En Route

A true blue-collar tough guy, Wilson "Skip" Strong Jr. was never much for computers, or showing his feelings for that matter. But recently, he surprised a friend on his birthday by sending an e-mail from work. "You know, it's funny how life can change in just a year," he wrote. "I never thought I would be a father or a crew leader. Sometimes, we don't take the time to sit back and look at how good life really is." Less than two weeks later, Strong, 38, was killed in an accident on a Louisiana interstate.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with a college lacrosse player or coach to get you more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Loyola senior attackman Mike Sawyer, who recorded 52 goals and 10 assists en route to being named the university's first Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2012. The team captured the university's first Division I national championship of any kind. What drives you and your teammates now? Everyone's gunning for us. Everyone's going to give us their best shots.

Despite no eyewitness testimony or physical evidence to tie Thomas "Eddie" Blake to the shooting death of a Baltimore teen-ager, an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court jury convicted him yesterday of first-degree murder and four related charges in the slaying.The verdict ended a soap-opera-like trial for the first of three men accused of killing Miquel Tavon "Fats" Cauthorne, 16, of the 3600 block of West Bay Ave. along Shot Town Road in Arnold.Testimony indicated that Blake, 39, of the 1100 block of E. Patapsco Ave. in Baltimore, and Cauthorne were en route to a cookout less than a mile up the secluded road a day after they had reportedly argued.

Michael Dubb's Greed and Fear took the overland route to victory in Saturday's feature at Laurel Park, the $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Sent to post at 4-1 under Horacio Karamanos for trainer Rudy Rodriguez, the Bob and John filly broke from the outside post in the field of nine, traveled four-wide down the backstretch, then swept up and around on the leaders around the turn and drew off in the stretch to an impressive, 11/4-length score in 1 minute, 25.13 seconds for the seven-furlong distance.

CHESTERTOWN - Top-ranked Salisbury scored the first seven goals en route to a 17-12 win over third-ranked Washington College yesterday, improving to 15-1 overall and cutting the Shoremen's lead in the series to 19-15. The Sea Gulls struck quickly, getting a goal from Brian Oakley at 2:56, then adding six over the next seven minutes for a 7-0 lead. The Shoremen (12-3) stopped the run when Jon Spivey and Craig Earley scored back-to-back goals, but Josh Bergey and Cory O'Neil answered for Salisbury, which took a 10-3 lead into halftime.

CAIRO, Egypt - A hijacked Saudi Arabian passenger jet en route to London landed yesterday in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, where the hijackers were arrested, Iraqi state television reported. Details on how the hijacking was resolved were not immediately available, but state television said all the passengers were safe and would be taken to a Baghdad hotel. The hijackers asked for political asylum, the television reported. Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 115 originated in Jidda, on the Red Sea. The official Saudi Press Agency, attributing the information to the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation, said there were 95 passengers and 17 crew members on board.

The 13th-ranked Fallston wrestling team has won nine consecutive dual matches to start the season, and the biggest sign of where the program is heading came last night. Fallston won six bouts by fall to earn a 39-23 victory over Westminster in the second match of a tri-meet at Howard High. The Cougars then defeated the host Lions, 57-13, in the final match of the evening. Earlier, Westminster downed Howard, 57-15. "Westminster has been on our schedule for four or five years in a row, and we had not beaten them until today," Fallston coach Andy Amasia said.

"Doc Hollywood," from Warner Bros., is shooting in Gainesville, Fla. "Memphis Belle's" Michael Caton-Jones directs Michael J. Fox in the role of an ambitious medical resident headed cross-country to patient-rich Beverly Hills. En route, Fox finds himself stranded in a Southern town where his experiences change his life. The executive producer and producer are Marc Merson and Susan Solt,respectively. The screenwriters include Peter Seamon, Jeffrey Price and Daniel Pyne.

HAGERSTOWN -- The Hagerstown Suns used a six-run fourth inning, their biggest inning of this season, en route to a 9-4 victory over the Albany-Colonie Yankees in Eastern League Double-A action last night.Trailing 1-0, Hagerstown batted 11 and scored six runs on six hits, including Damon Buford's three-run triple. Sergio Cairo, Tim Holland and Cesar Devarez added RBI singles in the rally.

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Lost Hero By David Maraniss If ever a baseball player were deemed worthy of canonization, right fielder Roberto Clemente might be the one. Jackie Robinson may have suffered greater hardships during his career, but Clemente's nobility, charity and determination make him far more appropriate for a postage stamp than a Nike commercial. After 18 distinguished seasons, the Pirate star with the astonishing throwing arm died in a 1972 plane crash while en route to deliver relief supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.

