Baylor staved off elimination on Saturday, using timely hits and solid pitching to beat Lamar, 6-4, in the NCAA tournament Fort Worth Regional. Two freshmen drove in four key runs, while Fort Wayne, Ind., junior Jon Ringenberg improved to a perfect 5-0 as the Bears advanced to play on Sunday.

“That’s one of the most frustrating and cool things about the game. If you’re in (Lamar’s) dugout, that is phenomenally frustrating,” coach Steve Smith said about what proved to be the game winning play.

Max Muncy entered the eighth inning with three swinging strikeouts, and the Baylor dugout cringed as Muncy fell behind 1-2 with two runners on and two outs. But Muncy delivered when it mattered, singling up the middle to bring home Raynor Campbell and Cal Towey and put Baylor ahead, 6-1.

Muncy’s RBI preserved a Baylor win despite Lamar’s Joey Latulippe hitting a three-run home run in the ninth. Josh Turley was pulled after Latulippe went yard, giving Brooks Pinckard the chance to notch his 11th save on the season.

Beside the ninth inning trouble, Turley gave his team 2.2 vital relief innings, allowing three hits and striking out two batters. But the win went to Ringenberg, whom Smith told Friday night he would get the start against the Cardinals.

“(Lamar was) an aggressive swinging team today, and that worked to my advantage, being able to throw my changeup and keep them off balance,” Ringenberg said.

Ringenberg received playing time last week when Baylor played a meaningless game against Kansas in the Big 12 tournament.

He contained the Cardinals throughout his 5.2 inning outing Saturday. Ringenberg conceded one run on five hits, struck out four batters and walked none. Andy Mena’s double that put runners on second and third ended Ringenberg’s day, but Turley and Pinckard finished the job behind a relatively consistent defense.

On Friday, errors led to an insurmountable lead in the Bears’ loss to Arizona. Lamar was not as fortunate and had opportunities thwarted by a much tighter defensive effort.

Lamar’s Ted Zentek, the first batter of the game to reach base, was thrown out by Gregg Glime on a third inning steal attempt. An inning later Glime gunned down Alex Mena trying to take second.

“Gregg was huge for us behind the plate,” senior second baseman Raynor Campbell said. “We did make some big time plays, but we didn’t have to make that many great plays today because our pitchers were down in the zone.”

Campbell did make his own pair of “big time plays,” first in the fourth inning by tracking down a grounder and robbing Wade Mathis of a hit. In the eighth, Campbell dashed into foul territory, sliding several feet before snatching a Mena fly for an out.

Baylor got on the scoreboard first in the fourth inning via Joey Hainsfurther’s single up the middle. Logan Vick doubled in the fifth, bringing in Landis Ware and Josh Ludy.

Baylor advances to the 2 p.m. game on Sunday and will play the loser of tonight’s TCU vs. Arizona game. If Baylor wins at 2, they play again at 7, against the winner of tonight’s game.

Smith’s decision to pitch Ringenberg paid dividends for Baylor beyond Saturday’s win. Because Ringenberg and Turley completed their task, Willie Kempf and Craig Fritsch are both available for tomorrow.

“We made the decision that we felt like would give us the best chance to play through to Monday,” Smith said. “I think we are as prepared for tomorrow as we could possibly be.”

Ohio State landed what some may consider its best recruit in recent memory.

Braxton Miller, the No. 2-ranked quarterback in the country, chose OSU Thursday out of a group of the NCAA’s top football programs that were all hoping to add him to their squad next year.

Unlike current starter Terrelle Pryor, Miller was recruited not for his athleticism, but his pure talent at the quarterback position. Miller has made a name for himself in the passing game during his career at Wayne High School in Huber Heights, Ohio.

According to Kevin Noon of BuckeyeGrove.com, coming out of a larger school like Wayne should better prepare him for his career at OSU.

“He comes out of a strong program and that will give him somewhat of an advantage when he gets to the collegiate level,” Noon said. “Sometimes you have players who come out of systems that are not geared toward the next level, but that is not the case with Miller.”

The junior stands at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, but what he lacks in size, he has made up for on the field.

