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Show i Sports ? SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE, CEDAR CITY Outdoors THE THUNDERBIRD MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1989 PAGE 7 Birds capture 2 of 3 i BY BRENT RICHEY Despite the Cedar City wind the last few days, the SUSC Birds the fence. Three homers in all gave the two victories over Grand Canyon Thunderbirds, now series between the two Thursday, Friday College in the three-gam- e and Saturday. The Antelopes are ranked first in the NAIA. A Gary Reese home run and nine innings of strong pitching by Kendall Bennett helped SUSC to a win on Thursday Fridays wind was a little stronger but didnt stop Kyle DeLange and Joey Sturges from lining two balls over the 375-fosign in left as the Birds came out on top 12-Saturday, errors choked the 'Birds and the Lopes got revenge in an 1 mauling. After two days of well played Bird baseball, Head Coach Bill Groves said things started to unravel somewhat, despite playing good ball. Groves left the dugout in the seventh inning of Saturdays contest after a questionable call at first and was ejected. Two weeks ago SUSC was in Phoenix, Ariz. to face Grand We just got Canyon and lost all three games 10-- 22-- 5 and 13-a good old whipping by a solid baseball team, said Groves. I think our players had a lot of trouble with the heat in Phoenix. It was 95 degrees during one of the night games. This week, instead of the heat, the two teams had to fight the wind. losing streak for the Birds. Thursdays win ended a seven-gam- e In the bottom of the fourth, Tom Griffin tripled to right center field. Carmine Tronolone then sacrificed to right, scoring Griffin lead. Reese stepped to the plate and took to give the Birds a the first pitch downtown. Prior to his homer, Reese told teammates he couldnt hit for power. Grand Canyon picked up a run in the seventh on two singles In their half of the ninth with two and a passed ball to trail outs, the Lopes were threatening with runners at the corners. Bennett, 54, left the game and in came freshman reliever Leroy Woodard. Woodard threw three pitches for three strikes and the were belting balls over 14-2- 2-- 1 save. Friday, DeLanges homer came in the first after Bob Sonju in the fifth, Reese walked to set up the singled. Then leading Sturges home run. With runners on first and third, Griffin singled to center to score a run. Steve Hansen, who leads the Birds with a .356 batting average, singled to left to score another run. Saturday it was the Antelopes as they jumped out to an early 1 lead after four innings, due in part to several SUSC errors. In the fourth, however, the 'Birds picked up three runs when Eric Godfrey walked, DeLange singled to right, Griffin singled to left and Hansen doubled down the left field line. Hansen later scored on a passed ball. n Of Saturdays contest Groves said, We were trying to hit home runs and didnt have some things go our way. Its my job to make sure the umps realize we don t agree. We try to remind them to watch a little closer. 7-- 3 six-ru- Tracy Wilson scores during Fridays 12-- 3 defeat of Grand Canyon The 'Birds uon two of the three games Women relayers break record Lady Bird 4 x 400 relay team replaces old record with time of 4:09. 1 9 Calif Kathy Webster ran the fastest leg of Fridays 4 x 400 relay in Claremont, The SUSC women 4 x 400 relay team shattered a school record with a time of 4.09.19 in Fridays Pomona Pitzer Invitational m Claremont, Calif., that involved over 1,000 competitors. The field included such traditionally strong track teams as Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly SLO, Cal State Los Angeles, UC Riverside and an appearance by Australia. Lady Thunderbirds Diane Bates, Jennifer Loveless, Amy Hyde and Kathy Webster were responsible for replacing the old 4 x 400 relay record of 4.17. The women were not the only SUSC relay team making a showing as the mens 4 x 400 crew of Reggie Campos, Troy Norris, Russell Stewart and Ken Bluemel finished first in their heat with a time of 3.29.90. Coach Joe Lopour said he hopes the mens team can shave some time off in order to break the mens 4 x 400 school record this year. intermediate hurdles, In the Bates finished second and another Lady Bird thinclad, Kim Langford, went out on top of her heat in the high jump, clearing 5 2. Another SUSC high jumper, Alana Orton, is still out with a heel injury. Leo Biggs threw his best distance of the year, 195 10, in the javelin to earn first place honors. Lopour said, Overall, were just working on our personal bests and improving our times. The Thunderbirds have competed in five straight weekerd tournaments, and will 9 for the BYU be m Provo April Invitational. 400-met- 28-2- i i |