The first time UMBC coach Pete Caringi saw Phil Saunders, the 12-year-old soccer player was losing. The coach was watching his son, whose team was in the process of dominating Saunders' squad. Caringi also remembers a recruiting pitch that day. "His dad comes up and [starts] telling me how good his son is, and I'm like, 'Yeah, yeah.' Meanwhile, as I was watching the game [Phil] was playing really, really well," Caringi said with a smile. "I kind of kept a mental note about it. " Last Saturday, nearly a decade after that first encounter, Saunders blocked two penalty kicks to help UMBC win the America East championship, 4-2 in a shootout.

As the schooner Pride of Baltimore II headed up the bay from Norfolk Tuesday, the 1,300-square-foot American flag rippling from its main gaff suddenly snagged and ripped. Fortunately, Pride has a sewing machine onboard. "We have a lot of flags," said Elizabeth Foretek, 26, the ship's bosun. Once the nylon flag was taken down, Foretek and deckhand Kris Jones, 22, set to work repairing it, sitting on the floor of the ship's main common area below deck. They had to mend the flag quickly.

About two weeks from now, a cargo ship 21/2 football fields long will squeeze under the Key Bridge and deliver the future of the port of Baltimore. On its deck are four massive cranes built in China that state officials and the maritime industry hope will turn the already bustling Seagirt Marine Terminal into a conduit for mountains of goods delivered by the world's largest ships. Baltimore will join Norfolk, Va., as the only East Coast ports with 50-foot-deep berths and cranes able to accommodate vessels up to 1,200 feet long, which will begin using a widened Panama Canal in 2014.

The No. 3 Cornell men's lacrosse team limited host Dartmouth to one goal through the first 41:01 of the game, then held off a late Big Green run to win, 7-5, on Saturday. The Big Red offense was led by Steve Mock and Chris Langton with two goals apiece. Dartmouth (2-5, 0-2 Ivy League) took a 1-0 lead when Brendan Rotanz scored with 5:28 left in the first quarter, but Cornell (7-1, 3-0) went on a 6-0 run that spanned both halves to pull ahead. No. 4 Massachusetts 15, SAINT Joseph's 3: Will Manny had a hat trick, and the host Minutemen improved to 9-0 for the third time in program history.

Competing in their last tournament as a U14 team, H20 pink, went undefeated in capturing the Gold Medal at the ESPN Rise/ Disney Junior Showcase held July 16-19 in Orlando. The Harford County based field hockey club has added this prestigious championship to their gold medal victory at the National Indoor Championship (NIT) in February. This event featured teams from all over the country including traditional powerhouse states New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Unlike the NIT tournament where multiple teams are crowned "Gold Medalist" after pool play, the Junior Showcase has pool winners compete to determine an ultimate champion.

A medevac helicopter en route to a Carroll County hospital made an emergency landing in Reisterstown Thursday night, Baltimore County police said. The helicopter was going to Carroll County Hospital Center to pick up a patient when the pilot made an emergency landing in a backyard of the 12600 block of Ivy Mill Road about 8:30 p.m., police said. None of the crew were injured. It is unclear what forced the helicopter to make the emergency landing. jkanderson@baltsun.

Baltimore City CC went on a 10-0 run with 13 minutes left to take control of the game en route to a 77-61 victory over Potomac State College of West Virginia yesterday in the women's Region XX tournament final.Dashann Coleman made five three-pointers in the second half en route to her game-high 26 points and added five rebounds and three assists for BCCC.Emily Jones had 14 points with 11 rebounds and Scherry Cofield contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Red Devils (27-5).Takia Barnes scored 20 to pace Potomac State.

When Paul Triplett thinks about the Gilman wrestling team, his mind goes back to a cold day in 1990. That was the last time his top-ranked Mount St. Joseph wrestling team lost to the Greyhounds, dropping five of the final six matches and bowing by one point.That's also why beating Gilman has taken on extra meaning.Last night, the Gaels did just that, winning nine of 13 weight classes en route to a 36-24 Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference win at No. 8 Gilman.The victory didn't come easily, but Triplett knew it wouldn't.

"Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship. " — President Woodrow Wilson The last anyone heard of the Cyclops as it steamed in a voyage that began in Bahia, Brazil, on Feb. 22, 1918, en route to Baltimore with 10,000 tons of manganese ore in its bunkers, was in a telegram to the West Indian Steamship Co. in New York City. "Advise charterers USS CYCLOPS arrived Barbadoes Three March for bunkers. Expect to arrive Baltimore Thirteen March. Opnav.

Asked before Tuesday night's game about how the Orioles could maintain the momentum that they built on the previous homestand, a grinning Buck Showalter said: "Pitching would be a good start. Then probably pitching. " The Orioles' new manager didn't mention anything about hitting, which looked like a glaring oversight several hours later when his team put together its biggest offensive outburst of the season — and had a fine time doing it. Trailing by two after starter Jake Arrieta allowed five fourth-inning runs, the Orioles leaned heavily on the long ball and scored 10 consecutive runs at one point to overwhelm the Cleveland Indians, 14-8, before an announced 13,541 at Progressive Field.