Sidelines

On deck for Kentucky: Michigan

                                                   Posted by Mark Maloney

• Stoffel gives up a one-out single to LaMarre, who makes it to second on a groundout. But Stoffel gets Leif Mahler to ground out and end the game, Stoffel's school-record 12th save of the season and second of the tournament. Final: Arizona 4, Michigan 3. Michigan will face Kentucky in an elimination game Sunday at 2 p.m. The winner of that game will take on Arizona at 7 Sunday night. If Arizona loses, a final game would be played Monday at 7 p.m.
• A walk and a two-out error give Michigan runners on the corners. Wildcats first baseman C.J. Ziegler makes a diving stop to rob pinch-hitter Mike Dufek of a run-scoring hit and end the inning. Arizona goes down in order in the bottom of the eighth. Coming in to pitch for Arizona: Jason Stoffel. Heading to the ninth: Arizona 4, Michigan 3.
• Arizona goes down in order in the seventh. Coming out of the Wildcats bullpen to open the eighth is right-hander Ryan Perry. Recruited as a shortstop, Perry says he pitched perhaps 20 innings in high school. Now, armed with a 98 mph fastball, he's a likely first-round draft pick. Going to the eighth: Arizona 4, Michigan 3.
• Michigan's No. 9 hitter, Ryan LaMarre pops a solo home run to nearly the same spot where Putnam's blast landed. Daniel Schlereth, a lefty, comes in to replace Colla and avoid further damage.After 6 1/2 innings: Arizona 4, Michigan 3.
• Colla puts out the mini-fire. Going to the bottom of the sixth, still 4-2 for Arizona.
• Michigan DH Zach Putnam leads off the sixth with a homer to left-center, knocking Coulon from the game. Now pitching: Mike Colla. With Michigan still batting in the top of the sixth: Arizona 4, Michigan 2.
• Michigan is on the board. Held to two singles through 4 2/3 innings by left-hander David Coulon, the Wolverines used back-to-back hits -- Ryan LaMarre's single and Jason Christian's triple -- to get untracked. After 4 1/2 innings: Arizona 4, Michigan 1.
• Arizona adds a run in the third. Two-out singles by Jon Gaston and Ziegler, followed by a fielding error by Michigan shortstop Jason Christian make it Arizona 4, Michigan 0 through three innings.
• Kentucky awaits the loser of Saturday night's Arizona-Michigan game for an elimination contest Sunday at 2 p.m. Arizona bolts to the early lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. Brad Glenn doubled in one, C.J. Ziegler singled in another, and a third scored on a T.J. Steele fielder's-choice grounder. End of one inning: Arizona 3, Michigan 0.

