Boxing: Mike McCallum vs Fertnin Chirino in a Middleweight Bout (torn Las Vegas Nev (ESPN) Friday 11:30 pm College Baseball: ment Atlantic Regional First-Round Game Irom Coral Gables Fla South Carolina vs Notre Dame (WVOC-AM 560) 4 pm Senior PGA Golf Bell Atlantic Classic First Round from Malvern Ps (ESPN) 7:30 pm Maor League Baseball: Atlanta at Montreal (WTBS WDXYAM 1240 WPUB-f 944) 7:30 pm Major League Baseball: Oakland at Boston (ESPN) 6 pm NBA Playoffs: Western Conference Final Series Game Three Portland at Utah (TNT) -10 pm Major League Baseball: Chicago -Cubs at San Diego (WGN) 10:30 pjn Mor League Baseball: New York Mats at San Francisco (WWOR ESPN) L-a i im I 1.