Winning Streak

How about this for irony? In the year of The Streak, the Orioles can't put one of their own together.Cal Ripken Jr. is the talk of baseball for having played in 2,098 consecutive games, but the Orioles haven't won more than four in a row this season.In fact, they haven't won more than four in a row since early September 1993 -- a span of 225 games over three seasons.Incredibly, they have had 10 four-game winning streaks in that span (six last year, four this year) and failed to win the next game all 10 times.

The North Harford boys lacrosse team captured its first Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference championship Monday. The Hawks, aided by a 12-2 scoring advantage over the final three quarters, beat Rising Sun, 17-5, at James R. Harris Stadium in Havre de Grace. "It's been a great year - the balls bounced our way," North Harford coach John Grubb said. On Monday, the bounces led to Max Mullin's first of a game-high five goals. Mullin finished the quarter with three goals, leading North Harford to a 5-3 advantage.

Andrei Kirilenko had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and the Utah Jazz defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-101, last night in Salt Lake City to end their 13-game winning streak. The Blazers lost for the first time since a 100-79 road defeat to the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 2. They won their next 13, including two over the Jazz, and were three victories away from tying the franchise record. "It was a great month for us. We lost the first game of the month and the last game of the month.

The Orioles' 17-game extra-inning winning streak ended Wednesday afternoon, but the team's 100-game winning streak when leading at the completion of the seventh inning is still alive and well heading into the Orioles' 11-day, 11-game West Coast road trip, which begins tonight in Oakland. When that streak - which dates back to Aug. 8, 2011 - reached the century mark after Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Blue Jays, closer Jim Johnson noted that the streak coincided with the time when the Orioles began to turn things around.

Following bond prices lower yesterday -- long-term government issues fell about one point, or $10 per $1,000 bond -- the Dow Jones industrial average snapped a four-day winning streak and wiped out three-fourths of Tuesday's gain. The blue-chip index dropped 24.42 points to close at 3,790.41, but the Dow still stands 340 points above its 12-month low of 3,449.93.COMMISSION-SAVER: Speaking of stocks, brokers won't like to read this listing, but here are names of some well-known companies that sell shares directly to investors with no commission charges.

Tim Peters is on a hot streak.It's a winning streak that could take him to the Divisional Championship at the Spring Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, in June.The 33-year-old Westminster resident recently earned $1,200 by winning the Super Street Class at the Northeast Divisional in the FirstState Pepsi Open National at U.S. 13 Dragway in Delmar, Del.By virtue of his win, Peters is currently in first place by 100 points inthe TRW Division I point standings as he prepares to go to the May 3-5 finals at Englishtown, N.J. If he wins or does better than his nearest challenger, he will represent Division I at the Spring Nationals.

Gilman running back Jason Lee scored twice in the second quarter yesterday as No. 1 Gilman improved to 6-0 overall, including 2-0 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's A Conference, with a 33-7 rout of Loyola before an estimated homecoming crowd of 3,000. "Our big weapons are Ambrose Wooden and Malcolm [Ruff], so teams key on them," said Lee, who finished with 43 rushing yards. "Plus our coaches saw that our line was handling their guys. I was able to take advantage on the inside."

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- When Duke set off on its four-game road trip this week, the Blue Devils knew that there was a chance their unbeaten season might soon end.But when it ended last night, with a 75-73 loss to ninth-ranked North Carolina at the Smith Center, there was no sense that a burden had been lifted from Duke's collective shoulders."

The inability to play two strong halves has been the downfall of Anne Arundel Community College's men's basketball team this season. Frequently, it has led or been close at halftime, only to be saddled with another defeat.But during its two-game winning streak -- the first time it had won back-to-back games -- the Pioneers were strong from start to finish.Monday night, the Pioneers built a 38-34 halftime lead and pulled away from host Catonsville, 95-74. Aderio Jones scored 29 points to lead four Pioneers in double figures.

MILWAUKEE -- It is not a basketball game anyone would have expected to be exciting.After all, the Washington Bullets (8-27) and the Milwaukee Bucks (14-23) have less than impressive records.Milwaukee was trying for a fourth time this season to extend a winning streak to three games. The Bullets were looking to tie its season-high winning streak at two games for the third time.L It was the Bucks who won the battle of the streaks, 120-115.Milwaukee made 16 of 18 free throws in the final period to win three straight for the first time since Feb. 27 through March 5, 1993.