Cats prevail in must-win game

                                                Posted by Mark Maloney

•  UK turns a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. Final: UK 4, Eastern Michigan 3. Next up for the Cats will be the loser of Saturday night's Arizona-Michigan game, Sunday at 2 p.m. If the Cats win that one, they will play again Sunday at 7 p.m.
• Eastern's Matt Shoemaker is replaced by lefty Dan Puls with one out and one on in the eighth. Puls gets the next two batters. Shoemaker goes 7 1/3 innings, allowing four runs,three earned, on seven hits. He walks one and fans four. Going to the ninth: UK 4, Eastern Michigan 3.
• Eagles go down in order in the top of the eighth.
• Cats go down 1-2-3 in the seventh. Going to the eighth inning.
• Top of the seventh: Eastern Michigan gets a two-out single from Kyle Rhoad, but Albers picks him off at first. Stretch time: UK 4, Eastern Michigan 3.
• Chris McClendon leads off the UK sixth with a single. He gets to third, but no farther. After six innings: UK 4, Eastern Michigan 3.
• Eastern Michigan wastes a two-out single. Going to the bottom of the sixth: UK 4, EMU 3.
•  UK goes down 1-2-3 again in the fifth. Matt Shoemaker has retired eight batters in a row. Going to the sixth, Andrew Albers replaces Greg Dombrowki on the mound for UK, trying to protect a 4-3 lead.
• Cats hold on to lead, but barely, after 4 1/2 innings. Third baseman Chris McClendon threw out a runner at the plate and Collin Cowgill went to the left-field wall to nail down the third out. Going to the bottom of the fifth: UK 4, EMU 3.
• UK goes down 1-2-3. After four innings: UK 4, EMU 3.
• Nothing for the Eagles in the top of the fourth.
•  The Cats come back with two runs on three hits in the third. Chris McClendon singles in one run and the other scores on Brian Spear's sacrifice fly to left. After three inning: Kentucky 4, Eastern Michigan 3.
• Eastern Michigan gets three singles -- two of them infield hits -- and scores two runs in the top of the third. Steve Bradshaw's single up the middle plates one and Jeff Davis drives in the second with a sacrifice fly to right. Going to the bottom of the third: Eastern Michigan 3, Kentucky 2.
• The Cats strand two runners in the second. Tyler Howe gets hit by a pitch for the 27th time this season and Marcus Nidiffer singles. End of two innings: UK 2, EMU 1.
• Nothing for Eastern Michigan in the second, and UK turns its first double play of the game (1-4-3).
• UK leadoff man Keenan Wiley reaches on a fielding error. One out later, Sawyer Carroll smacks a two-run homer -- his second round-tripper of the day and 18th of the year -- to make it 2-1. Carroll increases his UK single-season RBI record to 81 and pushes his hitting streak to 14 games. After one inning: Kentucky 2, Eastern Michigan 1.
• Eastern Michigan parlays singles by Kyle Rhoad and Steve Bradshaw into a first-inning run. Going to the bottom of the first: Eastern Michigan 1, Kentucky 0.
• NCAA Regional Baseball from Ann Arbor, Mich.: UK sends right-hander Greg Dombrowski to the mound, opposed by Eastern Michigan righty Matt Shoemaker. The winner survives to play Saturday. The loser is eliminated.

Final: Michigan 7, Kentucky 5

                                           Posted by Mark Maloney

• The Cats get the potential go-ahead run to the plate with one out in the ninth, thanks to Collin Cowgill's walk and Ryan Wilkes' single. But Brian Spear pops out and Chris Wade grounds out. Final score: Michigan 7, Kentucky 5. The Cats will face Eastern Michigan in an elimination game, scheduled to start at about 2 p.m. Michigan will face Arizona at 7 p.m.
• Nothing doing for Michigan in the eighth. Going to the ninth: Michigan 7, Kentucky 5.
• The Wildcats finally break through in the eighth, batting around and scoring four runs. Sawyer Carroll led off with an opposite-field homer to left. With the bases loaded, Michael Powers came in to pitch. Tyler Howe singled in one run. Pinch-hitter Bryan Rose walked to force in another. Keenan Wiley's sacrifice fly drove in the fourth run. Going to the bottom of the eighth: Michigan 7, Kentucky 5.
• Michigan puts the first two batters on with a walk and a single, but Warner escapes unscathed. After seven innings: Michigan 7, Kentucky 1.
• Michigan's Katzman strikes out the side, in order, in the seventh.
• Michigan adds a run in the sixth. Baber retired the first batter, but a single and a walk ended his day. Tommy Warner came in, loading the bases with another single. Leif Mahler's single through the right side drove in a run. But Warner got Recknagel's replacement, Mike Dufek, to ground into a double play. Going to the seventh: Michigan 7, Kentucky 1.
• Michigan lost first baseman Nate Recknagel to an elbow injury in the top of the sixth. Ryan Wilkes put down a bunt to the third-base side and was retired on a close play at first. However, the throw pulled Recknagel into an awkward position, his elbow snapping back from a full-speed brush with Wilkes. Sawyer Carroll led off the inning with a single and the Cats wind up loading the bases with a two-out strikeout/wild pitch and a walk, but Katzman fans Tyler Howe on a full-count pitch. Going to the bottom of the sixth: Michigan 6, Kentucky 1.
• New pitcher for Michigan is Eric Katzman, a lefty.
• Michigan's Adam Abraham drives Baber's first pitch up the middle for a run-scoring single, but Baber gets the next batter to end the inning. At the end of five: Michigan 6, Kentucky 1.
• Friday's suspended game (rain) is about to resume. Brock Baber is in to pitch for the Cats with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, runners on first and second. Michigan leads 5-1, all the scoring coming in the second inning.

