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Show J Baseball Scoreboard Weather : EDITOR: SPORTS B3 .. B5 B7 B8 Auto Racing .' L Today Inside NOEL NASH Detroit took the first game of the Western Conference final in the Bl Stanley Cup playoffs. B5 SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2002 THE DAILY HERALD (www.HarkTheHerald.com) 344-25- War Emblem, Baffert near Crown "The last two times I thought I If it's meant to be, it's meant to be." could win it," Baffert said. "All his will Baffert On June 8, get AP Racing Writer third chance in six years to win a three horses are three different Crown. And it's all because horses. Fate owes me a Triple BALTIMORE War Emblem Triple War Emblem showed up in his Crown." is versatile after all, and his victoAs fate would have it, War barn just five weeks ago, thanks ry Saturday in the Preakness to a Emblem earned his bid at racing purchase by Stakes has trainer Bob Baffert Saudi Prince Ahmed immortality just 11 days after the friend, .hack in the Triple Crown chase. death of 1977 Triple Crown winbin Salman. The ornery Kentucky Derby he showed a dimension ner Seattle Slew. Slew's death left "Today winner didn't lead all the way this that the sport without a living Triple nobody thought he had time, but he held on for a take the heat and keep on going," Crown winner for the first time length victory to set up a Baffert said. "He's getting since 1919 when Sir Barton won shot at the Triple Crown in three smarter. He's learned to relax and the Derby, Preakness and Belweeks. mont. he's saying, This could be fun.'" "I like my chances, the third Unlike his Baffert's Silver Charm in 1997 victory time's a charm," Baffert said, hop- and Real 1998 both won in the Derby, War Emblem didn't in Quiet Beling his black colt can win the the Derby and Preakness but fell start out with the lead, but was mont Stakes and become the first short in the Belmont; Silver right behind pacesetter Menacing thoroughbred since Affirmed in Charm by of a Dennis before jockey Victor 1978 to win racing's biggest prize. Real Gold and to Touch "We started with Silver Charm. ... length See PREAKNESS, B2 to nose a Gallop. Victory by Quiet By RICHARD ROSENBLATT last-minu- three-quart- Baf-fert- 's te er ' ' ,.. V', wire-to-wi- re three-quarte- Crowd doesn 't bother Lakers rs s QUO u r I AL BKHRMANThe Associated Press of a crown: Victor Espinoza rides Derby winner War Emblem, right, to victory ahead of Magic Weisner, ridden by Richard Migliore (2), and Proud Citizen, center, in the Preakness on Saturday. Two-third- - s-- - 1 f " Cougars take both track titles ; r 6 By GREG BEACHAM The Daily Herald AP Sport Writer COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. Trailing by 16 SACRAMENTO, Calif. The pregame noise at Arco Arena was measured at more than 112 decibels about the same level as a jet engine. TODAY'S GAME SacraThe mento Kings Boston at think it was New Jersey, 7; 3:30 p.m. loudest crowd in the NBC at Draft lottery sports history. halftime ' " Los The Angeles Lak ers "weren't listening. . Kobe Bryant scored 30 and Shaquille points, O'Neal had 26 as the Lak-er- s extended the longest road playoff winning streak in NBA history to 12 games, 36-poi- nt - beating the Sacramento Saturday in Kings 106-9- 9 the first game of the West- ern Conference finals. "It was an interesting start," Rick Fox said. "They broke a record for the loudest crowd, and five minutes later, it was the quietest iprowd." I Game 2 in the best-of-seve- n series is Monday ' night. " With another poised per formance in the face of crazed visiting fans, the Lakers brought some noise of their own with nine straight baskets leading to 36 points in the first quartheir most prolific ter quarter of the postseason. See LAKERS, B6 - MATT SMITHThc Duly Herald Almost there: BYU's Cameron Coughlan, left, is tagged out at home plate by Lobo catcher By DICK HARMON The Dairy Herald Not enough PROVO gas for a sweep. That's how BYU ended the regular season Satur- day at Miller Field, limping finish to the regular-seaso- n line with little left in the tank after mounting four comebacks against the University of New Mexico only to fall short The loss leaves BYU 4 in MWC and The Cougars host the play. MWC tournament, Wednesday through Saturday, at Miller Field. "I'm proud of our guys It's the Miracle on 700 West Street. ; I bet you can't top this one anywhere in America, from New Jersey shores and Coco Beach, Fla., to Oceanside in California. Go ahead, try and find a baseball story like this one. Match even naif the dots. You can't. I Two Orem childhood friends, Boy and girl, dream of baseballsoftball championships .'MSB Mil 1 Scott Tajima in the bottom of the ninth. really is. BYU just misses on sweep . 17-1- 3. 