The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 17

BUALO SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 29 1996 SpOrts The Buffalo News Western New York Men Amateur Golf Poll Page B7 Inside Section Sabres I B3 Baseball I B4 High Schools BIO Business B13 COLLEGE OOTBALL Baseball Buckeyes win showdown with Irish By ANTHONY COTTON Washington Post Associated Press SOUTH BEND Ind Saturday was the day Ohio season was to truly begin After brushing aside lightweights Rice and Pittsburgh by a combined 171 7 the No 4 ranking was to be severely tested by fifth ranked Notre Dame Ohio State did suffer its first two turnovers of the season and quar terback Stanley streak of consecutive scoring drives came to an end but as far as the visitors from the Big Ten were concerned that was about the only difference between Notre Dame and Rice Spurred by an overwhelming defense and supported by an offense that was more than good enough Ohio State took a rela tively easy 29 16 triumph at Notre Dame Stadium After averaging 618 yards in the first two games Ohio State totaled a mere 391 Jackson who led the Buck eyes to a touchdown on their first pos session extending his streak to 16 completed nine of 15 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns Tailback Pepe Pearson ran for 173 yards and another two scores But the crisp fall afternoon was made for hitting and Ohio State disappoint The Irish who were averaging 242 rushing yards through their first three games were held to 126 by the Buckeyes phio State often stacked as many 'as nine players on the line of scrim mage leaving cornerbacks Shawn Springs and Ty Howard in man to man coverage That should have opened things up for the Notre Dame passing game but in the face of non stop blitzing quarterback Ron Powlus completed just 13 of 30 throws for 154 yards He also was sacked four times was frustrated and confused We ran so many defenses that they were guessing the whole said Ohio State linebacker Greg Bellisari effort the intensity the charac ter was amazing If 10 of us were Ohio State rolls up 391 yards S' 4 1 wot 5 nWIr th VHi yj 7 See Ohio State Page B8 ground assault halts Hokies By MILT NORTHROP News Sports Reporter See Syracuse Page B8 did they gushed Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni about his team scary thing is we can still play bet 'TTech (3 1) was second in the nation ih' rushing defense yielding an average of only 42 yards a game Syracuse how ever was confident it could run effec tively with a two tight end offense against the defending Big East champi ons and it fail who entered the game after starter Mal colm Thomas twisted his ankle in the first quarter McNabb also had runs of 22 17 16 on the option before his 72 yarder warmed my heart to see him run the said Syracuse offensive co ordinator George DeLeone were jamming us down inside so we wanted to get outside on McNabb the option) they were playing the pitch and that left me room to run Syracuse which had two fumbles re turned for touchdowns in last 35 33 loss at Minnesota still handled the ball at times like it was about to ex plode Bobbles by McNabb and Rob Konrad set up two of the three Virginia Tech touchdowns A third fumble by Ohio Matt Calhoun slips away from Notre Dame's Bobbie Howard to score in the first quarter Associated Press Donovan McNabb runs 72 yards in the fourth quarter Led by quarterback Donovan 125 yards the Orangemen rolled up 338 yards rushing Backup tailback Tebucky Jones added another 73 yards and ran for two touchdowns as Syracuse won for the first time after losses to North Carolina and Minnesota McNabb was back making the big plays he made for Syracuse as a fresh man last year He completed only 8 (of 12) passes but he was on the money when it counted He threw touchdown passes to Deon Maddox and freshman Quentin Spotwood both on third down plays but his best throw of the day was a 48 yard completion to Jim Turner on third and 17 that set up a third quarter TD Then there was McNabb the runner His rushing total included a 72 yard run to the Tech 1 yard line which after a penalty set up a 6 yard run by Jones At last Syracuse finally unleashed its potent offense Saturday crushing llth ranked Virginia Tech 55 21 before a sellout crowd of 49069 in the Carrier Dome in the Big East Conference open er C3 fl Ump restrained in clubhouse asfuedwith Alomar grows By MARK MASKE Washington Post TORONTO American League umpire John Hirschbeck had to be restrained from confronting Baltimore Orioles second baseman Roberto Alo mar Saturday in the clubhouse at Sky Dome after learning of comments Alomar made regarding late son riday night Alomar was suspended for five games by AL President Gene Budig this morning for an incident during the first inning of the 3 2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on riday night in which Alomar spit in face after being ejected by Jerry Sullivan's the umpire for arguing a cohimn B2 called strike three The suspension was to be gin Saturday and cover the final two regular season games this year here this afternoon and on Sunday and first three contests next season But Alomar appealed the suspension and will have a hearing before Budig probably after the season is completed It will not affect availability for the playoffs Hirschbeck meanwhile sat out game a decision made by umpiring crew chief Jim McKean after this incident in which Hirschbeck charged into the clubhouse threatening Alomar and had