Roundup of SEC baseball in NCAA Tournament

Links to how SEC teams did in the first round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament yesterday:

• Weather halts game as UK trails Michigan 5-1. Two teams resume play this morning. [Lexington Herald-Leader]

• LSU cruises to 21st straight win. [The Advocate]

• Alabama's home run brigade swamps East Carolina 16-3. [Mobile Press-Register]

• SEC champ Georgia loses to Lipscomb, faces elimination game. [AJC]

• Lipscomb pulls the shocker. [Tennessean]

• Missouri's Crow too good for Ole Miss. [Clarion-Ledger]

• Tulane knocks off Florida 7-4 in regional opener. [Gainesville Sun]

• Vandy must do it the hard way after loss to Oklahoma. [Tennessean]

• Arkansas can't overcome missed opportunities. [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]

• South Carolina rolls past overmatched Charlotte. [The State]

• Dangerous Carolina lineup starts to show its teeth. [Ron Morris]

Scores and schedules of regionals involving SEC teams

Ann Arbor Regional
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Arizona 13, Eastern Michigan 7
Game 2 -- Kentucky (42-17) vs. Michigan (45-12) -- Suspended, rain
Saturday, May 31
Game 2 -- Kentucky (42-17) vs. Michigan (45-12), 11 a.m. ET
Game 3 -- Eastern Mich. (25-33) vs. Loser of Game 2, 2 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- Arizona (39-17) vs. Winner of Game 2, 7 p.m. ET

Athens Regional
Athens, Ga.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Lipscomb 10, Georgia 7
Game 2 -- Georgia Tech 8, Louisville 5
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Georgia (35-22-1) vs. Louisville (41-20), 3 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- Lipscomb (33-28) vs. Georgia Tech (40-19), 7 p.m. ET

Baton Rouge Regional
Baton Rouge, La.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Southern Miss. 16, New Orleans 3
Game 2 -- LSU 12, Texas Southern 1
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Texas Southern (16-33) vs. New Orleans (42-20), 2 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- LSU (44-16-1) vs. Southern Miss. (41-20), 7 p.m. ET

Conway Regional
Conway, S.C.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Coastal Carolina 10, Columbia 2
Game 2 -- Alabama 16, East Carolina 3
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Columbia (22-29) vs. East Carolina (40-20), 1 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- Coastal Carolina (48-12) vs. Alabama (35-26), 7 p.m. ET

Coral Gables Regional
Coral Gables, Fla.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Missouri 7, Mississippi 0
Game 2 -- Miami 7, Bethune-Cookman 4
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Mississippi (37-25) vs. Bethune-Cookman (37-20), noon ET (ESPNU)
Game 4 -- Missouri (39-19) vs. Miami (48-8), 4 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Raleigh Regional
Raleigh, N.C.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- South Carolina 15, Charlotte 8
Game 2 -- NC State 6, James Madison 2
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Charlotte (43-15) vs. James Madison (38-18), 2 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- South Carolina (39-21) vs. NC State (39-20), 7 p.m. ET

Stanford Regional
Stanford, Calif.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Pepperdine 4, Arkansas 3
Game 2 -- UC Davis 4, Stanford 2
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Arkansas (34-23) vs. Stanford (33-22-2), 4 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- Pepperdine (37-19) vs. UC Davis (35-22), 8 p.m. ET

Tallahassee Regional
Tallahassee, Fla.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Tulane 7, Florida 4
Game 2 -- Bucknell 7, Florida St. 0
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Florida (34-23) vs. Florida St. (48-11), 1 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- Tulane (38-20-1) vs. Bucknell (30-22-2), 7 p.m. ET

Tempe Regional
Tempe, Ariz.
Friday, May 30
Game 1 -- Oklahoma 8, Vanderbilt 5
Game 2 -- Arizona State 8, Stony Brook 7
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 -- Vanderbilt (40-21) vs. Stony Brook (34-25), 5 p.m. ET
Game 4 -- Oklahoma (35-24-1) vs. Arizona State (46-11), 10 p.m. ET

UK Wildcats vs. Michigan--ppd.

