X Wednesday, June 4, 2008 | .7BLAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD SPORTS

SCOREBOARDKGA Four-Ball ChampionshipTTuueessddaayyaatt AAllvvaammaarr CCoouunnttrryy CClluubb aanndd AAllvvaammaarr GGoollffCCoouurrsseeOOppeenn DDiivviissiioonnJohn Hess-Aaron Sheaks 64Ben Lowman-Riley Piles 66Travis Deckert-Jeff Bell 66Spencer Alefs-Ross Geubelle 67Josh Taylor-Matt Ewald 67Mitch Carlson-Korbin Kuehn 67Shawn Barker-Jordan Miller 67Kent Morgison-Barry Lucas 68Brandon Hermreck-Zac Potter 68Chad Judd-Tray Wiltse 68Kyle Smell-Scott Willman 68Brad Gershon-Bruce Gershon 68Michael Schnegelberger-Brett Iliff 68Zac Burton-Daniel Wood 68Brent Dewitz-Drew Carlson 69Chase Chamberlin-Jordan Smith 69Matt Lazzo-Matt Salome 69Ty Sanders-Cameron Bishop 69John Sutko-Andrew Storm 69Kyle Capps-Shane Collins 70John Robbins-Ryan Deutsch 70David Rismiller-Jigger James 70Dane Ogden-Nate Sargent 70Blake Giroux-Bobby Knowles 70Keith Erickson-Michael Elafros 70Chad Roesler-Conrad Roberts 70Ben Fitzpatrick-Josh Weems 70Jesse Helms-Adam Clatterbuck 71Zach Pederson-Walt Koelbel 71Tyler Trout-Drew Redwine 71Sam Wempe-John Newcomer 71Douglas Wilson-Spencer Wilson 71Michael McDonnell-Matt Kouri 71Ryan Bechard-Christian Bechard 71Drew Chadd-Alex Wasinger 72Brad Pfaltzgraff-Clay Crawford 72Trent Twaddle-Kyle Marcolla 72Miles Christensen-Jeff Roether 72Tim Zande-Jay Kramer 73Chris Mitchell-Ryan Schuetz 73Brad Boan-Spencer Christian 73Marko Ungashick-Jeff Donovan 73Eric Gorenc-Keith Capps 73Ben Knowles-Alex Dyer 73Darin Pearson-Dick Stuntz 73Scott Kramer-Brian Lawson 74Harry Higgs-Park Ulrich 74Camron Flanders-Michael Holloway 74Derek Donovan-Michael Kahler 74Brent Millikan-Bryan Vonfeldt 75Patrick Roth-Sam Klos 75Brian Tuttle-Kurt Lorenzen 76Charlie Mundy-Joey Mundy 76Nick Hague-Thomas O’Keeffe 76Matt McAnarney-Bren Fisher 76Aaron Mapel-Trent White 77Tyler Casey-Kyle Thacker 78Randy Herbison-Brandon Herbison 78Travis Kleweno-Tyler Hallagin 78Grady Millikan-Mike Millikan 80Nick Burkart-Travis Walsh 80Zack Appl-Zim Appl 82Cameron Hershiser-Tyler Henderson 83MMaasstteerrss DDiivviissiioonnGene Bowden-Brent Bahner 71Gary Lucas-Mike Grosdidier 71Craig Colboch-Mark Elliott 72David Byrne-Mike Cutshall 72Steve Perry-Doug Vaughan 72John Bailey-Bob Bezek 73Paul Keller-Jerold Reid 73Andy Smith-Jeffrey Hanslick 73Steve Senecal-Randy Oplinger 74Brad Waggoner-Bob Cole 74Kevin Handlan-Peter Shriver 74Robert Gleissner-Lynn Dickey 74Jason Grimsley-Simon Elliott 77Randy Kippes-Korb Maxwell 78Brian Cole-Brent Waggoner 79Rick Hastings-Bob McKinney 81

