Issuu

The

S TUDENT P RINTZ www.studentprintz.com

SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

WORLD

Volume 95 Issue 43

Aftermath of quake devastating Laura King & Mark Magnier Los Angeles Times (MCT) Japan’s nuclear crisis took a frightening turn for the worse early Tuesday as officials acknowledged that fuel rods at a quake-damaged nuclear reactor had been temporarily exposed to the air, heightening the risk of an uncontrolled release of radiation into the environment. In extraordinary televised scenes, three executives from the utility that runs the crippled complex in Fukushima prefecture, about 150 miles north of Tokyo, acknowledged that pumps funneling seawater into one of the reactors had halted temporarily, a major setback in efforts to cool the superheated core. “We are trying to reopen the valve,” said one of the officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. as they passed the micro-

SGA SPOTLIGHT

phone back and forth among themselves. “The fuel rods are exposed. We are trying to get the pressure down and pump water into the pressure vessel again.” It was the gravest development to date in the crisis brought by Friday’s devastating temblor, which triggered a tsunami that wreaked massive destruction on the nation’s northeastern coast. More than half a million people have been displaced, and the death toll is widely expected to soar into the tens of thousands. About 2,000 bodies were discovered Monday at two sites in a single prefecture, or state, one of several pummeled by the earthquake, the worst in Japan’s recorded history. Whole coastal villages were wiped from the map, and a full assessment of the extent of deaths and damage was expected to take weeks. Meanwhile, hardship and privation in the quake

See JAPAN, 3

WINNING

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT

The debris of the destroyed Natori neighborhood of Sendai, Japan, on Sunday, March 13, 2011, that was hit hard by the tsunami in the aftermath of an 8.9 earthquake. Fires continue to burn in the neighborhood as civil servants are ﬁnally able to enter the area to search for victims.

BASEBALL

WEATHER Tuesday

70/42 Wednesday

76/46 Thursday

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Page 6

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80/54

INDEX Calendar ........................ 2 Sudoku ........................... 2 News .............................. 3 Feature ...........................4 Opinion ...........................6 Sports .............................7

Calendar

Page 2

The

Student Printz Serving Southern Miss since 1927 Executive Editor Samantha Schott

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Mark Your Planner 15 16 17 18 19 All day Mid-term grade entry

All day Mid-term grade entry

Managing Editor Meryl Dakin

Exhibit: Baghdad Beyond the Wire Gallery at Cook Library

Art Director Eli Baylis

4:30 p.m. Baseball at Northwestern State Natchitoches, La.

12 p.m. Med. Tutor book sale TEC Lobby

Midpoint in Spring Semester

Graduate Student Research Symposium TCC

1 p.m. Softball at UAB Birmingham, Ala.

12 p.m. Med. Tutor book sale TEC Lobby

3 p.m. PHI MUsic Fest Pride Field

4 p.m. Baseball at College of Charleston Charleston, S.C.

4 p.m. Baseball at College of Charleston Tournament vs. Rhode Island Charleston, S.C.

samantha.schott@eagles.usm.edu

meryl.dakin@eagles.usm.edu

ross.baylis@eagles.usm.edu

Chief Designer Christopher Bostick

christopher.bostick@eagles.usm.edu

Web Editor Ashton Pittman

ashton.pittman@eagles.usm.edu

Sports Editor Travis Thornell travis.thornell@eagles.usm.edu

6 p.m. Softball vs. LSU Hattiesburg, Miss.

8 p.m. Wesley Foundation Worship Wesley Foundation 8 p.m. Praise and Worship St. Thomas Aquinas Church

Last day of and final examinations for halfsemester classes 11:45 a.m. Wesley Foundation Lunch Wesley Foundation 12 p.m. Med. Tutor book sale TEC Lobby

chris.greene@eagles.usm.edu

7:30 p.m. Southern Miss Steel Pan Orchestra Mannoni Performing Arts Center

News Content Adviser Chuck Cook 601.266.4288

8 p.m. Petit Gulf Cotton Shucker’s Oyster Bar

Webmaster Chris Greene

chuck.cook@usm.edu

Writers Jonathan Andrews Tierra Clemmons Courtney Carter Deonica Davis Mary Margaret Halford Michelle Holowach Earvin Hopkins Marie John Hannah Jones Stormy Speaks Photographers Jordan Moore Jay Van Orsdol Mary Alice Truitt Brittany Carroll Designers Lisa Gurley Taylor Fesenmeier Ila Higginbotham

www.studentprintz.com

The Student Printz is published every Tuesday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters. Signature Offset of Hattiesburg provides printing services. Opinions expressed in The Student Printz are those of the writer and not necessarily those of The Student Printz, its publications manager, USM, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning or the USM Board of Student Publications.