to be pulled away by fellow umpire Jim Joyce Hirschbeck apparently will not work game between the clubs ei ther and Phyllis Merhige the vice president of administration and media affairs said: Bu dig left that up to the crew chief It was Jim call and we support him Hirschbeck was not among the umpires named Thursday to work first round of the AL3 playoffs or the AL Championship Series Alomar went on to hit a home run in me top ot the 10th burning Saturday that gave the Orioles a 3 2 victory and assured them of the AL wild card playoff spot Late riday night Alomar admitted he had spit at Hirschbeck said he regret it and main tained that Hirschbeck had become since the death of his 8 year old son John in 1993 The son died from adrenoleukodys trophy (ALD) an extremely rare and often fatal genetically transmitted disease portrayed in the movie Hirschbeck has another son suffering from the disease A scheduled pregame news conference with Alomar was canceled Saturday after the clubhouse incident Team officials said Alomar had planned to issue an apology Hirschbeck discussing riday incident with five reporters in the locker room about 90 minutes before game said he heard about remarks concerning his late son When Hirschbeck was told about them he grew visibly upset He said I see him on the street You bring my son up but he finish the sentence Joyce and McKean attempted to calm Hirsch beck while moving the reporters into the corridor outside the room But Hirschbeck broke free and ran into the clubhouse the two door ways are only about 10 feet apart while threat ening to Alomar and yelling obscenities Alo mar was in the clubhouse but Hirschbeck make it to him before being grabbed by Joyce and led back into the locker room Alomar said he see Hirschbeck when the umpire entered the clubhouse Richie Phillips the general counsel of the Major League Baseball Umpires Association issued a written statement this morning in which he called actions and McKean said the union was not pleased with the severity of the penalty handed down by Budig know the union is very discouraged about the McKean said COUEGE OOTBALL iDefense steps in to push UB to 4 1 tCl By ALLEN WILSON News Sports Reporter Since the offense do it the defense decided to win the game for the University at Buffalo Saturday night Mike 5 1 yard intercep tion return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter was the fatal blow in the 17 7 victory over Edin boro before 4517 at UB Stadium The win was 300th win all time its third straight and gives the team its best start since the 1986 team started 5 1 en route to a 9 2 record This also is the first time since 1992 that the Bulls (4 1) have at least four wins in a season 1 or seniors like linebacker Craig Guest winning is a new and glorious experience been a long time coming but it has been worth the said Guest who became the all time leading tackler On a night when the offense get anything going the defense put together its most impres sive performance of the season The Bulls held the ighting Scots (1 2) to 52 yards in the second half after giving up 185 in the first half UB also recorded five sacks two by nose guard Keith Hansen and l1a by linebacker Anthony Scott and got five turnovers are the key in football and the defense made it happen when they needed UB coach Craig Cir bus said the last two weeks noticed some absolute great effort out of the team you give great effort on ev Sce UB Page B8 Sunday Scoreboard AMERICAN LEAGUE Yankees 4 Red Sox 2 Onoles 3 Blue Javs 2 (10) Indians 5 Royals 4 Rangers 4 Angels 3 Manners 5 Athletics 3 (10) Brewers 7 Tigers 2 Twins 7 White Sox 6 NATIONAL LEAGUE Mets 4 Phillies 2 Padres 4 Dodgers 2 Cardinals 5 Reds 2 Giants 8 Rockies 5 Pirates 8 Cubs 7 (10) Braves 4 Expos 0 Astros 5 Marlins 1 (Roundups on B4) COLLEGE OOTBALL Ohio St 29 Notre Dame 16 Syracuse 52 Va Tech 21 lroda 65 Kentucky 0 lorida St 13 North Carolina 0 Penn St 23 Wisconsin 20 Michigan 38 UCLA 9 Virginia 37 Texas 13 UB 17 Edinboro 7 Canisius 12 St Peter's 7 Buffalo St 15 Cortland St 12 (Stories begin on B8) Baseball Padres Dodgers take it to final day rom News Wire Services The San Diego Padres and Balti more Orioles clinched the final two piayoff spots in major league baseball Saturday but the Padres still have something to play for today San 4 2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadi um put the Padres in the playoffs and made regular season finale with the Dodgers a winner take all for the National League West title (4 pm ESPN) The teams are tied with 90 71 records winner will play NL Cen tral champion St Louis in the first round of the playoffs The loser be comes the wild card and faces the World Series champion Atlanta Braves win eliminated the Mon treal Expos from the wild card race The American League playoff pair ings are set thanks to' 3 2 win over Toronto The Orioles will open the first round at home against Central Division champion Cleveland on Tuesday afternoon while the East champion New York Yankees host the West champion Texas Rangers that night The Yankees have left Dwight Gooden off the postseason roster for the first round of the playoffs Good en had a shaky start against Boston riday and manager Joe Torre decid ed to go with Andy Pettitte David Cone Jimmy Key and Kenny Rogers just miss the first round and it will give me a chance to work with Mel (pitching coach Gooden said we get to the next round hopefully be Baseball roundups on Page B4 ffi I.