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-— - if aThe Houston Home m Journal WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4,1990-Sect lon B Hornets victimized by big hits in 6-3 loss i Senior third baseman Matt Perfect camps out underneath a high fly ball Tuesday ...The Hornets held an early lead, but two home runs gave the Raiders the win Shawn Akers HHJ Sports editor Vitale and I knew who would win It may not have been the boldest prediction in the world, but it's one that I finally got right. After years of trying to predict the NCAA college basketball national champion, my forecast was finally proven correct Monday night when the University of Nevada-Las Vegas literally embarassed Duke University, 103-73, in the national championship game at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. Sure, the Runnin Rebels were the No. 1 seed in the West and the second favorite to win it next to Oklahoma, but not many other people believed in UNLV. Just me and my buddy, Dick Vitale. I can hear him now. "Vitale and Akers, baby! What a duo! We knew that Tark 'the Shark's' bunch of prime time stammers and jammers would end up on top when the Big Dance was done! Chalk one up for us in the 'W' column." Now I'm not going to say that I should be setting the odds out in Las Vegas. I have been known to predict some things right, but not in the crazy world of college basketball. In fact, as you can remember again, I picked a three-quarters Big East Final Four with St. John’s, Syracuse and Georgetown. None of those even showed up for the Big Dance in Denver. Michigan was not my pick last year, either. I felt that Oklahoma would come out on top in last year's finale. Wrong answer. Kansas the year before, uh, no. How about Indiana before that and Villanova before that? Forget it. But I did bet on Villanova to win the final once the Wildcats got there, and looked pretty good on that. Horse racing was more my sport for predictions. I did pick Alysheba out of the blue to win the Kentucky Derby a couple of years ago. Lucky guess, I guess. So, it’s not very often that I'm able to get one right in college Please see AKERS, Page 4B Panther boy netters are dominating; girls struggle By SHAWN AKERS Sports Editor ZEBULON - Perry High School tennis Coach Mike Majors isn't at all surprised that his boys' team is 2-0 after its first two matches. What surprises Majdrs is the way the Panthers have been winning. After sweeping Harris County last week 5-0, Perry made it two in a row Tuesday with a 5-0 win over Pike County in a region match at the Zebulon city courts. The Lady Panther netters, how ever, lost for the second straight lime as the Lady Pirates beat them, 4-1. All three Panther boys' singles players won by scores of 8-1, and the No. 2 doubles team of Tripp Peake and Greg Winchester won big as well. Perry's No. 1 doubles' team of Trent Malone and Lonnie Elwood struggled, however, but beat Todd Bower and Trey Thaxton, 9-8 (7-2) in a tie-breaker. Majors knew that his team would be competitive going into the season, but he didn't anticipate that the Panthers would be this dominating. Perry rolls past Lamar County 16-3 Panthers bounce back from loss By SHAWN AKERS Sports Editor PERRY - The Perry High School baseball team may have felt as if it had something to prove Monday afternoon after letting a game slip away from it last Wednesday. Lamar County got all the evidence it wanted. The Panthers bounced back from that one-run loss last week by lashing out 10 hits in a 16-3 rout of the Trojans in a region game at "The Pit." With the victory, Perry stayed in a tie for second in the region with Harris County, one-half game behind Jackson. The Panthers improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the region. Perry's scheduled game with league-leading Jackson was postponed last Friday due to rain. The Panthers literally gave the Harris County game away last week, allowing the Tigers to score three times in the bottom of the seventh inning in a 5-4 loss. Perry wasn't about to let that happen again. "I was pleased with the way the kids bounced back," said Perry Coach Tim Simmons. "The attitude on the team has been pretty good. This was a good game game for us to play and get over that loss because it was such a heartbreaking loss." "We needed a game like this," said winning pitcher Keith Ragin. "It would have been really easy for us to get down after what happened last ; week, but we didn't and we're back to where we should be." The Panthers jumped on Trojan starting and losing pitcher Larry Fluellyn for two runs in the first inning inning and six more in the | second. The last three batters in the lineup, Ragin, Jimmy Dunlap and ■ Randy "Tater" Mizell, produced five of the Panthers' 11 RBI. "The end of the lineup really came along and hit the ball well," Simmons said. "The middle of the lineup I was a little disappointed in, and they’re going to have to start hitting again. But 1 know they'll come Please see PERRY, Page 4B "I really though we'd do well in the region, but I'm really surprised that we've dominated the way we have this early in the season be cause we lost a lot of people to graduation last year," Majors said. "But this is abdicated bunch and they've worked hard over the summer and up until now. They didn't just put their rackets down whenever the season was over last year." Allen Griffin, Perry's No. 1 sin gles player, had virtually no trouble in his match with Clifton Dukes. "I played a lot better than I did last week, except