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Show SPORTS Monday, May 21,2007 Page 6 SCOREBOARD COMING UP NBA Baseball MLS Utah Jazz @ San Antonio Spurs UNLV (22-34) @ Utah (24-29) Real Salt Lake (0-3-4) @ Chicago Fire(3-3-1) May 23. 2007 <a 11 a.m. @> MWC Tournament Las Vegas May 27, 2007 (?3 pJn. @ Chicago, III. Gome 2, May 22.2007 7 p.m. @5an Antonio, Texas Baseball BYU 12 Utah 5 NBA Spurs 108 Jazz 100 MLS FC Dallas 2 RSL1 2007 UTAH FOOTBALL Hoping to strike it lucky Utes head to MWC Tournament as the No. 3 seed Matthew Andreason Breaking down the MWC Tournament ^ __ No. iTCU Horned Frogs (40-12, 20-3 MWC) After just two years in the MWC, TCU is leaving no ques- l tion as to which baseball team is the best in the conference. The Frogs enter the Mountain West Conference with a great opportunity to capture their second straight MWC Tournament crown, despite dropping just their third conference loss of the season to New Mexico to end the regular season. Outfielder Keith Cordon has been a one-man wrecking crew for TCU as he is second in the conference in batting average (.386) and on-base percentage (481), and is also tops in slugging percentage (.614). He leads a team that is at the top of the conference in nearly every offensive statistical category. consistency. The first baseman STAFF WRITER from Pullman, Wash., batted an impressive .349 while leading In a season in which they the team with 10 homers, which were best known for their finest assuredly places him into the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde imper- discussion for postseason honsonation, the Utes will enter the ors. Much of how the Utes perMWC Tournament in Las Vegas this week as the No. 3 seed, form will depend on the arms where they will prepare to face of King and Fife, who comprise No, 6 seed UNLV in the opening a solid pitching duo on an othNo. 2 BYU Cougars (35-18,17-7 MWC) erwise ordinary pitching staff. round. The Cougars will hope to ride their spring heat wave all the After a sluggish 2-12 start to King, a senior, leads the team way to the NCAA Tournament. the 2007 season, the Utes have in ERA (3.96), strikeouts (49) BYU enters the MWC Tournament with a record of 13-2 in gone 22-17 since March 9 and and is tied with Fife in wins its last 15 games, including a six-game winning streak. The Cougars bring a dyhave proven themselves as a ca- (6). namic blend of pitching and hitting to the conference tournament, and will look pable in-conference team with a Although the potential is there to challenge TCU's two-year stranglehold on the MWC. 12-12 MWC record. to compete, Utah has a comJesse Craig (10-2) boasts a 2.80 ERA, which has helped the Cougars cruise to Buoyed by top-of-the-order bined 1-6 record versus BYU a conference-low team ERA of 3.74. Eight Cougars have posted batting averages hitters Corey Shimada and Jay and TCU—the top two seeds over .300 with Stephen Wells leading the charge with a .350 batting clip. BYU Brossman and aided by starting in the tournament—including a also leads the league in triples with 34 on the season. pitchers Eric King and Stephen series sweep at Franklin Covey Fife, the Utes are equipped with against TCU. enough firepower on both sides The Horned Frogs (43-n, 20of the ball to make some noise 2 MWC) get the early nod as No. 4 San Diego State Aztecs (28-28,12-12 MWC) in the tournament. If all goes the odds-on favorite to win the according to plan for the Utes, tournament based on their short The San Diego State Aztecs are looking forward to a fresh their MWC Tournament efforts history of success in the confercould wind up leaving them with ence. In their first year of entry start in the MWC Tournament after losing n of their last 12 an automatic bid into the NCAA into the Mountain West, they games. The Aztecs claimed the fourth seed after tying for third^in the-league Regional at the end of May. easily won the regular-season standings with Utah and New Mexico. Nick Romero, a Brooks Wallace College Player of the Year candidate, leads Shimada, who is currently en- title and tournament championSan Diego State. He owns a 402 batting average in Mountain West play and has joying a 23-game hitting streak, ship. leads the team in batting avera .541 slugging percentage overall. The Aztecs square off against New Mexico in The No. 2 seed, BYU, also age C.358), triples (10) and runs poses a threat, however, best the first round, against which they own a 4-2 record. scored (60) after batting a pal- exemplified by its season-end- V '• -• J try .241 through mid-March. The ing sweep of the Utes in Provo sophomore and Murray native at Miller Park. The Utes have I Ihsts helped the UtCS-place third! ^sh'owh the ability to compete Mexico Lobos (26-28,12-12 MWC) in the MWC in overall batting with the Cougars, as two of their |. average (.306) anc^ fourt^h in runs t lpss^es xtot their, tsouthern rival New,JMexico hopes.to ride its momentum-building win scored (364). came in the form of late-inning over Mountain West Conference champion TCU into the Brossman continues to be rallies. first round of the MWC Tournament. The Lobos drew San the team's exOutside of King and Fife, Diego State, which is reeling after a late-season collapse. emplar of wins were hard to come by as Mountain West Conference first-teamer Jordan Pacheco leads the Lobos. The a team, with no other player second baseman hit for a 454 average in conference play. Third baseman Ian registering more than four HoUick will put his career-high 21-game hit streak on the