KFDM COOP

Texas A&M pounces on Houston COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M jumped out to a four-run lead after three innings and never looked back in an 8-3 win over Houston Tuesday at Olsen Field. The Aggies scored a pair of runs in the first inning, one in the second and three in the third before a rain and lightning delay halted the game for more than an hour.A&M reliever Scott Migl (5-1) earned the win after holding the Cougars to four hits and striking out five in four shutout innings. Blake Stouffer went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs, while Luke Anders was 3-for-4 with a run and two RBIs to lead the Aggies, who outhit the Cougars 12-9. A&M's Parker Dalton was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Cougars southpaw Donnie Joseph (0-1) took the loss, giving up six runs (five earned) on eight hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings. UH's Luis Flores went 2-for-2 with two walks and a solo home run. Jimmy Cesario went 2-for-4 with a double to extend his hitting streak to a career- and UH season-best 14 games.

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District races will be exciting to see Gabriel Pruett The Orange Leader Sit back and enjoy the ride baseball fans because the last three or four games in the district races are going to be exciting and have a lot on the line. First there is a three-way tie for first in District 21-3A with Bridge City, Silsbee and Jasper all sitting at 9-2 with Hardin-Jefferson knocking on the door at 8-3. Jasper could have held first place all on their own but the Bulldogs were upset Saturday by H-J, 7-6. Also on Saturday Bridge City downed Hamshire-Fannett 9-4 and Silsbee beat Kirbyville 12-2. So who has the easiest schedule left? I will let you be the judge of that. Bridge City has WO-S Friday, then plays host to Hardin-Jefferson Tuesday and then will welcome Jasper on April 27. The Cardinals will probably enjoy having all three remaining games at home. I say count the Cardinals in for the playoffs. The same home field advantage cannot be said for H-J and Silsbee. H-J has three games left and all three are on the road and so does Silsbee. The Hawks first go to Orangefield on Friday, then make their way to Bridge City on Tuesday before closing the season at West Orange-Stark on April 27. Silsbee will go to Jasper Friday, then hit up Orangefield on Tuesday and travel to Hamshire-Fannett on April 27 to finish the year. Jasper hosts Silsbee on Friday, goes to Kirbyville on Tuesday and ends at Bridge City on April 27. If I was a betting man I would go with Silsbee and H-J to round out the 21-3A playoff spots. As for District 22-4A, things are not much easier to figure out than in 21-3A. Port Neches-Groves and Little Cypress-Mauriceville are tied for first at 8-2, Vidor is 6-3 and look who is back, the Nederland Bulldogs are right behind at 6-4. Remember the Bulldogs started the district campaign off with a 1-4 mark. Oh and by the way, Dayton is still in the mix with a 5-4 mark. So here is how this district breaks down in their final four games. LC-M will play host to Dayton Friday, then go to Nederland Saturday, play host to Lumberton Tuesday before finishing off at Vidor on April 27. PN-G hosts Lumberton Friday, goes to Vidor on Saturday, plays host to Central Tuesday and then finishes up at Dayton on April 27. Vidor starts off by going to Beaumont Central Friday, plays host to PN-G Saturday, then goes to Ozen Tuesday and then plays host to LC-M to finish the district season on April 27. Nederland will travel to Ozen Friday, play host to LC-M Saturday, welcome Dayton on Tuesday and then finish the year off by traveling to Lumberton on April 27. Finally Dayton will be at LC-M Friday, head to Central Saturday, travel to Nederland Tuesday and finish off the district loop by playing host to PN-G on April 27. My predictions are that LC-M, PN-G and Nederland will once again represent 22-4A in the playoffs. Whoever goes in both districts will sure have earned it by the level of competition that has been played this year.