Landing the state’s top quarterback will hopefully lead to a domino-effect for the Buckeyes, bringing in other solid wide receivers and players for the 2011 recruiting class.

The next target for OSU will likely be Springfield linebacker Trey DePriest, a familiar face for Miller.

“They have been friends for a long time and despite playing at different high schools, the lure of playing at the same college could play a factor in DePriest’s decision,” Noon said.

With a commitment from Miller, OSU fans will be able to breathe a sigh of relief for the future of their team when Pryor is no longer a Buckeye.

One of three co-leaders after the first day of action at the Memorial Tournament, PGA rookie Rickie Fowler separated himself from the pack on day two with a round of 66 leaving him 13-under for the tournament.

“I just feel really comfortable getting out and seeing my name on top of the leaderboard,” said Fowler. “It’s not making me feel much nerves at all.”

Shooting 65-66 for a combined score of 131 through two rounds, Fowler is now tied for the lowest two-round total in Memorial history.

Chasing Fowler is yesterday’s co-leader Justin Rose, alone in second at 10-under par and Tim Petrovic and 2002 Memorial champion Jim Furyk tied for third at 9-under.

At the rate Fowler is playing, however, it seems as though the 21-year-old cooling off is the only way the field can catch him.

“If he goes out and plays well, it will be tough to catch him,” said Furyk. “If he goes and shoots another 6- or 7-under, he’s going to have a huge lead. If he doesn’t, he’ll let some other guys back in the tournament.”

Following an opening round 67, Mickelson cooled off in round two, shooting 1-under par, good for a tie for eighth going into the weekend.

Defending champ Tiger Woods came out stronger in day two but failed to capitalize on a few good opportunities, leaving him 10 shots off the lead at 3-under par.

“I hit more good shots today than I did yesterday and really putted well today,” said Woods of Friday’s performance. “I had five lip-outs today, so it could have been a pretty good number.”

The cut for the tournament came at 1-over par, leaving 71 players left to battle it out over the weekend for the 2010 Memorial crown.

Three consecutive Baylor errors led to a five-run sixth inning, as the Bears mounted a late comeback but fell short to Arizona, 10-9. Gregg Glime knocked his eighth home run of the year as part of a three-RBI effort, but his team’s ninth inning rally was not enough.

“We had one very poor inning defensively, that in a game like this winds up being the difference,” coach Steve Smith said.

Smith was talking about the sixth inning, in which mistakes cost the Bears five unearned runs. The trouble began after Shawn Tolleson allowed a leadoff walk to Cole Frenzel. Josh Garcia then hit a high bouncing ground ball to shortstop Landis Ware, who would have retired Frenzel on the force play at second. But Ware bobbled the exchange from glove to throwing hand, letting both runners reach safely.

Robert Refsnyder followed with another potential double play ball back to Tolleson, but Tolleson’s mishandling left the bases loaded and with no outs.

Finally third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean delivered another double play ball to Ware, yet Ware’s toss to Raynor Campbell at second went wide as Frenzel scored the inning’s first run.

With three runners on base who all reached on errors, Alex Mejia doubled down the left field line to score Garcia and Refsnyder. Joey Rickard then raced for an infield single, plating Mejias-Brean from third.

Baylor gave up another run in the seventh and ninth innings, which proved crucial in its desperate ninth inning rally.

After a walk and single to start the ninth, Max Muncy delivered an RBI single to right. Glime then grounded out but plated another run in the process, and Chris Slater reached first on a throwing error that brought Muncy home. Landis Ware singled, Logan Vick drew a walk, and Brooks Pinckard slapped a 1-1 pitch through the right side to keep Baylor’s hopes alive.

Glime liked his team’s chances at an improbable comeback as senior Raynor Campbell walked to the plate.

“Raynor’s a guy you want up there in the end. It showed how important every run was earlier in the game that we didn’t get,” Glime said.

Campbell could not keep his team in the game, instead flying out to right field.