line Wednesday. wins. The team posted an No. 6 UNLV Rebels (22-34,10-14 MWC) It may take more than home-field advantage for the UNLV Rebels to capture an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, and the Rebels will take all the help they can get. The Rebels will open up tournament play against the Utes, with whom they split the season series 3-3. Home field wasn't much of an advantage in the season series, though, as each team won two of three games on their opponent's home field. Outfielder Keith Smith owns the team's best batting average (.348), which is good for eighth in the conference. His outfield partner in crime, Blake Gailen, will have to continue his team-leading run output if the Lobos want any shot in competing with the offensive power of the rest of the MWC. Tony Pizza and Jon Gilbert MANDEEP GILL No more ups and downs, just touchdowns T he last time the Utah football team took the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium, hearts were ripped from chests and children (in some cases grown men) wept, johnny Harline's touchdown reception as time expired broke many hearts. In the process, however, it may have strengthened the will of the Ute football team. A lot has happened since that tragic November afternoon. Instead of packing it in after one of the toughest losses in history, the team stood together and finished strong. The Utes dominated a well-coached Tulsa team in the Armed Forces Bowl behind solid special teams play, particularly from Louie Sakoda. That strong finish carried over to the spring. The Utes provided fans and the coaching staff with an excellent spring. On April 21, the Utes capped off a productive spring with an exciting and dominating display at the annual Red-White spring football game. Although the starters were pitted against the backups, the 59-7 drubbing the Red Team gave the White Team was impressive. Quarterback Brian Johnson regained command of an offense that was often inconsistent in 2006. Equally impressive was wide receiver Brent Casteel, who put an exclamation point on a fantastic spring with 81 yards rushing and 91 yards receiving. So what's next for Utah football? What should we be excited about? Head coach Kyle Whittingham is entering his third year. The learning curve should be gone. The bumps he has suffered are behind him. We know Whittingham is a great defensive codrdinator and he is a stand-up person—now it is time we find what a great head coach he is. This should be the year he proves to everyone why there was practically a fistfight going on between Utah and BYU for his coaching services. The pressure cooker could not be whistling any louder for Whittingham after Cougar head coach Bronco Mendenhall, BYU's second choice, helped the Cougar football team return to national prominence after just two years on the job. So far, Whittingham's teams have suffered from inconsistency and complacency. His 2007 squad has tools to combat those issues with the stability and leadership of quarterback Brian Johnson. In addition, Wittingham has a crop of experienced receivers that will help the offense remain consistent. Johnson ranked fourth nationally in total offense in 2005, ahead See GILL Page '8 TES AT A GLANCE Litzinger headed for Tobacco Road University of Utah head swimming coach Michael Litzinger will not return to coach the team for an eighth season. Instead, he has accepted the same position at the University of North Carolina. . "I would like to thank Dr. Hill and the University of Utah for the opportunity they (have) given me over the last seven years," Litzinger said. "But most of all, I'd like thank all of the atjjletes that I've worked I with during' my time here. It was their commitment to excellence and their devotion that helped Utah become a championship-level program on both the men's and women's side." The two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year led the Utes to five total MWC titlesfour with the women's team and one with the men's team. Under Litzinger's reign, the women posted a 53-25 record, while the men posted a 34-32 record, giving him a combined winning percentage of .604, Litzinger, regarded as one of the top coaches in the MWC, helped Utah break 35 school records. His teams have also been known for academic accolades, as both men's and women's swimmers have received Academic Ail-American recognition- t t Litzinger's first coaching position came at Fredonia State University in New York from 1988 to 1989. After a long stint at St. Bonaventure as the women's head coach from 1989 to 1997, Litzinger moved on to Columbus, Ohio. As an assistant men's coach at Ohio State University from 1997 to 2000, Litzinger helped the Buckeyes to a 25th-place finish in NCAA competition. He then accepted the headcoaching job at the University of Utah in 2000. "My family and I will always hold LENNIE MAHLER/Th*Dotfy Utah Chronicle the University of Utah in highest regard and we will greatly miss Salt Andrew Brown swims the final stretch of the 200-yard butterfly event against BYU at the Lake City and its people," Litzinger U Natatorium earlier in the season. After seven years as U head swimming coach, Michael said. Litzinger is leaving the U to coach at the University of North Carolina. •. - Mandeep Gill First-year Utah Softball coach An- Softball coach quits after one gie Jacobs won't have close to the season ., same impact on the U softball pro- of Ohio, After eight years as head coach ft r gram as she had at Miami University 1 See BRIEF PageXs |