Tigers

The Orioles travel to Lakeland today to play Detroit in Tigertown. Left-hander Brian Matusz will make his third Grapefruit League start after throwing four shutout innings in his last outing. The O's will face reigning AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, who is also making his third spring start, here at Joker Marchant Stadium. Some other notes from clubhouse this morning: Catcher Taylor Teagarden, who had an epidural for his ailing back Wednesday, wouldn't count himself out of Opening Day. He said he's had a back injury before, back in 2005.

Orioles home opener chat with Matt Vensel

When Orioles manager Buck Showalter juggled his lineup an hour before Thursday night's game to insert previously hobbled Luke Scott into left field, he considered having struggling Adam Jones take a seat. Showalter could have used the opportunity to get left-handers Scott, who had missed three games with a strained right groin, and Felix Pie in the lineup together against Detroit right-hander Brad Penny. Showalter, though, sat Pie and stuck with the right-handed-hitting Jones, and the center fielder busted out of his early-season slump in a big way, hitting a two-run homer in the sixth and adding a game-deciding sacrifice fly in a five-run seventh as the Orioles topped the Tigers, 9-5. "To say it never crossed my mind wouldn't be completely honest, but it wasn't something I did," Showalter said about resting Jones, who entered the game 2-for-19 in the season's first five games.

The Towson men's lacrosse team is winless no longer. Simmering over a 0-3 start, the host Tigers scored the game's first goal and never trailed in stunning No. 17 Navy, 10-9, before an announced attendance 1,240 at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Tuesday night. Senior midfielder Christian Pastirik scored three goals -- including the game-winner with six seconds left in regulation -- and junior attackman Tim Stratton added three goals, all in the first half. Towson (1-3) didn't make things easy on themselves.

The Towson offense pushed No. 1 Virginia throughout Sunday's game. They scored four goals in the first quarter, saw two players finish with hat tricks and stayed close for long stretches. But the Virginia offense proved too much for the Tigers to stop. The Cavaliers pressured Towson with accurate shooting and kept possession for long stretches by controlling faceoffs and ground balls, which helped them pull away for a 15-10 victory before 2,477 at Johnny Unitas Stadium. The performance of the Virginia offense left Towson coach Tony Seaman shaking his head afterward.

Towson 73 Drexel 62 -Opening the game with a 15-0 run, 11th seed Towson (11-21) stunned sixth seed Drexel (15-14) by building a 39-14 halftime lead and cruising to victory in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament last night in Richmond, Va. With the win, the Tigers advanced to tonight's CAA quarterfinals, where they'll face third seed Northeastern at 8:30. "We played great defense in the first half," Towson coach Pat Kennedy said. "The great thing is we live to play another day."

MILWAUKEE -- Rookie Zach Miner (3-1) pitched his first complete game and Magglio Ordonez hit two of Detroit's four home runs. Craig Monroe and Ivan Rodriguez also homered for the Tigers, who won their sixth straight. Detroit is a major league-best 28-10 on the road, five more wins than any other team. Miner retired 20 in a row after a single in the second before giving up a double in the ninth.

It's a different team in Detroit this season, one that is paced by pitching and not a slugging offense. The Tigers have the second-lowest ERA in the American League, thanks to strong starting pitching. Edwin Jackson and Justin Verlander rank in the top 10 in the AL in ERA, and so does the club's newest addition, Jarrod Washburn. He'll be making his Tigers debut Tuesday against the Orioles. The Tigers, who have allowed the fewest runs in the AL, have not scored as much as their solid lineup would suggest.

It might have seemed as if everyone was happy after the Baltimore Orioles traded Mickey Tettleton to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, but there was one notable exception.New-look free agent Mike Heath had been hoping to sign a new contract with the Tigers, but the arrival of Tettleton confirmed his suspicions about the club's intentions."I feel the same way I felt before I heard about it," said a disconsolate Heath. "I feel that they don't want me there. Why would they give a guy like Tettleton that kind of money if they weren't going to play him?