Monday, March 31, 2014
Former FAMU band member gets 51 weeks in jail in hazing death case
ORLANDO, Florida -- A former Florida A&M band member was sentenced to jail time for his role in the hazing death of a drum major.
Prosecutors said Jessie Baskin was the "most enthusiastic participant," in Robert Champion's death.
Baskin faced nine years when sentenced Friday for participating in the beating death of Robert Champion in November 2011 during a hazing ritual aboard a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel. Judge Marc Lubet gave Baskin 51 weeks in jail.
Lubet said as he sentenced Baskin that he didn't want to destroy Baskin's life. But, he said, Baskin did have to pay something for what he did. Baskin had pleaded no contest to manslaughter.
Baskin broke into tears several times Friday afternoon as he listened to family members and friends beg the judge to be lenient.
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Quarterbacks struggle in S.C. State’s first spring scrimmage
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- Sunday’s rescheduled football scrimmage at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium for South Carolina State could be best described as incomplete.The three quarterbacks vying for the starting position — TeDarius Wiley, Adrian Kollack and Joey Copeland — combined for 16 incompletions and no touchdown passes thrown during the 70-plus play scrimmage. Both Wiley and Kollack managed a rushing score along with running back Justin Taylor on a day when a familiar problem on offense reared its ugly head again.
“It went good at times and not so good at times,” S.C. State head football coach Buddy Pough said. “We’ve got a lot of operational things we’ve got to get done. It’s hard for things for our quarterbacks to really throw the football effectively and that kind of stuff. We were having protection problems and snap problems. But besides that, you saw some guys out really working hard and practicing hard and that kind of stuff and we’re developing the kind of personnel that we need for next year.”
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TSU Flying Tigers Soar in Weems-Baskin Relays Invite
COLUMBIA, South Carolina -- The Flying Tigers had one of their best performances of the season at the 21st annual Baskin-Weems Invitational, tallying 15 top-five finishes.
For the Tigerbelles, Quanisha Sales notched a fourth-place finish in 100-meter dash with a time of 12.09, while Jerome Henderson finished third on the men’s side, running the event in 10.70 seconds.
With a final time of 24.41 seconds, Amber Hughes placed fourth in women’s 200-meter. Henderson was also the top Flying Tiger in the run, coming in at 21.59, good enough for sixth place.
Quamel Prince was second in the 800-meter dash with a finals time of 1:52.06 and Jaleel Michael came in fourth in the 400-meter hurdles (53.84 seconds).
In the relays, the Flying Tiger team of Prince, Michael Johnson, Jason Griffin and Emmanuel Thornton finished second in the 4x400 (3:13.92), while Tigerbelles Sales, Hughes, Breanna Adams and Clairwin Dameus won the women’s side (3:46.93).
In the field events, Daryl Rice leapt 2.05 meters, which put him in second place in the high jump, and Royce Dates’s jump of 7.04 meters in the long jump gave him a third-place finish.
The Flying Tigers continued their impressive showing as Kareem Nichols won the triple-jump with a best of 14.42 meters.
Britani Logan rounded out the events by tossing the shot-put 13.41, placing her second.
The TSU track and field teams will next travel to the University of Florida on April 3 for the Pepsi Relays.
COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
FAMU Lady Rattlers Sweep Doubleheader With Savannah State
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| COURTESY FAMU ATHLETICS |
SAVANNAH, Georgia – The FAMU Softball team shook off the offensive funk of the past four games Sunday, scoring 22 runs to sweep a MEAC doubleheader from Savannah State at Lady Tiger Field, 7-5 and 15-1.
FAMU (12-19, 2-1 in MEAC Southern) had struggled at the plate until Sunday’s second game, with 15 hits in their last five games before erupting for 14 hits in the five-inning, 15-1 romp.
Assistant coach, Lori Goodart, attributed the success at the plate to focus. “I think our mentality at the plate was much better this weekend. We had sort of a lapse as yesterday’s game was re-scheduled three different times due to the weather, but today we came out with a totlly different and aggressive attitude,” Goodart said.
Brielle Gordon led FAMU with three hits and four RBIs, with help from Denise Anderson, who had two hits and five RBIs. Both players homered in the game to key the FAMU offense, while Christina Robbs and Miesha McBride added two hits apiece.
Gordon belted a two-run homer in the second to extend FAMU’s 1-0 lead to 3-0, then Anderson’s three-run blast in the top of the fourth ignited an eight-run rally that pushed the visitor’s edge to 14-1.
Goodart attributed the big hits to a simple batting technique.
“We hit the ball where it was pitched today. Lately we have been trying to power hit, but today we placed it just where it needed to be placed. In addition, our players were alert and did a good job on the base paths,” Goodart added.
Ashleigh Minter (7-7) was the winning pitcher for FAMU, allowing one unearned run on five hits in five innings of work Sunday.
In Sunday’s opener, the Lady Rattlers snapped a three-game skid with a 7-5 win, taking an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on a steal of home by Alyssa Weaver, and a wild pitch, which scored Brielle Gordon.
Savannah State rallied for four runs in the bottom of the inning to barge ahead, 4-2, but that lead was short-lived, as FAMU scored two runs in the top of the second, as Raven Moseley and Brittany Speer both scored on an error by the Savannah first baseman to tie the game at 4-4.
