The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page C5

3 www.tennessean.com THE TENNESSEAN Friday, May 7, 2004 5C CYANMAGYELBLK TennesseanBroadsheet Master TennesseanBroadsheet Master 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5 TennesseanBroadsheet Master TennesseanBroadsheet Master 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 5C SPORTS By MAURICE PATTON StaffWriter One word might sum up the Nashville effort last night against Memphis: timely. Because of an overused bullpen from the past few days, starting pitcher Dave Williams worked seven timely innings of six-hit, one-run ball, and the offense timely bunched together four of its six hits in a four-run fourth inning. The result was a timely 4-2 victory, as the Sounds extended their mastery of their in-state rivals with their 13th win in the last 16 meetings. was really proud of Nashville Manager Trent Jewett said. mixed his stuff well.

He and (catcher) J.R. House were on the same page. He did everything a starting pitcher is supposed to do. We had to have a big outing with our bullpen situation, and we got Williams allowed only multiple baserunners in one of his seven innings, giving up only a solo home run to Luis Ortiz to lead off the seventh. By then, though, his teammates had staked him to a four-run advantage courtesy of a Luke Allen solo homer and a Ruben Mateo three-run shot off Memphis starter Dan Haren.

knew it was going to be close, because their pitcher was a good Williams said. just tried to do my job until we got it going. The offense came together in the fourth, and after that, I was just thinking I need to not walk anybody. and I were connecting from the very beginning. What I wanted to throw in my head, he was (signaling for).

He called a great game, and that was Trailing 4-1, the Redbirds scored again in the eighth off Sounds reliever Frank Brooks, but Mark Corey worked the final inning for his PCL-leading eighth save. bullpen came in and pitched very Allen said after the Sounds (14-13) went over .500 for the second time this season. Sidelined: Sounds reliever Juan Acevedo received a five-game suspension from the Pacific Coast League for his behavior in 11-9, 10th-inning loss to Memphis. Acevedo was ejected by home plate umpire Kevin Kelley for arguing balls and strikes, then after a lengthy, heated exchange with Kelley, threw a bat and his glove from the dugout in the direction of the plate. By rule, Acevedo is not allowed to be in uniform for any of those five games, although he can take part in pregame activities.

Acevedo is 0-3 with a save and a 10.13 earned run average in a team- high 13 relief appearances. Opponents are hitting .361 against him. Bay watch: Outfielder Jason Bay, continuing a rehabilitation assignment following offseason shoulder surgery, had his first real defensive test in the first. John Gall hit a ball to the base of the left-field wall that Bay retrieved and bounced in to shortstop Mike Moriarty on the edge of the outfield grass. Maurice Patton covers the Nashville Sounds for The Tennessean Reach him at 259-8018 or MINOR LEAGUES NASHVILLE 4, MEMPHIS 2 MemphisABRHBINashvilleABRHBI Prieto cf4010Allen Molina c4010Figueroa 3b4110 Gall lf4030Bay lf2100 Mabry lf1000 Ortiz 1b4121Mateo rf3113 Stemle p0000Thompson cf0000 Witt 3b4010Truby 2b3010 Seabol 2b4000House c3010 Bowers ss4010Abad 1b3000 Haren p2000Moriarty ss3000 Cedeno p3010 Brooks p0000 Corey p0000 Totals35292Totals29464 1, Nashville 1.

7, Nashville 3. (5), Bowers (5), Figueroa (3), House (6). (1), Allen (6), Mateo (10). MemphisIPHRERBBSO Haren7644210 Stemle100000 NashvilleIPHRERBBSO Williams 1-1761105 Brooks0.221110 Corey 81.110001 (2). Nashville 4, Memphis 2 Next: Today, at When: 7:05 p.m.