UIL proposal could help 'the little guy' Van Wade The Orange Leader Will there be mega-districts in for Texas high schools when the University Interscholastic League sets up a new realignment plan for the 2008-09 school year? That’s the big question concerning area athletic directors this week after the UIL is looking to provide a more competitive balance in high school football. The UIL redraws competitive districts every two years. A plan will be formally presented in June and it’s a plan that will divide all UIL football classifications into two divisions for football. The split-division system would need approval from superintendents and coaches and could be in place for the 2008-09 calendar year. In the past, the UIL has tried its best to prevent smaller schools from competing in the playoffs against opponents with much larger enrollments. It’s worked well for the most part but there still have been some discrepancies. Last season, the “small school†5A champion Cedar Hill actually had a larger enrollment than “big school†winner Southlake Carroll. Under the new proposal, each class will be split into two, 16-district divisions before the start of the season. “I think this plan has a lot of merit,†said UIL Director Charles Breithaupt. “There might be problems we haven’t seen or thought of. But it looks pretty solid at this point. It just makes more sense to put teams into the same division at the beginning of the year instead of the end.†The largest gap came in Class 3A as the last realignment had the 3A classification as schools with enrollments between 415 and 949 students. Class 4A was set at 950-1984. Our local District 21-3A looked like this: Silsbee 827; Jasper 819; West Orange-Stark 775; Bridge City 755; Hardin-Jefferson 706; Hamshire-Fannett 581; Orangefield 473 and Kirbyville 453. The top four schools enrollment-wise combined to go 26-14 overall, 19-9 in 21-3A play while the bottom four went 17-23 overall, 9-19 in district play. “The new plan would certainly equal the playing field as far as the playoffs are concerned,†said Orangefield Athletic Director Blake Morrison. “District 21-3A is by far one of the toughest if not the toughest district in the state. Our kids compete and compete hard but it’s not always easy when you have schools like Silsbee, Jasper, WO-S and Bridge City that have close to 400 more students than you have and lining up and playing them every week. You’re talking about schools that have more depth, in all sports, and I think that wears smaller schools down.†Long-time WO-S Athletic Director Dan Hooks feels everyone will be confused for quite some time. “You just never know what’s going to happen until we all open those packets in 2008,†Hooks said. “There is still a lot of deep water to go through. The plan has to be passed by the superintendents along with the coaches. There is no telling what the UIL will do, it’s always a waiting game. It’s fun to sit around and try to figure out what will exactly happen.†Hooks feels like the two local 3A districts could shake down like this with WO-S, Bridge City, Silsbee, Jasper, H-J, Cleveland and Splendora forming one loop with Orangefield, H-F, Kirbyville, Shepherd, Tarkington, Coldspring and Liberty forming another. “If it went down like that, our chances of possibly making the playoffs would definitely go up,†Morrison said. “The playing field would become much more equal. It gives all of those teams much more of an opportunity and it levels the playing field.†Just how much will it have an impact on schools’ travel budget? “There will be a few longer district trips involved,†Hooks said. “Spendora and Cleveland is a little bit further for us but you’ll have to live with what ever decision comes down. To break it up into two different divisions may not be so bad. We’d see a lot more closer games in the playoffs, especially in those earlier rounds.†“As always, there are positives and negatives to any new plan,†Morrison said. “We would certainly have to travel some more. We would like to continue to stay close to home as far as non-district goes and maybe continue to play West Orange and Bridge City. Keeping games like that will certainly help at the gate and would help out on costs down the road.†District 22-4A is a little bit closer together enrollment-wise compared to 21-3A. The 2006 realignment shook down like this: Beaumont Ozen 1,499; Port Neches-Groves 1,475; Nederland 1,471; Dayton 1,439; Vidor 1,425; Beaumont Central 1,407; Little Cypress-Mauriceville 1,170 and Lumberton 1,011. There wasn’t much difference in overall records and district records comparing the top four biggest schools and the four smallest. The top four went 19-21 overall, 15-13 in district while the bottom four were 19-21 and 13-15. So how many changes will be made as for as the local 4A loop goes? “It’s one big mystery,†said LC-M AD Todd Moody. “There are all kinds of scenarios that could be involved.†Like what kind of scenarios? “My perception and what we kinda got at the last district meeting is that there could be a 10 or 11 -team league,†said Moody. “That could mean that there will be no pre-district games and we’d maybe get teams like Crosby or Barbers Hill coming in. That would be the worst-case scenario because you always want to see how a team responds early in the season and it gives you time to work out the kinks and correct mistakes. To jump right into district to open the season would really be tough on everybody involved. It would be more like playing in a college conference.†What ever happens, schools will just have to deal with it. “The UIL has been doing its best to help out smaller schools and it’s worked out great in some places and not in others,†Morrison said. “Any time you have something new, there are going to be people out there that want to reject it. We’re all going to have to take a long look at it and see if the positives outweigh the negatives.†What about other sports? “I’d like to see what could happen in the other sports too,†Morrison said. “Look at girls basketball for instance. Our district was so awesome this year. I think six teams won about 20 games and three of those teams stayed at home. Then there are all the spring sports where we have kids bouncing around from baseball to track to golf all in the same week.†“Every two years, everyone feels some sort of impact,†Hooks said. “Until then, we’ll all be configurating, calculating and second-guessing everything. Looking at the big picture, there may be more positives than negatives and who knows, by 2008, we (WO-S) may be in the smaller district by then.â€

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[move]ASTROS SWEEP![/move]

7-4 final.