Just before the catastrophic sixth, Baylor had turned a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead. Arizona had its own miscue in the inning, as Mejias-Brean looked to complete a groundout but tripped and fell on his shoelace and could not throw out Joey Hainsfurther. Glime later gave the Bears the lead with a double to right.

Smith agreed that giving the lead right back to an opponent hurt, “particularly in the way that you do it. It’s deflating, but the guys didn’t quit,” Smith said. “The last outs of games can always be interesting.”

The Bears hoped for a longer outing from Logan Verrett but pulled him in the fourth after Steve Selsky and Garcia homered. Verrett lasted 3.1 innings, conceding five hits and three earned runs.

Tolleson took the loss on a 3.2 inning outing, with six runs allowed but only one of them earned.

Baylor plays the loser of the TCU vs. Lamar game on Saturday at 2 p.m. The loser of that game will be eliminated from the NCAA tournament.

Approximately six months ago, former Director of General Education and Fox School of Business Professor Terry Halbert approached her bosses, former Provost Lisa Staiano-Coico and then-Deputy Provost and Dean of University College Richard Englert, about some much needed time off.

Halbert has been working on the growing two-year-old GenEd curriculum for the past five years in her position as GenEd director. The university granted her an administrative one-year leave, allowing Halbert a break and time to return to her scholarly work of researching and writing. A replacement for Halbert will be announced at the end of next week, Englert said. The replacement is an internal university hire whom both Halbert and Englert praised.

“It was such a daunting task to totally remake our Core Curriculum, and Terry just did an outstanding job in planning for the implementation and in the implementation,” said Englert, who is now serving as the interim senior vice president and provost while the university conducts a search for permanent replacement for Staiano-Coico. Staiano-Coico is now the president of the City University of New York.

“I’m very grateful to Temple for giving me the chance to do something important, but also the chance to take a time out,” Halbert said, adding that she is looking forward to recharging and then channeling her energy into other research during her time off.

Look for a more extensive profile of Halbert and the future of the GenEd program on The Temple News website this Monday.

When Governor Schwarzenegger revealed his revised California 2010-2011 budget earlier this month, it retained his proposal to add $366 million in funding to the California State University (CSU) system.

Significant cuts were made in the CSU budget last year and $305 million of the proposed funding would restore the lost money. The remaining $60.6 million is intended to increase enrollment in the system’s 23 campuses.

“The governor has decided this year that enough is enough, especially after the cuts in education spending in past years,” Schwarzenegger’s deputy press secretary Andrea McCarthy said. “He’s had to make cuts that he never wanted to make, and he’s drawing the line when it comes to educating the future of our state.”

The governor’s budget would also withdraw the proposals to eliminate the Cal Grant program. Deputy Director of the State Department of Finance H.D. Palmer said the fact the governor’s proposal increases funding to the CSU system, despite California’s growing deficit is a testament to how highly the governor values higher education.

“The ball is in the legislature’s court now — we can’t say whether the proposal will actually be passed,” Palmer said. “The full amount of funding would be a 12.2 percent increase over last year’s CSU budget, and the first priority would be boosting enrollment.”

The restoration of funds will come as a relief to California State Universities. Since 2007, funding cuts for the universities have led to more than 5,000 fewer class sections offered and a 45 percent increase in student fees, according to a press release issued by the California Faculty Association. Last year alone, the CSU hired 10 percent fewer teachers.

While next year’s CSU budget would be spared from cuts, there are many other areas of the governor’s proposed budget that would not be so fortunate. Schwarzenegger’s May revision includes the elimination of the CalWORKs program, a $600 million reduction in spending on mental health care and the elimination of the California Food Assistance Program.

Though the funding has yet to be approved by the California legislature, the CSU administration has already established priorities for the governor’s proposed funding.

“The proposed numbers are very compelling, but it’s unclear how much will actually get approved,” said Mike Uhlenkamp, spokesperson for the CSU media relations office. “Our ultimate goal is increasing access, and if all of this funding was approved, it would increase student enrollment across the state by about 29,000 and at Cal Poly by about 1,500.”

Cal Poly Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert Koob said the university administration has several goals in mind for the funding Cal Poly would receive from this budget.

