The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page C2

2C Follow us online: and Facebook.com/Tennessean LIPSCOMB Baseball: Bisons coach Jeff Forehand announced the signing of Murfreesboro native Justin Wilson for 2016. TSU basketball: Coach Larry Joe Inman announced the signing of Naomi Bolasingh to a national letter of intent. TITANS Twitter: Keep up with all the offseason moves with stories and updates from beat writer Jim Wyatt SCHEDULE COLLEGE BASEBALL Tim Corbin Show7p.m.560-AM NBA PLAYOFFS Atlanta at Brooklyn 6 p.m. BA-TV ilwaukee at Chicago 7 p.m. NT emphis at p.m.SportSouth, TNT, 560-AM NFL Titans Draft Preview 6 p.m.

1 04.5-FM NHL PLAYOFFS Tampa Bay at Detroit6p.m.CNBC Islanders at Washington6p.m.NBC SN PRO BASEBALL Washington at Atlanta6p.m.ESPN, Sport- South Cincinnati at Milwaukee6p.m.Fox TN Nashville at New Orleans6p.m.102.5-FM SOFTBALL N.C. State at Virginia Tech6p.m.ESPNU LSU at Missouri6p.m.SEC Net. SCHEDULE COLLEGE BASEBALL Louisville at Kentucky6p.m.SEC Net. Oklahoma at Wichita State7p.m.ESPNU NBA PLAYOFFS Dallas at Houston (if San Antonio at ClippersTBATNT NFL Titans Draft Preview 6 p.m. 1 04.5-FM PRO BASEBALL Nashville at New Orleans11 a.m.102.5-FM Cincinnati at Milwaukee 6 p.m.

ox TN ashington at Atlanta 6 p.m. portSouth, 5 60-AM PRO SOCCER Liverpool at Hull p.m.NBC SN ON THE AIR SOUNDS Mon. a New Orleans 6 p.m. ue. a New Orleans 1 1 a.m.

hu. a Round Rock 7 :05 p.m. adio: 102.5-FM Tickets: 615-690-HITS VENOM May 3 a Erie 2 p.m. ay 17 vs. Columbus2p.m.

May 29vs. Marion7p.m. CALENDAR American Pharoah put in his final orkout before the Kentucky Derby, and trainer Bob Baffert says his colt is quite comfortable with the track at Churchill Downs. he likely favorite for the Derby orked five furlongs in 58.40 seconds nder Martin Garcia on Sunday. Looking on was Baffert, the Hall of Fame trainer who arrived from California to supervise, and owner Ahmed Zayat.

The colt has been in Louisville since A pril 13 after winning the Arkansas erby by eight lengths. affert says American Pharoah handled his lone workout on the dirt strip well and he looks great: just oes things really American Pharoah takes a four- race winning streak into the Derby. won those races by a combined 2 lengths, all under Victor Espinoza, who will be aboard on Saturday. affert now waits for post-position draw that he called the last stressful moment that we AUTO RACING: Ron Capps raced to is second Funny Car victory of the eason, beating teammate Jack Beckman in the Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals at Baytown, Texas. Capps (4.244 seconds at 258.32 mph) earned his 44th Funny Car victory and oved into second behind John Force the career wins list in the ivision.

Doug Kalitta won in Top Fuel, and Erica Enders-Stevens won Pro Stock. TENNIS: Home favorite Angelique Kerber rallied to upset fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the fi- al of the Porsche Grand Prix at Stutt- art, Germany. It was the 14th-ranked fifth WTA title. Top-seeded Kei Nishikori successfully defended his title at the Barcelona Open by beating Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-4 in the final. It was his econd title of the season and his ninth areer title.

SOCCER: Chelsea held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw in London to close in on its first Premier League title in five years. Chelsea is 10 points clear of defending champion Manchester City and Ars enal at the top of the standings with ive games to go. HOCKEY: Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby has been added to roster for the upcoming world ockey championship. The Canadians will be trying to win their first gold medal since 2007. DIGEST Probable favorite American Pharoah looks strong in final Derby workout Associated Press Excellent view of the Nashville skyline? Check.

