| OCR Text |
Show I Page THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Monday, May 28, 1984 1984 Baseball Season Included Success, Frustration By DOROTHY KNOELL Herald Sporti Writer explain exactly why the Cats didn't come together the way they It's been more than a week since the BYU baseball season came to an end in Hawaii with a double loss to Hawaii and San Diego State. But the time hasn't done much to ease the pain of the losses for BYU coach Gary Pullins. "I'm not handling it (the season's end) very well this time," said a still disappointed Pullins about the abrupt end to the season. "I'm probably not wired the best way to be a coach, because I feel deeply when we don't perform like we're capable of performing, and we didn't." Pullins said the team members on the whole feel the same way. "Mostly, they're pretty down about it. We all know we didn't do what we could have done this year. To me, performance is more important than winning, and if we don't perform well, I take it personally." Pullins added that he had a harder time handling this year's season end than last year's, when the highly-ranke- d Cougars bowed out suddenly in the Regionals after winning the WAC title. "You know, last year we weren't ranked at the beginning of the season. We had a relatively new ballclub and we weren't expected to do much," he recalled. "Of course, we were disappointed at the end of the season because we knew that we were capable of more than we did. But we did accomplish a lot last year. "But this year, we brought back a veteran ballclub, we were ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of the year, and we just didn't do it. That's hard." But the Cougar coach couldn't . Two Locals Top XY' List Of Recruits pitchers lead the list players who have signed letters of intent to play baseball for BYU next year. Timpview's Adam Peterson and American Fork's Brock Knight are two top signess for BYU. "I'll tell you, Adam's got a major league arm," said Pullins of the 3 righthanded star. "He could be a first-roun- d pick in the major league draft this year. He could go higher than anyone in Utah outside of Cory Snyder." - Then there's Knight, another righthander who stands 1 and star at Ameriwas an can Fork and led the Cavemen to the State 3A baseball title. "We're very excited to sign Brock. He turned down scholarship offers in other sports to wait for baseball," Pullins said. Knight will also play some infield positions for BYU. The only junior college player to sign thus far with BYU is Jeff Brown, a 2 outfielder from Orange Coast College in California. Other freshmen joining the Cougars will be Uderick Glenn, a outfielder from Reed High in Sparks, Nev.; Gary Schoonover, a shortstop from Fountain Valley, Calif.; Cary Snyder, a 1 pitcher-shortsto- p from Canyon Country, Calif. ; Todd Hansen, a 5 pitcher from Idaho Falls (the only lefthander among the pitch- ers) ; Greg Talamantez, a 2 pitcher-shortsto- p also from Idaho i Falls; Mike Jones, a 0 catcher-- ! pitcher from Ft. Bragg, Calif. ; and James Parker, a player from Mumford, Ala. Glenn is the twin brother of Eric Glenn, a defensive back-retur- n specialist who signed in ;: expected to this year. He noted that the team "came out and played well" in the first part of May in the series against Utah, but it didn't last. regional because we didn't perform as well as we had to. Pullins said he expects the Cougars to be good again next year, despite the fact that they lose a large number of starters. ft fs. "We want any player who comes here to know that we have high expectations. We expect to be a very good team every year." And the Cougars did have some top performances. Six Cats were "We really dominated that opening game (against San Diego State) in the WAC Playoffs," he said. "But then we came out and just didn't play well against Hawaii. That's the game that was really depressing, because we should have won it. We came back and took the lead and just couldn't hold it. "It meant a lot to us. These kids never stop battlin". They don't give up the season easily." But while Pullins was still puzzling and anguishing a bit over the fact that his Cougars weren't in a regional this week, he said there were many positives in the season despite its early ending. "There were some Herculean strides and efforts made," he noted. "And that's not just from guys like Cory Snyder and Gary Cooper. They're great players and would have great stats no matter where they played. "I think of some of the seniors like Jim Bowden, Steve Nielsen, Ron Saffell, Nate Hyde and Steve Eagar. They accomplished some great things." Pullins said when Bowden got ready to come to BYU after an LDS mission, he received a call from the lefthander's junior college coach. "He (the coach) called to let me know Jimmy was coming up here to walk on and told me, 'If you can make a pitcher out of him, I'll eat my hat.' He