ORUTerry Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Notebook by JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer 5/22/2007 Link Schedule is kind: The schedule makers could not have been kinder to Oral Roberts outfielder Brendan Duffy. First, Duffy and the Golden Eagles spent three days last week in Macomb, Ill. for a four-game Mid-Continent Conference series against the Leathernecks, where ORU swept to win its 10th straight league title. This week, ORU is back in Macomb for the Mid-Con Tournament. And in between, Duffy and his teammates will be unofficial guests of the Pittsburgh Pirates during their game at St. Louis on Tuesday. Duffy's big brother, Chris, is the Pirates' starting center fielder. "I've never had the opportunity before during my season to see him play in his season," Brendan Duffy said. "It'll be pretty fun." Duffy said the last time he watched his brother play was last September, also at a game in St. Louis. Tuesday will be the Duffy brothers' third major league game together. Macomb is roughly two hours north of St. Louis, so the Golden Eagles have spent the last few days in the River City. The Mid-Con Tournament starts Thursday, so ORU will bus out of St. Louis on Wednesday morning and miss the rest of the series. Augie talk: Texas coach Augie Garrido said the most exciting thing to happen in the 10-year history of the Big 12 Tournament was last year's title going to fifth-seeded Kansas. Garrido also said he prefers the new pool-play format that schedules three games up front instead of scrambling up days and times with a losers bracket. "That schedule brings to the players a sense of consistency," Garrido said. "It's a lot more helter- skelter the other way. It's a lot easier to put your pitching in the rotation it needs to be in." Augie talk II: Garrido also said it was tough luck last season for Texas Tech, which lost its tourney opener and, because of the new format, was eliminated from contention before it even played its second game. "In every tournament, and in every competition, the objective is to win," Garrido said. "It's not about who loses. Whoever loses and however they lose, they're eliminated, however it's done. So tournaments can't be built around what's good for the loser. Tournaments are to eliminate, not to support." OSU coach Frank Anderson, Garrido's pitching coach from 2000-2003, smiled when apprised of Garrido's philosophy. "He didn't think that in 2002 when we lost the first game and won the next four and won the national championship," Anderson said. "Augie's full of baloney." 31 down, 27 to go: Oklahoma State senior Ty Wright has a deep appreciation for Robin Ventura's NCAA Division I-record 58-game hitting streak. Wright has hit safely in 31 consecutive games, and would come up eight games short even if he hit safely in the maximum number of games the Cowboys could still play (19). "Yeah, it's a remarkable thing what Robin Ventura did," Wright said. "As I walk through the hall of fame over there at the gymnasium, you see Sports Illustrated rank the top 10 (sports accomplishments), I mean, you see it and you're like, aw, you know -- but going through it is a whole different deal." The all-division record is 60 games, accomplished by Damian Costantino of Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I., from 2001-2003. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John E. Hoover 581-8384 john.hoover@tulsaworld.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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