“We’re primarily grateful that this budget didn’t have any more cuts,” Koob said. “Our first priority would be making up for the money lost by furloughs and restoring the faculty’s full-time pay. We also want to restore the faculty and operating positions that have been cut and make room for more students.”

The proposed funding would also be welcomed by Cal Poly students.

“I’d really like to see any new funding go toward making more class sections,” environmental management junior Ariel Namm said. “I would also love it if there was a way the school could make things like textbooks less expensive.”

The California legislature’s deadline for approval of the 2010-2011 budget is June 15, though the legislature has taken longer in past years.

Residents of Kingman Hall at U. California-Berkeley will be coming home to cleaner, greener digs in the fall after the co-op undergoes an eco-friendly makeover this summer.

The Berkeley Student Cooperative will soon begin sprucing up Kingman with energy-efficient upgrades that will reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent. The renovations will put the co-op in compliance with Measure G – a city ballot initiative passed in November 2006 that requires the city to create a plan to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2000 emission levels by 2050.

The retrofits – part of the cooperative’s effort to make all 20 of their buildings more energy efficient by the end of the decade – will include replacing the current heating and air conditioning system with high-efficiency furnaces, adding insulation, retrofitting the windows in the common area and installing thermostat-controlled showerheads.

The upgrades will be funded with the cooperative’s own money, though the Berkeley City Council recommended on June 1 that the cooperative be granted an additional $30,000 to retrofit another cooperative building.

Though Kingman Hall will not be closing down, Jan Stokley, the cooperative’s executive director, said the co-op is “substantially vacant.”

“There are six people who have chosen to stay, and they have the option at any point to transfer to another co-op,” Stokley said.

She added that the retrofitting will not result in fee increases for residents, but hopes instead that they can raise the money solely through energy savings and alumni donations.

“We’re not going to fund this through fee hikes,” Stokley said. “We’re trying our best to keep these (co-ops) as affordable as possible because of tuition hikes.”

Stokley said there is a lot of enthusiasm among co-op residents for the renovations.

“People really turned out for the City Council meeting on Tuesday night,” she said. “They spoke to the need to do this and really showed that this is doable and that we all need to start doing it now.”

Though UC Berkeley will not be involved in the Kingman Hall renovation, Christine Shaff, communications director of the Department of Facilities Services, said the campus would oversee any future retrofit of the two buildings on land leased to the cooperative by the university.

The City Council will vote on June 22 whether to include $30,000 in the budget for the cooperatives’ proposed second retrofit. Stokley said it has not yet been decided which co-op would receive this funding.

She added that the cooperative hopes to fund future retrofits in part with money saved through the “greener” renovations.

In order for the organization to remain in compliance with Measure G, it will have to renovate all 20 co-ops within the next 10 years. The first interim short-term target for Measure G is to reduce city emissions by 33 percent by 2020. The cooperative has committed to retrofitting one building per year, but at this rate, half of the residential units will fail to meet the 2020 emissions reduction goal, according to Councilmember Kriss Worthington.

But even if the BSC does not manage to finish all 20 buildings by 2020, there will not be any negative consequences.

“There’s no penalty if you fail,” Worthington said. “People from the co-op are saying ‘we want to do our part, we want to make sure we meet or surpass the goal’ … (The $30,000 grant) would be a big carrot to help them – no, it’s like a one year supply of carrot juice, it’s way bigger than a carrot.”

Stokely said she is confident all co-ops will be retrofitted by 2020 and predicts more sustainability projects in the future.

“I’m sure that even after we’ve accomplished what we know now we need to do, there will be something new on the horizon,” she said. “Our commitment to sustainability is long term.”

Smoking hookah could be as detrimental to a person’s health as cigarettes, but most people are not aware of the negative health risks, according to a 2010 study.

The study, conducted in 2007 by the U. Montreal Hospital Research Center, found that hookah, and other forms of water pipe smoking, usage increased from 8 percent in 2006 to 23 percent in 2007 among North American young adults ages 15 to 24 because of lack of education about possible health risks, which are similar to cigarettes.