Game at a glance Winning pitcher: Dave Williams (1-1). Big stick: Ruben Mateo, 1-for- 3, three-run home run. How they won: The Sounds had four of their six hits in a four- run fourth inning, highlighted by homers from Luke Allen and Mateo. Williams and relievers Frank Brooks and Mark Corey scattered nine Memphis hits, limiting the Redbirds to single runs in the seventh and eighth innings. What they said: hitting some home runs, striking out doing the things power hitters do.

rather pitch well. You pitch and play defense, got a chance to have some Nashville Manager Trent Jewett, after his team won despite 10 strikeouts in seven innings by Memphis starter Dan Haren. pitchers: Nashville RHP John VanBenschoten (0-4, 8.74 ERA); Oklahoma RHP John Wasdin (1-0, 2.57). Sounds scrape by Memphis PCL STANDINGS American Conference Central DivisionWLPct.GB Iowa Albuquerque Col. Springs Omaha Eastern DivisionWLPct.GB Oklahoma Nashville Memphis New Orleans Pacific Conference Northern DivisionWLPct.GB Tacoma Edmonton Salt Lake Portland Southern DivisionWLPct.GB Tucson Sacramento Las Vegas Fresno results Memphis 11, Nashville 9, (10) Albuquerque 10, Colorado Springs 4 Tacoma 2, Edmonton 1 Sacramento 7, Fresno 3 Oklahoma 9, New Orleans 5 Iowa 11, Omaha 3 Portland 8, Salt Lake 6 Las Vegas 4, Tucson 3 results Nashville 4, Memphis 2 Colorado Springs 7, Albuquerque 5 Omaha 4, Iowa 0 Tucson 11, Las Vegas 5 Edmonton at Tacoma Fresno at Sacramento New Orleans at Oklahoma Salt Lake at Portland games Nashville at Oklahoma Edmonton at Portland Iowa at Colorado Springs Las Vegas at Sacramento Memphis at New Orleans Omaha at Albuquerque Salt Lake at Tacoma Tucson at Fresno Sounds schedule May Nashville has won 13 of16 meetings Vandy at UT are the likely pitching matchups for this series between Vanderbilt and Tennessee.

pitchers are listed first for each game. Game 1 Today, 6 p.m. LHP Jeremy Sowers (7-3, 2.99 ERA) vs. RHP Luke Hochevar (2-1, 3.75) Game 2 Tomorrow, 3 p.m., Fox Sports Net, 560-AM. LHP Ryan Mullins (5-2, 2.90) vs.

RHP Craig Cobb (3-0, 2.55) Game 3 Sunday, 1 p.m., 560-AM. RHP Matt Buschmann (5-1, 3.15) vs. RHP Sean Watson (4-3, 3.39) SPRING SPORTS Tennessean StaffReports It has been 14 seasons since Vanderbilt last won four consecutive baseball games against Tennessee. The Commodores can match that feat tonight and even surpass it over the weekend when Vandy plays a three-game SEC series at Tennessee. Vandy last won four in a row against UT in 1989-90, when the Commodores swept the Vols in then won the opener of the 1990 series.

Last year, Vandy swept UT 7-4, 9-1 and 6-5. Vanderbilt (31-13, 10-11 SEC) enters the series on a four-game win streak, including their first- ever sweep of Mississippi State last weekend. In that stretch, Vandy outscored its opponents 29-8. UT (33-13, 11-10 SEC) is out to snap a two-game losing skid in conference play. After starting 9-3 in SEC play, the Vols have dropped seven of their last nine.

Second-seeded NAIA No. 23 Trevecca (44-17-1) was eliminated from the TranSouth Conference Tournament, losing 12-5 to Berry (37-20) in Cleveland, Tenn. Four Trevecca players were named to the all-conference first team and four more Trojans made the second team. Pitchers B.J. Jenkins and Todd Dunlap along with shortstop Colby Rainey and centerfielder Brad Coon were named to the first team.

Third baseman Ryan Hoganson, outfielder Eric Reid, catcher Luke Howell, and designated hitter Kyle Felts were on the second team. Also, Trevecca Coach Jeff Forehand was named the TranSouth Athletic Conference coach of the year. The fourth-year coach led Trevecca to its best record ever. College softball: NAIA No. 21 and fourth-seeded Trevecca (28-15) was eliminated from the Tran- South softball tournament in Jackson, falling 3-0 to third- seeded Martin Methodist (39-15).

