Steve Bergum

It's never easy drawing meaningful conclusions from the first game-like scrimmage of fall football camp. But it was obvious Saturday night that Washington State has the right guys starting.

Head coach Mike Price hopes to find help at defensive tackle, a position left in relative disarray by the departures of senior standouts Don Sasa and Chad Eaton. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Chad David leads an offense set on redemption. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Running back Derek Sparks finds running room during first day of practice last weekend. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The Leon Bender Eligibility Watch will continue for Washington State football coaches and fans until late this month, a university official confirmed Tuesday. Dan Peterson, the school's associate athletic director in charge of academics and compliance, said the eligibility status of the 6-foot-5, 278- pound junior defensive tackle won't be officially decided until at least Aug. 25 after faculty representative Irving Tallman returns from vacation. Tallman, acting upon the recommendations of the registrar's office, will make the final call on the eligibility of Bender and all other Cougars athletes, Peterson said.

WSU defensive coordinator Bill Doba works with a rebuilt defense as the Cougars begin two-a-day practices Saturday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

No one had to tell Johnny Nansen to say "cheese" Friday afternoon. The junior linebacker brought a huge smile with him to Washington State's annual football Photo Day and held it throughout the tedious 90-minute posing session at Martin Stadium.

After putting his newest Washington State recruiting class through a 90-minute session of physical testing, Cougar football coach Mike Price was talking quality rather than quantity. And with good reason.

Washington State athletic director Rick Dickson is considering moving this season's home basketball games against Southern California and defending national champion UCLA to the new Spokane Arena. Dickson said there is a "90 percent chance" the Cougars' Jan. 4 matchup against USC will be moved from Friel Court to the 12,000-seat Veterans' Memorial Arena, which is to open in mid-September. He added there is also a chance WSU will play its Jan. 6 afternoon game against UCLA at that site, even though the Spokane Chiefs have scheduled a hockey game against Tri-Cities in the Arena that night.

Unless Washington State officials can put together their own closed-circuit telecast of this year's Apple Cup, only the 72,500 fans on hand Nov. 18 at Husky Stadium in Seattle will be able to watch the 88th renewal of the historic football rivalry between WSU and Washington.

1. Barging their way to the top of the Pac-10. After making a splash at the Pac-10 regatta last month, Washington State's crew is hoping to keep pace at next week's national championships in Cincinnati. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Having to travel 18 miles to Wawawai Landing on the Snake River for practice every day has given the WSU crew more time to form a tight-knit group. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review <

Varsity Eight coxswain Stephanie Magill barks a few commands during practice on the Snake River. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Heavily favored Southern California shook off the shock of Mike Kinkade's fifth-inning grand slam Thursday night and came back to flatten Washington State 9-6 in the opening game of the Pacific-10 Conference baseball playoffs at Dedeaux Field.

Cameron

Considering the circumstances, Washington State did a remarkable job of tending to business Saturday afternoon. Even after hearing that Gonzaga had knocked off Washington earlier in the day to give WSU an outright championship in the Pac-10 North Division baseball race, the Cougars had enough to rally from a sevenrun deficit and beat Oregon State 8-7 in the first game of a Pacific-10 Conference doubleheader.

1. (Color) Washington State's Ken Cameron hits the dirt against Oregon State pitcher Eric Lovinger in the fourth inning of the first game Friday. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Washington State second baseman Ron Naumu fires to first to complete a double play. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Pac-10 baseball Washington State, which leads the remarkably balanced Pacific-10 Conference North Division by one-half game, controls its own destiny as it heads into a final four-game home series against Oregon State this weekend. "Everything surprises you in baseball," said first-year WSU coach Steve Farrington, observing the scrambled race in the Pac-10 North.

Gonzaga University will end its 14-year baseball association with the Pacific-10 Conference at the end of the current season, according to Bulldogs athletic director Dan Fitzgerald. GU and the University of Portland will move from the Pac-10 North Division to the West Coast Conference for the 1996 baseball season, Fitzgerald said. The two schools are already members of the WCC in men's and women's basketball, soccer, golf, tennis and cross country and women's volleyball.

Sure, Saturday's doubleheader sweep of archrival Washington might have pushed Washington State past the hated Huskies and into first place in the Pacific-10 Conference's North Division. But first-year Cougars coach Steve Farrington was quick to shrug off the impact 5-4 and 4-0 wins had on the standings.

John Ernst braces for the words of off-color commentator Bobo Brayton. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Washington State's quarterbacks weren't quite as sharp Thursday afternoon as they were in last Saturday's annual Crimson and Gray Game. The defenses stepped it a up a little, though. And the kicking game seemed much improved from last weekend.

Price

Mark Hendrickson, Washington State's all-Pacific-10 Conference basketball forward, will make his much-awaited college baseball debut this afternoon. The 6-foot-9 left-handed pitcher is scheduled to start the second game of today's 4 p.m. North Division doubleheader against Gonzaga.

Among the most recognizable people on the sidelines during Saturday's Crimson and Gray football scrimmage was former Washington State quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe, who led the New England Patriots into the playoffs last season in only his second year in the league, is renegotiating his contract with the Pats, who hope to sign him through 2002.

Mike Price has toyed with the idea of installing some two-back looks into his spread-passing offense ever since Shaumbe Wright-Fair ran out of eligibility back in 1992 - which just happened to be about the same time WSU's running game ran out of gas. But now that the sixth-year Cougars coach seems committed to such a change, he can't find enough running backs to accurately test its effectiveness.