Nods to the baseball history? Check. Plenty of bathrooms, seating choices and food selections? Check, check, check. Successful debut of the new mascot? Hmmmm, check that box quite yet. After a successful opening of First Tennessee Park, the Nashville Sounds appear to have hit a home run with the baseball fans with one small exception. Booster, the hot chicken mascot, is getting mixed reviews.

It seems not all fans are boosters of Booster. The Sounds chose to retire Ozzie, its muscle-laden cougar, when it left Greer Stadium after the 2014 season. The franchise decided to start fresh, debuting a hot chicken" in a salute to one of the favorite foods served in Music City. The Tennessean posted a poll on its website at 11:15 a.m. Monday asking readers two questions: 1.

Do they prefer Booster or Ozzie? 2. Which mascot of our hree pro sports teams best identifies with the city: the T-Rac, the Booster or the Gnash. As of Sunday afternoon, the unscientific poll gathered 830 responses. One thing is certain: Gnash is the overwhelming favorite among our professional sports team mascots. And, secondly, the initial response to Booster is mixed.

Ozzie is still favored by a 58-42 percent margin. And dozens of readers left comments on the story posted online and on The Facebook page. Reader Paul Robertson offered an interesting suggestion: always thought the Mascot should be the Hound. Adog with big Chris Pool wrote: is known for HOT CHICKEN so this is a no-brainer. Bye Shelby Dobson wrote: whole fun of MiLB is tacky mascots! I love how the new recruit is vaguely ironic and subtlely (but undoubtedly) Many fans probably know that Ozzie was a hand-me-down mascot.

I got an email Monday from Wayne Earle, who wore the Ozzie costume in the 1990s. In his email, he wrote: same uys who owned the Kane County Single-A team outside of Chicago had bought the Sounds. Instead of coming up with a new character and branding him unique to the Sounds, they just grabbed the old, smelly costume of yesteryear from the storage room in Kane County and sent a cougar right on down to Music City via give Booster some time to fit in. One of the great things about Nashvil- lians is the hospitality that they give to newcomers. If, after a year, he still fit? Then, maybe we fry the hot chicken.

Reach Dave Ammenheuser at 615-259-8352 and on Twitter NASHVILLE SOUNDS Hot chicken a hit, but jury still out on Booster THE TENNESSEAN Why does Booster, the new ascot, want to bite columnist Dave Ammenheuser in the head? Read his column to find out. Fun-loving fans are giving new Sounds ascot mixed reviews dave ammenheuser Columnist Vanderbilt broke open a 2-2 tie with three runs in the bottom of the eighth i nning and beat Missouri 5-2 at Hawkins Field on Sunday. The 13th-ranked Commodores (331 2, 15-6 SEC) moved two games ahead Florida in the SEC East and a half game ahead of LSU in the overall SEC tandings. I nfielder Zander Wiel hit his ninth home run of the season and third in a many days and finished 2-for-4 ith two runs scored. During 4-0 week, Wiel hit .467 (7-for-15) ith eight RBIs.

The 14th-ranked Tigers (26-18, 12-9) tied the game in the sixth inning and ook their first lead of the weekend ith a two-out single in the seventh. The Commdores made it 2-2 in the bot- om of the seventh before surging a head for good in the eighth. Walker Buehler allowed two runs on even hits over seven innings and had ine strikeouts. Reliever Ben Bowden captured his fifth win. ommodores starters struck out 41 Tigers in the the three-game series, with starters Carson Fulmer, Philip feifer and Buehler combining for 33 i 21innings.

Vanderbilt leads the SEC with 452 strikeouts. anderbilt plays Belmont at Rose ark at 5 p.m. Tuesday. VANDERBILT 5, MISSOURI 2 Commodores cushion lead in SEC East Tennessee put together a six-run sixth inning to rally past South Carolina 10-4 on Sunday in Knoxville and clinch the series. The Vols (18-21, 7-14 SEC) won two of the three games and claimed their first series win over the Gamecocks (26-19, 9-12) since 2006.