Trevecca now awaits seedings for the NAIA Region XI Tournament, May 12-14. Union (44-10) rolled to a 4-2 win over Cumberland (22-27). College golf: Senior Sarah Jacobs shot a 1-over par 72 and top-seeded Vanderbilt was tied with second- seeded New Mexico for the first- round lead in the NCAA Central Regional. Both teams were at 14-over 298 to lead the 54-hole event at Illinois State. SEC champion May Wood had a one-under 35 on the front but had three bogeys on the back nine to finish at 2-over 73.

Courtney Wood carded a 76, and Kristen Svi- carovich turned in a 77 while Chris Brady had an 80 for Vandy. The TSU team opens play today in the 54-hole 18th National Minority Golf Championship in Port St. Lucie, Fla. TSU, winner of two spring tournaments, is led by All-OVC performer Robert Dinwiddie, Mark Searle and Stu Michaels. College tennis: The Vanderbilt women open NCAA regional tournament play at home on May 15 against IUPUI at 2 p.m.

The Vandy men travel to Oxford, and meet Oregon at 2 p.m. Manon Kruse of MTSU received an at-large bid to compete in the NCAA singles and doubles championships May 24 in Athens, Ga. In doubles, be joined by Carien Venter. College lacrosse: No. 11 Vanderbilt (10-4, 5-1) earned the automatic bid for the NCAATour- nament, winning 10-9 to end the 13-game win streak of No.

6 Northwestern (14-2, 5-1). Vandy, UT open a key SEC series Major League Baseball can really test your allegiance. They can knock you down, trample you with their spikes, spray a jaw full of tobacco juice in your face and tell you to have a nice day. Still, we keep coming back for more obscenely priced hot dogs and drinks. latest brainstorm was to sell advertising space on the bases.

Presumably, everything would be fair game. Even the foul poles. They tried to sneak it past us when the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays opened the major league season in that baseball hotbed, Tokyo. The players wore ad patches on their uniform sleeves and caps. They were on their way to creating NASCAR in cleats.

What did baseball do? They came to their senses yesterday and partially reversed the call. Call it temporary insanity. Baseball had authorized promoting Spider-Man 2 the movie, not San Diego pitcher David Wells who is often mistaken for Spider- Man. They pulled the plug on Spider- Man 2 scaling back on the promotion that would have earned a reported $2.5 million. Presidential candidate Ralph Nader called the proposed advertising scheme an They would have sunk lower than Eddie strike zone.

just a matter of time before the subject comes up again. Baseball may be dumb, but not stupid. They see sports advertising spreading like kudzu. Look around. inundated with advertising.

You pay us enough money at The Tennessean and put your ad on the front page, alongside coverage on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. You sign onto the Web and get carpal tunnel syndrome trying to slow the flow of pop-up ads. You listen to Titans broadcasts and every first down is sponsored. a First American first they scream. The Titans have a big offensive day and you wind up with a migraine.

Baseball is one of the last sports to try and take sports advertising to the ridiculous. Jockeys filed suit to wear advertising on their pants during last Kentucky Derby. They would sell it on their hats and silks, but those are owned by the owners of the stables. That will be next. Some stuffed-shirt explained stance: part of our effort to market the game in a holistic style, but mostly to market it to a whole demographic Bob DuPuy said.

Huh? Bob, old boy, hate to tell you, but if you truly want to win the kids back, you need to rely on Spider-Man to do your dirty work. How about starting playoff and World Series games before 9 p.m. on the heavily populated East Coast? Kids today know what it means to beg a teacher on their knees, to produce fake tears, just so the nice teacher will allow the class to listen to a World Series game. Day games went out with the dinosaurs. It has become strictly a prime time event, created with the idea of gaining the most bang for the buck.

Adults east of the Mississippi River struggle to stay awake to the end of the games. Kids can only dream about World Series games. They are lucky if they get to stay up past the first inning. new age? Get used to it, you say. Go fly a Spider-Man kite.