TTOODDAAYY’’SS TTEEEE TTIIMMEESSaatt AAllvvaammaarr CCoouunnttrryy CClluubb

8 a.m. — Blake Giroux-Bobby Knowles, SamWempe-John Newcomer

8:10 — Kyle Smell-Scott Willman, MichaelSchnegelberger-Brett Iliff

8:20 — Zac Burton-Daniel Wood, BrandonHermreck-Zac Potter

8:30 — Ben Fitzpatrick-Josh Weems, TrentTwaddle-Kyle Marcolla

8:40 — Matt Lazzo-Matt Salome, Drew Chadd-Alex Wasinger

8:50 — Ty Sanders-Cameron Bishop, ChadRoesler-Conrad Roberts

9:00 — Chad Judd-Tray Wiltse, Tyler Trout-Drew Redwine

9:10 — Ben Knowles-Alex Dyer, Kyle Capps-Shane Collins

9:20 — Kent Morgison-Barry Lucas, DarinPearson-Dick Stuntz

9:30 — Harry Higgs-Park Ulrich, DouglasWilson-Spencer Wilson

9:40 — John Hess-Aaron Sheaks, Brad Boan-Spencer Christian

9:50 — Mitch Carlson-Korbin Kuehn, PatrickRoth-Sam Klos

10 — Scott Kramer-Brian Lawson, Josh Taylor-Matt Ewald

10:10 — Brad Gershon-Bruce Gershon, ShawnBarker-Jordan Miller

10:20 — Spencer Alefs-Ross Geubelle, MichaelMcDonnell-Matt Kouri

10:30 — Travis Kleweno-Tyler Hallagin, JohnRobbins-Ryan Deutsch

10:40 — Miles Christensen-Jeff Roether, ZachPederson-Walt Koelbel

10:50 — Ryan Bechard-Christian Bechard, JohnSutko-Andrew Storm

11 — Ben Lowman-Riley Piles, ChaseChamberlin-Jordan Smithaatt AAllvvaammaarr GGoollff CCoouurrssee

7:50 a.m. — Robert Gleissner-Lynn Dickey, GregWyatt-Lynn Riney

8 — Aaron Mapel-Trent White, Jesse Helms-Adam Clatterbuck

8:10 — Zack Appl-Zim Appl, Brent Dewitz-DrewCarlson

8:20 — David Rismiller-Jigger James, StevePerry-Doug Vaughan

8:30 — Gene Bowden-Brent Bahner, DavidByrne-Mike Cutshall

8:40 — Brad Waggoner-Bob Cole, RandyKippes-Korb Maxwell

8:50 — Jason Grimsley-Simon Elliott, PaulKeller-Jerold Reid

9 — Steve Senecal-Randy Oplinger, JohnBailey-Bob Bezek

9:10 — Craig Colboch-Mark Elliott, Brian Cole-Brent Waggoner

9:20 — Andy Smith-Jeffrey Hanslick, KevinHandlan-Peter Shriver

9:30 — Rick Hastings-Bob McKinney, GaryLucas-Mike Grosdidier

9:40 — Matt McAnarney-Bren Fisher, TimZande-Jay Kramer

9:50 — Eric Gorenc-Keith Capps, CharlieMundy-Joey Mundy

10 — Cameron Hershiser-Tyler Henderson,Randy Herbison-Brandon Herbison

10:10 — Derek Donovan-Michael Kahler, KeithErickson-Michael Elafros

10:20 — Brad Pfaltzgraff-Clay Crawford, BrentMillikan-Bryan Vonfeldt

10:30 — Camron Flanders-Michael Holloway,Brian Tuttle-Kurt Lorenzen

10:40 — Nick Hague-Thomas O’Keeffe, GradyMillikan-Mike Millikan

10:50 — Dane Ogden-Nate Sargent, TylerCasey-Kyle Thacker

11 — Chris Mitchell-Ryan Schuetz, TravisDeckert-Jeff Bell

11:10 — Marko Ungashick-Jeff Donovan, NickBurkart-Travis Walsh

NCAA Division ISSUUPPEERR RREEGGIIOONNAALLSS((BBeesstt--ooff--33))AAtt CCaarryy,, NN..CC..