Advertising Manager Lesley Sanders-Wood 601.266.5188 printzad@usm.edu Sales Representative Angel Wells angelique.wells@eagles.usm.edu

6 p.m. Blaxploitation Lecture and Screening of “Super Fly” Fleming Education Center Auditorium 7:30 p.m. The Little Prince PAC Auditorium

5 p.m. Irish-Italian Festival St. Thomas Aquinas Church 9 p.m. Petit Gulf Cotton Old Athens Grill

7:30 p.m. The Tiny Explosions Caliente Grille

Dirty Birds 03-03-11 Lost Item Starbucks - A student reported an IPod as lost. 03-04-11 Hit and Run Hillcrest Lot - - Incident report filed. 03-09-11 Vandalism Reed Green Coliseum - An officer window was broken. 03-11-11 Trespassing Pinehaven Apt - Clifton E Brown, B/M, 34 yoa, Hattiesburg address, was arrested and charged with Trespassing. 03-13-11 Medical Assist Hillcrest - AAA responded to medical call but the student refused treatment. 03-14-11 Possession of Marijuana McCarty Hall - - Cass Kingston, W/M, 20 yoa, Bay St Louis address, was arrested and charged with Misdemeanor Possession of Marijuana.

e b o l u o T P r e r e Inn Wat February 28 - March 17

usm.imtrackonline.com

Level: 1

SOLUTION TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

3/27/11

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit

www.sudoku.org.uk AA/EOE/ADAI

News

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Page 3

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/MCT

A family looks over what is left of their destroyed home in the Natori neighborhood of Sendai, Japan, on Sunday, which was hit hard by the tsunami in the aftermath of an 8.9 earthquake.

Japan, from 1

Jordan Moore/Printz

A Southern Miss football player pushes his way through columns during practice Monday. Spring training for football started Monday.

News in Brief SGA Cabinet applications out

tion committee in Nashville, Tenn., on March 7. Holowach has an emphasis in autism spectrum disorders. She is one of 197 Truman finalists nationwide and the first from Southern Miss since 2008. For the application process, Holowach included a required policy proposal. Titled “Autism Bullying Prevention,” her proposal explained her idea for an elementary school curriculum to teach about autism, with hopes of reducing the bullying of autistic children.

Applications for SGA Cabinet went out Monday. They are currently available in the SGA office. They are due Tuesday, March 22 at 5 p.m. USM junior named finalist for Truman Scholarship Speech language pathology major Marie Holowach was the only student from a Mississippi university named as a Harry S. Truman Scholarship finalist. The Madison native interviewed with the regional selec-

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zone grew, with tens of thousands of people spending a fourth night in chilly shelters. In the parallel crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) plant in the town of Okuma, fuel rods twice were not covered by the seawater being used to cool down the reactor, resulting in exposure for about 140 minutes, the Kyodo News agency reported. Prolonged exposure of fuel rods to air can cause them to heat up and melt at least partly. If they melt completely, they could burn through the containment vessel, causing release of radioactive material into the environment. Officials at Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety agency were cited by Kyodo as saying that, even in a worst-case scenario, the three troubled reactors at Fukushima No.1 had been depressurized by the release of

radioactive steam, which would decrease the destructive effect of any breach. Japan’s nuclear crisis began Friday soon after the earthquake, when the huge tsunami destroyed seawalls and pushed far inland, damaging or destroying pumps and generators crucial to safe operations at the complex. The cooling systems of two reactors were seriously compromised, leading to hydrogen explosions Saturday and again Monday in their outer containment buildings. The current problem is focused on another reactor at the Fukushima No.1 plant, where a 12-mile evacuation zone was established, forcing nearly 200,000 thousand people to flee. Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, had said earlier that the hydrogen explosion at the third reactor posed little threat of a large-scale release of radiation – an assertion that drew anger and skepticism from some in the earthquake zone. On Monday, there were signs that the legendary patience and politeness of Japanese in the face of such adversity was wearing thin. A widely held sentiment among disaster victims and millions more who haven’t been directly touched is resentment

