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Show THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2001 PAGE14 .U NIVERSITY JOURNAL SPORTS Thunderbird baseball opens season at ASU PEST CONTROL Don't ·want to work during school next· year so you·can focus on getting t he best gra~es? We didn't think so, that's why we are offering PEST CONTROL a limited number of pest control sales positions this summer. :=,,, r"f.'""'f" " ' .:•,.•,,• 1'•1, •rf"r'J,,,.,i1, 1• :.~ ('; " li'C. Ir' "·Jr r:.t, r ,..,-..; ""r •J"JY l "f".f. " ...~ •( "} j , '::[.():.~Li' 1 I ...c..· r'l,1,, ·1· ...-1rv 7,/"i, ')(l()l Sp.,i I* i.1.-, ·1?( 't".,;i· V•ty. ~·! 1' ~'\' fW'"" i .! :~,_, i"'l 4-:"'»4) r"~ r f 1 • ~ DI'· ',(J•, r··" 1· ~ t::'\11..1 ..u...J.. ,;, .• 1 ut'_ .,f}'"'l, 1V:ll[ t ·'7, NF. Southern Utah's baseball team opens the 2001 season on the road this weekend with a four-game series at number-sixranked Arizona State (0-1). Thursday's and Friday's games will begin at 7 p.m., while Saturday's and Sunday's games will start at 1 p.m.on the ASU campus. The Sun Devils own a 14-0 series edge over the Thunderbirds, including a twogame sweep last season in Tempe. "We are very excited about opening the seasaon against some very good competition,· SUU Coach Kurt Palmer said. "We are very confident with our bats , probably more so than last season : Palmer begins his second season as Thunderoird skipper. Last season as the youngest coach in Division I, Palmer led SUU to a school record 30 wins en route to a 30-26 (.536) record, a 16-win turnaround from the 1999 season. "It's nice to start this early in the season against a great team at a good facility with good weather. ASU is very sound both offensively and defensively and we are going to have to minimize our mistakes, while c_apitalizing on ASU's ," Palmer said. Palmer also led the T-Birds into conference play for the first time in SUU's Division I era, placing third in the MidContinent Conference with a 16-11 record and coming within one win of the school's first-eve, trip to the NCAA Regionals, losing to Oral Roberts in the Mid-Con tournament title game, 8-4 . Palmer will be assisted this season by former SUU 1B Jarod Ingersoll and Jason Jacobsen. Pat Murphy is in his seventh season as head coach at AS\J . last season , he guided the Sun Devils to 44-15 record, a PAC-1 O championship and a berth to the NCAA Regionals and was named PAC-10 Coach of the Year. Murphy is 232-124 (.651) in his tenure at ASU . Southern Utah is 2-8 in season openers in the 10 seasons at the Division I level. The T-Birds two wins came in 1995 vs . Cal State San Bernardino and 1997 vs. Pacific. The last time the T-Birds opened the season with Arizona State was 1994, with ASU winning 22-5. All 16 teams on SUU's 2001 schedule are Division I affiliated schools, marking the first fime in school history that the T-Birds will not have played a team from Division II or NAIA SUU will face two teams ranked in the top-seven nationally, including ASU and a home-and-home series with Nebraska, which is preseason-ranked fourth by Collegiate Baseball, fifth by Baseball America and seventh in the ESPNIUSA Today coaches' poll. ASU is a ranked sixth in all three polls. SUU 's roadswing continues with a six games in the state of New Mexico. starting with a four-game series at New Mexico State Feb. 9-10 , and finishing with a twogame set at New Mexico Feb. 11-12. The 'Birds' first home game will be Mar. 6 against Nebraska . PEAK CABLEVISION VALENTINE SPECIAL GET A SWEETHEART OF A DEAL GET DIGITAL CABLE INSTALLED FOR JUST $4.95 C A B L.E V I S I O N TO SWEETEN THE DEAL SUBSCRIBE TO ONE PREMIUM CHANNEL-GET ANOTHER ONE FREE FOR 3 MONTHS. THAT'S A SAVINGS OF UP TO $60.00. CALL 800-677~3029 Some restrictions apply |