College Football:
UCIA at Oregon,
Autzen Stadium, 3:30
Sports
Emerald
Oregon confident competing against nation’s best
Oregon will
face 13 of the
nation's top 22
teams at the
Furman
Invitational
By Joel Hood
Sports Reporter
Cross country races in October are
not supposed to be this important,
but don’t tell that to Oregon and
women's head coach Tom Heinonen.
The No. 7 Ducks face off against the
nation’s best with everything on the
line Saturday.
Thirteen of the country’s top 22
teams, including defending national
champion Stanford, will run this
weekend at the Furman Invitational
in Greenville, S.C. — fittingly the site
of the NCAA Championships in No
vember.
“This is the biggest, most high
quality race we have ever run outside
the NCAA Championships,"
Heinonen said. "It’s important for us
to get experience running on the East
Coast in a championship setting. We
need to face this level of competition
if we want to improve."
Oregon began
this season ranked
13th in the country,
but as the Ducks’
confidence has im
proved, so too lias
their national rank
ing. Oregon enters this weekend feel
ing it can compete with the country's
best.
“This can be such a great confi
dence builder for us," said Marie
Davis, Oregon’s lone All-American
last season. ”1 think that if we believe
in ourselves and believe that we can
compete against these teams then
we’ll run a strong race.
“We need to realize that we’re one
of these top teams... People should be
scared of us, like we should he scared
of them in a big race.”
Davis, along with senior Milena
Glusae, has led the Ducks in each of
the team’s first two races. Davis had a
first- and second-place overall finish,
while Glusae has come back from in
jury this season to take a second- and
ninth-place finish, respectively.
1 leinonen is looking for similar re
sults from his top two runners this
weekend.
"We have run well this season, but
1 think we can run better,” Heinonen
said. "Our goal is for each runner to
be better each week, to be more fo
cused and more relaxed.”
Relaxed may be the one thing that
Oregon won’t be in a race featuring
five of the nation’s top six teams. The
key, Heinonen said, is to be focused
and healthy.
"As long as our top five runners are
healthy, I think we’ll do well,”
Turn to DUCKS. Page 15A
Grissom’s 3-run
homer beats O’s
to knot ALCS
Benitez chokes again in playoffs
as Cleveland beats Baltimore 5-4
to even series at one game apiece
By Tom Withers
AP Sports Writer
BALTIMORE (AP) — Check the tempera
ture and the scoreboard: this Indian summer
isn’t over yet.
Marquis Grissom hit a three-run homer in
the eighth inning off Armando Benitez on
Thursday night, giving the Cleveland Indi
ans a 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles
in Game 2 of the AL championship series.
With the Indians trailing 4-2 in the eighth
and on the verge of falling behind 2-0 in the
best-of-7 series, Grissom hit a shot into the
Orioles’ bullpen that stunned the Camden
Yards crowd and surely sent living rooms
and bars in Ohio into a frenzy.
Cleveland, which came back from a 2-1
deficit to beat the defending World Series
champion New York Yankees in the open
ing round, benefited from two walks and a
controversial call in the eighth that set up
unssom s shot.
Benitez struck out pinch-hitter Jeff Bran
son to open the inning before walking
Sandy Alomar. He then struck out Tony
Fernandez and appeared to get pinch-hitter
Jim Thome as well on a 3-2 pitch.
Thome checked his swing on the pitch
and, although TV replays showed his bat
had crossed the plate, he was awarded first
base. Grissom, who went 3-for-4, then drove
a 1-1 pitch to the deepest part of the ball
park, bringing the Indians out of the dugout.
In last year’s playoffs, Benitez gave up a
tie-breaking grand slam to Albert Belle in
Cleveland’s 9-4 win in Game 3.
Cleveland’s Mike Jackson got two outs in
the eighth and Jose Mesa pitched the ninth
for the save.
Following a travel day Friday, the series
will resume at Jacobs Field on Saturday.
The Orioles will send ace Mike Mussina to
the mound against Orel Hershiser.
Until Grissom’s dramatic shot, it ap
peared Baltimore’s new shortstop and its
old one would push the Orioles a little clos
er to the World Series.
Mike Bordick snapped a sixth-inning tie
with a two-run single, and Cal Ripken hit a
two-run homer — his first career postseason
shot — as the Orioles took a 4-2 lead into the
eighth and turned it over to their brilliant
bullpen, which was 83-4 when protecting
leads after the seventh inning this year.
Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer in
the first inning for Cleveland, which strand
Turn toALCS, Page 17A
OREGON vs. USC
CHAD PATTESON/Emerald
Seniors Demi Cordova (left) and Tia Stewart attempt a block in Oregon's loss to CSC Thursday night 'The Ducks look to end an
eight-match losing streak and notch their first Pacific-10 Conference victory Friday against I Id A at McArthur Conn.
Women of Troy conquer Oregon, 3-0
All-American candidateJasmina
Marinkovic leads USC to victory, 15-3,
15-8, 15-8
By Rob Moseley
Sports Reporter
Thursday night’s Pacific-10 Conference women’s
volleyball match at McArthur Court was a study in
contrasts.
On one side stood the No. 7 USC Women of
Troy, 11-2 on the year, their only losses coming to
No. 2 Stanford and No. 6 Washington State.
On the other side were the Oregon Ducks, 7-9
overall and wallowing in the midst of a seven
match winless streak.
True to form, the Women of Troy dominated the
match, winning 15-3,15-8,15-8 on the strength of
three scoring streaks of eight points or more.
In game one USC looked relaxed, relying on their
superior athleticism to rip off an eight-point scor
ing streak after the Ducks tied the game at 1-1. The
Ducks scored twice more, but the Women of Troy
responded with another scoring streak, this one
good for six points and the game.
Both sides seemed listless at the start of game
two. But with the Ducks up 3-2, USC's Jasmina
Marinkovic led the Trojans on an eight-point scor
ing streak.
“She’s as good a player as there is in the coun
try,” Oregon head coach Cathy Nelson said of the
NCAA leader in hitting percentage.
Nelson again attempted to breath life into the
Ducks’ attack by substituting Michelle Graham at
setter for Casey Crisler, but USC took the serve at
13-8 and scored two quick points to end the game.
Graham stayed in to start game three, and Oregon
Turn to VOLLEYBALL, Page 16A
Stats
^ KILLS:
Ernst, UO 11
Mar’vic, USC 12 f
m BLOCKS:
White, UO 9 |
Stephen, USC 12 |
H HITTING PCT.: |
UO .055
USC .320 I