at what many feel is the lack of clear, direct information from government officials on the state of the nuclear reactors in Fukushima. But other issues are also fraying nerves. In Natori, north of Tokyo, the top floor of the City Hall was repurposed into a disaster-relief center. There, in an oft-repeated scene, a woman in red pants and a brown coat loudly berated government workers for sitting comfortably in their offices with heat, 24-hour power and water when the rest of Miyagi prefecture lacked basic services. Voice cracking, she added that the government had been far too slow in restoring electricity and repairing roads and basic infrastructure. “She’s complaining that our operation doesn’t work so well,” said Chizuko Nakajima, a government worker in the senior citizen department, who was helping distribute food as an emergency volunteer. “Actually, it’s true. We’re so overwhelmed, have to do so much and it’s not working perfectly. I understand she’s angry and wants to direct it somewhere, but I’d rather people didn’t do that.”

News

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SGA SPOTLIGHT

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

New SGA president shares vision As the new ofﬁcers prepare to take charge, Erick Brown says the work has already begun.

Mary Margaret Halford Printz Writer Erick Brown ran for president of Student Government Association in February with the hopes of making this university a better place. Now that he has been elected, it’s time to make that happen. Inauguration and the formal transfer of duties will take place on March 30, which is Founder’s Day. However, Brown’s work has already begun. “I get more excited about my job every day,” Brown said. “It has already brought on a lot of stress and work, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” One of the tasks Brown has begun working on is restructuring the SGA Cabinet, part of his platform during the election. Applications for the new cabinet are available now, and Brown is eager for things to get going. “I’m in the process of selecting a Cabinet to help me move forward in the coming year,” Brown said. “It keeps me very busy, but I’m so honored and excited to take on this responsibility.” In addition to working on a new Cabinet, Brown has also assembled a delegation to revise the Constitution.

Once his term gets underway, Brown will focus on his other two platform goals: finishing pre-existing SGA initiatives (like a campus shuttle and permanent after hours study space) and connecting SGA to the student body. Social networking, assemblies and videos are all a part of Brown’s plan to accomplish these goals. Brown, a junior sociology major from Columbus, Miss., has been involved with SGA since his freshman year at Southern Miss. He was active in the formation of the Golden Varsity, an athletic booster club and served as president of the American Medical Student Association. In addition to being a member of Southern Style 2011, he is a Resident Assistant in Century Park. Brown says that the SGA presidency is his chance at giving back to the university that has helped him so much. “I ran for president because I feel like I owe it to Southern Miss to do all I can to make this place better,” Brown said. “The students, mentors and organizations I have been privileged to come in contact with have shaped me into who I am, so I owe it to them to use those gifts to benefit this university.”

Jordan Moore/Printz

SGA President Erick Brown is a junior sociology major from Columbus, Miss.

All things considered, do you think it was a good idea to combine the

Mardi Gras and Spring breaks? Yes — It gave me more time to celebrate Mardi Gras. Yes — It cut out an extra day of missed classes. No — I like to celebrate the two separately, thank you very much. No — I want my extra day off back! Um — I really don’t care. Vote at www.studentprintz.com

Feature

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Page 5

local

Student adds color to chess Chris Greene Printz Writer

Two days ago I sat down at Java Werks and played chess with USM student Chuck Carruth, creator of Megiddo Chess, a 2-to-4 player version of chess. His game adds some strange new features: an additional 2x8 section to each side and a religious theme to each set. Blue symbolizes Judaism, gold represents Christianity, green is Islam, and red is the Devil. When I asked about the religious concept behind his game, Carruth stated, “I’m not trying to make a political statement or anything, but it kind of represents the insanity behind all of the conflict between religions today.” Curious about the name, I didn’t need to look much further than the pamphlet included with this game. “Megiddo … was the scene of many battles throughout early history because of its strategic position connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia. More blood has been spilled on this sand and rock than anywhere else on the planet. It is here that the Battle of Armageddon will occur. ‘And they gathered all the armies of the world near a place called in Hebrew, Armageddon – the mountain of Megiddo.’ Revelation 16:16.” Wow. With an introduction like that, I couldn’t wait to play a game. I found that Megiddo Chess is played much like traditional chess, with the exception of a larger playing field. In 3- and 4-player games players can team together to checkmate a stronger player, and then go back to battling amongst themselves. In larger games the checkmated player’s pieces are removed from the board so that the squares can be used for the remaining armies. One peculiar feature I noticed was that each set had two queens. After asking why, Chuck responded, “In the two-player Allied Attack version, each player controls two armies – one army with the king and the queen, and the other army with two queens.” When playing with two armies, there would be no need for two kings, as it would complicate what dictates a checkmate.