When the topic of winning streaks arose before Wednesday afternoon's game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Orioles manager Buck Showalter insisted that his players don't pay much attention to them. “I don't think they had a thing up there where they were X'ing out [and saying] 'There's one more,'” Showalter deadpanned. “Our guys, they don't get too bogged down.” But later Wednesday, a streak that has defined the Orioles' resilience ended as they dropped a 6-5 decision in 11 innings at Camden Yards, snapping their remarkable franchise-record run of 17 straight regular-season extra-inning wins.

Yale won the first meeting in 1925. Since then, however, the series has been dominated by Maryland, which has captured the last nine contests - including the last five in College Park. The No. 14 Bulldogs (8-3) are enjoying a five-game winning streak during which they've won two in overtime and one by two goals. Senior attackman Kirby Zdrill entered the week leading Division I in shooting percentage (61.8 percent) and is third on the team in goals (22). The No. 6 Terps (8-2) have cooled off since beginning the season with six consecutive wins, splitting their last four contests.

Once Megan Whittle got going, top-ranked McDonogh went with her. The Eagles' talented junior attacker scored five of her game-high six goals in the first half Thursday, as the host McDonogh girls lacrosse team posted a 19-10 victory over No. 4 Maryvale. Sophomore midfielder Elizabeth George added five goals as McDonogh (15-0, 9-0 IAAM) broke open a close game midway through the first half and rolled to its 84th consecutive victory. George scored the game's first two goals, but Maryvale senior midfielder Sydney Hesselbein tallied twice to even the game.

Reigning national champion Salisbury has won the past 11 meetings and 14 of the last 15 with Washington College. But as the two sides prepare for the latest installment of the “War on the Shore” series Wednesday night in Chestertown, Sea Gulls coach Jim Berkman said he and his players have no intention of overlooking the Shoremen. “They've got a win over a team that beat us,” Berkman pointed out Monday. “They beat [Washington and Lee], 8-4, and we lost to W&L, 7-6. So they have a couple good wins on their schedule.

Things did not look appealing for St. Mary's when the team opened March with three losses in four contests to fall to 2-4. Since then, however, the program has strung together seven consecutive wins - a run it hasn't enjoyed since 2006. The Seahawks are 9-4 overall and 4-0 in the Capital Athletic Conference, but coach Chris Hasbrouck did his best to downplay any fervor as they prepare for No. 6 Salisbury (12-3, 5-0) this Saturday and York (11-3, 3-1) next Saturday. “We've just been plugging away,” he said Thursday morning.

Richard Lachlan scored the game-tying goal with 1:20 left in regulation and then struck in overtime to lift the No. 16 Roanoke men's lacrosse team to a 14-13 victory over No. 3 Stevenson on Tuesday night at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Va. The Mustangs (11-2) suffered their first loss in three overtime games this season and the first since a 14-13 loss at Salisbury on May 23, 2010, in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III championship. Junior Chris Dashiell totaled a season-high six points with three goals and three assists for Stevenson, which saw its five-game winning streak end. Tuesday's game featured three ties and four lead changes.

One week after a tough 16-15 loss to unbeaten and top-ranked Virginia, the No. 6 Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team suffered an even harder-to-swallow setback Saturday at North Carolina as the No. 13 Tar Heels got a goal from Sean Delaney 2:29 into overtime to slip past the Blue Jays, 10-9. Hopkins, which trailed for nearly the entire game before scoring twice in the final 5:16 to force the extra session, slips to 3-4 while the Tar Heels improve to 8-3. Hopkins won the faceoff in overtime but never seemed comfortable setting up, and senior Brian Christopher turned the ball over 15 yards in front of the goal in the middle of the field.

There are myriad reasons for Loyola's five-game winning streak. The defense is surrendering an average of 5.8 goals, the offense unearthed an explosive attackman in freshman Zach Herreweyers while senior attackman and 2012 Tewaaraton Award finalist Mike Sawyer sat out two games, and the transition game was bolstered by the return of senior short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins. Junior attackman Justin Ward pointed to another factor: practice. “After that Duke game [a 9-8 loss on March 8]

When Nick Liddil scored with nine seconds left in Ohio State's 9-4 loss to Loyola in an Eastern College Athletic Conference men's lacrosse showdown Saturday, it was a footnote in a contest that had been decided much earlier. Try telling that to the Greyhounds. As they walked off the field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, several defensive players were unhappy about Liddil's goal and shared their displeasure with teammates. "A big thing we've been talking about all year is finishing the game on the offensive side and defensive side," junior defenseman Joe Fletcher said.