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Team

SPORTS

Brown's USA dreams alive and well in N.J.

Megan Homanick
July 22, 2004

MSU sophomore guard Shannon Brown is one of 13 finalists for the 12-man roster of the 2004 USA Basketball World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Team. The players will continue to practice at the New Jersey Nets facility in East Rutherford, N.J., until Friday, when the team will be finalized by cutting one player. "I think we'll have a pretty good team," USA and Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson said in a written statement.

SPORTS

Brown heads to USA Basketball trials alone

Megan Homanick
July 15, 2004

MSU sophomore guard Shannon Brown will compete for a spot on the 2004 USA Basketball World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Team this weekend. "It's great, the ability to go out and compete for your country," Brown said. Brown was originally not supposed to take this trip alone, as junior guard Maurice Ager was also selected as one of 24 players under age 20 to come try out for the 12-person team.

BASEBALL

Lugnuts left-hander finding his niche in Lansing

Kelly Thesier
July 15, 2004

Lansing Lunguts catcher Jake Fox almost winces when he talks about the first time that he caught one of Clay Rapada's pitches in practice. Fox has caught many pitchers in his two years with the Chicago Cubs organization, but he said the first one from Rapada will forever remain ingrained in his memory. "It was just a little slider, but when I went down to block it, the ball moved and hit me in the chest," Fox said. "He's got that trajectory that moves the ball all over the place and makes him so tough to catch, but it's also what makes him so good." Rapada, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound relief pitcher, has become well-known around the league for his tough pitches.

SPORTS

Lugnuts win, 7-0

Andrew Kolly
July 12, 2004

Lansing - The Lugnuts were seeking to split their series with the Burlington Bees on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Oldsmobile Park. They were able to accomplish the split with a combination of good pitching and even better hitting en route to a runaway 7-0 victory over the Bees. The pitching was phenomenal for the Lugnuts (8-10). Lansing starter Ronald Bay pitched a solid game as he went seven innings, giving up five hits, no earned runs, no walks while striking out seven.

SPORTS

Women's basketball gets new assistant

Andrew Kolly
July 12, 2004

MSU women's basketball head coach Joanne P. McCallie announced Al Brown as her new assistant coach this weekend. Brown will be filling the void left by Darren Bennett, who is now the head coach at Skidmore College. Brown has been coaching college basketball for 27 years and has the unique prestige of being the only person to coach in a national championship game for both a men's team (Purdue 1969) and women's team (Tennessee 1996-98 and 2000). "I was interested in coming to Michigan State because I believe (McCallie) is one of the finest coaches in the women's game," Brown said.

BASEBALL

Oldsmobile Park might be renamed; Lugnuts fans don't mind

Kelly Thesier
July 8, 2004

Lansing - Wearing his usual white Lugnuts cap and a faded gray baseball T-shirt Dexter Olsen takes his seat in Oldsmobile Park more than 30 minutes before game time, just as he has done for almost every game since 1996. Olsen, a retired autoworker, has only missed about 10 home games of his beloved Lugnuts in the ballpark named after one of the divisions of General Motors Corp.

SPORTS

Former Spartan coach crashes into airport

A former Spartan assistant wrestling coach crashed his sport utility vehicle into a Florida airport terminal Sunday. Alexis Vila, a 33-year-old Cuban defector and Williamston resident, sustained no injuries and was detained by authorities after slamming through a wall, and into a ticket counter at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Before coming to MSU in 2000, Villa won a wrestling bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics for Cuba.

SPORTS

Ockerman to transfer from 'U', leave team

Kelly Thesier
July 6, 2004

The MSU men's basketball team has lost another player to transfer. Walk-on sophomore Justin Ockerman has decided to transfer to another school, according to MSU assistant sports Information director Matt Larson. The 6-foot-9, 265-pound center played in 15 games for the Spartans with season totals of six points, eight rebounds and 34 minutes of playing time. Ockerman had spent three years as a pitcher in the Seattle Mariners organization before coming to MSU.

SPORTS

Harmon finishes 2nd at Michigan Amateur

Andrew Kolly
June 29, 2004

MSU sophomore golfer Matt Harmon, from Grand Rapids, finished second at the Michigan Amateur Championship on Saturday. Harmon defeated East Lansing's Korey Mahoney, 2002 Michigan Amateur Champion, in the semifinal round on Saturday.

SPORTS

MSU softball team gets new assistant

Kelly Thesier
June 29, 2004

The MSU softball team announced the hiring of Kathryn Gleason as assistant coach on Monday. Gleason has been the assistant coach at Purdue since 2001 and spent four years before that as the assistant at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Gleason graduated from the University of Michigan in 1996 with a degree in sport management and communication and earned her master's degree in sports management from UMass-Amherst in 2000.

ICE HOCKEY

Booth, Thelen await NHL Draft fates

Kelly Thesier
June 24, 2004

A huge smile appeared on MSU junior forward David Booth's face expressing his anticipation of fulfilling one of his dreams - being drafted into the National Hockey League. "Growing up all you think about is playing in the NHL," Booth said.

BASEBALL

Collins' swings are now connecting

Kelly Thesier
June 22, 2004

It's 1:30 p.m. on a sunny Monday afternoon, more than five hours before game time, and Lansing left fielder Kevin Collins is already down in the batting cage, working on his swing. The Lugnuts slugger was recently named the starter and designated hitter for today's Midwest League All-Star Game, a long way from last season when his number of strikeouts almost doubled his number of hits. "Last year was a long year for me," Collins said.