CD o) Tuesday, May 9, 1995 The Pantagraph i mam Pontiac's Kennedy leading in SIU quarterback derby ft- Former Pontiac By RANDY KINDRED Pantagraph staff Reggie Kennedy has passed the football equivalent of mid-terms. The freshman from Pontiac emerged as the frontrunner from a pack of five quarterbacks this spring at Southern Illinois University. If the former Pontiac High School all-stater performs as well on the final exam preseason practice in August he likely will open next season as the Salukis' starting quarterback. Coach Shawn Watson stopped short of naming Kennedy the starter following the final spring scrimmage, during which Kennedy ran the No. 1 offense and engineered four scoring drives three touchdowns and a field goal.
Watson kept his options open because, he said, "If Reggie goes to sleep over the summer, we don't gain anything." However, Watson admitted if Kennedy "continues to walk away with it next fall, it might be his job early in camp." "Reggie has to be a better practice player, In terms of drill work and things like that," said Watson, who is seeking a successor to the graduated David Pierson. "But when he gets out between the chalk lines and there's only 22 men on the field, he's a gamer." That is hardly news to anyone familiar with Kennedy's high school career. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound left-hander was the Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year for classes 1A through 3A while leading Pontiac to the 1993 3A state championship. In his career with the Indians, he pened to make the big plays when I needed them," said Kennedy. "Hopefully, I can continue it this fall.
"I'm going to stay down here and work out this summer. He (Watson) wants me to work on my strength and on my foot quickness. I'm also working on throwing the ball rolling out to my right I had a little trouble throwing across my body this spring." It was perhaps the only thing Kennedy struggled with while convincing others, and even himself, that he was correct to choose quarterback over linebacker coming out of high school. "Guys on the team still joke about me moving to linebacker because of my size," Kennedy said. "But now that they've seen me play, they're happy with me at quarterback.
I think they're confident in me for the most part" This spring, after sitting out a week with bronchitis, Kennedy began to show his maturity by completing 4 of 7 passes for 63 yards and rushing for a touchdown in his first scrimmage in mid-April. That allowed him to inch ahead of four quarterbacks who, like Kennedy, have not completed a pass for the Salukis sophom*ores Jason Karnes and Chris Schullian and juniors Jeff Brune and Phil Shelhaas. His strong showing in the final scrimmage April 29 solidified Kennedy's standing as the man to beat entering fall camp. None of the other quarterbacks could muster a drive of more than 25 yards. "Coach said it was up to whoever did the best in spring ball, and I just hap- passed for 4,482 yards and 38 touchdowns, and also rushed for 983 yards and 21 TDs.
Still, a number of colleges, including Illinois, recruited Kennedy as a linebacker. His desire to play quarterback led him to Carbondale, where he was redshirted last fall and ran the opposition's offense each week in practice against SIU's No. 1 defense. "I think that made me better," said Kennedy, who hopes to help the Salukis improve on last year's 1-10 record. "I took some hits.
I couldn't turn my head for a couple of days because I got blind-sided in practice. "But it taught me that you have to throw the ball on time or it's not going to work. It (being on the scout team) kind of depresses you at first, but you have to take it as a maturing thing." High School star Reggie I Kennedy i (above) may start next year at Southern Illinois. Cubs draw first blood 3Aci I 'a i a tin', Bullinger shuts down Cardinals ST. LOUIS CAP) Jim Bull-inger's 0.51 ERA indicates he can do no wrong.
He knows better. "As far as getting the job done, it's been a CUBS 7 battle every CARDINALS 4 single time," Bullinger said after allowing no earned runs in 5 innings in the Chicago Cubs' 7-4 victory over the St Louis Cardinals Monday night "My delivery is not exactly what I want, but I think a lot of the pitchers in the league right now are struggling a little bit with that because of the short spring training," he said. None are struggling like Bullinger, 29, who entered the year with 9-10 with a 4.11 ERA for his career. He gave up four runs in the sixth, but none was earned, and has allowed one earned run in 17 innings all season. He started the night with an 0.75 ERA But he didn't care how many percentage points he'd shaved, he just knew he'd have to get better.
