The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 14

4B THE IDEX40imL Scoreboard 5B Baseball 6B PORTS WEDNESDAY August 6, 1997 Coming up short SPORTS ON THE AIR Schmidt beats Braves for first time the Astros lost 6-5 The Marlins to Florida. now trail Atlanta by 4'j games in the NL East the first time the Braves have led by fewer than five games since July 3. Atlanta led 2-0 in the first after center fielder Jermaine Allensworth misplayed Keith Lockhart's ground ball into a triple. But Schmidt settled down to retire 13 a struck out Andruw Jones, Lopez and Jeff Blauser in succession to end the game. Loiselle had no margin for error after his two-base throwing error sent Danny Bautista to third base.

"Once the runner got to third, I knew I needed to strike out the next hitter," Loiselle said. "After that, I was looking just to get a ground ball or a fly Loiselle, whose 18 saves lead major league rookies, might be the Pirates' hardest-throwing closer since Goose Gossage 20 years ago. He threw several pitches in the high 90s while relying almost exclusively on fastballs and hard sliders. Loiselle's Career has taken a remarkable upswing for a prospect so lightly regarded Please see BRAVES page 6B PITTSBURGH (AP) The Atlanta Braves, as familiar as they are with games far more critical than this, hardly seemed bothered by losing to Pittsburgh. Here's the switch: Jason Schmidt didn't seem overly excited about beating them.

Schmidt, the former Atlanta prospect who was dealt to Pittsburgh a year ago, was overpowering at times despite allowing Javy Lopez's two-run homer as the Pirates held on to beat the Braves 5-4 Tuesday night. Schmidt (7-6) wasn't around for the end of his third consecutive victory, as Rich Loiselle struck out the side in a tense ninth inning after the potential tying run reached third base with one out. But Schmidt, who pitched seven innings, lasted considerably longer than he did the last time he faced his former team, a 10-2 loss on May 12 in which he was yanked in the fifth inning. At the time, Schmidt said he was too worked up about proving to the Braves how they had erred by trading him. "They beat me around that time, so I said to myself 'That whole thing is in my past.

This is my home now and they (the Braves) are just another team I have to Schmidt said. Well, not just any team. The Braves had won four straight from the Pirates by outscoring them 33-7, all in Three Rivers Stadium, after Pittsburgh had won three of their first four games. "Does it feel any better to beat them? It feels good any time you win," manager Gene Lamont said after the Pirates drew within five games of Houston in the NL Central as WUIIkUIITW I'UIIVIJ 17 IWI SCHMIDT walkinS Ryan Klesko scniviiui ahead of Lopez's two-run homer in the seventh. The homer cut Pittsburgh's lead to 5-4, but Atlanta would not score again as Loiselle Referee spent time in South Carolina 1 tiMZti fcU 'vH: t1 rr I 1 IT 'f )XIllZII7i' vZ 7 7 I iy i.

TODAY 1 p.m. ESPN Men's tennis, Great American Insurance ATP Championships, early round coverage, at Cincinnati 2 p.m. WGN Major League Baseball, San Francisco at Chicago Cubs 7:30 p.m. ESPN Major League Baseball, N.Y. Yankees at Texas ESPN2 Men's tennis.

Great American Insurance ATP Championships, early round coverage, at Cincinnati FOXSS Major League Baseball, St. Louis at Atlanta 10:30 p.m. ESPN Major League Baseball, Baltimore at Seattle THURSDAY 2 p.m. WGN Major League Baseball, San Francisco at Chicago Cubs 3:30 p.m. ESPN Men's tennis, Great American Insurance ATP Championships, early round coverage, at Cincinnati 7:30 p.m.

ESPN USA Soccer, U.S. Men's National Team vs. Ecuador, at Baltimore ESPN2 Men's tennis, Great American Insurance ATP Championships, early round coverage, at Cincinnati FOXSS Major League Baseball, Cleveland at Toronto. 7:35 p.m. TBS Major League Baseball, St.

Louis at Atlanta 10 p.m. WGN Major League Baseball, Chicago White Sox at Seattle TODAY 1p.m. WZLA-FM 92.9 Ned Jarrett's World of Racing 5:20 p.m. WMTY-FM 103.5 Bob Page's Sports Commentary 6 p.m. WZLA-FM 92.9 Winston Cup Today WCRS-AM 1450 Sports Talk 7:30 p.m.

WCRS-AM 1450 Major League Baseball, St. Louis at Atlanta THURSDAY 1p.m. WZLA-FM 92.9 Ned Jarrett's World of Racing 5:20 p.m. WMTY-FM 103.5 Bob tPage's Sports Commentary 6 p.m. WZLA-FM 92.9 Winston Cup Today WCRS-AM 1450 Sports Talk 7:30 p.m.

