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Local Roundup: Plankenhorn meet moved to Tuesday
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    The fifth annual Derrick Plankenhorn Invitational track meet was rained out Saturday and is rescheduled for Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Southeast Bulloch High School.

GSU baseball to play two today
    ELON, N.C. — With rain supposed to move back into the Elon area on Saturday evening, the 7 p.m. scheduled baseball game with Georgia Southern has been postponed.  The two teams will play a doubleheader to finish off this Southern Conference series on Sunday. First pitch will be at noon from Latham Park.
    The radio broadcast will start at 12 noon on Eagle 102.9 FM and via the internet at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com.

Eagle golf postponed
    EVANS — Due to inclement weather, second-round play of the Administaff Augusta State Invitational was suspended Saturday and will be resumed today at 9:30 a.m.
    Rain halted play at 10:44 a.m. with all 90 players on the course. After nearly a four-hour delay, tournament officials announced the decision to suspend play for the day due to unplayable course conditions. The tournament, originally a 54-hole event, will be considered official after the completion of the second round, making it a 36-hole event.
    Only four of the five Eagles competing were able to play three holes on the day.
    Fans can follow the remainder of the second and final round online at www.Golfstat.com.

PJ displeased with fumbles in workout
    ATLANTA (AP) — Paul Johnson said soggy conditions at Bobby Dodd Stadium were no excuse for the fumbles which marred Georgia Tech’s spring practice on Saturday.
    Most of the two-hour morning practice was a scrimmage which included some highlights by Georgia Tech’s defense, but Johnson, the first-year coach, didn’t like seeing so many fumbles.
    ‘‘But what’s more frustrating is that we didn’t hustle to the ball after it was on the ground,” he said.
    ‘‘We’re going to have to do a much, much better job holding onto the ball. You’re not going to win many football games putting the ball on the ground like that. The defense did a good job causing a couple of those, but mostly it was poor fundamentals and execution.’’
    A highlight for the offense came when senior quarterback Calvin Booker completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Greg Smith.
    Quarterback Josh Nesbitt missed the workout with a groin injury. Bryce Dykes and Jim Henry shared the snaps with Booker.

Richt praises UGA’s spring game
    ATHENS (AP) — Georgia football coach Mark Richt moved into the press box for Saturday’s G-Day, getting a birds-eye view of the team that some are predicting will win the college football national championship in 2008.
    ‘‘To be honest with you, I felt pretty blessed,’’ Richt said.
    He was not talking about being sheltered from the light mist that did little to discourage the 19,874 fans who spread across the lower level of Sanford Stadium.
    ‘‘I saw a well-conditioned team that has a bunch of good-looking athletes,’’ said Richt after the Red squad defeated the Black squad 17-3.
    Playing eight-minute quarters, with a running clock at the end of the game, there was not much time to run up big stats, but it only took a few runs for redshirt freshman tailback Caleb King to impress.
    ‘‘I missed most of his runs getting up into the press box,’’ Richt said. ‘‘I have seen him all spring. I thought he looked pretty darn good. I also saw him picking up a couple of blitzes, and coaches always like that.’’
    King gained 31 yards in six carries, one yard more than backup quarterback Logan Gray gained. But Gray wore a green shirt, which meant he was untouchable while in the backfield.
    Receiver Michael Moore caught a pair of touchdown passes, including a 30-yarder from Matthew Stafford on the game’s opening drive, and 12-yarder from Gray in the second quarter.
    ‘‘That was a great throw and catch,’’ Richt said of the Stafford to Moore connection. ‘‘It is tough to defend a ball thrown that well. The coverage was pretty good, but Matthew put the ball where it needed to be.’’
    Moore benefitted from the fact that other receivers sat out the game, including Mohamed Massaquoi, Demiko Goodman, Tony Wilson and freshman Tavarres King. ‘‘A couple of times during camp,’’ said Moore, ‘‘Stafford has thrown the deep ball to me and I made the play. He was confident in throwing to me.’’
    Stafford completed six of 10 throws for 78 yards. Backup Joe Cox completed seven of 11 for 69 yards.
    Sophomore tailback Knowshon Moreno made a token appearance in the first quarter. His 10-yard carry set up Moore’s first touchdown catch.
    Cornerback Asher Allen felt the secondary played ‘‘horribly.’’
    ‘‘I dropped a pick, which is unacceptable, and a couple of people had passes caught on them,’’ he said. ‘‘But that means we have something to look forward to work on. This game will be playing in our head in the off season.’’
    One defensive back who did impress was safety John Knox, a redshirt freshman. He had four tackles, including the hit of the day and one interception late in the game.
    The offensive line was one area that Richt paid some attention too. Left guard Vince Vance was injured in the fourth quarter and hobbled off on crutches. Richt said it was an ankle sprain and should not be serious.
    Richt said that freshman Ben Jones played well enough this spring to almost guarantee that he will play next year. ‘‘He is a guy I have kept a special eye on,’’ Richt said. ‘‘He is progressing very well. He is strong and smart and tough and hungry, and he has a mean streak. His chances of redshirting are not very good.’’
    There were two long field goals by walkons — a 47-yarder by Andrew Jensen and a 52-yarder by Brian Behr.