Another way of playing the game is called Diagonal Deception. In this 2-player game one player plays on one side, and the other player picks a side to his left or right instead of the traditional across-the-board placement. As one can imagine, this style completely throws off the normal flow of the game, and the historical chess openings like the Sicilian Defense and the Queen’s Gambit have to be rethought to match an army colliding from a different angle. Some important elements to note are the strengths and weaknesses of pieces in this version. The extra squares to the left and right that are unoccupied in ‘Across the Board 2-player’ are usable, which results in extremely powerful bishops, queens, and rooks. And knights? Because of their versatility and the larger playing field, they become very difficult to pin (and way more fun to use). Furthermore, since there are four more squares between you and your opponent than before (at least across from one another), pawns are slightly weaker. Finally, pawns that make it across to the other side in Diagonal Deception don’t get to choose to become queens or any other piece. While that does make it fairer, it further decreases the power of the pawn. The real beauty of this version of chess is the ability to bring more than two players into the game. When I think of chess, I first imagine the thousands of games I’ve played, and second I recall the temporary audience that usually got bored and left in less than a minute. With four players you can not only make the game more social, but also each person gets to pick a religion – and there aren’t many things stranger than seeing Christianity and the Devil teaming up to battle Judaism and Islam. I walked away from Java Werks the victor of two games of Megiddo Chess and the proud owner of my own copy of the game. Although I still can’t help but think to myself, “Dammit, he let me win, didn’t he?” Chuck sells his game here in Hattiesburg at A Beautiful Day and at Comics & Stuff for $45. He is also interested in starting a Megiddo Chess club for all ages. You can find all information on his website, www. megiddochess.com.

Mary Alice Truitt/Printz

Chuck Carruth of Petal, Miss., moves pieces in Meggido Chess. Chuck is an undergraduate studying graphic design and plans to use his degree to help him market his product in the future.

Opinion

Page 6

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

NATIONAL

Sheen and his ‘bitchin’ rockstar life’

Student Shout-outs

To see your anonymous comment in The Student Printz, submit it under the ‘Contact’ tab on studentprintz.com.

Hannah Jones Printz Writer

“

Grad students as teachers? Bad idea. What’s the deal with the RA’s? I mean be nicer people, gah! To the girl with the Harvard sweatpants … REALLY? It’s called USM Barnes and Noble … go there. SMTTT!!! Can the Fresh Food Company please change their name? Because it’s far from fresh! I swear some students I see around campus, I just wonder to myself ‘HOW DID YOU GET ACCEPTED HERE?’ I guess all you need is a pulse at USM? Dear boy who rides the unicycle, you were looking mighty fine today. If I wanted to wear a Southern shirt, don’t you think I would? I can’t wait until karma knocks you flat on your ass, jerk. So, I had a conversation with a classmate the other day and she was complaining she paid $90 for a certain textbook that was photocopied and that was the same price everyone else paid for a regular textbook. I told her, ‘Yeah that’s what I paid for my book. It’s ridiculous...’ After looking more carefully at that book in class the next day, I noticed mine was a photocopy. I wish she hadn’t told me about the photocopies, now I just feel like an idiot for paying for it. Are the police looking for the criminals who drew all that graffiti about the USM vs. UAB game on the bricks and concrete? Maybe they’re the same criminals wrote ‘Impeach Saunders.’ To whomever’s idea it was to announce the hall closing times every few hours in Hillcrest: This information is displayed on an obnoxiously large shamrock right as we walk into the lobby. This is college. We know how to read.