WCRS-AM 1450 Major League Baseball, St. Louis at Atlanta Lander hires Hill as new assistant coach Staff photo by Greg Deal defensive drill at the Hornets' afternoon workout Tuesday. Ware Shoals was winless in 1996, but new coach "Jet" Turner hopes to turn things around in 1997. Practice makes perfect Ware Shoals' assistant coach Tim Walker instructs Chris Tumblin, No. 23, during a Ninety Six's Rosel Williams recalls days with Willie Wells By SCHUYLER KROPE The Post and Courier Long before he refereed the Mike Tyson ear-bite fight, Mills Lane threw a lot of punched here in South Carolina.

He used to beat up University of South Carolina football players. Routinely. For fun. He built up his muscles while chopping wood in the stifling heat on Combahee Plantation near Yemassee. And he learned to box on Parris Island as a Marine.

"It's good to hear a Geechee voice," exclaimed Lane last week during a phone interview from his chambers in Reno, where the former prosecutor is now a judge. Criminals call the part-time referee "Maximum Mills." A Southerner, he isn't. It's been eons since Lane spent any significant time here. So long, if fact, that a first cousin, Charleston banker Hugh Lane, hasn't talked with him in 30 years. But the mark of South Carolina is still on him, including one brief stint in 1959 when Lane, now nearing 60, was the baddest man on campus at use.

He tells it this way: Fresh out of the Marine Corps at age 21, Lane, a southpaw, was a boxing disciple. In the Marines, Cpl. Lane was definitely a man to be feared. So fast and so fierce at 5 feet 7 inches and 147 pounds, he was named the Marine Corps' Far East boxing champion in Okinawa. That ended when he finished his stint and came back home to Combahee Plantation in Beaufort County, where his father, Remer Lane of the Citizens and Southern Georgia banking dynasty, had moved the family from Savannah after World War II.

His family wanted him to go to college and one day take over the plantation or become a banker. He had other plans. Lane was at USC only to get his grades up so he could transfer to the University of Nevada, where intercollegiate boxing reigned supreme. Boxing was all he knew, and all he wanted. "I got out of the Marine Corps, and I wanted to be a professional fighter," he said.

His time at USC was brief, but Those guys couldn't hit me with a handful of sand. They were good football players but they couldn't fight Mills Lane long enough to hand out some punishment to some of the Gamecock football team. One day on campus, Lane was watching Frank DeMars teach a physical education class on boxing. Several members of the football team were there wearing 16-ounce gloves. Lane bolted in, and proceeded to pummel the bigger ball players with fists of speed.

"Oh, man, was that fun. I'd tut 'em so hard it dazed 'em," he said. "They didn't know what to do." Punching a football player "was like hitting a big heavy fight bag that moved," he "Those guys couldn't hit me with a handful of sand. I got some tremendous workouts. They were pretty good football players," he added, "but they couldn't fight worth a damn." Lane also said then-head football coach Warren Giese once even tried to talk him our of making boxing his career.

Today," Giese says he doesn't remember Lane or the boxing class he is talking about. But Giese, now a Republican state senator from Columbia, said Lane's memory is probably a lot better than his and that at the time he would have tried to talk anyone out of entering the ring. The next year, 1960, Lane went to Nevada. But that was the last year for NCAA-sanctioned college boxing. He then lost his bid for the I960 Olympics, but went on to a 2 professional boxing career, finishing with a record of 1 1-1.

In the aftermath of the June 28 title bout, in which Tyson bit Evander Holyficld's ears and was disqualified, Lane was featured last week in the New York Times and Sports Illustrated, and the Aug. 4 issue of People. WHO: Rookie linebackers Matt Finkes and Tarek Saleh are filling in for All-Pro Kevin Greene. Finkes was the team's sixth round pick from Ohio State. Saleh was the fourth-round choice from Wisconsin.

WHY: Greene continues his holdout from training camp. His absence from camp today will push his total fine to nearly $125,000.: CAPERS COMMENT: "They aren't ready for prime time. They've made some progress, but they still have some progress to make." Replacing Greene would play a major' league or AAA team, he would borrow a uniform." In his career, Wells batted .410 against white teams in those exhibition games. Wells also made an impression upon those players. "Wells was the kind of player you always wanted on your team," said Hall-of-Famer Charlie Gehringer in 1989.