Saturday: Coastal Carolina (50-12) at NorthCarolina (49-12), 11 a.m.

Sunday: Coastal Carolina at North Carolina,noon

Monday: Coastal Carolina at North Carolina,11:30 a.m. or 6 p.m., if necessaryAAtt AAtthheennss,, GGaa..

Friday: N.C. State (41-20) vs. Georgia (39-22-1), 11 a.m.

Saturday: N.C. State at Georgia, 11 a.m.Sunday: N.C. State at Georgia, 3 p.m., if neces-

saryAAtt CCoorraall GGaabblleess,, FFllaa..

Friday: Arizona (41-17) at Miami (50-8), 6 p.m.Saturday: Arizona at Miami, 6:30 p.m.Sunday: Arizona at Miami, 6 p.m., if necessary

AAtt TTaallllaahhaasssseeee,, FFllaa..Friday: Wichita State (47-15) at Florida State

(52-11), 1 p.m.Saturday: Wichita State at Florida State, 11

a.m.

Sunday: Wichita State at Florida State, noon, ifnecessaryAAtt BBaattoonn RRoouuggee,, LLaa..

Saturday: UC Irvine (41-16) vs. LSU (46-16-1),5 p.m.

Sunday: UC Irvine at LSU, 3 p.m.Monday: UC Irvine at LSU, 6 p.m., if necessary

AAtt HHoouussttoonnSaturday: Texas A&M (46-17) at Rice (45-13), 2

p.m.Sunday: Texas A&M at Rice, 6 p.m.Monday: Texas A&M at Rice, 11:30 a.m. or 6

p.m., if necessaryAAtt TTeemmppee,, AArriizz..

Saturday: Fresno State (40-28) at Arizona State(48-11), 7 p.m.

Sunday: Fresno State at Arizona State, 8 p.m.Monday: Fresno State at Arizona State, 5 p.m.,

if necessaryAAtt FFuulllleerrttoonn,, CCaalliiff..

Friday: Stanford (37-22-2) at Cal State-Fullerton (41-20), 9:30 p.m.

Saturday: Stanford at Cal State-Fullerton, 6:30p.m.

Sunday: Stanford at Cal State-Fullerton, 6p.m., if necessary

NBA PLayoffsNNBBAA FFIINNAALLSS((BBeesstt--ooff--77))TThhuurrssddaayy

L.A. Lakers at Boston, 8 p.m.SSuunnddaayy

L.A. Lakers at Boston, 8 p.m.TTuueessddaayy,, JJuunnee 1100

Boston at L.A. Lakers, 8 p.m.TThhuurrssddaayy,, JJuunnee 1122

Boston at L.A. Lakers, 8 p.m.SSuunnddaayy,, JJuunnee 1155

Boston at L.A. Lakers, 8 p.m., if necessaryTTuueessddaayy,, JJuunnee 1177

L.A. Lakers at Boston, 8 p.m., if necessaryTThhuurrssddaayy,, JJuunnee 1199

L.A. Lakers at Boston, 8 p.m., if necessary

NHL PlayoffsSSTTAANNLLEEYY CCUUPP FFIINNAALLSSDDeettrrooiitt vvss.. PPiittttssbbuurrgghh

Saturday, May 24: Detroit 4, Pittsburgh 0Monday, May 26: Detroit 3, Pittsburgh 0Wednesday, May 28: Pittsburgh 3, Detroit 2Saturday, May 31: Detroit 2, Pittsburgh 1Monday: Pittsburgh 4, Detroit 3, 3OT, Detroit

leads series 3-2Today: Detroit at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.Saturday: Pittsburgh at Detroit, 7 p.m., if nec-

essary

BBAASSEEBBAALLLLAAmmeerriiccaann LLeeaagguuee

BOSTON RED SOX—Placed DH David Ortiz onthe 15-day DL, retroactive to June 1. Optioned 1B-OF Jeff Bailey to Pawtucket (IL). Recalled 1B-OFChris Carter and RHP Justin Masterson fromPawtucket.

