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Show U T A H 4** FRIDAY, APRIL 22,2005 15 S T A T E S M A N Contact: Take Note: 797-1761 sports@statesman.usu.edu The lacrosse team takes on BYU at 1 p.m. Saturday in Logan. r - " •• Aggie golfers headed to BYU Classic BY ATHLETICS M E D I A RELATIONS Utah State University )ohn ZsuB.yljzskay@cc.usu.edu Utah State's golf team will play its final regular season tournament when the Aggies head to Provo, for the Brigham Young Ping Cougar Classic Friday and Saturday. Freshman Brendon Ehlers has been USlTs top finisher in each of the team's last two tournaments. He currently owns a 75.35 scoring average. Brett Black has posted the Aggies' top average this season with a 73.69 mark. Four Aggies have averages in the 75s as in addition to Ehlers at 75.35, Jared Humphries is at 75.21, Cody Huot at 75.60 and Preston Otte at 75.78. The Aggies finished 15th at this event last year. Two current players competed in that tournament as Otte tied for 59th and Huot tied for 63rd. After the BYU tournament, USU will complete its season at the Big West Conference Championships on April 25-26. AGGIE LESLIE HIGLEY throws a pitch against Southern Utah Thursday in Logan. The Aggies split the doubleheader with the Thunderbirds. Aggies split doubleheader Straight thrown from game after hitting batter BY ANDREA EDMUNDS Assistant Sports Editor The Utah State softball team split a doubleheader with Southern Utah Thursday in Logan. The Ags won the first game 8-1, but couldn't overcome a seventh-inning surge from the Thunderbirds, falling 10-4 in the second game. During the second game of the day, the score stayed tight until the top of the seventh inning. The Aggies were up 4-3 going into the inning, but SUU exploded after Aggie pitcher Heather Straight was taken out of the game after hitting the Aggie McNeal looking to improve times BY VIVIANA RAMIREZ Staff Writer Whether it's on the footballfieldor the track, Utah State's Rod McNeal just wants to improve. McNeal is a junior and a recent addition to both the track and football team. While he has been running for only three years, he has played football all of his life. That's my love right there," he said. "I love football." He started to run while a student at Compton Junior College, after the football season to keep his time occupied. "I just like to compete period," McNeal said about why he joined track. "I'm a competitor. It's always cool MrNFAi See Page 14 batter in the head with a wild pitch. From there out, it was all downhill for USU. "I think that changed the whole dynamic of the game right there" Utah State Head Coach Lonny Sargent said. "We don't condone it at all. I think that changed the whole outcome of the game because we were still pretty close at that point." After Straight left the game, the Aggies had a small pool of pitchers to choose from. "Leslie [Higley] had pitched quite a bit in the first game, and we had to bring her back in [but] we had taken her a little too far at that point" Sargent said. "We brought in Straight and thought she'd be able to shut the door on them. Then we bring in a kid that they had seen for four innings in another game. Once you can get their timing down, it's pretty hard to contain those players." With freshman Erica Hancock pitching, the Thunderbirds had seven runners come in and put SUU up over the Aggies 10-4. Junior Sara Fleming said the lead was just too much for the Aggies to overcome the next time they were up to bat. Fleming had two home runs in the doubleheader. Her first came during the first game in the second inning. With two runners on base, Fleming smashed the ball over the fence and put the Ags up 4-0. It was all Utah State from there. "I think our offense really came together when we had people on we were able to get them in " Fleming said. "That's something." The Aggies went up 8-0, and were ready to end the game in the fifth inning. But a fielding error by USU allowed the Thunderbirds to get a runner home and stay in the game. In the second game, Fleming hit a lead-off home run for USU and gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead. "I saw her in the first game and I came in knowing I could hit her" Fleming said of her home run. However, Southern Utah was able keep the game tight and the Ags couldn't pull away like they had in SOFTRAII See Page 76 Women's tennis team gets past Cal State Fullerton BY KEVIN NIELSEN Staff Writer Senior leadership always matters in pressure situations and Carolyn Stephens, the lone senior on the Utah State women's tennis team, won her third set Thursday night to win the Aggies' Big West Conference tournament match 4-3. After splitting her first two sets 7-5, 4-6 with Cal State Fullerton's No. 2 Carla Rocha, Stephens took over and won the third set 6-2. The win was Stephen's fourth straight in her singles matches. The win assured the Aggies would advance to the quarterfinals against No. 1 seed Pacific because they had won two other TFNNIS See Page 7 6 John Zs\ray/jzsiray(o)cc.usu.edu AGGIE ANDREA BARKER competes against a Hawai'i opponent earlier this season. Playing at No. 5 singles, Barker defeated her CS Fullerton opponent Thursday. SLCCforward signs with UK Salt Lake Community College forward Rekalin Sims has committed to the University of Kentucky and coach Tubby Smith. Sims, a 6-foot-8-inch forward from Vallejo, Calif., averaged 19.4 points and 9-6 rebounds per game, leading Salt Lake to an overall record of 27-6 and a second place finish in the Region 18 tournament. He led the Scenic West Athletic Conference in scoring both years at Salt Lake, and this past season led the SWAC in rebounding. Sims was a two-time SWAC/Region 18 Player of the Year and a First Team All-American in 2005. He was a Second Team AllAmerican after his freshman season in 2004. "We are very excited Rekalin is going to Kentucky," said Bruins head coach Norm Parrish. "He had several very good options, and Kentucky is one of the top college basketball programs in the country. I think he will be very successful there." Singh sets course record HUMBLE, Texas (AP) Fresh from inclusion in the World Golf Hall of Fame, Vijay Singh tied the course record with an 8-under-par 64 for a one-shot lead Thursday after the first round of the Houston Open. The 42-year-old Fijian, No. 2 in the world rankings, extended his streak of par or better to 56 holes at the Redstone Golf Club, where he won this event a year ago. After Singh came Australians Gavin Coles and Brendan Jones. Eight players were at 67. Six others, including John Daly, were another shot back. Singh was announced Wednesday as the latest inductee into the Hall of Fame. |