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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 1998)
Andrew Strnad Greg Vaughn the real MVP When Ted Williams hit .406 with 37 homers and 120 RBI for the Boston Red Sox in 1941 and didn’t win the Most Valuable Player award, it wasn’t a big surprise, at least not to fans outside the northeast United States. Granted, the Splendid Splinter achieved a milestone that hasn’t been reached since, but, then again, so did Joe DiMaggio. While Williams was tearing up the American League, so was the Yankee Clipper. DiMaggio set a mark that hasn’t even been approached by hitting in 56 consecu tive games. DiMaggio also hit .357, with 30 home runs and 125 RBI. That alone wasn’t the reason for Joltin’ Joe’s being crowned MVP. DiMaggio’s team, the New York Yankees, left the Red Sox in the dust, winning me league by l / games ana the World Series over Brooklyn. This quick history lesson leads us to this season’s MVP race. In the National League, the focus is on two of America’s biggest heroes in recent memory - Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Sosa and McGwire both have broken baseball’s most cherished sin gle-season record of 61 home runs, and there are still more than 10 games remaining. Today, it is unknown who will replace the late Roger Maris as base ball’s home run king, but we should be able to determine who the MVP is. McGwire or Sosa? How about neither? McGwire and Sosa play for teams well behind division-leading Houston. Clearly the Cardinals are a bad team with or without Big Mac, and the only argument that holds water is the fact that in the baseball world he is the most valued player. A similar argument can be made for Sosa, and he plays on a solid but not great team. Yes, the Cubs are in the middle of a wild card race, but they are miles behind the likes of the Astros, Braves and Padres. The MVP, folks, is San Diego’s Greg Vaughn. He is on the brink of hitting 50 home runs, an accomplishment that shouldn’t be diminished because of McGwire and Sosa. Vaughn also has been the offen sive spark plug for the Padres in $ season where our version of Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, has been hampered by injury. Let’s also look at last year, when a struggling Vaughn was a part of a first-to-worst team that finished 76 86. This season with Vaughn (.284 BA, 49 HR, 116 RBI) the Padres are 95-56 and fielding the best club in franchise history. Who will win? Probably Sosa. Who should win? Greg Vaughn. Andrew Strnad is a senior broadcasting and political science major and a Daily Nebraskan staff writer. Freshman shines for NU in tourney By John Gaskins Staff writer $ The Nebraska women’s golf team sent a strong and clear mes sage to the rest of the Big 12 Conference after its near-champi onship performance in its own tournament Tuesday. The Cornhuskers captured sec ond place in the Chip-N Club Husker Invitational at the 6,032 yard, par-71 Firethorn Golf Club. Nebraska finished with a 54-hole team score of 889, five shots behind tournament champion and No. 24 New Mexico State. The Huskers placed highest of five Big 12 teams that participated in the event, finishing four shots ahead of third-place Missouri, which left Assistant Coach Bill Spangler very confident in his team’s chances to take home the conference title this season. “We’re very pleased with the way the girls played this week,” Spangler said. “New Mexico State’s a great team, and five shots back is like one missed 3-foot putt per player. We came very close to winning.” Nebraska actually held a nine shot lead going into Tuesday’s final round, but the Aggies came back with a final-round 293, 14 shots better than NU. Spangler credited the Aggies’ clutch play and some bad holes down the stretch by the Huskers that led to NMSU’s victo * ry. * “We were hitting some great shots out there today just like the first two rounds,” Spangler said. “Unfortunately, the putts didn’t fall for us.” NU freshman Amanda Sutcliffe set a 54-hole school record and tied for second place individually with a final round 72 to finish with a three-over-par 216, four shots behind Aggie medalist Sasha Medina, who shot 212. “Amanda played very steady, very composed golf,” Spangler said of the native Australian. “With that kind of play, she should con tend for every tournament this year.” Two other Huskers finished in the top 10. Junior Elizabeth Bahensky and freshman Sarah Please see FRESHMAN on 10 Matt Miller/DN FRESHMAN GOLFER AMANDA SUTCLIFFE is congratulated by another golfer after finishing her final round Tuesday at Firethorn Country Club. Sutcliffe broke a school record for three rounds of golf en route to a sec ond-place individual and team finish at the Chip-N Club Invitational. Backs stay solid despite changes Evans should be ready for action by Sept. 26 for Washington Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories this week grading the Nebraska football team. - 4 By Andrew Strnad v-~- Staff waiter The status quo hasn’t been pre served this year, but that hasn’t been a problem for the Nebraska backfield. The Cornhuskers have claimed seven of the last 10 NCAA team rush ing titles and have been known to run up totals as high as 600 yards against some opponents. This year after three games, the third-ranked Huskers are ranked 10th in the nation in rushing, averaging just under 260 yards per game. First-year Running Backs Coach Dave Gillespie isn’t overly concerned with the statistical production of the PH 6f»—: B team. “Teams will prepare for us how ever they feel, whether it’s with eight or nine in the box,” Gillespie said. “We have to take what the defense gives us.” What defenses have given NU is a run-stopping game plan Buckitaiter designed to force the Huskers into something they haven’t been known to do much of- passing. Last week against California the Huskers put the ball in the air 28 times, and they passed the ball 22 times the week before against Alabama-Birmingham. When given the opportunity to run, the Husker backs have been rep resented primarily by sophomore Correll Buckhalter and senior full back Joel Makovicka. With sophomore DeAngelo Evans out with a knee injury, Buckhalter has filled in and put up solid numbers (50 carries for 316 yards). “I’m not where I want to be right now, but as a unit, given our inexperi ence, we’re coming along very well,” Buckhalter said. Buckhalter and Gillespie pointed out the backs need improvements in the area of execution but are happy with the lack of one element - turnovers. Collectively the Husker backs have yet to lose the ball because of a fumble. More good news may be in the team’s future with the much-antici pated return of Evans. Evans went through his first prac tice Tuesday since injuring his knee in an August practice, but his status for the Sept. 26 game against Washington is unknown. When Evans is given the green light to play, he expects it to be on a full-time basis. “I don’t foresee myself out there a couple of minutes,” Evans said. “I think it will be cut and dried, where I'll play a lot.” NU trainers limited Evans’ partic ipation to two-thirds of the practice and will continue to do so until Evans is at full strength.