just didn't think Jim had what it took," Pullins said. And Pullins said he wasn't con- - Division (Snyder, Cooper, Eagar, Hyde, Bowden and Jim Mecate) and got four of those six (Snyder, Cooper, Eagar team. and Hyde) on the Not surprisingly, Snyder had some of the top stats. The preAll-WA- C batted .450, season the third best season average in BYU history, and knocked in 85 RBI, also third best ever at BYU. Snyder also set a new WAC for career homeruns, record in his smacking 73 round-trippecareer including a season record 27 this year. His 73 is an NCAA record for a three-yea- r player, 's behind four-yea- r player Jon 97. Snyder will probably not be around next year to break that mark, as he is expected to be drafted high and sign with a major league club in June. Oddly, none of Snyder's homers n came in play. Led-better- Steve Olsen Photo This scene was repeated many times as the Cougars had 104 homeruns in '84, a team record. vinced that Bowden had what it took either until this year. They've hung in there, worked hard and showed great staying "If you'd have told me last year power." Then there was Eagar and spring, I wouldn't have believed you," he said. "But look, Jim wasn't just our best pitcher on a Hyde. "We knew Steve would be our starting catcher this year, but he's done more than that," Pullins said. "He's another one that really worked hard. Of course, his that Jim, Ron (Saffell) or Stevie (Nielsen) would be our best pitcher on any given day this given day, he was our best pitcher for the whole last month and a half of the season, and Steve and Ron were just supurb. In rJ VI strong arm and defense were very important, but I remember the really key hits he got for us, like the home run aeainst Oregon. post-seaso- "And Nate, well, here's a guy that wasn't expected to start for us this year. He was just trying to stay healthy. Now, he's (as a designated hitter) and will be drafted this summer." Pullins had hopes that his Coubid gars would receive an All-WA- C at-lar- to the Regionals, but wasn't overly surprised when they didn't. "It's tough to get three from one conference invited, although the PAC-1- 0 did get four teams in," he said. "But we aren't in a Cooper, meanwhile, BYU-recor- H4 H J HI O )S I. .4Ai LO ' PVs.V Two local of 10 6-- 6-- 6-- 5-- 5-- ; 6-- ; 6-- fa3 OT&flo 6-- 5-- February to play football for BYU. Cary Snyder is Cory's .brother, while Parker is a teammate of BYU basketball recruit Jeff Chatman. Pullins may still sign more I players, and the Cougars have a J lot of holes to fill. They lose Isenior pitchers Steve Nielsen, Ron Saf fell, Jim Bowden and Mark De La Torre, along with Steve Eagar, Nate Hyde, Bart Day and Jim Mecate. Cory Snyder, a junior, will almost certainly sign with a major league team this season, while other juniors who are eligible and may go are Eric Varoz and Mark Inouye. In addition, freshman second baseman Dave Willes is leaving on a mission. . Here are BYL'i lUtltUo from We know about cigarettes, we know about flavor. After we're Camel. So when it comes to Filters, you know we'll give you something special. Camel Filters gives you a smooth smoke plus the great flavor that's a Camel exclusive. See for yourself. Enjoy Today's Camel Filters. all, TODAY'S 351 CAMEL FILTERS Its a whole new world. mkm. Uw 1W4 BATTING AB 59 G ' Snvder Cooper Inouve 104 84 86 58 226 60 82 44 57 165 206 61 m 58 190 185 60 161 56 43 33 50 16 16 '46 152 23 48 Mtrate ,jE aWUlea ttagar Morrow Day Avj 81 216 52 50 20 Vann ' H 231 49 58 'Hyo R 59 63 52 Hamson 18 Matsubara B Varoi 34 7 16 4 77 17 18 "Marmion 23 36 11 6 "Clifford Warrick 15 24 6 3 Bowden 16 43 .Total! .Oppoaeatt U 125 4 13 5 13 3 16 0 11 y 7 8 10 10 10 11 9 0 10 2 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 000 0 1187 541 (W .342 489 1887 373 511 .274 58 8 9 7 Bl IB IB HR 450 86 .396 56 363 40 345 42 335 47 332 56 324 43 323 39 320 17 316 32 256 8 4 250 234 16 .167 2 125 0 0 188 23 317 77 16 mg. "tar". 1.2 mg. nicotine 104 av. per cigarette by FTC method. 9 44 PITCHING R ER BB SO IP H 2 0 4 0 48 40 ERA Draper 1 Mannion 2 Seegmir 2 Uowden 87 2 Sdlell Beavers Hard 62 1 66 0 .Nielsen 48 70 3 1 itLTorre76 2 Undue 312 Anderin 15 0 "Snvder Toiali 2 4(2 1 0 0 0 000 0 31 2 0 00 1 0 000 Warning.-Th- 4 10 32 35 4 4i 48 66 4 62 5-- 2 45 36 36 57 60 41 47 49 4 90 5 24 6- 41 32 18 47 5 95 69 52 31 59 32 6 10 7 10 12 10 8 88 50 65 80 62 92 47 32 25 9 21 24 18 II 2 2 2 111 171 m I 2 27 0 234 171 1.41 3 2 01 427 led the team with 25 stolen bases includd five thefts in ing a one game. Besides running wild on the bases, he also batted .398 (second best on the team) and hit 10 homeruns. The best news is that he's just a sophomore and will be back next year. Eric Varoz also set a BYU record, working opposing pitchers for 53 walks. When he wasn't walking to first, Varoz was hitting at a .335 clip. Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health. |
