Monday, May 3, 2010
The Vicksburg Post
B3
Tigers drop sixth straight SEC game From staff reports Senior centerfielder Matt den Dekker collected five hits and four RBIs Sunday to lead Florida to a 13-6 win over LSU and a series sweep of the Tigers. Den Dekker homered and finished 5-for-5. Austin Maddox hit a three-run homer and Brian Johnson hit a grand slam in the fourth inning that put the Gators (31-11, 15-6 Southeastern Conference) ahead 10-1. LSU (32-13, 11-10) lost for the eighth time in 11 games in SEC play and fell into fourth place in the Western Division. It is still three games ahead of Alabama for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament — and has the tiebreaker edge on the Crimson Tide thanks to a series sweep — with nine league games remaining. LSU was swept for the second consecutive weekend. “This was tough weekend for us against a great team,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “it’s hard to win when you’re playing from behind as much as we were the whole series. We have to move forward — there’s still a lot of baseball left, including three very important conference weekends.”
USM 13, Tulane 9 Another day, another win,
Hawks finish Bucks; Lakers take Game 1 By The Associated Press
college baseball another place higher in the standings for Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles scored six runs in the first two innings Sunday, then added four more in the third on the way to a 13-9 win over Tulane. The victory, USM’s seventh in a row overall and sixth straight in Conference USA play, finished a sweep and moved it into a tie for fourth place in the league standings with East Carolina. Those teams play a three-game series next weekend in Hattiesburg. Taylor Walker homered and drove in four runs for Southern Miss (25-17, 8-7 C-USA), while Kameron Brunty, B.A. Vollmuth and Dillon Day had three hits apiece. Southern Miss had 10 of its 15 hits in the first four innings. Walker hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning after Tulane cut it to 6-3, and Day’s RBI single put USM ahead 10-3. A three-run homer by Blake Crohan cut it to 11-9 in the bottom of the sixth, but Tulane couldn’t get any closer. Mandella Mingo, Jay Myrick and Collin Cargill combined for four scoreless innings of relief to slam the door on the Green Wave. Cargill allowed one hit in two innings for his seventh save of the season. Crohan had five RBIs for Tulane (26-19, 6-9) and Jeremy
The associaTed press
Florida’s Brian Johnson throws a pitch against LSU on Sunday. Johnson allowed two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings, and also hit a grand slam as Florida won 13-6. Schaffer hit a two-run home run.
Auburn 13, Arkansas 2 Grant Dayton struck out 10 batters in seven innings, and Trent Mummey went 3-for-5 with a homer as Auburn (3015, 12-9 SEC) routed Arkansas (35-10, 14-7). The Tigers took two out of three in the week-
end series and are now two games behind the Razorbacks and Ole Miss for first place in the SEC West. Kevin Patterson and Casey McElroy had four RBIs apiece for Auburn. Zack Cox and Andy Wilkins hit solo homers one batter apart in the sixth inning to account for Arkansas’ runs.
Braves snap out of funk ATLANTA (AP) — Jason Heyward knows the Atlanta Braves can’t dwell on their three-game sweep of slumping Houston. Heyward said the Braves, like the Astros, “are still in last place and still have some work to do.” Heyward and Melky Cabrera each drove in three runs and the Braves beat Houston 7-1 on Sunday, handing the Astros their sixth straight loss. “Let’s keep it going,” Heyward said. Heyward, the rookie sensation who had homers in three straight games before Sunday, had two hits. He ranks among the NL leaders with seven homers and 23 RBIs and has demonstrated a flair for key hits in his first month in the major leagues. “I think what makes it most impressive is when he gets his hits and RBIs,” Braves starter Derek Lowe said. “You know it’s not by accident he’s having the success he’s having.” The Braves outscored the Astros 21-4 in their first threegame sweep of Houston since 2003. The modest winning streak followed nine straight losses, Atlanta’s longest skid in almost four years. “We needed to get on track,
It took Jacksonville two innings to turn a pitchers’ duel into a blowout Sunday. Brandon Tripp and Mike Stanton both homered as the Suns scored five runs in the sixth inning and four more in the eighth to beat the Mississippi Braves 10-4. Tripp, who entered as a defensive replacement in the
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on TV 7 p.m. TNT - Boston at Cleveland, Game 2 9:30 p.m. TNT - San Antonio at Phoenix, Game 1 three times by an average margin of more than 23 points before losing the final regular-season meeting on Josh Smith’s game-winning dunk just ahead of the buzzer. The Hawks have no one who can guard Howard one-on-one, so they’ll have to give center Al Horford plenty of help at the defensive end. “Hopefully, we’ll come up with something that works,” Smith said. “If that doesn’t work, we’ll go to Plan B. If that doesn’t work, we’ll go to Plan C. He’s a beast, and he’s a wellrested beast, too.”
