The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 19

SECTION THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN Billy JKk fift Mayfalr 4Gotf WorldCom Classic i Sports RedHawks nip Salt Lake 10-7, 4-C High School Baseball MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2001 Diamonds are forever for Simmons John Rohde By Jerry Shottenkirk Staff Writer EMINOLE Lloyd Inside State college notes Page 5-C Simmons knows who he is. He drives to work along Lloyd Simmons Drive and settles into his office in Wendell Simmons Page 5-C Lute's lads love him, leave him He's won 1,627 games and has been on the short end 300 times. "Winning is what he does," says Seminole pitcher Kyle Shoemaker, a sophomore from Edmond. "He knows what it takes. He pushes you to the limit, and you want to work hard for him." Simmons can be intimidating.

At 56, he's still as fit as any of his players. He's gruff, with his skin of bronze from the nearly 2,000 games and countless practices in the sun. His words can be piercing. As he stands in the third-base coach's box, there isn't much he hasn't seen. "I feel more comfortable at third than at anything else I do," Simmons says.

He also has a keen sense of the game from the dugout. During a recent win over Redlands Community College, all was quiet in the stadium and along the bench. It would've been easy for players to lose interest. They were waltzing through the cool, bright day en route to a mercy-rule decision over their visi- See SIMMONS, Page 5-C the Lloyd Simmons Baseball Facility. The reminders are many.

OSU beats Cleveland St. Page 5-C as are the rewards. In his 26th year as head baseball coach at Seminole State College, Simmons has more victories than any coach in college OU splits withKSU Page 4-C The Seniors Tradition A-Rod stairs as Rangers get by A's Power Tewell By Anne M. Peterson AP Sports Writer OAKLAND, Calif. Alex Rodriguez hit two of Texas' five homers and drove -in five runs Sunday night the Rangers beat the Athletics 10-8, Oakland's seventh straight loss.

The 16th multihomer game of Rodriguez's career helped the Rangers sweep a three-game series at the Coliseum for the first time since May 17-19, 1994. Texas trailed 5-3 in the fifth inning when Rodriguez hit an arching three-run shot off Gil Heredia (0-3). Ivan Rodriguez added a two-run home run in the ON Jan. 1, Arizona men's basketball coach Lute Olson lost Bobbi, his wife of 47 years. Last week, Olson lost the remainder of his starting lineup.

Senior center Loren Woods ran out of eligibility. Then, in a span of four days last week, underclassmen Richard Jefferson, Michael Wright, Gilbert Arenas and Jason Gardner just plain ran out. While Olson was vacationing in Mexico last week, Jefferson showed up on campus driving a black Mercedes and Arenas purchased a Cadillac SUV. Olson's players said they loved him. Then they left him.

Tough love. That's what college hoop has become. College basketball is the best sport, but fans are swimming in a sea of unrequited love. Just when relationships are formed, people they adore change dance partners. In-state fans should consider themselves lucky.

Harsh as it sounds, players at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State haven't been talented enough to leave early. To their credit, at least they've been smart" enough to figure it out. The NBA has 41 players this season who would have had collegiate eligibility. Oddly enough; these early departures to the NBA help with the parity of college ball. Two of the nation's premier guards Duke's Jason Williams and Illinois' Frank Williams said they plan to return for their junior seasons.

If they do, look for Duke and Illinois to be ranked atop next year's preseason polls. If they don't (May 13 is the deadline to declare for the June 27 draft), the Blue Devils and Fighting Mini will each take one huge step back to the pack. Arizona, which lost to Duke in this year's national title game, would have been in the same lofty position had it not lost its impressive foursome. Having now lost their top five scorers, the Wildcats-go from being a Final Four candidate next season to battling for a top-four position in the Pac-10. Gil Morgan: The former champ and Edmond native finished fourth.

same in- Doug Tewell of Oak Tree holds up his championship trophy after winning the Seniors Tradition on Sunday at Desert Mountain in Scotts-dale, Tewell finished 23-under par. run of the Alex season Rodriguez against Former OSU star fires record 62 for Tradition win (The door remains open for Gardner, a sophomore who has not signed with an agent and has remained enrolled in school. By doing so, he the A's on Friday night, Alex Rodriguez was homerless in 39 at bats, the longest season-opening drought of his career. He had just two RBIs through his first 10 games. In the series against the A's, he went 6-for-10 with four homers and 13 RBI.