”

For those of us without “tiger blood” or “Adonis DNA,” Charlie Sheen’s recent antics have left the “trolls” of this world amazed – correction, stupefied. Although Sheen is not the first celebrity to take a flying leap off the deep end, his ventures into Wonderland have disintegrated into an ongoing trail of hilarity causing pop culture to become enamored and ravenous for more. Taking stabs at producers, co-stars and even random celebrities, Sheen has gone viral, invading every communication thread possible, proclaiming the gospel according to Charlie and his theoretics on “winning.” Sheen began his reign of “winning” on numerous radio and television interviews after CBS executives halted the production of Two and a Half Men in response to his coked-out Vegas weekend in early January, where he blew $26,000 on prostitutes as well as his Jan. 27 hospitalization for alleged drug and alcohol abuse after yet another weekend party binge with prostitutes and porn stars. In an interview with ABC News, Sheen did not admit to rampant drug use but rather confessed to living a “bitchin’ rockstar life,” experiencing cocaine highs that made “Sinatra, Flynn, Jagger, Richards ... look like droopy-eyed, armless children” and fatigue from “pretending” to not be “special.” However, dishing out catchy one-liners on morning news shows was not enough for the Sheen-man. Turning to Twitter to hashtag his quirky wise cracks, Sheen, who describes himself as an “unemployed winner” on his profile page, has risen to social network super-stardom, setting the Guinness World Record for “Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers” in 25 hours and 17 minutes flat. As if setting a world record and having over 2.5 million loyal Twitter followers were not enough, creating a live webcast to televise even more antics seemed like the next step in Charlie’s campaign of “winning.” On March 5 Sheen released his own live web show entitled “Sheen’s-Korner,” opening the broadcast with the now infamous monologue, “You’re either in my corner, or you’re with the trolls” that has nabbed over

one million views on ustream.tv/ charliesheen.com. Later episodes of the webcast feature muddled monologues, crazed rants and fire and brimstone condemnation upon all who have dared to cross King Sheen’s path. The “Malibu Messiah’s” most recent episode yaps of injustice and tales of “the enemy” dishing out a juicy monologue like some kind of cocaine-infused prophetic “warlock” reading from the book of Allen Ginsberg in the voice of Marlon Brando, literally. When asked about the public’s response to his pop culture icon status that has stemmed from his interviews, tweets and broadcasts, Sheen replied that he was merely “taking the baton from Chuck Norris.” While TV doctors such as Dr. Drew and Dr. Phil have attempted to label Sheen with every diagnosis from mental illness to drug addiction, factual evidence of current drug abuse is just not there. Sheen has been subjected to numerous drug tests during his interviews with major networks, including ABC News, which chose to announce the results on

air with Sheen in tow. To much surprise, the results were negative. When prompted about his sudden cure-all, Sheen responded to radio host Alex Jones saying, “I have a disease? News-flash, I am special, and I will never be one of you. I cured it with my mind.” Although drug abuse and mental illness are never a subject to joke about, Sheen’s most recent antics have not been fueled by cocaine highs as proven by the countless drug tests. With drugs not being a factor and mental illness remaining questionable, one aspect of Mr. Sheen’s behavior is apparent – rage. Sheen’s anger has stemmed from complications with CBS executives over both money and power. Though the issue may be coated with executive’s “concerns” for Charlie and his health, the bottom line is that at the core of all of the craziness is pure, adulterated greed. Since his suspension and now expulsion from CBS’s Two and a Half Men, Sheen’s funds to fuel his “bitchin’ rockstar life” have started drying up. Through recent weeks Sheen’s anger at CBS execs has reached such a high that he

is lashing out in boisterous ways not only to gain the attention he thinks he deserves but to also rake in the dough he is missing out on due to his now permanent absence from the series. (Note: Sheen made roughly 2 million an episode and was later denied a million dollar raise after the show’s production halt.) The newfangled craziness that the media and the world is glued to is not rooted in Sheen’s defense of his wild party boy ways, but rather his need for money and publicity. Being a successful actor with past drug addictions and a boatload of “woman problems,” Sheen knows how to act and what to say to both shock and amaze people in classic train-wreck fashion. So next time Entertainment Tonight reports another breaking “Malibu Messiah” slash “warlock” story, keep in mind Mr. Sheen is an actor by trade, and he is simply perfecting his craft while laughing all the way to bank. This was an article of opinion by Hannah Jones, a writer for The Student Printz. Email questions or comments to hannah.jones@ eagles.usm.edu.