Joe Biddle is a sports columnist for The Tennessean He can be reached at 259-8255 or e-mail jbid- Baseball brainstorm tests even truest fans Joe Biddle Opinion By CHIP CIRILLO StaffWriter Montgomery Bell Academy is a hard baseball team to figure out. Is the Big Red the underachiever that stumbled to a 0-5 start but had a nine-game winning streak last month? Or is it the Division II contender that moved closer to clinching a berth in the state tournament with an 8-5 victory over Brentwood Academy yesterday? Probably the latter, but the team really define itself until postseason play begins next week. MBA (17-11, 7-2) plays host to Middle Tennessee Christian today in the start of a three-game series that will determine the Middle Region regular-season champion. The Big Red took care of business yesterday by building a 7-1 lead in the fifth inning before holding off a rally by the visiting Eagles in front of a near-capacity crowd at Bennett-Forehand Field. MBA had the same lead over Brentwood (17-9, 5-4) last week, only to lose 8-7.

The Big Red won two games in the three-game series, dropping the Eagles to second place in the region. region reminds me a lot of the SEC just because everybody beats up on MBA Coach Thomas Wims said. team is a quality team and the coaching is superb as far as the competition we play. what makes it such a great victory for the guys on our team to be able to win the Georgia Tech signee Michael Fisher got the Big Red off to a good start when he belted a two-run homer in the first inning. Fisher reached base in all four at-bats, following the homer with a single and two walks to raise his batting average to almost .500.

think back on track Fisher said. knew we could do all this at the beginning of the year. just how baseball is sometimes some off days and some good days. Vanderbilt signee Scott Pettus (2-2) pitched a complete game, striking out 11 and scattering 10 hits. The senior retired 11 of 13 Eagles during one stretch early as MBA built its six-run lead.

gives you a lot of confidence when you get a bunch of runs Pettus said. can pitch the way you want Brentwood Academy rallied for four runs in the fifth inning to narrow the deficit to 7-5, but Pettus held the Eagles scoreless for the last two innings. Brentwood got its first two batters on in the seventh before Pettus retired the next three. have any college coaches crawling on my door looking for Eagles Coach Buddy Alexander said. pretty gritty and a pretty levelheaded team.

We quit on anybody all MBAmoves closer to state berth Big Red beats BA 8-5, plays for region today HIGH SCHOOLS of a deal involving Major League Baseball Properties, Marvel Studios and Sony the parent of Columbia Pictures, which releases the movie June 30. The promotion will go on with giveaways and ads at ballparks that weekend. listened to the said Geoffrey Ammer, president of worldwide marketing for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. never saw this coming, the reaction the fans had. It became a flashpoint the reaction was Baseball purists denounced the plan, including Fay Vincent, a former baseball commissioner and president of Columbia Pictures.

Having watched jockeys earn the right to have ads on their uniforms for the Kentucky Derby, some said it went too far in the increasing commercialization of think they made a good decision to change their former commissioner Peter Ueberroth said. think it makes any sense at all. a Teams will have the option of having ads on their on-deck circles during games, said Jacqueline Parkes, senior vice president for marketing and advertising. Hall of Fame said it could find no records of ads ever appearing on bases during games. Baseball officials were surprised by the reaction, which included several front-page stories in newspapers.

just shows the strength of major league baseball and the place people put Parkes said. Twins outfielder Torii Hunter nicknamed for his acrobatic catches was disappointed by the reversal. for kids, and kids love he said. would have been cool to see the Spider-Man logo for those three days. Kids could have worn their Spider-Man gear to the Oakland outfielder Billy McMillon liked the decision.

just wonder where this leads to. Will it be The Bad News Bears with Bail Bonds on the back of our he said. FROM PAGE 1C Baseball: Ad campaign criticized by purists To subscribe, call 242-NEWS or visit us online. a love IN LIFE Ms. Ione has been a mother since she was 17.

She been cut out for the role, since raised eight children throughout the six decades since adopting the youngest after she retired. One of her greatest assets: laughter. not-so-cheap seats IN SPORTS With the recent flap over UT season tickets, one wonders: what are other SEC policies? Sports writer Mike Organ surveyed all 12 to find the best seats available, how much they cost, and whether donations were required. top dollar IN BUSINESS CEO compensation is on the rise. On Sunday, The Tennessean examines how much CEOs make at the top 25 Nashville companies and how it compares with performance of the company.

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