SportSThe Daily Texan

Interim Sports Editor: David R. HenryE-mail: sports@dailytexanonline.comPhone: (512) 232-2210www.dailytexanonline.com

8Monday, June 23, 2008

MLB

By Scott BaganDaily Texan Columnist

By Colby WhiteDaily Texan Staff

It took him some time to find his rhythm, but once Adauto Gonzalez settled in, it was clear who was the better fighter.

Gonzalez (9-4-1, 0 KO’s) notched a decisive eight-round unanimous-decision victory to claim the va-cant Texas Super Featherweight title against Justo Vallecillo (5-5-1, 0 KO’s) Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center, despite having moments when he lacked a dominant offense.

After two slow rounds where nei-ther fighter showed much aggres-sion to start the fight, the boos of the crowd moved Gonzalez to let his hands go in the third, leading to a near knockdown of Vallecillo near the end of the round. With Vallecil-

lo on the ropes and staggering, the bell rang before Gonzalez could fin-ish the job.

Gonzalez would keep the pres-sure on in the fourth, eventual-ly scoring the knockdown with a short left hook that caught Val-lecillo as he was leaping forward, searching for an opening. Vallecillo would get up, but Gonzalez, nick-named “Gallito,” or “Little Roost-er,” kept clear control throughout the rest of the bout.

Throughout the remaining rounds, Gonzalez played more reservedly, choosing to show his speed and eva-sion to avoid losing his clear lead. Displaying a hit-and-run style, Gon-zalez kept Vallecillo on his heels with quick combinations to the body fol-lowed by footwork that maintained distance between the two fighters. Vallecillo would have his moments, chasing down Gonzalez in order to land punches, but the Nicaraguan failed to rattle off many combina-tions, and his single punches did not

do enough damage to slow the elu-sive Gonzalez.

The title is a first in the U.S. for Gonzalez, a former champion in Mexico.

The undercard for the night proved to provide more action than the slow-starting main event for the fans who arrived early. Many of the fights turned out to be unorthodox slugfests.

Austin native Ignacio Rivera over-came a tough four rounds against Rodrigo Villareal with a split de-cision. Both fighters capitalized on each other’s defensive flaws, land-ing a variety of power punches to the delight of the crowd.

San Antonio’s Steve Hall lost by decision to Gabriel Hernandez in his pro debut, with both fighters finding moments to release flurries of combinations. In another pro de-but, Lee Bagan, a Texas graduate, put on a show against Ras Thomp-son. Bagan repeatedly unleashed damaging combinations on the in-side but was let down by his de-fense when Thompson threw wild overhand rights that found their target. Bagan and Thompson fought to a draw.

While the life of a Chicago Cubs fan is heavily burdened with well-documented woes, solitude is not one of them.

The term “lovable losers” has been branded on the Cubs’ franchise like an inverted badge of honor. While it is a testament to the club’s im-mense popularity, it is a reminder of the epic struggle the north-side Chicago team has en-dured for a century.

One hundred years after their last World Se-ries victory, the Cubs have collected their 10,000th win.

“It was a tough first 10,000 wins,” second year shortstop Ryan Theriot told Cubs.com. “I hope the next 10,000 are easier.”

In October 2006, Chicago acquired veter-an manager Lou Piniella, who has proven to be most beneficial to the previously struggling club. Since his acquisition, the Cubs’ record improved from 66-96 in 2006 to 85-77 in 2007 and continues to strengthen.

Piniella’s club currently boasts the best re-cord in baseball (47-28), along with the most runs scored (411) and the league’s best home record: a remarkable 31-8.

Piniella has made drastic changes to the team’s batting order, defensive alignment, starting rota-tion and overall roster. Alfonso Soriano, a pow-er-hitting speedster who was also acquired in the 2006 off-season, became a permanent fixture in the leadoff role before breaking his hand June 11. While placing a power hitter like Soriano in the leadoff role was unpopular with Cubs fans, Pin-iella persisted, manufacturing the wins to support his move.

Piniella’s alterations to the starting rotation and bullpen were both unconventional and un-popular. Former closer Ryan Dempster swapped roles with long-time starter Kerry Wood. Since the change, both pitchers have re-invented them-selves. With Wood currently leading the nation-al league with 19 saves and Dempster possess-ing the league’s best home record, 8-0, the Cubs’ manager, yet again, proved his genius.

Though Piniella has certainly been credited for much of the Cubs’ success this season, gener-al manager Jim Hendry cannot be overlooked. In the previous off-season, Hendry signed Japanese MVP Kosuke Fukudome to a four-year $48 mil-lion contract. Since the signing, the right fielder has led the majors in pitches taken, and he ranks seventh in the national league in on-base percent-age (.405), just ahead of Cubs third baseman Ara-mis Ramirez (.401).

Hendry additionally inked starting pitcher Car-los Zambrano to a five-year $91 million deal in August of last season. Since Zambrano’s exten-sion, the ace pitcher from Venezuela has played a pivotal role in the team’s ’08 success, ranking fifth in the national league in wins (8), sixth in earned run average (3.13), seventh in strikeouts (177) and first in batting average among active pitchers, hit-ting .362 through 47 plate appearances.

Despite a successful record-setting 2008 sea-son, the Cubs have been forced to place both Sori-ano and Zambrano on the disabled list after Zam-brano suffered a minor shoulder strain on June 18 against Piniella’s former team, the Tampa Bay Rays. The 15-day absence, however, should not drastically hinder the Cubs, who possess a deep and talented minor league farm system. Piniella, however, is cautiously optimistic.