• No more baseball Friday night. The UK-Michigan game will resume Saturday at 11 a.m., picking up with Michigan batting, two on and two outs in the bottom of the fifth. The loser will face Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. in an elimination game. The UK-Michigan winner will meet Arizona at 7 p.m.
• The storm reportedly extends 80 miles, moving at 30-40 mph, so the guess is that the rain delay will last at least two hours. If play is carried over until Saturday, it is up to the NCAA to dictate the time of resumption. The weather forecast for Saturday includes a 40 percent chance of rain.
• The fun's over. Security has escorted the soaked sliders from the field.
• The Cats have left the building, so to speak. Rather than wait out the storm on the bus, the Cats have returned to their hotel, about two miles away. Although the fans are next door in the ice arena, not here to see, three students -- Michigan hockey players, according to a local reporter -- are entertaining the media with belly-flop slides on the tarp.
• Now it's raining. Plans are to wait a minimum of two hours before calling the game, although officials have the freedom to call things earlier if radar indicates a long, long wait. If play is called, the game will be resumed Saturday, time to be announced. Saturday's scheduled games are at 2 p.m. (Friday's losers) and 7 p.m. (Friday's winners).
• Fans have been evacuated from the stadium to the adjacent Yost Ice Arena. UK players have taken shelter on the team bus.
• Still no rain, but plenty of lightning. Play has been suspended with Michigan batting in the bottom of the fifth -- runners on first and second and a 3-1 count on Adam Abraham. Radar indicates that the rain -- lots of it -- should be here very soon. To this point, Michigan has five runs on five hits, Kentucky one run on six hits.
• A leadoff walk by Tyler Howe goes for naught, as he is stranded at third. End of 4 1/2 innings: Michigan 5, UK 1.
• Nothing for Michigan in the fourth, as a two-out walk is
• negated by a caught stealing.
• Cats go down in order in the top of the fourth.
• No rain yet. Michigan goes down in order in the third. After three innings: Michigan 5, UK 1.
• Keenan Wiley and Chris McClendon open the third with back-to-back singles, but the Cats fail to score. Going to the bottom of the third: Michigan 5, UK 1. And ...
• Radar indicates that a severe storm may be here in less than an hour.
• Michigan puts up five runs and knocks out Rusin after 1 1/3 innings -- his shortest outing of the year. With two runs in and the bags full, Aaron Lovett replaced Rusin. Jason Christian doubled in two more and Leif Mahler plated another with a squeeze bunt. After two innings: Michigan 5, UK 1.
• Tyler Howe singles Ryan Wilkes in with the first run of the game. But that's all the Cats get out of a three-hit inning. After 1 1/2 innings: UK 1, Michigan 0.
• Michigan goes down 1-2-3 in the first. Heading to the second, no score.
• UK lefty Chris Rusin, from nearby Canton, Mich., has a large cheering section. Ray Fisher Stadium is at or close to capacity. Included in the crowd is the Michigan pep band.
• UK gets a Keenan Wiley single and a Sawyer Carroll walk, but does no damage. Going to the bottom of the first, no score.
• Kentucky shakes up the batting order. Among the moves, Chris McClendon goes from sixth in the order to bat second Friday and Collin Cowgill flip-flops with Sawyer Carroll in the 3-4 holes.

The lineups:

UK -- CF Keenan Wiley; 3B Chris McClendon; RF Sawyer Carroll; LF Collin Cowgill; 2B Ryan Wilkes; 1B Brian Spear; SS Chris Wade; DH Tyler Howe; C Marcus Nidiffer. Pitching: LH Chris Rusin.

Michigan -- SS Jason Christian; 2B Leif Mahler; 1B Nate Recknagel; P Zach Putnam; 3B Adam Abraham; CF Kevin Cislo; LF Derek VanBuskirk; C Chris Berset; RF Ryan LaMarre. With Putnam batting, the Wolverines will not have a DH.

Wildcats win!

                                              Posted by Mark Maloney

The Wildcats -- Arizona -- open the Ann Arbor (Mich.) regional Friday with a 13-7 victory over Eastern Michigan.

Kentucky's Wildcats, seeded third, will take on second-seeded Michigan at 7 p.m.

Friday's winners will meet Saturday at 7 p.m. The losers will face off in an elimination game at 2 p.m.

Top-seeded Arizona jumped out to a 5-0 lead through three innings. Eastern Michigan came back with six runs in the fifth to take the lead.

Arizona took the lead for keeps with three runs in the sixth.