"They hit a lot of balls hard," Bullinger said. "I was fortunate they hit some balls at some people in some key situations, and Brian McRae made a great play for me in the third inning." McRae, the Cubs center fielder, made a diving catch of Tim Hulett's liner with runners on first and second for the second out of the third. He said it was the least he could do, considering he went 0-for-4 with an RBI. "If you can't get any hits, at least you can take some away," McRae said. Redbird women sign forward Kansas City's Scaggs i ISU's fifth new recruit By Pantagraph staff Patricia Scaggs, a second-team all-stater from Kansas City, has signed a national letter of in-' tent to play basketball for Illinois State's women's team.
Scaggs, a 5-foot-10 forward with 3-point shooting range, averaged 19.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game for Northeast High School in Kansas City, leading Coach Karen Jamison's team to a 23-4 record. The four-year varsity starter scored more than 1,500 points dur-; ing her career at Northeast while leading the team in scoring and rebounding her junior and senior seasons. All-around athlete ISU women's basketball coach Jill Hutchison was unavailable for comment, but assistant coach Rose Peeples said the staff is excited about Scaggs' potential. "She is an all-around athlete," Peeples said. "She can score inside and outside and is a strong, physical player underneath." As a result of Scaggs' decision, ISU's recruiting year spanned longer than any other in Hutchison's 24 seasons.
Scaggs also be-, came ISU's fifth recruit, the most the Redbirds have signed in several seasons. Fifth recruit Scaggs said she was attracted by Redbird Arena and ISU's academic and athletic programs. "Redbird Arena is beautiful," Scaggs said. "Illinois State seems to be a place where I can grow as a player and student Everyone spoke with in athletics and in academics seemed to be com-. mitted to the university." Scaggs' father, Edward, attended ISU in the 1950s.
She plans to major in physical education. She joins four other ISU recruits, including Normal Community Allr State guard Jenny Schmidt, who signed in the fall. Oak Park-River Forest 6-1 center Melanie Marcy also signed in the fall, while 5-10 Rich South forward Sandy Howell and 5-5 guard Jodi Loeblein of St. Paul, signed this spring. Scaggs' signing means ISU has no more scholarships to offer for next season.
Furthermore, the Redbirds figure to start the season with an NCAA maximum 15 scholarship players after playing most of last season with only 12. Chicago's Ozzie Timmons slid safely into third base before St. Louis' Scott Cooper fielded a late throw from the outfield. "If a guy can't win here, we've got to find somebody who can," pitching coach Mark Riggins said. "That's the way this business works.
I'm not saying we're at that point right now, but we're getting there." A former minor league in-fielder, Bullinger hit a sacrifice fly in a four-run second and had an RBI single in the sixth to help the Cubs raise their road record to 5-1. They're 2-3 at Wrigley Field. team. Last year, the smallest crowd of a four-game series that began May 9 was 28,026 for the opener. Cardinals starter Allen Watson (1-1) faltered for third time in as many starts.
Randy Myers, the fourth Chicago pitcher, worked the ninth for his fourth save. Played throughout in rain, the game drew a crowd of only 14,715 with 7,498 no-shows for what traditionally is a big-drawing Plangger, Ginger reunion key for Hearts' staff i 7 It By RICK JONES Pantagraph staff Anchored by three veteran hurlers, the Bloomington Hearts major fastpitch Softball team will rely heavily on what manager Bob Watson calls "a good nucleus of young players." Returning pitchers Scott Plangger and T.J. Dobson along with Bob Ginger, who is returning to the Hearts after spending the last few seasons with the Taylorville Blues, give Watson a strong rotation. "Scott should be in midseason form when he gets here," Watson said. "He pitched for the USA team which won a silver medal at the Pan Am Games in Argentina, and now he is touring Japan with the Seattle SeaFirst team." Dobson spent his first year in Class AA ball Only shortstop Scott Stuart, right fielder Todd Davis, catcher Bob Corso and infielder turned center fielder Troy Wheat were mainstays last season.