for the last two games," Griffin said. "I guess I was just overhitting or hitting the ball too hard late in the match because I wanted to get it over with, and that's when he won the one game." The Panthers' No. 2 player, Chad Collins, put away Brett Craine easily as well, as did Jeremy Pruitt, Perry's No. 3 singles player, who beat Pike County's Chris Aughlman. "That's the best I've seen Jeremy play in a while," Majors said. "And that's encouraging. Hopefully he can keep that up." Perry sports j Complete coverage of Perry High, Westfield, Recreation leagues & Outdoor news \ Hornets stake Arrington to early lead, but Raider round-trippers give Southland win By J.J. COOPER Staff Writer AMERICUS- Two pitches proved to be the Hornets downfall Tuesday in Americus. Shaync Arrington gave the Hor nets a strong outing, except for two home runs that gave the Raiders what they needed to lake a 6-3 win in both teams first region game of the season. The first came in the bottom of the third, as Brock Powell sent an Arrington fastball over the leflficld wall for a two run homer. In the sixth the Raiders took the lead for good, as Michael Stubbs drilled an Arrington offering over the centerficld fence for a three run homer, giving the Raiders a 6-3 lead. "Shaync pitched a good game," said Hornet coach Mark Lewis. "This team just hits inside fastballs like they own them." Both of the home run balls were outside fastballs which got away from Arrington and tailed inside, said Lewis. Despite the two gopher balls, Arrington pitched a strong game, going the distance while allowing only nine hits. Peake and Winchester, Perry's No. 2 doubles' team, beat Glenn Ivey and Sean Swcatman, 8-0. Malone and Elwood won their sec ond match, but Majors knows they can play belter. ; "They just didn't very well at all today," Majors said, "they didn't hit the ball well and I know that they're better than that." A surprise on the girls' side was that Susie Collins, Perry's No. 1 girls' player, was beaten by Pike County's Charlotte Hankins, 8-6. It was Collins' first loss in a team match in two years. "Susie didn't look like she was ready to play," Majors said. "She's under a lot of pressure team-wise, and everybody expects her to win every match. It seems like she's worried about making a mistake rather than attacking and trying to win points." Cassie Bisbee, the Lady Pan thers’ No. 3 singles player, look the only victory for Perry with an 8-4 win over Stephanie Harvey. Num ber two Melanie Bowers lost to Katie Hankins, 9-7. The Lady Panthers' doubles Please see NETS, Page 4B *r ynr» |HpPf mi 1 I I Toby Gilbert receives high fives after hitting a second inning home run. Perry trounced Lamar County, 16-3. Two thirds of Arrington's pitches were strikes, but five of the hits were for extra bases. The Raiders bunched their hits into several rallies, while the Hornets scattered six hits over all seven innings. "When you have six hits you have to pul them together," said Lewis. "Their hits were clumped together." Westfield, usually a slow starter, uncharacteristically broke out to an early lead. Michael Sullivan led off the game with a walk, and Stephen Gibbs followed with a single. After Arrington fanned, Malt Perfect singled, knocking in Sulli van. Chad Evans followed with a walk. Gibbs came around to score on a wild pitch to pul the Hornets up 2- 0. The Raiders then settled down to end the inning on two quick outs. Arrington sent the Raiders don in order in the bottom of the in ning. The Hornets held the edge early, but they were unable to add to their ■ . * /.,■ -• * ';>,y <*? >', * : J V v s r • J. W- . * r ■ ... W • » J | v ' , '»r v 5 J - Perry’s Melanie Bowers serves a point in her match with Pike County's Katie Hankins. Hankins beat Bowers, 9-7. lead as they went scoreless in the lop of the second. Southland regained one of the runs in the bottom of the second. After Arrington struck out the leadoff batter. Southland put to gether a small raliy. Arrington allowed a walk and a double, pulling runners on second and third. Scott Lightner grounded to Jamey Watson, who made a diving grab and fired to first for an out, but one run scored on the play, closing the margin to 2-1. The Raiders took the lead for the first time in the third. Justin Davidson led off the in ning with a single. Brock Powell then deposited an Arrington fastball for a home run, as Southland took a 3-2 lead. Arrington continued to struggle as Michael Stubbs ripped a double to deep centerfield on the next pilch. Another batter was hit by a pitch, to give the Raiders runners at first and second with no out. But Malt Perfect made a diving slop to force Stubbs out at third, Ragin is settled on the mound By SHAWN AKERS Sports Editor PERRY - Admittedly, Keith Ragin didn't have the best of outings in his first pitching performance this season. The senior right hander allowed three runs, including a monsterous home run and four hits in two and two-thirds innings against Manchester before being relieved. Ragin didn’t get the loss, but that was small consolation. Against Lamar County Monday, however, Ragin was a man on a mission. "I was determined I was going to throw a good ballgamc and at least get the win this time,” Ragin said. Ragin did in fact redeem himself against Lamar County, striking out six and allowing one hit in four innings in a 16-3 romp over the Trojans at the Panther "Pit." It was Ragin's first victory this season. He allowed a run in the third inning, but it was unearned. Please see RAGIN, Page 4B