Eastern cut the gap to 8-7, scoring a run in the seventh. But Arizona put the game out of reach with a five-run eighth.

C.J. Ziegler led Arizona with three hits and four RBI.

Crawford and Bradley at the NBA Pre-Draft camp

Updated with Jeff Goodman's take on Crawford and Bradley at 8:25 p.m.

 A couple of reports on what went on yesterday at the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando:

• Update from Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman, who lists Crawford as No. 3 under "Helped their case," writing, "Joe Crawford — The enigmatic Kentucky guard has an NBA body — and potentially an NBA game. He is a versatile scorer who averaged 17 points in his first two games in Orlando. He made threes, got to the free-throw line and also displayed a mid-range game."

• In same story, Goodman lists Ramel Bradley No. 4 under "Hurt their case," writing, "While former teammate Joe Crawford excelled, Bradley struggled and appeared uncomfortable running the point for much of the event."

• Hoops Hype on Joe Crawford: "Team One was at a clear disadvantage today, with their second point guard, Jamar Butler, out of action. In order to compensate, the team looked to  (19 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast) and Wayne Ellington (8 pts, 2 ast, 6 to). Crawford showed well, hitting a pair of threes and aggressively attacking the rim. His size didn’t limit him today as a scorer, but he didn’t get to show much at point guard. Ellington on the other hand struggled to get into rhythm, much like he did in drills on Day One. He did make some shots late, but needs to string a couple of good games together to finish the camp. The fact that he had to run the point for part of the game didn’t help his cause, as he tallied too many turnovers."

• Draft Express has a passing reference to Ramel Bradley: ". . . Josh Duncan continued the trend of Portsmouth Invitational Tournament standouts who were able to translate their excellent performance from the all-senior pre-draft camp in April to this setting as well—scoring 20 points (5-8 FG, 9-10 FT) and pulling down 6 rebounds. Duncan knocked down a number of open shots from the perimeter, scored a bit in the post off good feeds from his guards Ramel Bradley and Jeremy Pargo, made some nice passes himself, and was extremely aggressive getting to the free throw line."

Big Brown's controversial connections

More on Big Brown trainer/motormouth Rick Dutrow and the horse's baggage-carrying owners:

• E-mailer: "I was at the Equidaily website and saw the entry “Clay to Dutrow, etc” about how we love our humble sports figures.  Not having had my coffee yet, I shook my head and said to myself:  “Now that’s something, Cassius Clay is telling Rick Dutrow about the power of humility.  I gotta check this out.
  
  "Of course, it wasn’t who I thought it was, just a humble sports writer.  Well, Mr C, I really don’t agree with your take on Big Mouth expressing his love and admiration of Big Brown.  Why the need to keep the lid on exuberance?  Do you really believe the world would have loved Muhammed Ali better if he had kept his mouth shut and not poetically self-promoted his way to immortality?"

• Meanwhile, Jerry Bossert at the New York Daily News says Dutrow is starting to sound a lot like Hillary Clinton.

• Dutrow: "I have been trying to be humble and modest."

• As for Michael Iavarone of IEAH, Joe Drape writes in the New York Times that Big Brown's owner is trying to put his troubles behind him.

• Meanwhile, Conde Nast's Portfolio.Com says that horse racing's winner is really a loser.

• Bloomberg's John Helyar says Big Brown has bad news ownership.

• Here's the story that called Iavarone's dealings into question.
  

Program note: UK baseball

Mark Maloney will be blogging from Michigan, covering UK's run in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Mark does plan to live-blog tonight from UK's game with the Wolverines, which starts at 7 p.m.

The return of Rick Reilly

Former Herald-Leader intern Teddy Greenstein, now of a little paper called the Chicago Tribune, writes this morning about the return of Rick Reilly, who makes his ESPN and ESPN the Magazine debut next week.

Highlights:

• Reilly's deal with the worldwide leader is a reported $17 million over five years.

• Reilly's first column for the magazine is about the recent death of his father.

• He will be doing stuff for ESPN from the Belmont next week.

• He is in the process of developing a monthly TV show for the network.

Deadspin gives its spin to the return of Riles and how it might affect Bill Simmons.

Bloomberg article on Reilly: ESPN's next superstar starts revving up his pen.