The Daily News-Journal from Murfreesboro, Tennessee • 15

www.dnj.com I THE DAILY NEWS JOURNAL I Friday. March 16. 2007 1 C3 BASEBALL SEMI lii wit) a pta forgive MB Mb easier when you can make up ground in one swing. Rawley is a guy who can hit the ball out of the park. 44 He's a i2i SUTIEaT STAKES 1mm S3C 0ml UL-Latayette 3-0 14-3 U-Monroe 34 12-5 MTSU 2-1 8-10 Rohda Atlantic 2-1 17 New Orleans 2-1 12-7 Troy 1-2 10-8 Arkansas Stata 1-2 8-9 Western Kentucky 1-2 6-8 Florida International 04 12-9 UALR 0-3 7-11 South Alabama 0-3 12-7 BISHOP Disciplined hitter anchoring MTSU lineup ByUVBBOOJUR boclair dn jrom Steve Peterson says that when first baseman Rawley Bishop steps in the batter's box, "He has a plan." Things did not go exactly the way Bishop, a redshirt-sopho-more, figured on a trip to the plate in the fourth inning Wednesday.

As it turned out, though, they could not have gone better. Bishop's grand slam gave the Blue Raiders a 6-5 lead on Southern Illinois in a game they eventually won 9-8. It also further solidified his role as this season's chief power hitter for a lineup that lost virtually all of its muscle from a year earlier. "Without power, you have to manufacture so much, Peterson said. It makes it a whole lot cedure that he began to feel like he was full-strength again.

MIt kind of threw my plans all off, he said. "I wanted to come in here and help right away. I just had to wait. All he has to wait for now is a pitch to hit and that's something else he has shown he's willing tQ do. "He's learning his strike zone more and more," Peterson said.

"Sometimes he's too patient. He's a guy who's not just going up there hacking. He's got a plan." Wednesday, with the bases loaded, he expected a change-up because he figured SIU wanted to catch him trying to pull something. His approach if he saw that pitch was to hit it hard up the middle. He got it and hit it hard all right.

"I got it up in the jet stream that's all," he said. 'This year, I've just taken off hitting home runs. I'm just trying to hit the ball well." Dtn id Boclair, 278-5167 MTSU (8-10, 2-1) vs. LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (14-3, 3-0) (Urn Smith Raid Todty, I p.m. Matt Scon (2-1, 3.63 ERA) vs.

Buddy Glass (4-1, 1.82 ERA) Satuntay, 4 p.m. Brad Robinson (1-0. 2.21 ERA) vs. John Zorich (3-0. 2.45 ERA) Sunday, 1 p.m.

Brett Smalley (1-3, 3.43 ERA) vs. Hunter Moody (2-1, 3.78 ERA) All games on radio (WMTS-FM 88.3) Ptsytfi to wttcft Loutsiana-Lafiytfti Jonathan Lucroy, The junior tied a school-record Sunday with five hits in a 10-6 victory over South Alabama, which completed a series sweep for the Ragm Cajuns. Lucroy had three singles, a double and a home run and raised his average to .338. He has 15 RBIs tied for second on the team and has handled a pitching staff that has a conference-best 2.93 ERA. more than one full run better than the next best staff.

MTSU Zach Barrett, 3B The current Sun Belt Player of the Week, he hit .588 (10-for-17) in four games last week. Among those 10 hits were three doubles. He also had two walks, three stolen bases, four runs scored and seven runs batted in. He had just three RBIs in his first 12 games, and after a slow start (hitless in four of his first five games) his recent tear has improved his batting average to .345. guy who, when he gets it all together, be can easily hit double-digit home runs." Eighteen games into this season, he's already well on his way.

Bishop leads MTSU with six home runs, three times the number he had all of last season. However, in stark contrast to the stereotype of a free-swinging power hitter he also has a team-high 14 walks, at least six more than all of his teammates. His 18 RBIs and five doubles are each tied for team-high honors. "I wanted to do whatever I could to help the team (this season), he said. "I just wanted to play hard and have fun too.

I wasn't worried if it was my year or not. It was going to come sooner or later. I just wanted to have fun this year. Among other things, he has become the Blue Raiders' first baseman after having been recruited out of Germantown as a third baseman. When he reported for his freshman season, though, he had a serious injury to his right shoulder, underwent surgery and was redshirted.

He said it was only this past summer nearly two years after the pro Former commissioner Kuhn dead at 80 Former Bowie Kuhn, who lorded over baseball during 15 tumultuous years that saw I 1 i TP i i -j players gain free agency When Kuhn took over from William Eckert on Feb. 4, 1969, baseball just had completed its final season as a tradition-bound 20-team sport, one with no playoffs, a reserve clause and an average salary of about $19,000. Kuhn battled the rise of the NFL and a combative players' union that besieged him with lawsuits, grievances and work stoppages. Yet it was also a time of record attendance and revenue and a huge expansion of the sport's television presence. "He wore the mantle really well.

He liked being commissioner," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "He never seemed to compromise on what he felt he needed to do." transformation to a business of free agents with multimillion-dollar contracts, died Thursday at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville, following a short bout with pneumonia that led to respiratory failure, spokesman Bob Win: said. Kuhn, who was 80, had been hospitalized for several weeks. "He led our game through a great deal of change and controversy," commissioner Bud Selig said.

"Yet, Bowie laid the groundwork for the success we enjoy today." Kuhn loved baseball long before he moved into its main office on Park Avenue, having worked as a manual scoreboard operator at Washington's Griffith Stadium. By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer Bowie Kuhn was baseball's bespectacled Ivy League lawyer and looked the part every day of the tumultuous 15 years he ruled as commissioner. Prim and proper with wire-rim glasses, he stood ramrod straight all 6-foot-5 of him. Detractors called him a "stuffed shirt" and "pompous labels that amused him. Despite his regal bearing, he was as ornery as the owners and players he feuded with over a span that became the second-longest tenure among nine commissioners.