CLEVELAND INDIANS—Placed RHP JakeWestbrook on the 15-day DL, retroactive to May29. Recalled RHP Jensen Lewis from Buffalo (IL).

DETROIT TIGERS—Purchased the contract ofLHP Casey Fossum from Toledo (IL). DesignatedRHP Francisco Cruceta for assignment.

NEW YORK YANKEES—Purchased the contractof RHP Dan Giese from Scranton/Wilkes Barre(IL). Optioned RHP Scott Patterson toScranton/Wilkes Barre.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS—Sent LHP LennyDiNardo outright to Sacramento (PCL).NNaattiioonnaall LLeeaagguuee

CHICAGO CUBS—Recalled RHP Kevin Hartfrom Iowa (PCL). Optioned INF Micah Hoffpauirto Iowa.

CINCINNATI REDS—Placed LHP Kent Merckeron the 15-day DL. Purchased the contract of LHPDanny Herrera from Louisville (IL).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS—Placed 3B RyanZimmerman on the 15-day DL. Recalled 3B KoryCasto from Columbus (IL).BBAASSKKEETTBBAALLLLNNaattiioonnaall BBaasskkeettbbaallll AAssssoocciiaattiioonn

DETROIT PISTONS—Fired Flip Saunders,coach.FFOOOOTTBBAALLLLNNaattiioonnaall FFoooottbbaallll LLeeaagguuee

CHICAGO BEARS—Promoted Kevin Turks toassistant director of pro personnel.

DALLAS COWBOYS—Signed WR Terrell Owensto a three-year contract extension.

HOUSTON TEXANS—Agreed to terms with RickSmith, general manager, on a four-year contractextension.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS—Signed CBJerametrius Butler and C Marquay Love. WaivedLB Chris Graham.HHOOCCKKEEYYNNaattiioonnaall HHoocckkeeyy LLeeaagguuee

BUFFALO SABRES—Signed D Dennis Perssonto a three-year contract.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS—Announced theretirement of RW Sami Kapanen.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS—Assigned D AlexGoligoski to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING—Fired John Tortorella,coach.CCOOLLLLEEGGEE

BUCKNELL—Named John Abdou men’s andwomen’s water polo coach.

LAFAYETTE—Named Pershin Williams men’sassistant basketball coach.

MARY—Named Roger Thomas athletic direc-tor.

MINNESOTA STATE—Named Matt Magersbaseball coach.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE—Named Mary Grothewomen’s assistant basketball coach.

NOTRE DAME—Named Chris Zorich managerof student welfare and development.

SEATTLE—Named Donny Harrel baseballcoach.

SYRACUSE—Suspended WR Mike Williams foracademic reasons and announced he is no longerenrolled at the school.

VILLANOVA—Announced freshman men’s bas-ketball F Taylor King is transferring from Duke.

VMI—Named Chris Miller assistant lacrossecoach.

YESHIVA—Named Logan Mauzy assistant ath-letic director.

French OpenTTuueessddaayyAAtt SSttaaddee RRoollaanndd GGaarrrroossPPaarriissPPuurrssee:: $24.53 million (Grand Slam)SSuurrffaaccee:: Clay-OutdoorSSiinngglleessMMeennQQuuaarrtteerrffiinnaallss

Novak Djokovic (3), Serbia, def. Ernests Gulbis,Latvia, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-5.

