Tigers granted reprieve, get NCAA bid ' By Joel Goldberg the dressing room. Then he broke the news. The Cypret "I can't come back now." the hitters lunging and taking feeble cuts at his of the eighth to give him a two-ru- n cushion, Missourian sports writer Tigers had received a berth in the Mideast But the standout shortstop and the rest of his pitching array. Kranitz hit his stride in the ninth, hitting the Regionals starting Friday at Ann Arbor, Mich., teammates will indeed come back after being on ' Meanwhile the Cowboys had nicked ace Rob outside corner with called third strikes to the Back and forth paced Missouri players joining Eastern Michigan, 35-2- 5, Texas A&M, 37-1- 4, the doorstep of the Big Eight tournament title Pietroburgo for two infield hits, a bloop, and a first two batters and getting Hightower on a two-ou- Monday afternoon in their Simmons Field and Michigan, 26-1- 5. and then dropping two in a row to upstart line-driv- e single to jump to a 2-- 0 first-innin-g grounder after a t error. locker room. Looking more like expectant Missouri will open against Eastern Michigan champion Oklahoma State. lead. As it began to rain harder, OSU doubled its The loss capped a feeble .189 hitting week by fathers than baseball players, they nervously at 1 p.m. Friday. During the regular season the After beating the Cowboys Wednesday, 3--1, lead in the fifth on four more singles, the last a the Tigers, who hit .314 during the regular Ten-champi- 10-inni- ng awaited the telephone call from the NCAA Tigers lost two out of three to Big on and edging Oklahoma Thursday in a perfect safety-squee- ze drag bunt by cen-terfiel- der season. In contrast the Cowboys' pitching staff, selection committee that would tell them Michigan in Lakeland, Fla., and did not play thriller, 4-- 3, Missouri already was fitting itself Dan Townsend. which had a 4.58 earned run average entering whether their season was over or the committee Southwest Conference runner-upNTex- as A&M or for the championship ring. Finally in the eighth, as the Tigers' dugout the tournament, hurled a 2.36 ERA in its five had granted them a reprieve in the form of an Mid-Ameri- ca champion Eastern Michigan. "I thought the tournament was in the bag awoke with chatter as if the players sensed it tourney games. at-lar- ge bid. "We got the break we needed," McArtor told after we beat Oklahoma," pitcher Tom Heck-ma- n was their last chance, Evans faltered and issued "We kept waiting for one hitter to ignite the "I'm afraid it's going to be a miscarriage," the players. "I didn't hold out much hope. Now admitted. a pair of one-o- ut walks followed by Al team," Heckman said. "It just never hap- second baseman Jim English said. we need to try and take advantage of it." Instead, the Cowboys nipped the Tigers, 3--2, in Hightower's RBI-singl- e, only the TigersT second pened." "Everybody's nerves are shot," outfielder Jim With that, the players started celebrating, a rain-shorten- ed seven-innin- g affair Saturday, hit. At that point first-ye- ar Cowboys Coach Gary When' asked Sunday whether Missouri' Leavitt said. "If they say yes, I'll hit the slapping each other on the. back, yelling and then polished them off Sunday, 5-- 3, behind the Ward waved in his ace Kranitz, who handcuffed deserved an at-lar- ge bid, Ward said, "The Big ceiling." honking their car horns. "I can't believe it," brilliant pitching of right-hande-rs Randy Evans Missouri Wednesday until his own throwing Eight deserves an at-lar-ge bid every year. The phone rang and Coach Gene McArtor English said, echoing the thoughts of most of his and Rick Kranitz and airtight defense. error led to three unearned runs. Certainly Missouri, with a 35-- 16 record and the went into his office. Several minutes later, he teammates. "We better win that damn thing." For seven innings Evans, pitching with just Kranitz had difficulty adjusting to the soggy type of schedule they play, deserves it. I don't emerged. A suppressed but definite smile Seniors like Greg Cypret, Rob Pietroburgo two days rest after tossing a complete-gam- e six-hitt- er mound and yielded RBI-singl- es to Curt Brown care if it's Portland or Ann Arbor they've crosed his lips. The seniors bidding goodbye and Curt Brown who assumed that their college Thursday, used side-ar- m curves, sliders and Tim Laudner before retiring Rick Hereth earned it." stopped in their tracks. careers were over had instead