Prelude to the playoffs Rather than coast in the regular-season finale, the Rockets' mainstays want to sustain the rhythm that has led to a five-game winning streak and treat Wednesday's visit to Utah as if it were the postseason opener SALT LAKE CITY — With the questions of the regular season answered and the postseason just days away, the Rockets no longer view Wednesday's visit to Utah as they did at one point Monday. The schedule will finish where it began, but no longer does tonight's bookend game against the Jazz mean a last regular-season chance to measure everything between the opener at the Delta Center and the finale at EnergySolutions Arena. Home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs will not be at stake tonight. It was clinched with the Rockets' 120-117 victory over Phoenix on Monday, and their first-round series against the Jazz will begin Saturday or Sunday at Toyota Center. But rather than dismiss the game as meaningless, the Rockets see it as historic: the opener of what could be seen as an eight-game series. "I don't know how many eight-game series there have been in NBA history, but we're about to play in one," said forward Shane Battier, suggesting Rockets-Jazz will go the distance. "We'll go up there and give it our best and try to get a feel for what they're about right now." If one game does not lead directly to the next — as the Rockets must hope, having lost their April 1 game to Utah — a postseason prelude offers at least an intense practice. "We're going to prepare ourselves for the playoffs," Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said. "There's no doubt about that. Everything is set. We know who we're playing. We know where we're playing. We're going to prepare like it's a playoff game (today). We're trying to win the ballgame regardless of who is out there. "We've got to go up there and win the game." In that respect, playing the Jazz tonight before playing the Jazz this weekend does not change things. With the Rockets bringing a five-game winning streak to Salt Lake City, they are on a roll they would like to maintain when the regular season makes way for the postseason. "You always play to win," guard Rafer Alston said. "You don't want to look at the fact you're locked into the matchup. You want to play to win, sharpen up your skills, sharpen up the things you need to work on. For us, we're on a winning streak. We want to stay in rhythm. I think that's what we need to do — just stay in a basketball rhythm and a flow that we like." Coach Jeff Van Gundy hadn't decided whether to sit or, to some degree, rest his regulars. Dallas and San Antonio have given players a few late-season nights off, but not against teams they were about to face in the playoffs. With the Jazz struggling since beating the Rockets but coming off a home rout of Portland on Monday, Utah coach Jerry Sloan said he would play his usual rotation and play to win. "Any time you go out there, you owe it to whoever you play in front of to play as hard and as well as you can," Van Gundy said. "I'm not a believer that one game affects the next. We have a lot of work to do, obviously. I don't think what happens in that game will have an impact on what happens in the series. "We've got a lot of studying to do. We're going to have to play very well against a very good team. I feel like the team is going to play really hard." Van Gundy said home-court advantage brings no guarantees, then emphasized that the idea is to be good enough to win and keep winning. "As I'm trying to convey to the team, home-court advantage has no bearing until a possible seventh game," Van Gundy said. "You don't play seven at home. Home-court advantage is only in a deciding seventh game, and it means nothing if you don't play well. I think home-court advantage is sometimes a little misunderstood. When players say, 'Now we're going home; we've got our crowd,' that helps in the last three or four minutes. "You have to play the whole 48. Then, I do believe if you're playing well, the crowd can help you over the last three or four minutes. I don't want to diminish it. But for so many guys who never had home-court advantage, it can be misunderstood. It's not about a crusade to win one series. You want to be a championship-caliber team. That's what we want to be."