"He played the way all great players play with everything he had." WILLIE WELLS Wells, who died in 1982, is also credited with bringing an innovation to the game that is still used today, Williams said. According to stories, Wells took a hard hit in the head during a game. "The next day, Willie went to a construction site and borrowed a hat from one of the workers," Williams said. "He was brave By DEAN LOLLIS Index-Journal design editor NINETY SIX During his playing days, Negro-leaguer Willie Wells was so intense on the field he earned the nickname El Diablo (The Devil). For Ninety Six's Rosel Williams, who played for Wells at Birmingham The Devil was more of a saint.

"He was one of the best shortstops I have ever seen," Williams recalls of Wells, who was inducted into the Major: League Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday. "He knew how to play different ball players better than anyone I have ever seen." Wells finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .300. He was consistently near the top of the race for the Negro League batting title, batting .403 in the 1930 season. Williams met Wells when he' joined the Birmingham Black Barons in 1954. Wells was serving as the team's player-manager.

"Willie Wells was the manager," Williams said. "If we A CAJL JL 1111 SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) The Carolina Panthers are preaching patience as they prepared two rookies as possible replacements for holdout linebacker Kevin Greene. Sunday's 2 3 9 More NFL exhibition loss i to Jacksonville News and was the first notes, Pave 5B 8ame action as pros for Tarek Saleh, a fourth-round draft pick from Wisconsin, and Matt Finkes, a sixth-round selection from Ohio State. The two rookies showed they have plenty to learn, but Carolina defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said it's way too early to get overly concerned, especially since the enough to get back in there." For Williams, the lessons he learned from Wells weren't limited to the ballfield.

"He taught me how to keep up with money," Williams said. "He tried to tell me not to be like some of the other players not to go. out and spend all my money after I got paid." As a young player with the Black Barons, Williams said Wells becames his "mentor." "He would keep me on the bus and let everybody go," Williams said. "He could talk about baseball from one town to the next. "He loved to talk and he loved to work on that field." Wells wanted his players to improve their mobility by making them do many different drills; Williams said one of the drills involved having to line up in right field and chase down a ball hit from homeplate to left field.

Williams feels Wells was a player who definitely belonged in the Hall of Fame. "He should have been in there a long time ago," he said. how many performance bonuses he earns. His absence Tuesday pushed his total fines for the holdout to $122,921. If Greene doesn't show up in time for the game against the Redskins on Aug.

31 and the Panthers aren't comfortable starting either of the rookies, the team could look for a proven veteran from somewhere else. "We're always prepared for said general manager Bill Polian. "We do that as a matter of course. But we're not prepared to make any moves at this time." So for now at least, it's up to Finkes and Saleh to show they can sufficiently master their roles as outside linebackers in coach Dom Capers' 3-4 defensive alignment. "They aren't ready for prime Capers said.

1VsC4.LJ.1-X 1 11 11 VyClOJ' ILF Vlllg VJJ 1 KILL V7 GREENWOOD Lander completed its coaching staff Wednesday when it hired Gene Hill as assistant women's basketball coach and student affairs assistant, Athletics Director Jeff May announced, Hill, who has been the assistant women's basketball i coach and AREA residence hall ROUNDUP croCtkrea; College since 1994, will begin his duties immediately. "I am very pleased that Coach Hill is going to join our program," said Sheila Rhodes, who was hired as Lander's head women's basketball coach earlier this year. "He will not only bring experience in recruiting, but also an enthusiasm and work ethic that will certainly help improve our women's basketball program. We are expecting great things from Gene." Hill, a native of LaGrange, earned a bachelor's degree in sports management from Coker College in May and is a former member of the Coker basketball team. Hanley named all-american WARE SHOALS Dana Hanley, who will be a senior this year at Ware Shoals High School, Please see AREA page 5B made some progress, but they still have some progress to make." By all accounts, the 3-4 is a difficult scheme to learn, even for veterans coming from the more traditional 4-3 set.

For rookies, the 3-4 can be especially confusing, and Finkes and Saleh both have the added burden of making the transition to outside linebacker after playing defensive end in college. "Rookies in our defense, it's like taking first-graders and putting them in tie space program," Polian said. "They're lost." Concurring with that observation was Finkes, who started Sunday's exhibition game at left outside linebacker, Greene's spot. "It was pretty much a rude awakening, the first couple of series," Finkes said. regular-season opener isn't until Aug.

31. "Anything's possible. They've got a lot of time to get better," Fangio said Tuesday after the Panthers returned to training camp at Wofford College. "I can remember when I was in New Orleans and we moved Rcnaldo Turnbull to outside linebacker," Fangio said. "He had a terrible first game and ended up making Pro Bowl that year.

So you've just got to be patient. There's time yet." The Panthers don't appear to have many alternatives in the absence of Greene, the NFL's 1996 sack leader. Greene, who turned 35 last week, is unhappy with his contract, which calls for him to make. between $1 million and $1.6 million this year, depending on.