The tobacco in water pipes contain the same harmful products as cigarettes, including nicotine, carbon dioxide and various metals, according to the study.

Although many young adults believe hookah has lower nicotine content, different water pipe products and smoking patterns could result in a higher nicotine intake than cigarettes, said Jennifer O’Loughlin, professor of epidemiology at the U. Montreal and coauthor of the study.

Athens City-County Health Commissioner James Gaskell said that tobacco smoking is a serious problem among young adults in Athens.

“The most important thing we can do is prevent tobacco use in kids,” said Gaskell.

In order to help treat nicotine addiction and tobacco use, Athens County has a part-time tobacco prevention coordinator, Nancy Schell, to help individuals quit.

Schell was unavailable to comment.

Although funds are not available, Gaskell said he wants the Athens City-County Health Department to increase promotion of a tobacco-free community.

Zach Carlson, an Ohio U. freshman studying graphic design, smokes hookah in moderation and is not worried about the side effects.

“Hookah is fine by me as long as you know what you’re doing and don’t get crazy about it,” Carlson said.

Hookah is growing in popularity because of low cost, easy access, social interaction, flavors that cover up the taste of tobacco, and perceptions of low health risk, according to the study.

“It is important for people to understand the products they are putting into their lungs,” said Erika Dugas, co-author of the study.

Stanford U.’s Lindsay Burdette can’t be stopped this postseason, putting up another remarkable run to become NCAA doubles champion with longtime partner Hilary Barte, and upset the nation’s No. 1 team from Tennessee 7-5, 4-6, 6-0.

“I have known deep down that Hilary and I were the best team together,” Lindsay Burdette said. “That showed me that it was the right thing and it just made me work that much harder so that we can be together.”

The No. 2 team in the country all season, Burdette and Barte have really proved their dominance. With an overall record of 36-6, the team is Stanford’s first NCAA doubles champions since Alice Barnes and Erin Burdette — Lindsay’s older sister — defeated Amber Liu and Ann Yelsey in 2005 in an all-Stanford final.

Their run to the final was a fairly routine affair. They recorded four wins before the final match, all in straight sets. In fact, their most dominant match came in the semifinals over No. 4 Andrea Remynse and Yasmin Schnack of UCLA, as they won 6-0, 6-1.

The duo also defeated the No. 11 team of Csilla Borsanyi and Lenka Broosova for the second time this postseason in the quarterfinals by the score of 6-4, 6-4. The last time they met was when No. 8 Stanford upset No. 1 Baylor on its way to its 16th NCAA championship. Barte/Burdette defeated Borsanyi/Broosova in a close 9-8 (3) match that time.

“I don’t really know how to put it into words, but I think a lot of what makes [Lindsay and me] good is what we have off the court as well as on,” Barte said. “We just kind of know what the other person is going to do. I know exactly where Lindsay will hit the ball and that is what makes us so good.”

In the finals, Stanford faced the nation’s top doubles team of Natalie Pluskota and Caitlin Whoriskey from Tennessee. In their past two matches, the Cardinal and Lady Vols had split. Pluskota/Whoriskey recorded the first win 8-4 in the second-round of the ITA All-American Championships, but Stanford rebounded and won 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) in the championship match of the ITA National Indoor Championships.

“In the first set, they were making it tough to play our game,” Lindsay Burdette said. “We had our chances in that first set and ended up carrying it out. Second set, they got the upper hand in an up-and-down set, but in the third, we started to tough it out and that just carried us right through the third all the way to the end.”

In their most important match together, Barte said the pair entered the zone and just played their way through the third set to close out the match.

“I just felt like I was seeing the ball and it looked like it was going really slow,” Barte said. “I was always one step ahead of them.”

With only two entrants into the singles tournament — freshman Mallory Burdette and Barte — the Cardinal put up quite the challenge but couldn’t get to the finals.

Ranked No. 33, Mallory made it to the second round this year before falling to No. 7 Laura Vallverdu of Miami 6-4, 6-0. In the first round, she defeated No. 58 Alexa Guarachi of Alabama 6-1, 6-3. Mallory was the player who clinched the NCAA team tournament for Stanford, winning the go-ahead match that day. She ends her season at 38-6 overall, tied for most wins on the team and capping off a phenomenal freshman season.

