New Orleans eliminates TSU in NCAA baseball

BATON ROUGE, La. — Texas Southern entered the NCAA Tournament with the worst record in the 48-team field. Accordingly, the Tigers didn’t last long, dispatched Saturday from the Baton Rouge Regional by the University of New Orleans, 18-5.

SWAC-champion TSU, crushed by host LSU 12-1 on Friday, ended its season 16-34. The Tigers were kept in check by UNO’s Jim McGonigle, a sophomore right-hander from Houston’s Second Baptist High School who improved to 2-2 as he kept the Privateers (43-20) alive for a 1 p.m. Sunday game against the loser of Saturday’s later game between LSU and Southern Miss.

Texas Southern learned a hard lesson that playing in the NCAAs is no SWAC picnic when you are undermanned in pitching talent.

“We didn’t play as well as I expected to play, but we played hard each game,” said TSU coach Candy Robinson, who finished his 19th season at the helm with his ninth losing season in a row.

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What's right with this picture? Ninth losing season in a row and getting stomped 30-6 in two NCAA games for a 0-2 Tournament record. TSU's Candy needs to be canned!

Harris-Williams Foundation gives back; Former GSU stars make donations

(L) James "Shack" Harris, VP of Player Personnel - Jacksonville Jaguars, and (R) Doug Williams, Player Personnel Executive, Tampa Bay Buccaneers are assisting local groups and Grambling State University athletic programs with their foundation charity donations.

Moments before making multiple donations to community organizations on Friday morning, former Grambling State and NFL great Doug Williams recounted how the Shack Harris and Doug Williams Foundation began.

He recalled playing in June Jones' golf tournament for charity in Hawaii. "After we (Williams and Harris) got through playing golf, we were talking and saying, 'Why don't we do this ourselves?" Williams said. They worked with Kevin Kaplan of Coaching Charities to form their foundation. There was one final step — finding a community to serve.

"We were trying to find the best place to hold the golf tournament and raise money to do something for the community," Williams said. "Hands down, the place I thought and James agreed, was Shreveport."

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NCAA Baseball Regionals: Ole Miss 14, Bethune-Cookman 1

CORAL GABLES, FL - Michael Guerrero homered twice in one inning as Mississippi eliminated Bethune Cookman 14-1 in the Coral Gables Regional Saturday afternoon.

Guerrero's home runs highlighted a 10-run sixth inning. The Rebels sent 14 batters to the plate against Wildcats starter Joseph Gautier and two relievers.

Guerrero drove Gautier's 2-2 pitch over the fence in left field for his ninth home run of the year and a 6-1 lead. His second homer of the inning, a two-run shot, put Mississippi ahead 13-1.

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Memorial held for North Carolina A&T Aggies football player

GREENSBORO -- Funeral arrangements have been finalized for North Carolina A&T football player Chad Wiley, who collapsed suddenly after a morning workout Wednesday. Friday, students and staff on campus held a memorial to also remember the senior offensive lineman.

"To me, with death, candles are always something that are calming and soothing," said one organizer at Friday’s memorial. The school closed out a tragic week with a moment of silence on the campus' quad.

The visitation will be this Sunday at 2 p.m. at Mills Chapel Baptist Church in Black Mountain. The funeral will follow at 3 p.m. The church is located at 328 Cragmont Road in Black Mountain , N.C.

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Former DSU McBride grabs attention in Eagles minicamp

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Wide receivers usually stand near each other on the sideline during practice, so Shaheer McBride quickly noticed that the Eagles have a herd of receivers in camp all closely resembling him -- somewhere in that 6-foot, 200-pound neighborhood.

That's one reason McBride reports to the NovaCare Complex each day feeling like he needs to be better than his counterparts. Them plus one, someone noted. "Plus two," McBride said. "Maybe three, sometimes."

Up and down the roster are receivers just like the 6-foot-2, 205-pound former Delaware State star, guys who ruled the roost at small schools or fell through cracks in bigger college programs: Penn State's Terrell Golden (6-2, 216), Nebraska's Frantz Hardy (6-0, 180) and North Carolina A&T's Jamal Jones (5-11, 205).

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SSU players start pro chase

Flegler, Coleman attend first showcase for North American and European pro leagues

RICHMOND, Va. - Joseph Flegler stood near courtside here Wednesday, with sweat running down his face at Virginia Commonwealth University.

While many college students have started their summer vacation, the former Savannah State University guard took the first step for a possible pro basketball career May 26-28 at the VCU International Basketball Showcase.

The annual event, held at ALLTEL Pavilion at the Siegel Center, attracted about 80 players who have ended their college eligibility.

Most were from Division I schools, including such programs as North Carolina State and Dayton. But Division II and III schools were also represented in the annual event that attracts scouts and coaches from pro leagues in North America and Europe.

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S.C. State football could bring windfall to school this year

A Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship and Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth are not the only “pots o’ gold” South Carolina State hopes to find at the end of this season.

With two more games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams, the SCSU Athletics Department could see as much as $607,500 in its coffers. More important for school officials is the increased visibility obtained from facing larger schools.

