Colleges

SPC rolls at Juco tourney

By ALLEN GEMAEHLICH
Published June 3, 2005

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Ovy Ramirez, who missed the last two games with an injured ankle, returned and kick-started the St. Petersburg College offense in a 13-3 victory over Wallace State (Ala.) Community College-Hanceville in the Thursday in the National Junior College Baseball Tournament.

"I told him he's got to show me he can run and cut off that ankle," coach Dave Pano said. "It was about 50-50 he would play."

Ramirez sprained his ankle Monday evening in a game of Whiffle ball after a team picnic.

He was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run double in the second that sparked a five-run inning.

The five runs were enough for Todd Redmond (13-3), who bounced back from a short stint in the team's opener to pick up the victory in a complete-game effort.

Redmond allowed three earned runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out seven. The game was called after six innings by the eight-run mercy rule.

The Titans (47-15-1), who lost their first game in the double-elimination tournament, awaited the outcome of Thursday's late game between New Mexico Junior College (3-0) and Iowa Western (2-1). A New Mexico win put it in the title game against St. Petersburg College at 9:30 tonight. An Iowa Western win gave all three teams 3-1 records and force a coin flip to determine who plays tonight and who gets the bye.

JACKSONVILLE: Andrew Zimbro, a 6-foot-5 senior from Lecanto, signed a national letter of intent. Zimbro averaged 17.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks a game this past season.

MEAC: The league reached a three-year deal with Raleigh, N.C., to play the men's and women's tournaments in the RBC Center in 2006-08.

Florida's Matt Every and Brett Stegmaier shot 1-over 71s and are at 5-over 145 after two round of the NCAA Men's Championships in Baltimore, Md. As a team, the Gators finished the second round at 11-over 291 and are at 20-over 580 for the tournament. Georgia leads the field by nine strokes at 2-under 558.

TELEVISION: The Notre Dame-Pittsburgh game on Sept.3 at Heinz Field, marking the head coaching debuts of the Irish's Charlie Weis and the Panthers' Dave Waanstedt, will start at 8 p.m. as part of a split national telecast on ABC-TV.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Cornerback Eric Wright left the school amid possible disciplinary action following an arrest on suspicion of rape.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE: Ryan Goodman, a two-sport athlete for Nebraska, is transferring to play for the Wolfpack. Goodman redshirted last wrestling season at 197 pounds and was a reserve quarterback for the Huskers' football team. He will sit out the 2005 football season at N.C. State per NCAA transfer rules.

AUBURN: Sydney Gran, the 5-year-old daughter of Auburn running backs coach Eddie Gran, died Tuesday of a pre-natal brain disorder. Doctors had given Sydney six weeks to live when she was born on July 1, 1999, just before Gran's first season with the Tigers.

HONORS: USF's Tiffany Stewart was named to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-America Third Team after leading the Bulls with a .399 average and .627 slugging percentage. She had nine home runs and 40 RBIs. ... Jacksonville senior Lauren Redfern (.380, 8 HR, 40 RBI) and Florida State junior Natasha Jacob (.359, 3.93 GPA) were named to the ESPN the Magazine ' s academic All-America second team.

WORLD SERIES: Krista Colburn singled in the winning run in the top of the sixth inning to help UCLA beat California 2-1 in the opening round in Oklahoma City. ... Monica Abbott threw a one-hitter and extended her scoreless streak to 43 innings in Tennessee's 1-0 victory over Arizona. ... Jennifer Ritter allowed just three singles as top-ranked Michigan beat DePaul 3-0.

--Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

[Last modified June 3, 2005, 01:17:39]