Rafael Nadal (2), Spain, def. Nicolas Almagro(19), Spain, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.WWoommeennFFoouurrtthh RRoouunndd

Kaia Kanepi, Estonia, def. Petra Kvitova, CzechRepublic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Svetlana Kuznetsova (4), Russia, def. VictoriaAzarenka (16), Belarus, 6-2, 6-3.QQuuaarrtteerrffiinnaallss

Ana Ivanovic (2), Serbia, def. Patty Schnyder(10), Switzerland, 6-3, 6-2.

Jelena Jankovic (3), Serbia, def. Carla SuarezNavarro, Spain, 6-3, 6-2.DDoouubblleessMMeennQQuuaarrtteerrffiinnaallss

Daniel Nestor, Canada, and Nenad Zimonjic(2), Serbia, def. Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus,Belgium, 6-1, 6-4.

Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov, Russia,def. Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki, Serbia,6-3, 6-4.WWoommeennQQuuaarrtteerrffiinnaallss

Cara Black, Zimbabwe, and Liezel Huber (1),United States, def. Nuria Llagostera Vives andMaria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain, 7-6 (6), 6-2.

Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko (7), Ukraine,def. Ashley Harkleroad, United States, and GalinaVoskoboeva, Russia, 6-3, 6-3.

Casey Dellacqua, Australia, and FrancescaSchiavone, Italy, def. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus,and Shahar Peer (6), Israel, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia RuanoPascual (10), Spain, def. Chan Yung-jan andChuang Chia-jung (4), Taiwan, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5.

BIG 12 SPOTLIGHTLAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD

A weekly look inside the conference

Eric Sorrentinoesorrentino@ljworld.com

Crownot rightfit in K.C.

Major League Baseball’sFirst-Year Player Draft is setfor Thursday, and two com-pelling local storylines will bediscussed amongst Lawrencebaseball enthusiasts.

Storyline No. 1: With theNo. 3 overall pick, withwhom will the Kansas CityRoyals stock their farm sys-tem?

Storyline No. 2: Wherewill Missouri ace AaronCrow, who had a 2008stretch of 43 consecutivescoreless innings, end up?

If these storylines cametogether as one, it would becaptivating: Crow, who grewup in Topeka, getting thechance to pitch close tohome; the Royals drafting anin-state talent who coulddevelop into a star.

As exciting as it’d be, it’ssimply not what the Royalsneed.

The Royals need a bat.And they need one badly.

Kansas City is last in theMLB in runs, home runs andRBI. The Royals are 29th inslugging percentage and 27thin on-base percentage. Heck,Atlanta’s Chipper Jones ishitting 93 points higher thanthe Royals’ on-base percent-age (.314).

OK, so you can neverhave too much pitching.Crow could solidify therotation for many years.Point noted. However, in theheavy-hitting AmericanLeague, the Royals neverwill contend for the AL Cen-tral putting up the 3.63 runsper game they’ve averagedthis season.

Plus, what’s wrong withKansas City’s starting rota-tion as it is?

Zack Greinke (5-2, 2.88ERA, 53 K’s, 19 BB enteringTuesday) is having an all-staryear and has developed intoa legitimate ace. He’s only 24.

The rotation has otheryoung components: BrianBannister (27), Gil Meche(29) and Luke Hochevar (24).

Evaluating Hochevar’s 3-5record and 4.98 ERA like hewas on your fantasy baseballteam isn’t fair. Give the Roy-als’ No. 1 overall pick in 2006another year or two. Greinkedidn’t exactly have immedi-ate impact at the big-leaguelevel either — and look now.

Even if the Royals decidedto select a pitcher, the right-handed Crow doesn’t filltheir primary need at theposition. At present, there’sno left-handed arm in thestarting rotation.

So what hitting positionshould Kansas City look at?

At the big-league level,third base (Alex Gordon) isprobably the only positionthat’s stable for another five-plus years.

Essentially, most positionsare up for grabs.

ESPN.com draft analystKeith Law predicts the Roy-als will take first basemanEric Hosmer (American Her-itage High School, Fla.),while Baseball America’smock draft has Kansas Citytaking Florida State catcherBuster Posey.