The S.C. State Bulldogs have an exciting home schedule for 2008, with Benedict College, Norfolk State, Hampton and Howard. (Photo by Mark's Digital Photography)

“We’re starting to get calls to play them,” said Brantley Evans, Senior Associate Director of Athletics. “I think it helps in recruiting because of the type of athletes that the coaches are able to go after and use these games as selling points. So it helps in those two areas, as well as financially.”

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Top-seeded Miami Defeats Bethune-Cookman, 7-4 in NCAA Regional Opener

Coral Gables, Fla. - Blake Tekotte had a big two-run single in the seventh inning to help top-seeded University of Miami--the nation's top-ranked team, win a 7-4 contest against Bethune-Cookman University in the NCAA Coral Gables Regional opener at Mark Light Stadium.

Leading 5-4 in the seventh inning, the Hurricanes (48-8) Ryan Jackson was hit by a pitch to start off the at-bat. He then advanced to second on a passed ball before Dave DiNatale and Adan Severino took back-to-back walks to load the bases. That's when Blake Tekotte stepped up and delivered a bloop single to centerfield that squeezed between B-CU (36-21) second baseman Mark Brooks and centerfielder José Ortiz.

The single scored two runs to push the Hurricanes lead out to 7-4 ... thus the final score. "I was just trying to put it in play," Tekotte said. "We knew we had our work cut out for us. This was the best fourth-seeded team in the nation."

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Getting feel for CFL, Cleve McCoy eager to learn at Bomber camp

Our balls are indeed bigger, our fields more expansive and there are bigger crowds on our gridiron. So, the biggest adjustments to the CFL game have to be made by quarterbacks who grew up with four-down football. And both highly-touted Blue Bomber pivots Bryan Randall and Cleveland McCoy got their first taste of it at Winnipeg's rookie camp before about 200 interested onlookers at Canad Inns Stadium yesterday afternoon.

"It's a different-size ball," said Randall, who still fired some zingers at practice. "The NFL ball's a little thinner than the CFL ball so that will take a little getting used to. But you keep throwing the ball over and over with more reps, you get a better feel for it.

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Southern Cook-ing

Esparto, California star headed to Division I Southern University on baseball scholarship

Sometimes, finding a Division I baseball scholarship can be a long, arduous process. Other times, it can be as lucky as stumbling upon an ESPN broadcast. Possessing a left arm that throws in the high 80's also helps. In late April, Suavae Cook signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball at Southern University, but months earlier it hardly seemed possible.

On Feb. 29, a Friday night, Esparto High School baseball coach Dennis Huitt was watching ESPN's telecast of the Urban Invitational at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. During the broadcast of UCLA's game against Southern University - a historically black school in Baton Rouge, La. - analyst Tim Kurjian mused about the lack of African American baseball players at the Major League level.

During the next night's telecast, when Southern played USC, the broadcasters were talking up Southern coach Roger Cador, who has won 13 SWAC Coach of the Year awards, and how in his 23 years as the Jaguars coach they had won 13 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, when it struck a chord with Huitt.

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Jackson State named SWAC's top athletic program

Jackson State won its second straight SWAC Commissioner's Cup, league officials announced Friday. The Tigers had 164 total points, edging Southern University (142.5 points), Grambling (142) and Prairie View (142) for the James Frank Award.

Jackson State won championships in football and golf. The Lady Tigers were huge contributors, capturing titles in basketball, track and field (indoor and outdoor) and golf.

Coach Rick Comegy with the 2007 SWAC Football Championship Trophy.

"Winning the Commissioner's Cup is a testament to our university as a whole," Jackson State Director of Athletics Robert Braddy said in a statement released by the SWAC. "This demonstrates the quality of coaches and athletes that we have at Jackson State.

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LSU Baseball Handles TSU, 12-1

BATON ROUGE -- LSU sophomore designated hitter Blake Dean homered twice and drove in four runs to lead the top-seeded Tigers to their 21st straight win with a 12-1 victory over Texas Southern in the opening game of the 2008 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional in front of 6,536 fans on Friday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.

The Tigers, champions of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, improved to 44-16-1 on the year and 19-0 in NCAA regional opening games. LSU set the single-season school record for consecutive victories in its last outing and has not lost a contest since April 19.

Texas Southern dropped to 16-33 on the season. LSU advances to play the winner of tonight’s contest between Southern Miss and UNO at 6 p.m. Saturday. Texas Southern takes on the loser of tonight’s game at 1 p.m. Saturday.

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Norfolk State-Old Dominion hoops series remains a distant dream

Maybe you think that, with Old Dominion and Norfolk State kicking around a possible football series, it would be natural for the schools to meet again soon on the basketball court.

Maybe you should think about more realistic things, like Big Brown running the Belmont Stakes backwards to clinch the Triple Crown.

Promising and compelling as the football idea is, the inert basketball situation between the schools is reminiscent of an ancient Saturday Night Live line that was funny in direct proportion...

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WSSU contributing to MEAC

As the new kid on the block in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Winston-Salem State has made quite a splash.