Lakers 104, Jazz 99 Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 31 points in the final four minutes, and the Los Angeles Lakers blew a fourth-quarter lead before rallying to beat the Jazz in their second-round series opener. Pau Gasol had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Lakers, who played a dismal final period before Bryant seized control. Last season’s NBA finals MVP coolly scored seven consecutive points to erase Utah’s four-point lead, followed by a dynamic slice through the lane for a layup with 22.6 seconds left. Deron Williams scored 24 points for fifth-seeded Utah, which managed just one more field goal after taking a 93-89 lead with 4:10 to play. Utah has lost 15 straight to the Lakers at Staples Center, including seven playoff games. Los Angeles will host Game 2 of the best-of-seven series on Tuesday night.
PCA
The associaTed press
Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward watches his sacrifice fly against the Houston Astros on Sunday. Heyward had three RBIs as the Braves won 7-1.
mlb we needed to get back to winning games,” said Braves catcher Brian McCann, who scored two runs. “That road trip wasn’t us. We need to make sure it was just a bump in the road. “This was a big series for us.
Big, big series.” In other National League games Sunday, it was Florida 9, Washington 3; St. Louis 6, Cincinnati 0; the Chicago Cubs 10, Arizona 5; Colorado 4, San Francisco 1; San Diego 8, Milwaukee 0; the L.A. Dodgers 9, Pittsburgh 3; and Philadelphia 11, the New York Mets 5.
In the American League, it was the New York Yankees 12, the Chicago White Sox 3; Detroit 5, the Los Angeles Angels 1; Minnesota 8, Cleveland 3; Toronto 9, Oakland 3; Baltimore 3, Boston 2 in 10 innings; Tampa Bay 1, Kansas City 0; and Texas 3, Seattle 1 in 11 innings.
Surge propels Jacksonville past M-Braves From staff reports
The Atlanta Hawks went the distance in a series that was much tougher than anyone expected. They can only hope the Orlando Magic will be a little rusty in the next round of the playoffs. By the time the Eastern Conference semifinals begin Tuesday night, the Magic will have been sitting around for eight days, having wasted no time sweeping Charlotte in their opening-round series. The Hawks, on the other hand, needed a gutty Game 6 win in Milwaukee just to keep their season alive, then finished off the Bucks with a 95-74 rout in the deciding game Sunday. The Hawks will make the short flight to Orlando today, having only two days to prepare for an opponent that beat them by six games in the Southeast Division standings and three of four times uring the regular season. Nevertheless, Jamal Crawford can see a good side to jumping right into another best-of-seven series against a well-rested opponent. “It’s tough when you’re off a while,” said Crawford, who scored 22 points to lead the Hawks past Milwaukee. “We have a nice rhythm going right now.” Indeed, the third-seeded Hawks fully expect to put up more of a fight against No. 2 Orlando than they did a year ago in the second round, when LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers ended Atlanta’s season with a four-game sweep. “It’s a good matchup both ways,” Hawks star Joe Johnson said. “But we’ve got to be more hungry and determined to get over the hump. We can’t just beat this team based on talent. We’ve got to play harder.” The Magic routed Atlanta
nba playoffs
minor league baseball sixth inning, finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBIs. He led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run, then capped the eighth-inning rally with a tworun single. Tim Torres also had a three-run double in the sixth, while Stanton led off the eighth with a home run.
The M-Braves took a 2-1 lead in the second inning on Cody Johnson’s sixth home run of the season. Johnson started another rally in the top of the sixth with a single, stole second and third, then scored on a base hit by Concepcion Rodriguez to make it 3-1. The lead didn’t last long. After Tripp’s homer, the Suns loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the
sixth. Matt Dominguez drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game, and Torres doubled to center to clear the bases and give Jacksonville the lead for good. The teams were to play the finale of a five-game series this morning. The M-Braves are off on Tuesday before returning home to Trustmark Park for a matinee with Birmingham at 11:05 a.m. Wednesday.
Continued from Page B1. the same way. The young kids have done a good job taking what we’ve told them and using it.” The sweep of Calvary marked the halfway point in PCA’s quest for a second consecutive Class A championship. PCA will face Riverfield in the South State finals this week. The best-of-three series begins Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Rayville, La., with Games 2 and 3 in Vicksburg on Thursday at 4 p.m. It’s a remarkable spot to be in for a team that didn’t win more than three games in a row before its current six-game winning streak. The turning point, Rushing said, was a 15-1 loss to Trinity on April 5. That served as a wake-up call to the Eagles
that they needed to pick up the pace if they wanted to play deep into May. “They helped us out because we got drummed. But we played our worst game,” Rushing said. Trinity may have helped out PCA in the regular season, but didn’t do any favors for it in the playoffs. The Saints beat Riverfield in Game 1 of their secondround series last week, then lost 17-11 and 11-3 in Games 2 and 3. That allowed Riverfield, which boasts a 25-2 record, to advance to the semifinals. Pitcher Kyle King threw 11 innings, including a complete game in Game 2, for Riverfield in the doubleheader.
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