“It’s a big blow to us,” Piniella told Cubs.com. “We’ve got a real good farm system though, and that’s what it’s here for. We brought up some kids, and hopefully they can swing some bats and help us win.”

The Cubs just finished a three-game series against cross-town rivals the Chicago White Sox, and will face the American League Central’s first-place team again this week, June 27-29.

With both of Chicago’s teams in first place, the windy city is howling with excitement and antic-ipation for what very well may be the first ever “L-Series” in Chicago come October.

Piniella, Hendry have Cubs fans believing in team

By David R. Henry & Austin Talbert

Daily Texan StaffIt’s been quite a summer for Texas

freshman Maston Wallace. The pole vaulter won the NCAA Out-

door Track and Field Championships last week and took second place at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Outdoor

Championships in Columbus, Ohio.Wallace will compete in the World

Junior Championships in Poland on July 10 with the qualification round at 2:30 a.m. Central Standard Time.

Wallace cleared five meters to open the competition. He then achieved 5.15 meters on his first offi-cial attempt and cleared 5.30 meters to nab the silver on his second try.

Last year, Wallace, who hails from Clear Brook High School near Hous-ton, was the nation’s top high school pole vaulter.

He vaulted 5.35 meters at the

NCAA championship, and his per-sonal best is 5.50 meters, which he recorded at the Big 12 outdoor cham-pionships on May 18.

Teammate Danzell Fortson compet-ed in the 400-meter at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships.

Fortson finished sixth in his heat with a time of 47.57 seconds, leaving him unable to qualify for the world championships.

However, the rest of the summer will be busy for some members of the Longhorn track team.

Coach Bubba Thornton heads off

to the U.S. Olympic Trials where his team will be decided.

The head coach of this summer’s U.S. Olympic team, Thornton has the opportunity to coach some of his past and current Longhorns as NCAA Champions Leo Manzano and Jacob Hernandez, and graduating seniors Darren Brown and Jake Morse head to the trials June 27-July 6. The trials, held in Eugene, Ore., will also fea-ture former Longhorns Trey Hard-ee (decathlon) and Andra Manson (high jump) competing for a spot on Thronton’s team.

Wallace comes in second at championshipsMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

OLYMPIC TRIALS

Laura Wilkinson performs a dive in the semifinals of the women’s platform at the U.S. Olympic diving trials in Indianapolis, Friday.

Darron Cummings | Associated Press

Chicago Cubs fans celebrate after the Cubs beat the Chicago White Sox 11-7 in an interleague baseball game Saturday in Chicago.

Nam Y. Huh | Associated Press

DTdailytexanonline.com

See photo gallery of Fight Night.

Rolling with the punches

Gonzalez wins in eight roundsAbove, Aduato “Gallito” Gonzalez, of Mexico, fights Justo Vallecillo, of Nicaragua, in the Texas Super Featherweight Final at the Frank Erwin Center Saturday night. Below, Lee Bagan, a 2007 UT graduate, gets water from his coach between rounds at Fight Night in the Frank Erwin Center Saturday night.

Photos by Jeffrey McWhorter | Daily Texan Staff

The term ‘lovable losers’ has been branded on the Cubs’

franchise like an inverted badge of honor.”

Boxer beats Vallecillo to claim Texas Super Featherweight title

Freshman pole vaulter earns berth in World Junior Championships

Wilkinson secures bidBy Charles Osborne

Daily Texan StaffAt 30 years old, some questioned

whether alumna Laura Wilkinson was getting too old to keep competing at the top of her game. Wilkinson silenced all questions Sunday afternoon, taking first place at the U.S. Olympic diving trials with a 1214.50 score.

Wilkinson joined fellow alumnus Troy Dumais in the winners’ circle, and the two will represent the U.S. at the Olympics in Beijing.

This will be the third Olympic com-petition for Wilkinson, the gold-medal winner from The Woodlands.

Members of the Texas men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed in Indianapolis, Ind. Senior Mary Yarrison and senior Jessica Liv-ingston represented the women’s team while senior Jonathan Wilcox repre-sented the men’s team.

Wilcox and Dumais participated in the men’s 3-meter diving quarters and semifinals to advance to Sunday’s fi-nals. Wilcox sat in eighth place in the opening round with a lackluster 396.85 points. He dropped to ninth in the semis, finishing with just 774.75. Dumais post-ed a score of 502.75 in the quarters and rolled into the semis in first place. In the semis, Dumais dominated and collect-ed 535.55 points to finish with 1038.30 heading into the finals.

In the finals, Wilcox finished in ninth with 1182.55 points. However, Dumais finished in first place, with a score of 1552.90. Dumais received a nomina-tion to the 2008 Beijing Olympics team, which will become official July 6 at the U.S. Olympic Team Selection Camp in Knoxville, Tenn.

On Wednesday, Wilkinson won the quarterfinals and Livingston placed third, scoring 358.40. Both divers ad-

vanced to the semifinals, where they performed well: Wilkinson head-ed into the finals with the top score, 813.20 points, while Livingston fell to fifth place with 672.10 points but was still able to slip into the finals.

Livingston took fifth in the finals and has an outside chance to quali-fy for the Olympics, since finishers in second through sixth place are eligible to qualify. However, only three divers are allowed, so she only has an outside chance at qualifying.

Yarrison participated in the wom-en’s 3-meter diving quarterfinals and semifinals. In the quarterfinals, Yarri-son posted a 297 score. In the semis, Yarrison finished with 614.10 points as she climbed into sixth place on Satur-day. Yarrison placed seventh in the fi-nals with a 926.10 score.

Yarrison’s Olympic dream will have to wait

8A SPTS