Pirates get St. Louis sweep ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals look a lot more like September duds than World Series champions. Tom Gorzelanny and Matt Capps combined on a four-hitter and Adam LaRoche hit a three-run homer in a 6-1 victory over St. Louis on Tuesday that gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a two-game sweep. "They're the big dogs in our division, and it's good to get out there and shut them down," Gorzelanny said. "If we can keep doing that, you're going to be seeing a lot of good things out of us." The Cardinals' 6-7 start is the worst by a World Series winner since the 1998 Florida Marlins were 1-11. St. Louis completed a 1-3 homestand, scoring 10 runs in a victory over Milwaukee and totaling five runs in the losses. After going 49-31 last season, the NL's second-best home record, the Cardinals are 1-6 at Busch Stadium. "I'm glad we're going away then, so we can play better," said Albert Pujols, who was 0-for-7 with two walks in the series and is batting .160. "I've seen what this team can do." Gorzelanny (2-0) fell just short of his first complete game in 15 major league starts, allowing one run and four hits in 8 1-3 innings with two strikeouts and three walks. He faced the minimum through four innings, benefiting from a pair of double plays, and had a 12-inning scoreless streak before the Cardinals scored in the fifth on a pair of hits and Gary Bennett's sacrifice fly. Hitting his stride "Everyone expects to do well, and that's what I expect," said Gorzelanny, the Pirates' minor league pitcher of the year last season. "It's exciting that I have gotten off to this kind of start." After So Taguchi doubled with one out in the ninth and Pujols walked, Capps came in and struck out Scott Rolen and Preston Wilson. In his first game at Busch Stadium since striking out the Tigers' Brandon Inge for the last out of the World Series, Adam Wainwright (1-1) gave up five runs — four earned — and eight hits in six innings. He has allowed 11 earned runs in 17 2-3 innings against the Pirates, a 5.60 ERA. "I threw a lot of pitches over the plate, just bad, bad pitches," Wainwright said. "I'm really getting tired of telling all the media folks that it wasn't good because I feel like I've been doing that a lot lately. So results-wise, it finally caught up to me." Two straight in St. Louis Pittsburgh, which entered the series with four straight losses, beat the Cardinals in consecutive road games for the first time since May 30-31, 2003. The Pirates are 6-2 on the road — they didn't get their sixth road win last year until June 9 and finished 24-57 away from home, the worst record in the NL. Manager Jim Tracy got his 500th major league victory (500-484). St. Louis committed two errors during the first three at-bats of the game. Chris Duffy drew a four-pitch walk leading off, Jack Wilson singled to right, and Duffy scored when Wilson overran the ball. Wilson took third when shortstop David Eckstein threw high to first on Jason Bay's grounder, and Wilson scored on Xavier Nady's single. Wilson and Bay singled with one out in the third ahead of LaRoche's second homer, and only his fifth hit in 40 at-bats on a drive just inside the right-field foul pole. "I don't know how it stayed fair, the way things are going, but it did," LaRoche said. "As soon as I hit I thought, 'Oh, that's foul.' I've had some pretty good-hit balls right at people, so that was nice."

6-1 in the 8th. 8)

Lee 8 Memorial 3

The super told me today that it would be in early May.

Possibily, i'm not 100% sure.

Congrats Dawgs.

6-1 Astros in the 7th.

Final

Angry soccer mom accused of neglect LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- An angry soccer mom who left her teenage daughter alongside an interstate was ticketed for neglect, Lincoln police said Tuesday. Police spokeswoman Katherine Finnell confirmed this account from police reports: The 42-year-old Lincoln mom was miffed about her daughter's poor play on Saturday. On their drive home the girl flubbed the lines her mom had drilled into her on how to improve her game, so the mother slapped her daughter. The girl told her mom to pull over. The mom did, near the downtown Lincoln exit off Interstate 80. The mom yelled at the girl to get out. When she did, her mom drove off. A teammate's parent spotted the girl alongside the interstate, stopped to pick her up, then took her to their home and called police.

Should be a great one!!

Predictions?

Predictions?

2-1 Astros in the 4th.

I"M STAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick Barnes signes new contract...$2 mil per year AUSTIN (AP) - University of Texas regents approved a $200,000 raise for Rick Barnes on Monday, boosting his salary to $2 million per year. Barnes has led the Longhorns to the NCAA tournament in each of his nine seasons, including a trip to the Final Four in 2003. "This is a good thing for Rick and a good thing for the University of Texas," athletic director DeLoss Dodds said. "Coach Barnes has been terrific for the university. His record on the court and our players' success in the classroom speak for themselves, and we're also a top-five program in the nation financially under his leadership. He's the kind of person we want here at Texas."

Believe so.