8B
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
You've been served
Howard Ting/KANSAN
Joe Mitchell, a sophomore from Overland Park, spends the afternoon playing tennis on courts adjacent to the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center. Mitchell said that he tried to come out at least twice a week to sharpen his tennis skills.
MLB
Pittsburgh comes back after four home losses
BY ALAN ROBINSON
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — Ryan Church's two-run homer put Pittsburgh ahead in the sixth innning. Andy LaRoche added a solo shot and the Pirates bounced back from a poor road trip to beat the Cubs and Ryan Dempster 3-2 Tuesday night.
The Pirates dropped seven games during a season-long 10-game road trip and had lost 10 of 13 overall before withstanding solo homers by Alfonso Sorrano and Geovany Soto to win for the first time in their last four home games.
The Cubs, coming off a three
game weekend sweep of Arizona, tell to 13-14 while failing to break 500 for the first time this season. They had won 10 of their
14 against Pittsburgh, and Dempster was 3-0 with a 3.73 ERA in five starts against them since 2008.
With the Cubs stranding 12 runners, the Pirates won for
Paul Maholm (2-2) got the decision despite allowing the two solo home runs and six other hits over six innings. Evan Meek
The Cubs, coming off a three-game weekend sweep of Arizona fell ... for the first time this season.
only the second time in 16 games when they scored three runs or fewer. They are 9-1 when they score four runs or more.
pitched out of a jam in the seventh before Joel Hanrahan pitchedascoreless eighth. Octavio Dotel, who came in with a 10.61 ERA, finished up for his fourth save
in six opportunities after being scored upon in six consecutive appearances.
Soriano hit his seventh homer — and fifth in four games — in the fourth inning and Soto added a two-out drive in the sixth, his fourth. Soriano, coming off a two-homer game Sunday, went deep for the fourth consecutive game.
The Pirates trailed 2-1 after
Dempster (2-2) got the first two batters in the sixth ahead of Garrett Jones' infield single. Church — starting in center field only because Andrew McCutchen sat out with a sprained ankle followed by hitting a line drive off the first row of seats in right field. Church hadn't homered since Aug.7.
NASCAR
Wisconsin native dreams of being racecar champion
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
MILWAUKEE  No one did it
quite like Alan Kulwicki.
Kulwicki was the first NASCAR champion to have a college degree when he won the Winston Cup.
The Greenfield, Wis., native was the first Northerner to conquer the sport. And he was the last owner / driver to do so.
Although Kelsey Bauer was only 4 when Kulwicki died in an airplane crash a few months later, she can relate to his trailblazing path.
Like Kulwicki, she is maioring in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Like Kulwicki, she is competing on Wisconsin's short tracks between semesters.
And to hopefully redline the trailblazing needle Kulwicki once pushed, Bauer dreams of one day becoming NASCAR's first female champ.
"I know Alan raced locally and also went to school, which is very hard to do," said the junior from Elkhart Lake, Wis. "It's a lot of work, but I love it so much. I'm going for engineering, just like he did. We pretty much have the same background. I'd just like to follow his footsteps."
It's fitting, then, that she was recently awarded the first Alan Kulwicki Memorial Scholarship at UWM. The gift will include the opening of the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Student Center at UWM May 14.
Located on the first floor of the Engineering Math Sciences, the exhibit will showcase Kulwicki memorabilia. His helmet, gloves, UWM textbooks, papers and notebooks will be among the items meant to inspire those like Bauer.
"If you asked a lot of people where he went to school, I bet they couldn't tell you," she said. "This
shows somebody important came from UWM."
It also shows the value of a college degree in a profession where the competitors usually don't carry slide rules.
That Kulwicki did distinguished him from most of his fellow drivers. He was a scientific racer in every sense, understanding the mechanics of the car from the first of its eight cylinders to the last of its 750 horses.
"It makes you a better driver knowing more about your car and making the adjustments you need to make." Bauer said. "It helps you communicate with your team on how the car is handling."
She began racing at age 12 on the go-kart circuit and won multiple championships in six years.
"My dad got me into it," Bauer said. "He had three girls, and he always wanted a son. I was always the competitive one. One day he took me a go-kart track. I said, 'Dad, I can do that some day.' So he bought me a go-kart and I started doing very well my first year out."
She recently graduated to late-model racing, following the Slinger-Wisconsin Dells-Madison path Kulwicki made before hitting the big time.
"My goal has always been to get as far as I can in racing, but also go to school and get a degree as well, because it's not easy making it in NASCAR," Bauer said.
Just as female drivers are no longer novelties, more women are enrolling in engineering schools. Bauer said being the only girl on the track early on helped her in both pursuits.
So does the Kulwicki legacy.
"I'd like to thank his family for helping me," she said. "It's going to help me not give up and work as hard as I possibly can because I know he did it. So I can do it."
Student Alumni Association members you're invited to
FINALS DINNER
Monday, May 10 - Adams Alumni Center Stop by anytime between 5 and 7:30 p.m.
Relax with a free dinner, 10-minute back massage by licensed massage therapists and fun give-aways.
Special offer! Treat a friend to a free meal. Student Alumni Association members may bring one friend who is not a current SAA member.
SAA Student Alumni Association The University of Kansas
1266 Oread Avenue • 864-4760
www.kualumni.org