Both mock drafts haveCrow going seventh overallto Cincinnati.

Should he go higher? Prob-ably.

The way the Royals arebuilding for the future,though, adding a power batto the lineup would be morebeneficial.

Gabriel Chmielewski/AP Photo

TEXAS A&M’S BRODIE GREENE IS CONGRATULATED by teammates after scoring againstHouston on Saturday in College Station, Texas. The Aggies are the only Big 12 team thatadvanced from their regional to the NCAA Super Regionals, which will begin Saturday.Texas A&M will face Rice in Houston in a best-of-three series for the right to advance tothe College World Series.

BIG 12 BASEBALL

Last men standing

A&M lone conferencesurvivor from regionals

By Eric SorrentinoJournal-World Copy Editor

Big 12 Conference base-ball pride was in seriousjeopardy last weekend.

Of the six conferenceteams that made the NCAATournament, five of themwere knocked out in thefirst weekend of regionals.Texas, which won nationalchampionships in 2002 and2005, couldn’t keep itsthree-year title patternwithin reach in 2008.

Okahoma State, Missouriand Nebraska, which wereranked in Baseball Ameri-ca’s Top 25, fell in theirrespective regionals. Okla-homa surprised Vanderbilttwice, but double elimina-tion caught up to the Soon-ers with a pair of losses toArizona State.

The Big 12 was down toits last option Monday:Texas A&M. Not a bad lastoption, considering theAggies are 46-17 and wonthe Big 12 regular-seasoncrown.

In its f inal do-or-dieregionals game, Texas A&Mdefeated Houston on Mon-day, 13-5, in College Stationto advance as the lone Big 12representative to theNCAA Super Regionals.

Here’s the way the Super

Regionals work: Think of itas the Sweet 16 in collegebasketball. Sixteen teamsremain in eight head-to-head brackets. Take TexasA&M’s opponent, Rice, forexample: Texas A&M willface Rice in a best-of-threeseries, which starts Satur-day in Houston. The winnerwill advance as one of eightteams that make the June 14-25 College World Series inOmaha, Neb.

Texas A&M and Rice

haven’t faced each otherthis season, but they’reundoubtedly familiar withone another. The Owls (45-13) knocked the Aggies outof the Super Regionals lastseason.

Saturday’s game will be at2 p.m. on ESPNU, whileSunday’s 6 p.m. game willbe televised on ESPN2.Monday’s game, if neces-sary, will be played at 11:30a.m. (ESPN) or 6 p.m.(ESPN2).

Karen Warren/ AP Photo; The Houston Chronicle

TEXAS A&M’S KYLE COLLIGAN, LEFT, CELEBRATES withteammates after hitting a two-run home run againstHouston in the NCAA Houston Regional champi-onship. Texas A&Mdefeated Houston, 13-5, onMonday to advance to the NCAASuper Regionals.

Sound organizations realizethe key to building a winnerrevolves around three compo-nents: 1. Pitching; 2. Pitching;3. Pitching.

Three reasons the KansasCity Royals should makeright-hander Aaron Crow thethird overall selection inThursday’s free agent draft:

1. A wicked slider that hasmore north-south move-ment than most; 2. A greatfastball — a four-seamerthat reaches 98 mph on thegun and a two-seamer witha wicked tail that breaks inthe opposite direction of hisslider; 3. Location. Of hispitches, that is. The fact hiscollege team was located ashort drive to the east is anice bonus, but not one ofthe primary reasons to takethe live arm who went 13-0for Missouri.

It’s a mistake to think a

starting rotation is builtbecause five pitchers projectas starters. Successful organi-zations realize it pays to gointo every spring training withseven pitchers who project asstarters. One will develop asore arm and one either won’tbe quite ready for the bigleagues or will be over thehill.

Sure the Royals need hit-ters, but those can be boughtwith free agent dollars.

— TOM KEEGANTKEEGAN@LJWORLD.COM

WhatKeegan

says