Savannah State (17-15, 1-2 in MEAC) scored a run in the bottom of the second to regain the lead at 5-4, but FAMU took advantage of a bases loaded walk and a hit batter with the bases loaded, to move ahead, 6-5 in the top of the fifth, adding an insurance run in the top of the seventh on Denise Anderson’s RBI single for the 7-5 final count.
FAMU had four hits in the opener (Denise Anderson, Kieffi Myrick (double), Christina Robbs and Miesha McBride each had hits), but were aided in the win by Savannah State’s pitching meltdown, which saw nine walks issued to Lady Rattler hitters, and five hit batters, plus two errors.
Reliever Kenya Pererira (1-6) got the win in relief of starter Amber Fullwood, who was lifted with two outs in the first inning. Pererira worked the final six and one-third innings, scattering three hits, allowing one run, with four strikeouts.
“We really got good innings in the circle from Ashleigh and Kenya. They did a solid job of keeping runners off the bases this weekend,” Goodart concluded.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Lady Rattlers are at Alabama State Tuesday (6 p.m. Central Time), then host North Carolina A&T in a three-game weekend series this Saturday and Sunday at the FAMu Softball Complex.
COURTESY FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
Sunday, March 30, 2014
SC State's Judge Earns 400th Career Tennis Coaching Victory
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| South Carolina State head coach Hardeep Judge earns 400th career victory. Courtesy: SCSU Athletics |
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — South Carolina State men's and women's tennis coach Hardeep Judge reached another illustrious milestone in Bulldog history, surpassing his 400th career victory over the weekend knocking off FAMU 4-3 (men), 5-2 (women) in MEAC tennis play at the Rattler Tennis Center.
The Bulldogs (8-4 overall, 4-0 in the MEAC) claimed the southern division with a 4-3 victory over host Florida A&M. Meanwhile, the Lady Bulldogs (8-5 overall, 5-1 MEAC) remained tied for first place in the southern division after a 5-2 triumph over the Lady Rattlers.
"Our girls played with a lot of heart today and they definitely didn't play their best but the windy conditions were hard to adjust to, "said SC State head coach Hardeep Judge. "Oleksandra played a lot better than her last outing as did Intissar."
The guys played very poorly today with two week layoff as well as the windy weather gave us some problems today," said Judge. "I am happy that we were able to win the Southern Division but we know that we will need to work extremely hard in these next few weeks for us to make an impact in the MEAC Championships."
In women's action, the Lady Bulldogs claimed the doubles point early on with an 8-3 and 8-2 victory over the Lady Rattlers to start the match. In singles action freshman Oleksandra def. Alexis Dean (6-2, 6-4);sophomore Klara Dohanlova def. Symone Townsend in three sets (5-7,6-2, 6-1);freshman Intissar Rassif the MEAC Rookie of the Week def. Monet Graves (6-2, 6-3) and freshman Marketa Marcanikova knocked off Arrice Robinson 6-4,6-2 to claim the victory.
On the men's side, it was a battle from start to finish with the Bulldogs jumping out front to claim the doubles point at the No.2 position 8-7 and No.3 position 8-4. In singles it was all freshman earning wins with Martin Kobza at the No. 2 spot (6-4, 6-1); Daniel Vala at the No. 5 spot (6-3, 6-4) and Martin Figura at the No.6 spot (6-2, 6-2)
Judge stated, "Starting five freshmen and one sophomore we have continued to grow as a team, so it was great to get my 400th win against Florida A&M since we have battled them so much in my time at SC State.
Judge the winningest tennis coach in SC State history earned victory 401 with the wins over FAMU. He has guided the program to new heights with a total of 18 Mid-Eastern Athletic Championships (9 straight for the women, 9-of-10 for the men) in a 12-year span, making him among one of the few coaches in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) to reach 400 wins in a short time pan.
The Bulldogs return to action on Monday (March. 31) against Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, before both teams head to Buies Creek, NC to take on Campbell University in a Thursday (April 2.) non-conference matchup.
COURTESY SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
Jackson State's Burroughs leans on safeties to help install the defense
JACKSON, Mississippi -- Jackson State defensive coordinator Derrick Burroughs is putting a lot of pressure on Preston Hughes and Ryan Griffin.The duo has gotten the most reps at safety during spring practice, and Burroughs expects them to lead on the field.
“This is a new defense for the both of us,” Burroughs said. “I’ve kind of put it on their shoulders, they’re the two guys that I always go to after practice and ... make sure they staying on their playbook.”
Along with those expectations comes ...
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Southern spring game showcases new quarterbacks
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- The Southern offense won’t be the same next season without All-Southwestern Athletic Conference quarterback Dray Joseph.But that doesn’t mean it can’t be as good or even better just because it’s different.
Southern’s spring game Saturday at A.W. Mumford Stadium demonstrated how the offense will evolve with an inexperienced quarterback in either Deonte Shorts or Francis Kennah and a deep stable of running backs.
Shorts and Kennah were among 10 players to rush the ball, and Southern ran it 45 times and threw it 27. Unofficially, the Jaguars rushed for 258 yards and passed for 120.
“The quarterbacks’ ability to run will put some pressure on defenses,” coach Dawson Odums said. “They’re a lot more mobile than Dray was, and we didn’t ask Dray to be mobile, because he was a pretty good pocket passer.
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