Rodriguez, who signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Rangers as a free agent in the offseason, also had a two-run shot off Heredia in the first inning. Darren Oliver (3-0) allowed six runs five earned in five innings, struck out two and walked one. His three wins are already more than he had all last season, when he went 2-9 in 21 starts. Mike Venafro worked the ninth inning for his first save. He walked the bases loaded, but got Jeremy Giambi to hit into a game-ending double play.

With the loss, the A's matched their franchise-worst 2-10 start in 1998. They had not lost seven consecutive games since July 21-29, 1998, when they lost nine straight. Tewell Box At The Tradition Ten-under 62 best 18-hole score ever on the Cochise Course at Desert Mountain. The 62 is second-best final-round score by a winner in Senior Tour history, behind only a 61 shot by Rocky Thompson in 1994 GTE Sun-coast Classic. His 23-under 265 breaks tournament record of 22-under set by Gil Morgan in 1997.

The 23-under 265 is lowest 72-hole score on the Senior Tour since Jack Nicklaus" 27-under 261 at 1990 Ford Senior Players Championship. Nine-stroke victory is largest margin in Tradition history, bettering old record of six strokes by Morgan in 1997. Nine-stroke victory is largest margin on Senior Tour since Hale Irwin's 1 2-stroke win at 1997 Senior PGA Lute Olson Tewell's first senior major victory came April 16 last year at the Senior PGA Championship, which was shortened to three rounds because of bad weather. Tewell's closest pursuers stumbled badly early Sunday. Larry Nelson double-bogeyed the No.

3 hole; Mike McCullough bo-geyed No. 1 and double-bogeyed No. and Tom Wargo double-bogeyed No. 1 and bogeyed Nos. 2 and 3.

By Mac Bentley Staff Writer SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. For most of an hour Sunday morning, it looked like the field was going to give the Countrywide Tradition title to Doug Tewell. Such an act of kindness would have been totally unnecessary. 'Tewell took what he wanted this day, ravaging the field and the Cochise Course at Desert Mountain with a 10-under-par 62 that gave him his second major senior championship in the past He started the final round with a 2-stroke lead and won by nine. He played bogey-free golf, just as he did in the first two rounds, and this time piled up eight birdies and an eagle as he ran away from the field with the lowest score of the tournament.

"It was just a fantastic day," Tewell said. "I'm so excited right now; I'm just glad to get this second major, play four rounds in a major and win. Get all those doubts out of people's minds." See TEWELL, Page 3-C is free to reconsider and return to the team next season.) This revolving door is not new to Olson. Brian Williams (1991) and Mike Bibby (1998) also left as underclassmen. Olson restocked by signing three of the nation's top high school players last fall.

Unfortunately, Arizona will how pay the penalty of being too talented. A new NCAA rule limits teams to five recruits in one year, eight over two seasons. The Wildcats signed five players last November, which means they cannot offer any scholarships to replace last week's early departures. This rule took effect last fall. Seven schools, including Texas Tech, have asked for relief.

All seven have failed. Arizona figures to be the eighth. Get rid of this silly rule. A program stout enough to supply pro talent ought to have the right to replenish itself. Devils nip Hurricanes The New Jersey Devils could be headed for another first-round sweep in a series that is getting Bonds at 499 Barry Bonds hit the 499th home run of his career in the eighth inning off Milwaukee's David Weathers and needs one more to become the 17th player to reach 500.

A crowd of 25,981 attended the game at Miller Park, about 16,000 short of capacity. Bonds will have his chance at 500 tonight at nasty. Martin Brodeur made 18 saves for his ninth career playoff shutout and the Devils dominated the Carolina Hurricanes for the second straight game, winning 2-0 Sunday in Game 2 of their first-round series. BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STARS WIN OT. home when the Giants play hosts to the Los Angeles Dodgers at 9:15 p.m.

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.