Tennesee had 13 hits, led by shortstop A.J. Simcox (3-for-4, 2 RBIs), DH Andrew Lee (2-for-4, 2 RBIs), outfielder Chris Hall (2-for-4) and first base- an Parker Wormsley (2-for-4, 3 RBI). MTSU 3-0, Marshall 1-2: The Blue aiders (24-19, 15-6 Conference USA) plit a doubleheader with the host hundering Herd (15-27, 8-13) and re- ained tied with Florida Atlantic for the league lead. MTSU left nine run- ers on base in the nightcap. Morehead State 5, Austin Peay 4: The Governors (22-19, 13-11OVC) led 4 -0 in the seventh behind Cayce three-run homer and Dre Gleas blast, but the Eagles (27-17, 13-8) responded with a five-run eighth.

Kennesaw State 12, Lipscomb 5: The Owls (24-20, 8-6 Atlantic Sun) rode afour-run fourth inning and three-run eighth to a victory over the Bisons (2615, 6-6) at Ken Dugan Field. Michael Gigliotti led Lipscomb with three hits. Jacksonville State 15, Belmont 9: The Bruins (21-21, 10-10 OVC) had an 8-4 lead going into the bottom of the fourth, but the Gamecocks (23-20, 1011) scored 11runs over the next four innings and swept the three-game series. Arizona State 16, Tennessee Tech 4 The fifth-ranked Sun Devils (28-12) cored 11runs in the fifth to blow out he visiting Golden Eagles (20-21). SOFTBALL TSU 4, Morehead State 0: The Tig ers (10-34, 3-20 OVC) snapped an 18- ame losing streak behind pitcher Tayl or shutout of the visiting Ea- les (21-20, 10-9).

he 18-game losing streak was the longest for TSU since it lost 27 in a row etween the 1998 and seasons. Green (6-16) held the Eagles hitless until the fifth inning. Charlotte 3, Western Kentucky 1: Miranda Kramer set a Conference USA record with 18 strikeouts but the Lady Toppers (29-10, 14-4 C-USA) left 14 runners on base in losing to Charlotte (23-24, 9-11). Kramer (20-7) broke Tulsa pitcher Aimee record of 17 set last season. Her 346 strikeouts this season rank seventh in C-USA history.

Lipscomb 4, Kennesaw State 1: The Lady Bisons (26-23, 11-6 Atlantic un) completed a three-game sweep of he visiting Owls (31-17, 12-8). Kelly oung won her second game of the ser ies, striking out 10, allowing three hits and four walks. Jacksonville State 14, Belmont 1: The visiting Gamecocks (32-15, 15-6 OVC) combined for 10 hits and 10 runs i the second and fifth innings to rout the Bruins (11-31, 6-15) and win the hree-game series 2-1. SPRING SPORTS ROUNDUP Vols rally to win series with South Carolina Whatever derailed Justin game appears long gone now. Sensing he needed to birdie the final two oles to keep the lead, Rose pulled it off with aggressive swings and clutch putts for a one- stroke victory over Cameron Tringale on Sunday in the Zurich Classic at Avondale, La.

this year it looked impossible to Rose said, referring to his three missed cuts and failure to finish better than 37th in his first five starts of 2015. very happy to have turned my game Rose completed a 7-under 65 in the rain-delayed third round Sunday morning and closed with a 66 at TPC Louisiana for his seventh PGA Tour title. He finished at 22-under 266, a record total on the course southwest of New Orleans that has hosted the PGA Tour stop 10 times since 2005. The Englishman has won at least once in six straight seasons, the second-longest streak on he tour behind Dustin eight straight. projected to jump from ninth to sixth in the orld ranking.

ose said his drastic improvement two eeks earlier at the Masters, where he tied for econd, helped him in the Big Easy. LPGA Tour: Lydia Ko won the Swinging kirts LPGA Classic for the second straight ear, beating Morgan Pressel on the second hole of a playoff at Daly City, Calif. Champions Tour: Joe Durant had a hole-in- one and teamed with Billy Andrade to win the hampions Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge at Ridgedale, Mo. GOLF ROUNDUP CHRIS IMAGES Justin Rose takes his second shot on the 15th hole during the final round of the Zurich Classic. Rose gets aggressive, ins Zurich Classic Englishman claims his eventh PGA Tour title Associated Press.