Bad Pitch

Key swing Daniel Cabrera appeared to be cruising through the sixth inning before one bad pitch cost him a scoreless inning and eventually the game. Rangers leadoff man Kenny Lofton, who started his first game in the series after sitting out the first two with a sore knee, crushed Cabrera's 2-0 inside fastball into the right-field seats. Lofton's home run, his sixth of the season, traveled 380 feet and broke a 1-1 tie. It was the 17th homer Cabrera has allowed this season, three more than his career high.

Westminster second baseman Brad Gibson made a crucial defensive play and scored twice to spark the Owls to a 4-2 victory over Atholton yesterday.With Westminster leading 4-2 and Atholton runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth inning, Gibson took away what looked like a certain hit by making a leaping catch of a soft line drive off Richard Blankenship's bat.Gibson then turned toward first base, and his throw doubled up pinch runner David Bowyer...

Monday's game started with a spectacular play for the New York Yankees, as Ichiro Suzuki practically did a lap around Matt Wieters to score the evening's first run. When Suzuki was asked about the play after the game, he could only laugh. But the next eight innings weren't so joyous for the Yankees as they tallied only one more run off Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen and three relievers in a 3-2 loss that evened the division series at 1-1. Asked if his team was happy with a split in Baltimore, shortstop Derek Jeter said: "You don't come here saying you want to split.

North Carroll pitcher Mike Huller had the Liberty Lions totally baffled for most of yesterday in Hampstead.The junior left-hander struck out 13 Lions and had a no-hitter going into the seventh before settling on a two-hit, 4-1 Panthers win.Huller retired 19 of 20 batters, including the first 10 in order. Bill Shaffer was the only Liberty batter to reach base -- that came on a fourth-inning infield error.With the Panthers (1-2) in control, leading 4-0 and one out in the seventh, Liberty shortstop Jon Barnowski ended the no-hit and shutout bid with a towering home run over the fence in left-center.

Atholton coach Kevin Kelly said he didn't know until game time whether sophomore shortstop Jason Sandner would be able to play."He told me that he felt something pop in his arm two days ago against Howard and we practiced yesterday [Thursday] with someone else at shortstop," Kelly said.As it turned out, a relay throw by Sandner was the key play in yesterday's 1-0 Atholton win that preserved the Raiders' county championship hopes. Atholton is 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the league.The throw nipped Mount Hebron's Matt Driscoll at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning as Driscoll tried to score on Mark Jensen's one-out double to center field.

FREDERICK -- Heralded running back John Seymour, a 5-foot-9, 215-pound senior, gave C. Milton Wright a lot more than it could handle last night, as he led Linganore (11-0) into the Class 3A championship game.The Lancers led at the half, then pulled away with two scores in the last 13 minutes for a 34-12 triumph. Wright, whose 11-game winning streak was broken, was held to 21 yards in the second half and never came close to scoring.Seymour, who surpassed 2,000 rushing yards for the season and 4,000 for a career, was virtually unstoppable, as he ran 32 times for 282 yards and two touchdowns.

Ryan Sullivan, a 5-foot-10 junior, made his first pass reception of the year a thing of beauty for Joppatowne's football team last night.His 25-yard end-zone catch behind two defenders was the only score of the second half and enabled the Mariners (8-3) to get past visiting Kent County, 21-19, in the first round of the state Class 1A playoffs.Some halftime adjustments turned a first-half scoring blitz into a defensive struggle, where five second-half turnovers matched the number of first-half touchdowns.

Despite allowing a wind-aided, two-run homer to Michael Young in his third inning of work on Sunday afternoon against the Phillies, Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman said his second start felt much better than his first. “A little bit of everything [was better],” Tillman said. “My timing was better. I had a little more command of my pitches. The first time out, I felt a little awkward. I felt much better this time and I'm happy with that.” Tillman needed just 25 pitches to get through his first two innings of work, allowing just a pair of leadoff hits.

HAGERSTOWN -- Veteran coach Carroll Reid promised beforehand that wide receiver Elmer Sewell would touch the ball as often as possible in the state 1A title game.Both Reid and Sewell delivered and Smithsburg High dethroned defending champion Boonsboro, 29-22, in a matchup of bitter Washington County rivals at School Stadium yesterday.An estimated 8,500 fans watched as Sewell, a 6 feet 4, 180-pound junior, slipped behind double coverage for a 43-yard touchdown reception from Eric Meredith with 47 seconds remaining to put away the rallying Warriors.

FROSTBURG -- Salisbury State got reacquainted with an old friend and bid farewell to two antagonists yesterday.The major plot of the Sea Gulls' 20th meeting with Frostburg State was supplied by Mike McGlinchey, the Bobcats' first-year head coach who was at Salisbury State from 1972-86. He was delighted that two of his seniors stole the show, however, as right halfback Jimmy Carter and quarterback Mike Jones guided Frostburg State to a 31-14 victory."We knew it was important to him [McGlinchey]