WSSU helped land the MEAC basketball tournament at Joel Coliseum for the next three seasons and to do so it reached for its pocketbook. WSSU pledged $25,000 of the $100,000 the conference asked for during negotiations.

The $25,000 came from the Athletics Department, according to Donald Reaves, WSSU's chancellor.

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Rattlers to split defensive coordinator duties

Photo: Former FAMU defensive coordinator Orlando Mitjans.

Earl Holmes and Tim Edwards will share the role of defensive coordinator for FAMU's football team, a move that coach Joe Taylor confirmed Wednesday.

Taylor said he decided to make coordinating the defense a two-man job after Orlando Mitjans unexpectedly had to leave the position. Holmes and Edwards will work under the supervision of assistant head coach George Small. Mitjans decided to relinquish the position so that he could focus on a franchise business in Tennessee, Taylor said.

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(Casey Printers) Ticats expect to be right in thick of it

Photo: Former Florida A&M quarterback Casey Printers will try to jump start his CFL career with the extra baggage of being the highest paid player in the Canadian Football League for the lowly Hamilton Ti-cats.

We expect to be right in there competing with them," Taaffe said. "We played very competitively most of the time. That's part of the growing process. When you've got a chance to win in the fourth quarter, that's the next step, learning how to close the deal."

The feeling is having Casey Printers at quarterback from the start of the season (he joined the Cats mid-2007) could go a long way to this team's return to the post-season. But will an improved Printers be enough to make up for weaknesses throughout the roster?

That's where veteran CFL talent guru Bob O'Billovich enters the picture, taking over as Hamilton's GM. Known for unearthing talent, most recently for the B.C. Lions, O'Billovich has also been forced to address a losing climate in Steeltown.

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MEAC tourney coming in '09

Photo courtesy Mark's Digital Photography, www.marksdigitalphotography.com

Joel Coliseum to be host for three years

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has been hopping from city to city, trying to make its basketball tournaments a success. It hopes that the next stop, Winston-Salem, will be the right one.

MEAC officials awarded the conference's men's and women's basketball tournaments to Winston-Salem and Joel Coliseum yesterday for the next three years. The contract will begin with the 2008-09 tournament scheduled for March 10-15. All men's and women's games will be played at Joel Coliseum.

Commissioner Dennis Thomas of the MEAC praised Winston-Salem for having all the ingredients to help the tournament grow.

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BCU Wildcats Like Chances At College World Series

Photo: Bethune Cookman University head coach Mervyl Melendez has the Wildcats poised for the upset in the NCAA Regionals.

ORMOND BEACH -- The road to the College World Series begins soon for the best NCAA programs in the game, and Central Florida has a potential giant-killer to add to the mix.

Bethune-Cookman University is heading to its third-consecutive NCAA baseball regional and they are underdogs. They have had a great season so far, but now they are headed to Coral Gables to face Missouri, Ole Miss and the No. 1 team in the country -- the Miami Hurricanes.

"It's going to be a way-different scenario now. NCAA regionals. There's something on the line. You have to lose two games, so I'm sure it's going to be a tougher game, but we're going to be ready for the challenge. A lot of people are probably not giving us a chance to play well or beat University of Miami and I think that we have a very good chance," said Mervyl Melendez, the BCU head coach.

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North Carolina A&T football player dies from heat illness complications

Greensboro, N.C. — A senior offensive lineman on the North Carolina A&T State University football team died Wednesday from complications of heat illness, school officials said.

Chad Wiley, 22, collapsed Tuesday after a supervised voluntary workout on campus, officials said. An A&T athletic trainer treated Wiley on the field before he was transported to Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital.

A&T officials said Wednesday afternoon that Wiley had been running hills during a workout when he became dizzy. A trainer gave him water and he continued his workout. He lost consciousness inside the training room.

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READ: Update 4:22 p.m., http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/NRSTAFF/957891935

READ: Aggie Football Player Dies After Workout, http://www.digtriad.com/news/mostpopular/article.aspx?storyid=104275&provider=top

Wiley profile from North Carolina A & T State University Athletic Website: http://www.ncataggies.com/Football/profiles/wiley_chad.htm

Dawn of a rivalry? ODU and NSU talk football series

Old Dominion and Norfolk State are negotiating a long-term series between the schools' football teams, with ODU officials looking at 2013 as a starting point.

Norfolk State athletic director Marty Miller was even more proactive when reached Tuesday. "Why not 2012?" he asked. ODU would have its first class of fifth-year seniors in 2012.

The Monarchs, after nearly seven decades without football, are kick-starting a Division I-AA program that will begin play in 2009 and will join the Colonial Athletic Association in 2011. The school's first class of recruits arrives on campus this fall.

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You gotta love Marty Miller's attitude--stomp Old Dominion University in the turf before they get any momentum to becoming a winning program. Great question, why wait until 2013? NSU has two opportunities with Colonial Athletic Conference foes William and Mary, and now ODU, that should improve the MEAC's future strength of schedule profile. These local contests are great for college football and its good to see NSU take a proactive approach to getting these games on their schedule.

ODU first game will be against CIAA newcomer (in football only), Chowan University Hawks on September 5, 2009.

-beepbeep