been granted a and fastballs to keep Missouri's batters off with the bases loaded to preserve the 4-- 3 lead. Ward turned out to be not only a coach, but a McArtor waited for the players to gather in reprieve. "I've said my goodbyes," joked balance. He owned the outside corner and had After receiving an insurance run in the bottom prophet as well. nmaiBiHBiaHinimiH 1L JLJP (Ji T 5 Page 6-CO- LUMBIA MISSOURIAN, Tuesday, May 23, 1978 Marshall spells relief for Twins From our wire services Reliever Mike Marshall gained his fourth save since being signed by the Minnesota Twins one week ago, giving up no hits in 1 innings and pitching out of an eighth inning jam as the Twins shut out the Texas Rangers, 2-- 0, Monday night in Bloomington. Geoff Zahn, 4-- 2, worked 7 innings and gave up seven hits before yielding to Marshall, who retired the hot-hitti- ng Jim Sundberg on a groundout with runners on second and third. Sundberg managed two singles in earlier at-ba- ts to extend his hitting streak to 22 straight games, the longest in the majors. BOSTON 5, TORONTO 4 at Toronto Carl Yastrzemski's three-ru-n homer with two out in the eighth inning lifted the Red Sox over the Blue Jays and put Boston in a virtual tie for first place in the American League East with idle Detroit. Toronto, threatened in the ninth off Beaver Tom.Burgrpeier,.,but..Bob Stanley cainein to earn his .third save. John Mayberry accounted for three Blue Jay runs with his sixth and seventh home runs of the season, while Jim Rice belted his 14th round-tripp- er for Boston. Raymond K. Gehman MONTREAL 5, PITTSBURGH 2 at Montreal Steve Rogers tossed no-h- it to ball for 1V3 innings and Ellis Valentine Dave Watson, No. 34 above, tries to keep a runner while infielder Mike Hall, left, attempts throw doubled home two runs in the first in- close at first base during this weekend's tryouts out one at home. Hall was selected for a position ning to help the Expos beat the Pirates, for the American Legion team at Legion Field, on the team; Watson was not. snapping Montreal's four-gam-e losing streak. Rogers, who picked up his fifth victory in nine decisions, yielded the Pirates' first hit with one out in the It's back to basics in local Legion tryouts eighth when Rennie Stennett singled for his 1,000th career hit. ByJimMonahan Maupin showed any favoritism toward any player school they want me to play shortstop and when I uniforms. Missourian sports writer during the three-da- y tryout. There were Hickman come out here, Cookie likes to have me at third The moment of truth came early Sunday mor- CINCINNATI 10, ATLANTA 0 at players, Rock Bridge players and former Legion base." ning too early for some. Maupin and Whitesides Cincinnati Ken Griffey hit a two-ru- n An onlooker at last weekend's American Legion players competing for the 18 positions on the team. For Watson, an 18-year-- old catcher-firs-t instructed their players to sit in the dugout while homer, Ray Knight added a three-ru- n baseball tryouts easily could have been reminded In the eyes of Maupin and Whitesides, all were baseman for the Kewpies, the pressure was of a they conferred on those who would be cut. It was blast and Bill Bonham notched his fifth of an old story about Casey Stengel. equal until they proved otherwise. different nature. Watson never played for the agreed that Maupin would read a list of names. straight victory Monday night as the It is reported that on Stengel's first day as "I judge 'em on whether they're gonna help the Legion team. Less than a week ago, he was struck Those hearing their name had made the team. For Reds bombed the Braves. manager of the New York Mets in 1962 he team," said Whitesides, a short, rugged man who on the jaw by a ball in a game against Rock , the rest, there is always the new Babe Ruth league Bonham combined with Pedro assembled his players, scratched his chin and starred for the same Legion team 28 years ago. Bridge. The mouth injury required three stitches. team being sponsored by Red Weir Sporting Borbon on a five-hitt- er as the Reds asked, "Now does anyone here know how to play For several players such as Mike Hall of Rock Watson's problems were compounded by a pulled Goods, which also sponsors the Legion team. blanked Atlanta for the second straight this game?" Bridge and Dave Watson of Hickman, tryouts are groin muscle which slowed him in the field. As Maupin headed for the dugout to bring the game.