THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
PAGE 13
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas City Royals' Jarrod Dyson sails through the air while scoring over San Diego Padres pitcher Hector Ambriz after a passed ball during the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 7, 2014, in San Diego.
Shields pitches Royals past Padres for 8-0 win
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
SAN DIEGO — James Shields scattered seven hits over seven innings, Eric Hosmer drove in a seasonhigh four runs and the Kansas City Royals beat the San Diego Padres 8-0 Wednesday.
The Royals scored three times in the first and that was plenty for Shields (4-3). He struck out four, walked two and threw 118 pitches.
Shields won his fourth straight road start of the season. Since 2013, he is 14-4 in 24 road starts with a 2.00 ERA.
Two relievers finished for the Royals. The Padres were shut out for a major league-high sixth time this season. San Diego has lost six of eight overall.
Andrew Cashner (2-5) took the loss as he was again derailed by an anemic offense and shoddy defense.
Cashner, who lasted a season-low four innings, had trouble from the start. He threw 43 pitches in the first, hurt by a pair of errors from shortstop Everth Cabrera that led to two unearned runs.
Alcides Escobar reached when Cabrera misplayed his ground ball after Nori Aoki opened with a single. Hosmer hit a two-run single, Alex Gordon reached base two batters later when Cabrera mishandled his grounder and Danny Valencia followed with a broken-bat, RBI single.
The Padres had a chance to cut into their deficit in the second when they got three hits. But Cameron Maybin was too aggressive rounding second base on an infield single, and Escobar slid in behind from shortstop, took Hosmer's throw from first base and made the tag.
Cashner ended the inning by getting Shields to ground out with the bases in a nine-pitch at-bat.
Padres manager Bud Black requested a review, but the call stood. It marked the first time in five appeals this season that Black had lost.
The Royals' lead grew to 4-0 in the third when Gordon doubled and later scored on Mike Moustakas' sacrifice fly. The Padres tied a season high with three errors, and had a passed ball and wild pitch in allowing four unearned runs.
NASCAR
Gordon celebrates 20th anniversary of 1st victory
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLOTTE. N.C.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
It's been 20 years since Jeff Gordon's first career Cup victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the prestigious Coca-Cola 600. He was struggling to contain his emotions long before he took the checkered flag, and by the time the 22-year-old got to Victory Lane, he was weeping.
"I tried to hold it back as much as I could because I wanted to stay focused and didn't want to make any mistakes," Gordon recalled Wednesday as the speedway celebrated the anniversary at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "It did start to take over and that chill in my spine was definitely there with taking the white flag. I got to Victory Lane, and it all just kind of erupted."
Speedway President Marcus Smith showed Gordon a highlight video of the victory that reminded the four-time champion just what he had accomplished with the win. He became the first driver since David Pearson in 1976 to win from
one pole, but had to battle Rusty Wallace throughout NASCAR's longest race of the season.
Gordon only emerged the victor after crew chief Ray Evernham gambled on taking two tires on a late pit stop and Gordon used track position to put Wallace away. The video reminded Gordon of what he felt that day validation.
"I got to Victory Lane, and it all just kind of erupted."
JEFF GORDON
NASCAR Hall of Fame
"Just a combination of pure joy and accomplishment, a weight being taken off your shoulders" he said. "Because that first win, you don't ever know if you are ever going to do it and then when you finally do, 'Wow, I've accomplished something that I never thought I would.' And then being able to say, 'Maybe I do belong here.'"
"This car is so special. This Rainbow DuPont Chevy," Smith said of the car Gordon drove the bulk of his career for Hendrick Motorsports. "The No. 24 — when it hit the track, and Jeff Gordon was driving it, this sport was never the same."
Gordon proved that time and again, collecting 88 victories and four Cup titles over the last two decades.
So far, eight different drivers have wins with 16 races remaining in the regular season.
Despite seven top-10 finishes in 10 races this season — including secondplace finishes at Texas and Richmond — Gordon is still seeking his first win. He badly wants to get into Victory Lane soon as drivers race for one of the 16 spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field.
Gordon heads into Saturday night's race at Kansas Speedway leading the Sprint Cup standings, and will go for his fourth Coca-Cola 600 victory on May 25.
"I've never seen winning be so important as it has this year," Gordon said.
ceremony was taking place in Memorial Stadium. The specifics I don't remember, but I've been told I stopped playing around and stood up to sing during the alma mater.
SENIOR FROM PAGE 1
It certainly was. Even though I grew up in suburbia Houston, Lawrence always felt home to me. It felt right. I dreamed of the day I could take a jog behind Strong Hall to the campanile, gaze out above the golden valley, and have everything just feel right.
