Winning Streak

It often doesn't matter where the pitch is to Vladimir Guerrero. If it's outside, he extends his arms and takes the ball the other way. If it's low, he goes down and gets it. And if it's anywhere near the plate, he usually crushes it. The Orioles found that out the hard way yesterday as Guerrero hit two bases-empty home runs and an RBI single to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 9-3 victory over the Orioles, breaking their three-game winning streak before...

For the second straight week against a quality opponent, seventh-ranked Glenelg showed resiliency, the ability to make the big offensive play and the power to wear down teams in the second half with a ball-control offense. The result yesterday was a 28-13 come-from-behind victory over Oakland Mills that stretched the unbeaten Gladiators' Howard County winning streak to 21 before a large crowd at Glenelg. Tim Siders rushed 16 times for 146 yards, Kevin Ganascioli ran 25 times for 106 yards and Bryan Walsh carried 13 times for 85 yards for Glenelg.

Mount St. Joseph came into St. Frances Academy on an eight-game winning streak last night, four of those wins on the road. The host Panthers had lost their previous two and their star player, two-time All-Metro junior Sean Mosley, did not play in Sunday's upset loss at St. John's Catholic Prep in Frederick. Mosley, who has been nursing an ankle injury for a couple of weeks, returned last night and St. Joe's winning streak is over. The 6-foot-4 Mosley scored nine of his 15 points in the final quarter to lead a 63-56 victory over the Gaels.

When looking at the top of the Howard County boys basketball standings, everything was nip and tuck, with four teams going into last night's play with just one league loss. That changed quickly with Atholton's visit to Long Reach. With start-to-finish intensity on defense and a hot-shooting second quarter that provided an insurmountable cushion, the Raiders had a stunningly easy time in a 75-45 victory over Long Reach, ending the Lightning's 30-game home winning streak that dated to the team's 2005-06 state championship season.

It wasn't your normal baseball game at Wilde Lake yesterday, as Howard earned its eighth straight victory, 16-5 over the Wildecats (6-7 overall, 4-7 league). The Lions (11-3, 8-2) scored 10 runs (nine unearned) in the seventh inning on four hits, four errors and five walks, including an intentional walk with the bases loaded and a 2-0 count on Howard's No. 3 hitter, Tony Prescott. Cleanup man Brian Daviala then walked to make it 13-5 and Dan Swartz followed with a bases-clearing double.

Top-ranked Calvert Hall stretched its winning streak to 35 games by picking up two wins at yesterday's Riverdale Baptist tournament in Upper Marlboro. In the first game against St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School of Virginia, the Cardinals had a tough time with the Saints as they trailed late in the game. Cardinal reliever Jesse Cunningham came in at the top of the sixth, picked off two Saints base runners and added a strikeout. Nick Wojnowski drove in two runs with a double in the seventh inning as the Cardinals walked off with an 8-7 win. In the second game, Calvert Hall took on Riverdale Baptist and had a much more dominant performance, leading from the start to take an 11-2 victory.

For now, bragging rights belong to a scalding Northeast softball team. The second-ranked Eagles extended their winning streak to 10 by thumping visiting and No. 4 Chesapeake-AA, 9-1, in the semi-annual battle between Pasadena rivals yesterday. Northeast (15-3 overall, 11-3 in the county) split its season series with the Cougars - who won the first meeting, 4-3, on April 3 - but more importantly, remained tied with No. 6 North County for second place and a bid to the county title game on Wednesday.

A young and inexperienced Hereford field hockey team started to believe when it bunched together a few quality victories against rivals Dulaney, Towson and Catonsville in the middle of the season. That confidence was tested by Towson late in the second half of last night's Baltimore County championship game. The No. 9 Bulls passed. Junior midfielder Austin Riley, stick down and ready in front, scored the game-winner on a centering pass from Andrea Pace with 6:22 left in regulation, lifting the Bulls to a 2-1 victory over the No. 14 Generals at Catonsville.

FREDERICK - The Liberty's 21-match regular-season winning streak in volleyball ended last night, but the Lions certainly went down scratching and clawing. Erin Maldo and Thomas Johnson had just a little too much power for Liberty, and they outlasted the visiting Lions to score a 15-4, 5-15, 15-11, 6-15, 15-13 victory in a two-hour match that went right down to the final point. Liberty (4-1) hadn't lost in the regular season since Oct. 12, 2000 - also to Thomas Johnson. At the end, the Lions were celebrating on the court as if they had won, and coach Dave Trumbo was more than a little pleased with his inexperienced team that grew a lot on this night.

From the moment they suffered a shocking one-point loss to underdog Perry Hall in the region finals last year, Western's players were determined to reach the state semifinals this season.That mission was accomplished rather easily, breezing through four regional playoff games by an average margin of nearly 54 points. Unfortunately for the Doves, they apparently didn't set their goals any higher.An intense Montgomery Blair team out-hustled and outplayed No. 11 Western en route to a 55-46 victory in a Class 4A state semifinal at the University of Maryland Baltimore County yesterday.