Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 8, 1993 TAG: 9307080095
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Tech's annual meeting with Virginia, usually a midseason matchup, is scheduled for March 2 in Roanoke, one game before the Hokies' regular season ends at UNC Charlotte. The last time the game was played in March was on the same date in 1967. The last time UVa was Tech's penultimate regular-season game was 1977.
Tech coach Bill Foster said the game was scheduled for Feb. 7, until Virginia got a chance for a national television game Feb. 6. Craig Littlepage, an assistant athletic director at UVa, would not confirm that the Cavs would be on national TV, but he did say the Florida State game in Tallahassee, Fla., had been moved from Feb. 5 to Feb. 6.
"I kind of like that date [March 2]," said Foster, noting the Hokies' youth. "They won't all be freshmen and sophomores by March."
Tech upset 15th-ranked Virginia last year with strong games from several freshmen. But, Foster said, "That was a weird game."
UVa coach Jeff Jones could live without a game against Tech in March.
"It's not ideal," he said. "It's a very emotional game, essentially another conference-type road game for us. We couldn't find another date."
One reason: With the ECHL's Roanoke Express moving into the Roanoke Civic Center, Tech and UVa were given just three dates from which to choose.
Eight days before the Virginia game, Tech plays West Virginia at Cassell Coliseum. It's a setup that's fine with Foster.
"That's two quality opponents late in the season" with neither on the road, he said.
\ WACKER SIDELINED: Lou Wacker, Emory and Henry's athletic director and football coach, has been hospitalized for tests after suffering chest pains Monday. E & H sports information director Nathan Graybeal said Wacker was admitted to Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon on Monday after forgoing a round of golf because he felt ill.
On Tuesday, Wacker was transferred to the coronary care unit of Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn. Graybeal said it has not been determined that Wacker suffered a heart attack, and he said Wacker was in stable condition. Wacker, 59, is 82-36 in 11 years as the Wasps' football coach, the most victories in school history.
\ MORE WILKINS: There's another side to the story of Virginia Tech football recruit Willie Wilkins, who last week jilted baseball's Seattle Mariners to honor his letter of intent. Wilkins' football coach, Dennis Byers of Atlantic High School in Boynton Beach, Fla., said an argument Wilkins had with his mother may have prompted him to sign with the Mariners.
Byers said Wilkins had promised to consult him before signing but didn't. After Wilkins joined Seattle's rookie league team in Arizona, Tech assistant coach Todd Grantham called Byers, who called Wilkins.
"I said, `If it's really what you want to do, you've got my support,' " Byers said he told Wilkins. "He said, `No, I don't think it was the right decision.' I called Todd and said, `I think Willie will come back.' "
Byers praised the integrity of Grantham and Tech in their handling of Wilkins.
Wilkins, Byers said, is taking Algebra II this summer to satisfy Tech entrance requirements. As for the kind of athlete the Hokies are getting, Byers said he recently timed the 6-foot-4, 200-pound passer in less than 4.4 seconds for the 40-yard dash three times. He called Wilkins a "Randall Cunningham-type quarterback."
\ McGEORGE MOVES: Rich McGeorge, the last Roanoke native to play in the NFL, has left the University of Florida to become assistant to the offensive line and tight ends coach for the Miami Dolphins. McGeorge played for the Green Bay Packers from 1970-79 and had been an assistant to Florida head coach Steve Spurrier since the two were with the U.S. Football League's Tampa Bay Bandits in 1985. McGeorge followed Spurrier to Duke in '87 and to Florida in '90.
McGeorge is expected to succeed John Sandusky as the Dolphins' overall offensive line coach after the 1993 season.
\ RECRUITING, ETC.: Ricardo Peral, a 6-10 Spaniard, is taking his official recruiting visit to Virginia. Peral, described by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons as the "most talented player in Europe under 20 years old," also plans to visit Wake Forest and Nebraska. . . . David Jackson, brother of Hokies basketball player Jim Jackson, has been admitted to Tech. The transfer from UNC-Asheville will not receive a scholarship this season but will have the chance to earn one next season. . . . Kevin Shortridge, a 6-5 freshman from Garden High School in Oakwood, plans to walk on with the Tech basketball team. . . . Mark Hunte, a Virginia Commonwealth basketball signee from Toronto, did not meet NCAA requirements for freshman eligibility.
\ LACROSSE NOTES: Washington and Lee standout Wiemi Douoguih capped a fine career with two goals for the South squad in the Division III North-South All-Star game, won by the South 16-12. Teammate John Hunter was named U.S. Intercollegiate Scholar All-American as part of the North-South festivities June 18 in Baltimore. . . . Roanoke native Alexander Jacobs was named All-North Coast Athletic Conference for his work as a defenseman at Denison in Granville, Ohio.
\ BATS & ARMS: Ferrum's Billy Wagner led NCAA Division III pitchers in strikeouts per nine innings in 1993, averaging 16 (133 in 75 innings), and was seventh in earned run average (1.56). Teammate Jerold Smith was 11th in slugging percentage (.815) and 14th in home run average (.30 per game). . . . W & L's Jon Hesse was sixth on the toughest-to-strike-out list, averaging one whiff per 37.5 at-bats. . . . In Division III softball, Ferrum's Shelley Bowles averaged 1.27 runs batted in per game, seventh nationally. Teammate Lisa Pendleton was one of 20 players who did not strike out during the season (69 at-bats), and the Panthers' Roben Sutphin walked 1.11 times per game, second nationally.
\ REMATCH: Virginia's women's basketball team will play Ohio State as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Jan. 8 at University Hall in Charlottesville, the third time within a year the teams have met. Ohio State beat UVa in a televised game last year in Columbus, Ohio, then knocked off the Cavs in the NCAA East Regional final in March en route to a national runner-up finish.
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Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB