Big Red

- Nearly three weeks into the 2013 regular season, No. 7 Duke was virtually a game or two away from being eliminated from postseason play. Now, the Blue Devils are only a game away from winning a second national championship in four years. The Blue Devils' improbable run continued Saturday in dramatic fashion as Duke held on for a 16-14 victory against unseeded Cornell in a Division I semifinal game. The Big Red (14-4) kept an announced crowd of 28,444 in suspense with a comeback attempt to open the fourth quarter using five goals to make the score 14-12, but Duke junior attackman Jordan Wolf scored his fourth goal of the game with 39 seconds remaining to put the game away for the Blue Devils (15-5)

- Nearly three weeks into the 2013 regular season, No. 7 Duke was virtually a game or two away from being eliminated from postseason play. Now, the Blue Devils are only a game away from winning a second national championship in four years. The Blue Devils' improbable run continued Saturday in dramatic fashion as Duke held on for a 16-14 victory against unseeded Cornell in a Division I semifinal game. The Big Red (14-4) kept an announced crowd of 28,444 in suspense with a comeback attempt to open the fourth quarter using five goals to make the score 14-12, but Duke junior attackman Jordan Wolf scored his fourth goal of the game with 39 seconds remaining to put the game away for the Blue Devils (15-5)

The Cornell men's lacrosse team's bid for a seventh consecutive Ivy League championship suffered a blow with the loss of three defensive starters. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/lacrosseblog)

Cornell has dominated this series, winning six of nine meetings - including three of the last four. But Duke has had the upper hand in the NCAA tournament, winning both contests against the Big Red. Cornell (14-3) has scored 32 goals in two tournament games - most among the four semifinalists. While much of the focus will center on an offense guided by two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist Rob Pannell (42 goals and 53 assists), the defense ranks second in Division I in caused turnovers per game (10.1)

"Big Red: Three Months On Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine," by Douglas C. Waller. HarperCollins. 336 pages. $27.50. By any measure, it stands among the greatest marvels of human invention in history -- a ship as long as a 56-story building is high, as wide as a three-lane highway and capable of traveling underwater for months at a time. It makes its own drinking water, oxygen, heat and electricity for a crew of 160 men. Fully provisioned, it is completely self-sufficient -- whether under the polar ice cap or in the middle of the open sea. Oh, yes, and there's this: It carries 1,560 tons of nuclear missiles in its belly that could quite readily incinerate at least 14.5 million people, injure at least three times that many more and flatten a piece of the globe many thousands of square miles wide.

Big red is right. This blend of zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon and valdiguie packs a wallop as it delivers a mouthful of spicy, robust, meaty flavors with hints of chocolate, blueberry and tomato. It's a little rustic, but graceful nevertheless, like a man who can wear cowboy boots with a tux and carry it off.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - When it comes to overall depth, few teams can match Syracuse, and that will be the major factor in today's Division I championship game between No. 2 seed Syracuse and No. 5 Cornell. Syracuse (15-2) is loaded with talent, and the Orange loves to rotate players, even on attack. Cornell's first group can match Syracuse's first group, but after that the Orange has a major advantage. If Cornell (13-3) can control Syracuse on the transition and the pace of the game, then the Big Red has a shot.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Peet Poillon had his fifth hat trick of the season, and Ohio State beat Cornell, 15-7, in the first round of the NCAA tournament yesterday. The Buckeyes (11-5) will face No. 1 seed Duke (17-1) next Sunday. The Blue Devils advanced by beating Loyola, 12-7. Ohio State, in its third playoff appearance, will be making its first trip to the quarterfinals. The Buckeyes jumped out to a 5-1 lead over the Big Red (11-4). They padded their lead to 10 goals four times in the second half , totaling 29 shots, and scored on 11 of 15 shots in the first half.

A year ago, the Cornell men's lacrosse team watched the NCAA tournament quarterfinals on television, and coach Jeff Tambroni told one of his players in a text message that they had to avoid spending another May at home. Max Seibald's response: "I don't plan on it." The standout senior midfielder has been true to his word, carrying the Big Red to its second semifinal appearance in three seasons. If Cornell (12-3), seeded fifth in the tournament, can upend No. 1 seed Virginia (15-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The 87th World Series was put on 24 hours notice last night, not long after the reincarnated Big Red Machine rolled into the Oakland Coliseum and ran down the once-mighty Oakland Athletics again.It was supposed to be a mismatch and that's what it has become, but it is the surprising Cincinnati Reds who are on the brink of a four-game sweep after a seven-run third inning led them to a resounding 8-3 victory in Game 3.Third baseman Chris Sabo made one of baseball's most spacious stadiums look like a broom closet, hitting home runs in his first two at-bats, as the Reds sent Oakland starter MikeMoore to his first postseason loss in five starts.

Privately, a lot of fans are picking unseeded Cornell to win the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship here this weekend - but publicly, they urge caution because the 2013 regular season has been so unpredictable. But there is no need for concern. Going into the semifinals Saturday, the Big Red will win the title because of its work ethic and the way Cornell has blown out opponents in the first two rounds. The Big Red also has the top player in college lacrosse - attackman Rob Pannell - and another scoring machine - attackman Steve Mock.

Among the daily text messages, thrice-a-week Skype sessions and actual once-a-week phone conversations, Jason and Jeremy Noble openly wondered how neat it would be if they met in a national title game. The twin brothers are one step away from realizing that dream. Jason Noble, a senior defenseman, and Cornell (14-3) will meet seventh-seeded Duke (14-5) in the first of two NCAA tournament semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia this Saturday. Jeremy Noble, a junior midfielder, and fourth-seeded Denver (14-4)

Rob Pannell is smart enough - getting accepted to Cornell would seem to be plenty of proof of that - to realize that he is not invincible. Even as he has registered six goals and nine assists in two NCAA tournament games and is preparing the Big Red (14-3) for Saturday's Final Four clash with seventh-seeded Duke (14-5), the fifth-year senior attackman knows that there is a defenseman, a coach, perhaps even a scheme that can slow him as he continues his assault on a couple Division I records.

When your team knocks off a third seed and a sixth seed by a combined margin of victory of 18 goals in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, you should no longer be considered an underdog, right? That is not how Cornell coach Ben DeLuca, however, sees it. Despite the Big Red (14-3) evicting Ohio State (the third seed) and Maryland (the sixth) by a combined score of 32-14, DeLuca thinks that his team is the underdog as it prepares to face seventh-seeded Duke (14-5) in Saturday's first of two national semifinals.

When you play on Cornell but are not part of an offense headlined by two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist Rob Pannell and fellow senior attackman Steve Mock, it is easy to be overlooked. And that is just fine, according to senior defenseman Jason Noble. “With Rob Pannell and Steve Mock and [sophomore attackman] Matt Donovan, all the credit does go to them,” Noble said Monday. “They're the ones that help the defense. [Junior] Doug Tesoriero on the faceoffs really helps get the ball to our offense and limit the [opposing]

Ohio State's Greg Dutton did not get to watch the entirety of Cornell's 16-8 upset of sixth-seeded Maryland in a NCAA tournament first-round game last Sunday. But the junior goalkeeper watched the film, and fifth-year senior attackman Rob Pannell's four-goal, three-assist performance was no less impressive a day or two after the fact. “Rob Pannell is a great player, and he's been a great player there for four years,” said Dutton, a Timonium native and Calvert Hall graduate. “He's probably one of the best players to ever play Division I lacrosse.

On one of Maryland's premier racing days, the Maryland Spring Challenge, a Florida colt named Tour's Big Red roared down the stretch yesterday at Pimlico to capture the $163,000 Federico Tesio Stakes.The Grade III Tesio is the state's major Kentucky Derby prep. Although no Derby contenders competed in the 1 1/8 -mile race, Tour's Big Red may return to Pimlico May 18 for the Preakness and then race three weeks later in the Belmont Stakes."This horse can run all day," said Enrique Alonso, the trainer stabled at Calder Race Course in South Florida.

Midfielder Brian Clayton scored with 11 seconds remaining on a straight shot from 10 yards out as Cornell defeated Towson University, 12-11, before 2,366 last night at Johnny Unitas Stadium in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Despite Clayton's heroics and a 1-hour, 40-minute delay because of lightning, Towson (11-5) had one more opportunity to score as Cornell's J.D. Nelson was called for holding on the Tigers' Matt Eckerl during the ensuing faceoff, but Cornell goalie Matt McMonagle stopped Nick Williams' high shot as time expired setting off a celebration by Big Red players.

The Cornell men's lacrosse team is on a mission. After being unseeded in the 16-team NCAA Division I tournament, the Big Red wants to prove that it was slighted and is one of the best teams in the country. After Cornell defeated No. 3 seed Ohio State, 16-6, on Saturday in the quarterfinals at Maryland's Byrd Stadium, there are few who will argue. In fact, the Big Red just might be the best. "We were excited to hear our name called on Selection Sunday," said Cornell coach Ben DeLuca, who is in his third season.

A week ago, the thought was that Ohio State -- despite knocking off 2012 national champion Loyola and Denver to capture the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament -- was overvalued as the third seed in the NCAA tournament. Despite a convincing 16-6 victory over Towson in the first round, the Buckeyes are viewed as underdogs. That has to do with Ohio State (13-3) meeting Cornell (13-3) in the first game of Saturday's quarterfinals at Byrd Stadium in College Park. The Big Red are unseeded, but after walloping sixth-seeded Maryland, 16-8, last Sunday, many pundits and fans insist that Cornell will be the first team to advance to the national semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia next weekend.