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Show T-Birds should be tough SU hosts RMA C tourney A couple of factors will be in Southern Utah State College's favor Thrusday when the Thunderbirds play their first game in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament. First, the T-Birds are hosting the eight-team tournament and will be playing on their home field. Second, SUSC has been seeded number one and will play eighth seeded Western New Mexico in the first round; if that game follows form, the T-Birds will be off to a running start. The three-day tournament opens Thursday at the SUSC campus field and at the Cedar City Municipal Ballpark with games at 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. Friday's schedule will be the same at the campus field, but Friday games at the municipal field will start at 9:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. Saturday's contests will be at 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and (if necessary) 3:30 p.m., all at the campus. Admission prices per game are $1 for students and $2 for adults. Thursday's schedule at the municipal park calls for Southen Colorado to meet Western State at 9:30 a.m. and New Mexico Highlands to test Colorado Mines at 12:30 p.m. Losers of those two games will meet at 3:30 p.m. The SUSC field will see Regis and Mesa . tangle at 9:30 a.m. and SUSC and Western New Mexico go at one another at 12:30 p.m. Losers of those games will play at 3:30 p.m. No team is eleiminated from championship consideration until it has lost two games. As soon as a team loses two games, it is eliminated from the tournament. Scheduling called for the number one seeded team to meet the number eight seed, the number two to test the number seven, etc. Following SUSC in the seeding were New Mexico Highlands (2), Southern Colorado (3), Regis (4), Mesa (5), Western State (6), Colorado Mines (7), and Western New Mexico (8). "I sure wouldn't want to pick a favorite for the tournament," Don Conrad, SUSC coach says. "Five teams probably have a good shot at winning it all, and we'd have to be considered one of those five." Conrad figures that SUSC, Southern Colorado, Highlands, Regis, and Mesa are all strong teams and that each is capable of going all the way. He also figures that it would be foolish to write off any team in any particular game. The consensus is that Colorado Mines and Western New Mexico don't have the pitching depth to get through the tournament, but could make it rough on any other team in a one-game situation. "We've built our confidence tremendously in the past week," Conrad points out. "Any time you can win five of eight games against teams like Grand Canyon and Northern Arizona, it's got to do something for your confidence." Conrad was especially pleased with the way the pitching staff held up under the 'eight-games-in-four-days schedule last week. Team hitting was also strong; as a team, the 'Birds jumped their average seven points to an even .300.Leading the hitting surge last week were outfielder Curt Peterson, infielder Randy Poitevint and outfielder Jerry Crum. Each of the three raised their individual batting averages at least 21 points. Designated hitter Gary Cowart is also hot. His power hitting jumped his slugging percentage 94 points and moved his batting average to .418. Conrad's pitching staff is all rested, giving him a host of possibilities for the tournament. He has not yet named a starter for the first game, but most likely candidates for starting spots sometime in the tournament include Todd Mortensen (2-6), Don Gubler (4-3), (4-3), Scott Bergerhouse (3-3) and Kevin Donner (1-1). All are righthanders. Dave Middleton (1-0), a junior from CedarCity; andCarrenGarrick (0-1), a sophomore from Kearns, will be the principal relievers. Middleton is the only lefthander on the pitching staff. "We plan to continue to be very aggressive," Conrad says. "We'll use the hit and run; we'll be stealing bases; and we plan to test some outfield arms. If we get good clutch pitching and defense, we can be plenty tough." The top two RMAC teams will advance ad-vance to the NAIA District Seven Playoffs May 14-15 at a site yet to be determined. Joining the top two RMAC clubs will be the District's top independent in-dependent team and a fourth team to be chosen "at large." |