24-28- -1 15-1- and the way they battled, man Troy Carnes took left especially after we got off to fielder Matt Young's rifle a tough start," BYU coach shot and threw home perfectly to retire the sliding Vance Law said. Some of his pride Coughlan. "If that ball doesn't hit stemmed from three homers ' wall and come right back the one in inning. i by his Cougars left fielder, we win to their BYU's comeback fell .the They threw out game. about an inch short on one to prevent runner our best the play at home plate in from winning the game ' us ninth. on that play," Law said. 0 in BYU's Trailing A sweep would have ninth, the Cougars tied the given BYU the No. 2 seed in game and may have won 3 the league champiahships if not for a brilliant Lobo this week. New Mexico prerelay to get speedy Cameron vented that by taking the Coughlan at home plate on fight to the Cougars to cona hard-hi- t blast against the clude their three-gam- e series. The Cougars will be fence by Dave Jensen. Coughlan was sprinting the No. 3 seed behind San Diego State and Utah. home when second base O SDSU Utah 20-1- 0 BYU 15-1-4 AFA 14-1- 5 UNLV 13-1- UNM 10-2- 0 16-1- 4 BYU easily outdistanced 7 second-plac- 13-1- AFA 4. fi; ? Courtesy photos Then and now: Mac Nelson and Ericka Jones, left, in 1992; right, in 2002. the 4A stat;Softhall title and Mac took the mound;tt lead Timpanogos past Olympus tot the 4A estate baseball championship. On Saturday night, thejf want to the prom as a mighty victorious couple. It's almost done: Mac and Ericka should be named the Most Valuable Players in 4A baseball and softball. They are the champions. This story goes beyond Mac and Ericka and the fact they grew up visiting batting cages, playing catch, ninning through the open doors of each other's home. Their parents, Dave and Zeffie Nelson and Cal and Carol Jones, are best friends. Baseball is so ingrained in these two families, they've spent nearly every spring and summer at ball parks for the past 20 years and every sibling has had a crack at stardom in 'one form or another. Mac's blood is in baseball. Father Dave is UVSC's former baseball coach, his brother Kim is Mac's Timberwolves coach and his older brother, D.G., was a star at UVSC and BYU and now 13 UNLV 5 17, 9, Utah 8 SDSU 14-1- BYU 8, Colorado e State, which scored 147.3 points. San Diego State finished third with 119.3 points, UNLV was fourth with 98, Wyoming finished fifth with 95, Utah scored SCORES SATURDAY'S UNM "We never get tired of winning. We're just as thrilled about winning our 20th as we were with winning our first. It never gets old. We've had a lot of great student-athlete- s come through our program over the years, and this year has been no exception." , ' and deliver for rival schools. Mac Nelson and Ericka Jones live 100 feet from each other, across 700 West in Orem. Mac goes to Timpanogos High while Ericka is at Mountain View. They've been lifelong friends, talked almost every day, worked out together and shared family vacations. Within 24 hours, Ericka was the winning pitcher as Mountain View toppled Pleasant Grove for $ STANDINGS FINAL BASEBALL ; Champs, neighbors and friends - points entering Saturday's final day of competition at the 2002 Mountain West Conference Track & Field Championships, the BYU men's team racked up 89 points to claim its 19th overall outdoor league title, its fifth straight league outdoor championship. The BYU women, who lead enterheld a ing the final day, cruised to a record 20th straight outdoor title with 193.5 points. "It's a new experience every year," BYU women's coach Craig Poole said. "It They'll face Air Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Cougars struggled to get untracked against the 9- Lobos, falling behind 75.3 to finish sixth and New Mexico took seventh with 57.5. Air Force was eighth, scoring 32 points. Individual winners for the BYU women included See BASEBALL, B4 See TRACK, B4 Force 6-- 0, THE FRONT ROW Wolverine ran ends a bit short The Daily Herald star. His Cam, was a father and uncles, Kim and Clyde, played baseball at BYU. Ericka's father, Cal, is her coach at MV and has been one of the most dedicated youth coaches in Orem for two decades. Mitch, her older brother, plays for the New York Yankees' Double-- club in Norwich, Conn. Another brother, Brady, will play at UVSC after an LDS Mission. The Joneses and Nelsons are so caught up in the game, it's a wonder they don't have base Utah KISSIMMEE, Florida State College's improbable run for a second national title came up short Saturday, as the Wolverines fell 2 to Indian River in the title game at the NJCAA Women's Softball Championships. Earlier in the day UVSC won twice, beating Midland 0 and to move into the Gulf Coast championship game. Those two wins culminated a run of six straight that followed an opening day loss to Midland. "It was almost an insurmountable task for us to come all the way back after that first loss," said UVSC head coach Todd "Our kids showed some gutsy determination. To get six straight wins against this type of competition is pretty amazing. In spite of the loss at the end, it was a great finish for us." The Wolverines finished second in the nation, with a 6 record. See HARMON, B4 See UVSC, B4 Valley 5-- Dick Harmon 5-- coaches at Salt Lake Community College. Another older brother, A I 4-- 3 Fair-bourn- e. 49-1- |