By Rusty Simmons staff reporter Dallas Baptist used a six-run advantage gained in the first two innings Tuesday to beat TCU 9-6 at Patriot Field. Freshman pitcher Mike Srp gave up four runs on five hits in the first inning, his only inning of work. The Patriots added a pair of runs in the second inning off freshman pitcher Chris Ostenowski, who allowed three earned runs over four and 2/3 innings. Srp said he is adjusting to the difference between high school and college baseball. "You have to make every pitch perfect (in college)," he said. "In high school, teams maybe had one or two guys that could hit. In college, one through nine can hit. "Every pitch must count. It's another level in college." Ostentowski said the college game is not much different than his experiences in high school. "Overall, it doesn't matter on the pitch, as long as you keep the ball down, you have a better chance of getting the out," he said. "But if you make a mistake in college, you're going to pay for it." The Frogs got back into the game in the fourth inning as senior designated hitter/pitcher Shaun Wooley hit his first home run of the season. Wooley said he is looking for more at bats. "I always want to play," he said. "I'm not scared of failure. If I fail seven out of ten times, I'm still batting .300." In an effort to cut into the three-run deficit, TCU loaded the bases in the fifth inning. But junior right fielder Tom Bates, fighting a muscle strain in his back, lined out to center field to end the inning. Wooley said the Frogs have struggled to get hits at the right time. Dallas Baptist (6-6-1) increased its lead to six runs in the sixth inning, scoring three runs on five hits. The Patriots' Cody Sadler's two-run home run highlighted the scoring in the sixth inning. Ostentowski said the Frogs have the offense to make up for deficits. "If we're focused, we should be able to come back with the hitters we have," he said. Although TCU threatened the Dallas Baptist lead again in the seventh inning, scoring three runs on four hits, the Frogs left two runners on the bases. Senior third baseman Levi Groomer, batting in the lead-off spot, reached base in all five of his plate appearances. He had three singles and was hit by a pitch twice to extend his streak of reaching base safely to eight plate appearances. Bates had three hits, Wooley added a pair of hits, and both drove in two runners. TCU begins Western Athletic Conference play against San Jose State at 2:35 p.m. Friday at the TCU Diamond. The Frogs are 5-12 in non-conference games this season. Wooley said the Frogs look at WAC play as a new season. "We just have to wipe the slate clean," he said. "Everyone is 0-0 in conference. Regular season wins help with a regional bid, but winning the conference is an automatic bid. "It's time to suck it up, and go for the gusto."
Staff Reporter Omar Villafranca contributed to this report.
Rusty Simmons
By Chris Harrison staff reporter The TCU women's golf team won its first event since 1998 as it claimed the 2000 Midwest Classic in Dallaswith a three-round total of 936. Senior Angela Stanford, Western Athletic Conference player of the week, shot a final round 76 to shoot a 10-over 226 to win the individual medalist honor. "I think you could compare this win for the team like making a birdie on the first hole," Stanford said. "Once you get that first one, it hopefully, will open up the flood gates. Hopefully, this win we be like the first birdie of the day." Stanford rallied from sixth place to win her third tournament of the season and her eighth career tournament, both school records. Her 75s in the first two rounds, followed by a final round 76, allowed her to win the individual title. "This was a great win for me, but more importantly, the team," Stanford said. "We are great players, and we have great talent on this team. I think just being in the position to win a tournament is really important. "Having the lead throughout the tournament was good for us as a team. I think we are going to take a lot from that, just being there, grinding it out and learning how to win tournaments." Stanford said the turning point in the tournament was the second day. "I think this team decides (its) fate on the second day," Stanford said. "We didn't necessarily play our best golf, but we kept it under control the second day. That second day was what put us in position to win the tournament." The Horned Frogs' win was the first for TCU since April 22, 1998, when they won the Western Athletic Conference championship. The win was the 28th team win in school history. The Horned Frogs, who led throughout the tournament, won the event by six strokes over Missouri (942). Michigan State finished third (945), Nebraska was fourth (948), and Northwestern rounded out as No. 5 (957). Coach Angie Ravioli-Larkin said she couldn't be happier with her team. "We have talked about winning a tournament all year long," Ravioli-Larkin said. "It was just a matter of getting the monkey off our back, and I think everyone knows what that feels like. "Once you get that first win, every win after that comes a little easier. Going into this tournament, the team had a real determined attitude. They played liked they wanted to win, and they did." Sophomore Lori Sutherlandled the tournament after the second round but shot a final round 87 to finish tied for fifth place, her highest finish as a Horned Frog. "It was the best finish I have had here at TCU, but it was the worst I have felt about finishing in the top five," Sutherland said. Sutherland shot a 72 and 75 in the first and second round, putting her atop the leader board. In her final round, she had a double bogey and quadruple bogey to put her eight over par after the first nine. "I think I just put too much pressure on myself," Sutherland said. "That 87 was the worst round I have had in college. I played great golf the first two days but had a hard time on Sunday." The TCU women's team is back in action on March 17 through 19 at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin.
Chris Harrison
Here are the real participants in March Madness: Auburn forward Chris Porter, St. John's point guard Erick Barkley, Michigan guard Jamal Crawford, UCLA forward JaRon Rush and his brother Kareem, a forward at Missouri. As sure as Dennis Rodman is somewhere on the streets, downing hard liquor, adding yet another tattoo to his body after getting tossed from a game the night before, several college basketball stars are inevitably being caught taking money under the table just as the NCAA's tournament kicks off. From their former summer high school basketball coaches. From agents who've been scouting them since they dunked on a Nerf goal. From assorted boosters and "friends of the program." From whoever is dangling a Benjamin in front of their faces. All the aforementioned college stars have been suspended for varying lengths of time (some are still on suspension) because of some handout that was invariably discovered by the sniffing dogs working for the NCAA. I've got to figure that the NCAA has got to be spending some big amounts of cash, somewhere in the hundreds of thousands on up, to bust these paltry transactions. But why would the NCAA worry about money when it can continue to milk its cash cows? The cows, of course, being the players. In major college men's basketball and football (usually the only programs that generate revenue for the university), players give up what amounts to nearly 60 hours a week without much compensation. Eyebrows routinely rise when it is suggested that players aren't sufficiently compensated by the scholarships they receive to represent their university on the field of play. Let's all agree that college basketball is different from, say, the chess club or intramural water polo. It is during this time of the season when the average player on a Top 25 team travels to places like Ames, Iowa, and Lawrence, Kan., which tends to interrupt things like studying for midterms or working a side job at Burgers and Chinese Food. Games are held before 20,000 screaming fans, many adorned in replica jerseys bearing the school's colors. Everyone from the hot dog vendor to the athletic director is getting paid off the labor of 19-year-olds plucked from ghettos and cornfields all across America, and sometimes, Lithuania. Well, everyone except the 19-year-olds. CBS shelled out $6.2 billion for the right to broadcast college basketball, starting in 2003. By any stretch of the imagination, this is a repugnant amount of money, even in the repugnant realm that often ties together sports, money and television. So where does the money go? Not to the players, that's for sure. So when these guys make the quantum leap from high school or their freshman year of college to the NBA or NFL, you have to wonder what their incentive to go to college really is. In fact, perhaps these increasing numbers of early entries are a sort of revolution against a system that benefits only the suits and not the workers. You know, this was part of the logic behind Marxism. Meanwhile, yet another college star will be sacrificed before the double-chinned NCAA suits whose best interests lie in riding on the backs of teenagers to financial bliss. And therein lies the real madness of March.
Opinion Editor Joel Anderson is a senior
news-editorial journalism major from Missouri City, Texas. |
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