Sports

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Page 7

on campus

Track team races to championship Travis Thornell Printz Writer This past weekend can be classified as a breakthrough for the Southern Miss Track and Field program. The program captured its first individual national championship behind Tori Bowie on Friday at the indoor nationals in College Station, Texas. On Saturday, Southern Miss hosted an outdoor meet in which several school records were shattered. On Friday and Saturday, four members of the women’s indoor track team competed in the NCAA Indoor Championships on the campus of Texas A&M. Chastity Riggien participated in the 60 meter sprint and posted a school record in the event with a time of 6.26 seconds. Ke’Airra Jones was the Southern Miss representative in the high jump where she cleared the bar at 5 feet 11 inches to take ninth place. Ganna Demydova was able to leap her way to fourth place in the triple jump with a jump of 13.27 meters. Tori Bowie cemented herself into Southern Miss athletic history with her performance in the long jump. Her jump of 21 feet and 4 ¾ inches bested the field by more than four inches to claim the first individual national championship for the Golden Eagle Track and Field Program. This achievement only added to great success of the women’s indoor team which was ranked 19th in the country headed into the weekend’s action. With the momentum of the indoor season behind them, the outdoor season looked to be promising for the Golden Eagles which hosted the Southern Miss Invitational on Saturday. Alabama State, Alcorn State, Jackson State, Louisiana-Monroe, and Mississippi Valley were some of the schools

Eli Baylis/Printz

Runners from different universities compete at the Southern Miss Invite held at the USM Track and Field and Soccer Complex Saturday.

in attendance at the Marshall Bell Track and Field Complex. “It was a great start to the outdoor season. We had several people have personal bests and broke several school records. Several of the throwers said that Tori Bowie winning the national championship motivated them today. The throwers are feeding off the jumpers and runners. We are just one big family where everyone is feeding off everyone’s energy,” said Coach Kevin Stephen. Javelin throwers Kyle Smith and Jessica Bussey, and brothers, Richard and Robert Collin-

gwood, took first place honors in throwing events. The Collingwood brothers dueled in both the discus and shot put with Richard being victorious with his disc throw of 167 feet and 3 inches while Robert bested him in the shot with a 53 feet and 1 and half inch effort. Krista Moylan, Zuna Portillo, Stephanie Ledgerwood, Tamarra Bowie and Julien Bousquet won their respective races. Moylan won her first ever start in the steeplechase with a time of 11:46.25.

“It was harder out there than it was during practice going over the steeples. I am excited to this because I am new to the event and can improve on it as I go,” said Moylan, who usually ran the 1,500 meter. Portillo won both the 1,500 meter and 800 meter contests. Ledgerwood won the 5,000 meter by leading the race from start to finish. Bowie took the women’s 100 meter with a time of 12.20 seconds. Bousquet won the men’s 1,500 meter, but came up short in the 800 meter with second place.

Portillo said, “It was a bit windy, but it was good way to start off the outdoor season. As a team we are hoping to carry over our success from the indoor season to the outdoor season. I typically run the steeplechase and my goal for the outdoor season is to break my school record in that event and to go after the record in the 800 meter, also.” The Golden Eagle track team will try to continue their success at the Alabama Relays next weekend and will host another meet on April 30.

Sports

Page 8

BASEBALL

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Eagles sweep Missouri State Tyler Cleveland Printz Writer The Southern Miss pitching staff seems to have turned things around from a less-than-stellar 2010, and for evidence fans can look no further than the improvement of sophomore Geoffrey Thomas. On Sunday, Thomas pitched the Golden Eagles to a 12-1, series sweep-clinching win over Missouri State Sunday at Pete Taylor Park. The Stone Mountain, Ga. native did his best Harry Houdini, stranding runners in scoring position in the first five of his 6 2/3 innings of work to move to 3-1 for the season. He gave up just one run on six hits and struck out and walked four batters. “I had my freshman s t u m b l e s ,” Thomas said. “What I’ve learned to do now is slow the game down, take deep breaths and settle down. When you’re on that mound, you’re the commander in chief of the defense, and you have to let them help you. I learned that the hard way, but I’m reaping the rewards of my and my coaches’ hard work right now.” After Sunday’s start, his fourth of the year, Thomas’ ERA is down to 1.46 and he’s only given up 17 hits in 24 2/3 innings. It’s a stark turnaround from last year, when he finished 1-6 with an 8.37 ERA and 37 walks to 32 strikeouts. He still leads the team in walks with 10 so far in 2011, but according to pitching coach Federico, the improvement in his numbers is all about pitch location and his mindset. “Last season he was missing up,” a proud Federico said. “This season he’s missing down, but I don’t have near as big a problem with that. I don’t think the new bats have as much to do with it as his confidence level does. He’s making pitches that are tough for these guys to square up, and we feel good about the way

