THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2008
SPORTS11B
MLB
Royals win their second game in a row against Tigers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT — If Brian Bannister were a lefty, people would call him crafty. Instead, he'll have to settle for effective.
Bannister stymied the Detroit Tigers' heralded offense Wednesday, allowing two singles in seven innings as the Kansas City Royals won 4-0.
"That's a very good lineup, and they are going to score a lot of runs, but I also know that they have a lot more expectations than we do," Bannister said. "That's why I wanted to put them under pressure early."
Bannister doesn't try for a lot of strikeouts, preferring to induce grounders and fly balls
won their first nine games in 2003 en route to their only winning season since 1993.
"I get criticized for the way I pitch, but I believe in it, and it's working," said Bannister, who went 12-9 with a 3.87 ERA as a rookie last season.
"Banny was so good today that when we finally got some runs, it seemed huge."
BILLY BUTLER
Infielder
Kansas City is 2-0 for the second time in 28 years. The Royals
"This isn't the time to get cocky," new manager Trey Hillman said. "Banny pitched very well today, and this is a nice start, but that's still a
good team and we've got to face them again tomorrow."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Detroit Tigers batter Ivan Rodriguez gets out of the way of an inside pitch from Kansas City Royals starter Brian Bannister during the third inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 2 in Detroit. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Detroit's high-paid attack has only scored four runs in 20 innings. The Tigers moved one runner into scoring position Wednesday and are hitting .191 with 19 strikeouts through two games.
"If we got shut out by someone who was hanging breaking balls and leaving pitches in the middle of the plate, I'd be concerned," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "But when a guy locates like he did today, that's the way it goes. You aren't going to wear out good pitching that locates. You've got to take advantage of mistakes, and we didn't do that."
Edgar Renteria had Detroit's only hits, all singles.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"He was always strike one on everybody, and when you do that, you get in a rhythm," said Gary Sheffield, who went 0-for-3. "Let's just hope that was the last shutout. We'll turn around."
Bannister (1-0) gave up leadoff singles to Renteria in the first and fourth innings, didn't walk a batter and struck out four. Leo Nunez and Joakim Soria each threw a scoreless inning of relief.
"I haven't gone farther than tms yet this spring, and the way our bullpen is throwing, I'm happy to hand the ball to those guys," Bannister said.
Kansas City Royals starter Brian Bannister pitches against the Detroit Tigers in a baseball game Wednesday, in Detroit.
Kenny Rogers (0-1) dropped to 0-5 in nine starts since he beat Cleveland on July 4. He allowed two runs and five hits in six innings.
Rogers matched Bannister for the first five innings, allowing only a pair of singles, but got into trou
"I'm disappointed that I didn't hold us in there close enough, but all in all, those are the type of results you'll take every time out," he said. "Over the season, this is an outing that I'll win a few times."
ble in the sixth.
Mark Grudzielanek doubled with one out, improving to 12-for-20 (.600) against Rogers. Jose Guillen doubled with two outs and Billy Butler hit a 400-foot double to center for a 2-0 lead.
"The second run was not very good pitching." Rogers said. "It was a dumb pitch, and Butler crushed it."
runs in the eighth. Zach Miner struck out Alex Gordon and Guillen with runners on the corners, but Butler and Mark Teahen followed with RBI singles.
"If you can keep scoring runs with two out, you'll be a pretty good ball club." Butler said. "Banny was so good today that when we finally got some runs, it seemed huge."
Kansas City added two more
WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Resilient Tigers return to Final Four
BY BRETT MARTEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
LSU coach Van Chancellor reaches for Kristen Morris, right, as he talks with Sylvia Fowles, left, after LSU's 56-50 win in the final of the New Orleans Regional of the NCAA women's basketball tournament in New Orleans, in this March 31 file.
NEW ORLEANS - Death, disaster, scandal, upheaval.
LSU's eight seniors have dealt with all of it, and yet they've made the Lady Tigers one of the most dominant forces in women's college basketball.
"We're a really strong group. We've been through just about everything — bad weather, coaching changes," said scrappy 5-foot-3 point guard Erica White. "We've had tough losses, real good wins and I think that makes us a poised group, an experienced group. We just basically know how to handle every situation that comes our way."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LSU (31-5) is about to complete a fifth straight season at the Final Four. Early on in this historic stretch, the Lady Tigers lost Hall of Fame coach Sue Gunter, first to an illness that forced her to retire in the summer of 2004, followed by her death a year later.
Less than a month after Gunter died, Hurricane Katrina swamped
New Orleans and coastal communities in southeast Louisiana, a catastrophe that inundated Baton Rouge with storm victims and transformed LSU's home basketball arena into a temporary refuge for evacuees. One month later, Hurricane Rita laid waste to Louisiana's southwestern coast.
Some players' home communities were destroyed in the storms. Every player had a friend or relative affected. Yet they kept winning, appearing in a third straight Final Four in the spring of 2006.
Seeking an experienced and credible leader for its senior-laden
Last season, their charismatic young coach, Pokey Chatman, resigned after an assistant told administrators that Chatman had an improper relationship with a former player. Under assistant Bob Starkey, who never wanted the head coaching job permanently, LSU played its way to yet another Final Four, stunning Connecticut in the regional round along the way. This season has been a calm one, with the only major adjustment being that of a new coach.
date in the national championship game awaits the winner on Tuesday.
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squad, LSU lured Hall of Fame coach Van Chancellor out of retirement. Chancellor had won four WNBA titles, a FIBA world championship in 2002 and Olympic gold in 2004. About the only thing missing from his resume was a trip to the Final Four. On Sunday night, LSU will play Tennessee (34-2). A
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