GSU softball splits
    The Georgia Southern softball team cranked out eight runs and 12 hits in game one, and Elon responded with 11 runs and 12 hits in game two to split a Southern Conference doubleheader on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Eagle Field.
    The 8-2 win and 11-2 loss evens GSU’s record at 22-22 and 4-4 in the SoCon. Elon moves to 16-15 and 5-3.
    “I feel like even though we were evenly matched with them in terms of wins and losses, I think we are better,” said Georgia Southern coach Natalie Poole. “We are a better team than we showed, and I’m really
disappointed with our performance in the second game, especially considering we had four errors on top of our seven walks and 12 hits.”
    GSU junior Robyne Siliga collected five hits and three RBIs on the afternoon, going 3-for-4 in game one and 2-for-4 in the nightcap. Sophomore Jenny Side had two hits in each
contest.
 Game one starter Melissa Laliberte allowed two unearned runs on two hits in the top of the first inning but gave up just three hits after that and the Eagle offense scored in every inning but the fifth.
    Laliberte (10-7) walked five and struck out five.
    Side and Siliga each had a RBI single in the first inning make up the deficit and the Eagles eventually scored eight unanswered runs.
    “I thought that we had a good number of hits,” said Poole. “We kept the ball down; very few of our outs were in the air which is something we’ve been working on. We capitalized when we had runners in scoring position so we did a really good job at the plate in the first game.”
    Melanie Helterbran (5-5) took the loss.
    Game two was Elon’s turn to shine. The Phoenix rallied from an early 1-0 hole to go ahead 7-1 after five innings and added four more in the seventh.
    “I just don’t feel like we pitched well,” said Poole. “We didn’t come out looking good on the mound and we didn’t relieve well. Never do we want to be in a situation where we have to go through four pitchers.”
    GSU starter Megen Smith lasted 3.2 innings and gave up six runs (two earned) and five hits. She
falls to 8-7.
    The series concludes today with a single game beginning at 1 p.m.

Eagle track and field sets season-highs
    GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Severe weather in the Gainesville area shortened the Pepsi Florida Relays as the Eagles concluded competition at the Percy Beard Track on Saturday.
    Georgia Southern faced stiff competition all weekend, which aided the Eagles in setting numerous season bests.
    Junior Shauntel Jennings posted the fastest time of the season for GSU in the 800m with a time of 2:16.76, while teammate Amber Wilson turned in a season best time of 14.76 in the 100m hurdles.
    In the 400m hurdles, senior Carla Ballard recorded a season best racing to a time of 1:02.01. Consisting of Ballard, Abby Bloom, Jennings and Kellie Wesson, Georgia Southern’s 4x800m relay team finished in sixth place with a time of 9:22.58.
    GSU sophomore Jessica Irizarry finished in second place of the “Section B” javelin with a distance of 126’02.00”.
    The Eagles return to the track Saturday when they travel to Clemson, S.C. for the Solid Orange Classic.