“

he’s throwing right now.” “It’s like his whole aura has changed,” Southern Miss senior closer Collin Cargill agreed. “He’s grown up so much over the past year. He really hasn’t changed anything mechanical, it’s all about being more focused. Right now, we feel like we can win every game he starts.” Southern Miss hitters did their part Sunday as they had all weekend, putting up double-digit runs for the third straight game and running the three-day total offensive output to 35 runs on 39 hits. Travis Creel gave Southern Miss (11-3) its first lead in the second inning with a sacrifice fly to score Marc Bourgeois, and Jared Bales followed with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot that put Golden Eagles ahead 3-0. Missouri State (8-7) got one run back in the fifth when Brett Marshall and Aaron Conway led off the inning with a single and a double. A Spiker Helms groundout drove in Marshall, who scored the Bears’ lone run. The Golden Eagles burst the game wide open with a 7-run sixth inning in which they batted around. Bourgeois, Tyler Koelling and B.A. Vollmuth each had two RBI’s in the inning, and Justin Diliberto picked up the other on a bases-loaded walk. Koelling drove in the final two runs for USM in the seventh on a two-out double. Blake Barber (2-2) took the loss for Missouri State after giving up four earned runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings. Josh Rogers and Cargill combined to get the final seven outs, and the Golden Eagles went without committing an error for the seventh game this season. “I think what you saw this weekend was our guys playing three very solid games in every phase,” coach Scott Berry said. “I felt like we were very focused this weekend and

To play hard you have to be focused, and usualy when you do that you’re going to be successful.

”

Coach Scott Berry

played hard, and that’s what I just told them (in the post-game meeting) – to play hard you have to be focused, and usually when you do that you’re going to be successful.” Southern Miss returns to action at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Natchitoches, La., when they’ll face the 5-10 Northwestern State Deamons, who are coming off a 1-2 series loss to McNeese State. Berry said freshman Boomer Scarborough will get the start.

Southern Miss Box Score

Softball vs. LSU Day: Wednesday, March 16 Location: USM Softball Complex Time: 6:00 p.m. Overall record: 15-10 SEC: 0-5

LSU’s Last Five Games: 3/09 vs. Florida 3/09 vs. Florida 3/11 at Georgia 3/12 at Georgia 3/13 at Georgia

Eli Baylis/Printz

Colin Cargill, senior pitcher, strikes out the last batter in the 8th inning at Pete Taylor Park Sunday.

L, 8-1 L, 5-0 L,6-3 L, 8-0 L, 12-0

M. Basketball: 3/09 vs. Tulane 3/10 vs. Memphis W. Basketball 3/09 vs. Memphis Baseball: 3/11 vs. Missouri St. 3/12 vs. Missouri St. 3/13 vs. Missouri St. W. Tennis: 3/12 at Richmond M. Tennis: 3/12 at Prairie View A&M 3/13 vs. Lamar

W, 63-47 L, 66-63 L, 71-63 W, 10,4 W, 13-3 W, 12-1 L, 5-2 W, 5-2 L,5-2

Southern Miss Sports: Upcoming Games Tuseday, March 15 at 4:30 p.m. Baseball at Northwestern St. Natchitoches, La.

Saturday, March 19 at 1:00 Softball at Alabama-Birmingham Birmingham, Ala.

Wednesday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m. Softball vs. Louisiana State Hattiesburg, Miss.

Saturday, March 19 at 4:00 Baseball vs. Rhode Island Charleston, S.C.

Friday, March 18 at 4:00 Baseball at College of Charleston Charleston, S.C.

Sunday, March 20 at 9:00 A.M. Baseball vs. Connecticut Charleston, S.C.