*****
And then I came here. Everything I expected was so very right and so very wrong.
"Well, damn, I guess that's settled," my grandmother recalls saying.
I remember meeting my suitemates, Blake and Tim, that hectic first move-in morning with Matt. I remember hearing their stories of the night before and the crazy guys down the hall (Eddie, Bryce and Connor, that's you). I remember walking to that first house party and having upperclassmen stop us on Jayhawk Boulevard.
"Freshmen?" they asked.
Apparently we stuck out.
I was fortunate enough to cover every Kansas football game that 2-10 season. I saw Georgia Tech rush for more than 600 yards in a game, Oklahoma State pull its starters in the first half and Texas keep Kansas on the wrong side of midfield until the fourth quarter.
To the then-boys now-men of 1329 Kentucky, I'll forever be grateful of what you taught me and hopefully, in some way, you'll feel the same.
Sophomore year we learned to walk up the ever-steep 14th street, because, well, that's what you do at KU living in the student ghetto.
There was a football coaching search to be covered and trips to the airport to see if some mysterious jet would land. It was dwarfed by Kansas making the Final Four — in New Orleans of all holy and unholy places.
I had no idea how to live away from the dorms. The days of walking to a cafeteria to eat: Gone. Grocery shopping? What's that? Cleaning up after yourself, doing dishes, being a good roommate, those were the lessons I truly started to learn sophomore year.
"Welcome to KU," was said before we could even respond
★★★★
The responsibilities were numbered, the cares were even less. Each weekend was made to top the one before. After all, this is what college was all about, right? About doing what you want within the bounds of relative responsibility. About finding yourself, growing as a person, and leaving with a greater sense of who you are and what you hope you'll do.
before we could even respond
We found the Hawk and the Wheel. We found our favorite spots on campus to chill. We found each other. We helped each other find ourselves.
Nothing was more enjoyable than enjoying a sunny spring day, tossing a football around after class or just soaking in the sun after the snow melted away.
I nearly cried my last night of freshman year. How naive I was, nearly crying because I only had three years left.
The house bar was built. A Christmas tree upholstered. Breaking down Schustee's door. That house, that year, further molded us away from helpless freshmen toward maturing upperclassmen.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Mike Vernon (left) and Blake Schuster laugh off one of the many times a door was destroyed at 1329 Kentucky St.
Living on 14th and Kentucky was about free keg Fridays at the (old) Bull and Wang burgers at the Wheel. The beautiful thing about living in Lawrence is being surrounded by 20,000 kids, aged 18-22, who are all in this four-year sprint together.
Somewhere along the way, things started to change. There were girlfriends and jobs and responsibilities. School happened. Life happened.
★★★★
Junior year, you learn a little bit more about who you really are.
Sure the first two are baby steps. Junior year is when you're truly tested. And suddenly, the Hawk's stench started to bother you. You pay (a little) attention to what you eat. You crave that good night's sleep.
The stress of real life and everything ahead kicked in. There were internships and jobs and grades and everything that we're supposed to do.
That walk around campus on a sunny day can still rope you in, though. You know, when campus is green and full of students crossing the streets whenever they want, never stopping for traffic.
There are the nights spent hanging out on a porch with those guys, some a year younger, others on the cusp of graduation. You'll watch a thunderstorm roll in or your friends play guitar.
You spend your remaining days cherishing the time left with the seniors who came to this place before you. You also start to become close with your sophomore friends, who pester you to join them in taking one more trip to the Hawk.
★★★★★
And when graduation comes around, you cherish that you have one more year to hang out on a porch and do whatever feels right.
How do you say goodbye to something you never want to end?
Simply, you don't. You just
know, in those four years, you gave it everything you could. You learned about yourself. About others. About life. About how little you know.
I was destined to go to Kansas, trained from a young age, but it couldn't live up to those aspirations set out for me from the days of rolling around on Mt. Oread.
It flew past them, just like my time here flew by. And not because of basketball. Not because of running through campus. Not because of anything I thought before I got here.
It's absolutely because of the people I met along the way. From the first night to the very last day, it never ended. This is what we do at Kansas. We're in this four-year blur together. A blur that seemed infinite. Until now.
How do you say goodbye to something you never want to end?
You don't.
Like all good things in life you take it with you for each and every day of the rest of your life.
One day, most of us will be back together, sharing beers and stories. We'll have other lives, other cares and other responsibilities. We'll always have this. We will always have these four years.
And with nine days till graduation, there are nine more nights to savor. Nine more nights to soak in every last second. Nine more nights sitting long into the dark with some of those same people.
Nine more 4 a.m. nights.
That's what I'll remembr
That was college
- Edited by Blair Sheade
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