Kuhn, who oversaw the sport's and start the spiral of multlmlllion salaries, died Thursday. He was 80. AP file photo Today's Forecast Weath eri Local AccuWeather 7-Day Forecast I for Murfreesboro, Tennessee Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. 2007 AccuWeather.com Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are htghs I I 2 3 Farfly sunny and friterva'sof :4 A shower 1 times of clouds Wcsy cloudy Rosily cloudy Mostly cloudy breezy clouds and sun possible I and sun and cooler.

Low 28 Vpsg5l (cooler) High 56 High 68 Low 42 High 68 Low 47 High 67 Low 45 High 66 Low 43 High 57 Low 37 High 54 Low 27 IZlllZllllllllllZlllllllllllZ Cold A vVw wV Shown Is today's weather. a a Warm Regional Forecast E3 EH CZ E3 E3 E3 Showers T-Storms Rain Flurries Snow Ice Tennessee Cities 17 YwtTday Tomorrow I- National Cities City Athens Bolivar Bristol Brownsville Chattanooga Clarksviile Cleveland Dyersburg Franklin HI LOW LO Tt 69 55 1 54 26pe, 0 fi'-rV, 72 46r crflue 62 56 .84 '-ivv-Vi. 71 55 1 i'? -1 XI' fCZ-. V. iMrA; 66 61 VT3, u.

1 CliilCvAVri 68 54t rw. II j' ss. g-c rt i i i jii- ti ft aA nerKiersonviiie ru ooc oa iarpyv Boston Buffalo n'vwr iVr' VV'W Burlington Johnson City 71 46 1 48 24 pc Knoxville 73 59 52 29 pc k. La FoBette 68 56 1 49 24 pc Temperalurt Lenoir City 70 56 1 53 28 pc HiahlOW Tomorrow hi Lo 89 56 8 59 41 pc 57 39 pc 79 59 pc 37 23 pc 44 24 pc 54 33 pc 66 47 36 29 sn 47 32 pc 65 50 DC 49 34 pc 70 45 DC 37 26 Sf 95 64 8 32 18 62 44 70 40 pc 78 41 8 47 25 pc 50 35 DC 68 42 8 73 55 8 55 44 56 36 73 49 pc 53 39 pc 92 56 6 61 47 DC 45 27 Yesterday HI LOW 87 61 8 76 61 66 60 82 72 pc 32 29 41 29 pc 72 61 74 61 70 51 82 62 64 48 DC 53 31 pc 85 62 pc 69 52 95 61 8 50 39 58 32 sh 47 30 8 76 39 pc 85 56 49 41 60 36 8 82 57 pc 49 34 sh 49 29 pc 82 64 pc 57 45 DC 90 52 68 48 pc 74 53 Yesterday HI Lo 47 43 78 45 59 41 pc 13-1 DC 73 60 77 52 pc 78 48 pc 75 56 47 26 pc 62 30 58 47 44 31 sn 43 39 81 53 43 28 pc 41 34 42 37 37 31 sn 40 35 sn 80 52 pc 45 33 pc 39 31 pc 4 -258 36 25 sn 52 28 pc 80 69 6h 81 54 pc 43 37 57 43 pc 73 59 TomofTow HI Lo 31 17 sn 78 46 8 75 46 19 8 pc 59 33 40 22 sf 73 49 40 26 68 42 DC 67 44 pc 37 24 27 19 sf 25 14 sn 56 31 68 39 pc 42 21 pc 44 25 pc 30 23 sf 38 22 pc 70 53 8 71 38 8 37 23 pc 12 -12s 40 25 61 35 pc 83 70 8 69 52 44 23 pc 51 35 DC 52 29 pc City Las Vegas Little Rock Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York Norfolk Oklahoma Oty Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Portland, ME Portland, OR Rapid City Reno Richmond St Louts Salt Lake City San Antonio Seattle Spokane Tampa Topeka Tucson Tulsa Washington, DC ESZ ti Normal higMow SOW At noon today Charlotte Cheyenne Chicago Onctnnat; Cleveland Columbus, OH Dallas Denver Detroit Fairbanks Fargo Helena Honolulu Houston Indianapohs Kansas City Knoxville Sunrise today 6:56 a.m. Sunset today 6:53 p.m.

Sunrise tomorrow 6:54 a.m. Sunset tomorrow 6:54 p.m. Moon phases New First Fun Last oooo Mr18 Mar 25 Apr 2 Apr 10 Momstown 68 53 50 27 pc Record high 82 in 1921 Newport 7i 52 51 28 pc Record low 18 in 1993 Oak Ridge 68 60 1 53 29 pc Pigion Forge 72 55 52 29 pc Precipitation Riptey 6156c 53 36pc Rockwood 66 57 53 27 pc For Z44xxjr 600,05 81 6 m' Setmer 65 55 55 32 pc Yesterday 0.07" Somerville 65 55 56 35 pc to date 0.93" Union City 59 55 52 30 pc fc Normal month to date 2.38' c-doudy, h-showers, t-thundershowers, r-rain, f-snow flurries, in-snow, l-k Normal year to date 10.04 Higher index numbers indicate greater eye and skm exposure to urrravtotet rays. 0-2 km 3-5 moderate 6-7 htgh 6-10 very high 1H extreme Air Quality Index NashviHe Yesterday good Source: Metropolitan Public Health Dept. Find out why your neighbors have voted us number one! Schedule a FREE consultation today! When it comes to your health, the three most important words are function, function, function tfKstner We work with yog to naturally restore your ability CHIROPRACTIC to move, bend, stretch and twist without pain, FREE initial consultation.

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