Barte appeared dominant in tournament play until running into the inspired No. 12 Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia, the tournament’s eventual champion. Barte posted wins over No. 55 Michaela Kissell of Marshall, No. 88 Ute Schnoy of Denver, No. 44 Kristi Boxx of Mississippi and No. 40 Bianca Eichkorn of Miami. Barte won in straight sets in all those matches before falling to Gullickson 7-6(3), 6-3. With a final record of 38-8, Barte earned All-America honors in both singles and doubles for the third consecutive year.

Lindsay Burdette has now finished her college career, a long and well-fought four years on the Stanford women’s team that ended with the NCAA team and doubles titles.

“That was my last hurrah, and I was fighting back tears running around warm-up this morning,” Lindsay Burdette said. “It takes a lot of effort and hard work to be able to look back and say you gave it everything you had. I definitely accomplished that goal. I played through injuries, I did my part, and at the end of the day, I think those things count the most.”

Bradley Klahn must have looked a little strange walking through security at the Atlanta International Airport on Monday afternoon.

Earlier that day, Klahn had won the NCAA singles title in Athens, Ga. Not wanting to check his hard-earned trophy in his suitcase, the sophomore made the only logical choice.

“I took out my schoolbooks and put the trophy in my backpack,” Klahn said.

Apparently studying for finals can wait a day for the man who became Stanford’s first NCAA singles champion since 2000.

In the championship match, Klahn defeated Louisville’s Austen Childs 6-1, 6-2 — his fourth straight-sets victory in the tournament. The match was never particularly close.

“When I went up two breaks at 4-1, then held serve to go 5-1, I thought I had it in the bag,” Klahn said. “It was nice to close it out 5-2.”

When Klahn finally won on his fourth match point, the Poway, Calif., native dropped to his knees, screamed and raised his clenched fists toward the skies. Klahn was soon greeted by head coach John Whitlinger, assistant coach Brandon Coupe, doubles partner Ryan Thacher and lastly, his mom.

“To be a national champion, it’s a huge deal,” Klahn said. “Just to win an NCAA championship in anything is a huge honor. I’m so excited. I don’t really know what to say.”

As one of eight No. 9-16 seeds, Klahn had a tough road to the title match. After breezing past Southern Methodist’s Artem Baradach in straight sets in the first round, Klahn ran into trouble against Tennessee’s Boriz Conkic. Klahn dropped the first set 6-4, but was able to recover, pulling out the last two sets 6-3, 6-4.

“I had two tough three-setters. I controlled the tempo this year,” he said in reference to his first-round lost last year at the NCAAs.

In the round of 16, Klahn found himself matched against the tournament’s No. 4 seed, Guillermo Gomez from Georiga Tech. In his first upset of the tournament, Klahn dismantled Gomez 6-4, 6-4.

Klahn had his second three-setter in the quarterfinals against Mississippi’s Marcel Thiemann. After dropping the first set 6-1, Klahn looked dead in the water — nearly two straight weeks of tennis taking its toll. Somehow, Klahn fought his way back in the second set to win the tiebreaker and held on to win the third set 6-4 to advance.

In the semifinals, Klahn ran into Duke’s Henrique Cunha<\p>–<\p>the No. 2 player in the nation and the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Playing what he described as the best tennis of his life, Klahn rattled out two easy 6-2 victories to advance to the finals and a date with history.

“It still hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” he said. “It’s pretty unbelievable.”

In addition to his singles championship, Klahn and Thacher also advanced to the semifinals in the doubles tournament. As the No. 4 seed in the draw, the sophomore duo fell to eventual champions Drew Courtney and Michael Shabaz of Virginia.

For now, Klahn plans on taking some much-deserved rest. After finals are over, he will play in some professional tournaments, hopefully including the U.S. Open if he can earn a wild-card spot.

In the meantime, he might get around to digging those textbooks out of his checked baggage.