Stuart brings one of the game's best gloves to the park and has developed into an offensive threat "He's a student of the game," Watson said. "Scott has always been excellent defensively, but he has become a better hitter because he studies the pitchers." Davis is the team's leading returning hitter from last summer. "He probably deserved to be our co-MVP last summer in his first year of AA ball," Watson See HEARTS, B4 Collins to head new Class A team, league. Page B4 with the Hearts last season. "He's a very intense competitor," Watson said.
"He always gives 110 percent" Ginger comes back from Taylorville to replace Doug Gillis, who moved on to the Decatur Pride. "That's a fair trade," Watson said. "Bob is a big, strong kid. He's more of a workhorse than Doug." While the pitching staff is experienced, the Hearts' everyday lineup features new faces coming from a myriad of places. The Bloomington Hearts will rely heavily on veteran pitching this season, as former Heart Bob Ginger (left) returns and T.J.
Dobson (right) also joins the major fastpitch club. Cooksvllle native Scott Adreon was named the new boys basketball coach at Maroa-Forsyth High School Monday night. B3 argument that it cannot be sued for refusing to let Sullivan sell stock in his team to the public. VikingS CUt Allen: Unable to trade a highly paid running back with questionable knees, the Minnesota Vikings released Terry Allen Monday. Allen, who holds the team record for rushing yards in a season, has had surgery on both knees in the past five years.
of money fast and a desire to help his parents is part of the explanation for the decision by Jerry Stackhouse to head for the NBA Late Monday morning, the 6-foot-6 Ail-American from North Carolina said he would follow the lead of teammate Rasheed Wallace, forfeiting his final two years of eligibility to enter next month's NBA draft MaSOn SiXth-best: Anthony Mason, a muscular forward who consistently gave the New York Knicks a lift this season, Monday won the NBA Sixth Man Award. Charlotte's Dell Curry, who won the award last year, was second, followed by San Antonio's Chuck Person with 12. BOXer improves: Colombian boxer Jimmy Garcia was squeezing his father's hand and responding to voices Monday, prompting his doctor to voice cautious optimism igw 111 11111 7 i NO resignations: Exasperated and out of answers following the Cincinnati Reds' eighth loss in nine games, Davey Johnson pondered offering his resignation Friday, but has since changed his mind. Johnson told coaches Ray Knight and Don Gullett he would resign if they felt it would aid the team, but was assured he wasn't the root of the problem. HulOtt activated: The St Louis Cardinals activated Infielder Tim Hulett from the 15-day disabled list Monday and optioned outfielder Terry Bradshaw to Triple A Louisville.
GlIS Bell dieS: Gus Bell, an outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds for nine of his 15 major-league seasons, died of a heart attack Sunday evening. Bell, 66, was also the father of former Indians infielder Buddy Bell. Hot PiaZZa: Mike Piazza of the Los Angeles Dodgers was selected NL player of the week on Monday and John Valentin of the Boston Red Sox was picked AL player of the week. Piazza was 13-for-25 last week (.520) with three homers and 11 RBI. Valentin was ll-for-29 (.379) with four home runs and 11 runs scored.
about his chances for recovery from a brain injury suffered in a title fight with Gabriel Ruelas. Garcia mmmmmmUMmlmmmwmMmM Mmalnail In Affinal nnnrli'tUn nt ITnJInnl Center. Not 'Deelite'-flll: Afternoon Deelites will be back, but not In time for the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Trainer Dick Mandella said his colt a disappointing eighth in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, has a sore throat again and will return to California for a rest Miami Vice: The University of Miami is reviewing its drug policy and test results to determine if former football coach Dennis Erickson withheld players' positive results. Athletic Director Paul Dee refused to say when the review will be completed or what effect it might have.
NFL appeal: The National Football League on Monday asked a federal judge to grant a motion sparing it from a second trial in former New England Patriots owner William H. Sullivan's antitrust lawsuit against the league. The U.S. Supreme Court in February cleared the way for a new trial when It turned away the NFL's Chicago White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen (above) went airborne to complete a double play in Chicago's 4-2 win over Minnesota. B4 Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox denied Monday that he assaulted his wife, a day after being charged with simple battery.
B4 From Pantagraph wire services 24-hour information on CITYLINE Call 829-9000, enter 6000 StackhOUSe tO NBA: A fleeting chance to make a lot.
