Times-Gazette, Ashland, Ohio Tuesday, May 17, 2016 • B1

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PGA TOUR

Jason Day starting to draw comparisons with Tiger WoodsJason Day starting to draw comparisons with Tiger WoodsBy DOUG FERGUSONAssociated Press

See Page B3 | Day

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.— Nothing is good enough forJason Day.

He won The Players Champi-onship for hisseventh victoryin the last 10months, and allhe could talkabout was win-ning more. Heis No. 1 in theworld by an in-creasingly large margin over Jor-dan Spieth, and his points aver-age is the highest of any playersince Tiger Woods in the latesummer of 2013.

Day wants to go higher.“Keep pushing,” he said Sun-

day after his four-shot victory.“Yeah, keep pushing, becauseTiger says he’s going to kick mybutt when he comes back, so I’mgoing to try and extend that gap.So if he does come back and he’sturned into Tiger Woods again,I’ve got to watch my behind.”

Woods hasn’t played since Au-gust. He hasn’t won in threeyears.

Part of his time appears to bespent on sending text messagesto Day, who never fails to men-tion how much he has leaned onhis idol for advice on how toplay, how to think his wayaround the golf course, how toclose out tournaments.

At the moment, Day looks likea suitable replacement.

His work ethic is fierce. Hehits it long, straight and can hita 3-iron higher than the pinetrees lining the fairways. Hisiron play is among the best. Hisscrambling? He got up-and-down85 percent of the time, the high-est rate of anyone at The PlayersChampionship. And, for themost part, he felt as if he couldmake anything with his putter.

“It’s no coincidence he’s No. 1in the world,” Justin Thomassaid. “He drives it extremely far,extremely straight. He hits it tothe moon, so he can access pinsthat most people can’t. His shortgame is ridiculous. I think I’vepretty much covered it all there

when it comes to the golf.”Adam Scott played with his

fellow Australian during a prac-tice round and saw him oozingwith confidence.

Scott knows that look.When he was an amateur,

Scott played a practice roundwith Woods in Las Vegas beforeWoods went over to PebbleBeach for the 2000 U.S. Open,which he won by 15 shots. Whatalways stood out about Woods isnot that he won, and won big,but that he did it for so long.

“I always try to explain howgood you feel after one win,”Scott said. “And I try to imaginehow good Tiger felt just playingfive years into his pro careerhaving won like 50 events, and

imagine how you’d feel confi-dencewise. And Jason must bekind of feeling something likethat at the moment. And that’san incredibly nice way to walkout on the golf course. And youcan see it with Jason.

“You can see there’s that calm-ness inside him — calm confi-dence — and the way he’s walk-ing around. He’s got that kind ofunbeatable look about him.”

He has looked that way eversince he left that birdie puttshort on the 18th green at St.Andrews that kept him out ofthe playoff at the British Open.Day found something that week— a combination of desire and

NBA PLAYOFFS

Lowry leads Toronto toLowry leads Toronto toseries with Clevelandseries with ClevelandBy IAN HARRISONAssociated Press

See Page B3 | Series

TORONTO — Less thantwo weeks ago, Kyle Lowrywas astrugglingso badlythat he stayed past midnightto work on his game after atough playoff loss.

Now a red-hot Lowry is car-rying the Toronto Raptorsinto their first ever EasternConference finals.

Lowry scored 35 points,DeMar DeRozan had 28 andthe Raptors reached the con-ference finals by beating theMiami Heat 116-89 on Sun-day. They play in Clevelandon tonight.

“I missed some shots Icould have made, but we won

the game,” Lowry said.“That’s all that matters. I’mgoing to keep pushing and tryto be better, and do things tokeep helping my team getwins.”

After Toronto’s overtimeloss to Miami in Game 1,when Lowry scored sevenpoints and missed 10 of 13shots, he stayed behind formore than an hour to practicehis shooting alone while workcrews picked up garbage frombeneath the Air Canada Cen-tre seats.

Things were a lot differentin Sunday’s Game 7 whenLowry topped 30 points forthe second straight game andthe third time in the series. Astanding-room-only crowd of

CAVALIERS

Experience, LeBron make CavsExperience, LeBron make Cavshuge favorites over Raptorshuge favorites over RaptorsBy TOM WITHERSAssociated Press

See Page B3 | Favorites

CLEVELAND — LeBron Jamesonce stood in Kyle Lowry’s sneak-ers.

Back in 2007, James, with amuch thicker hairline and morehops than he has today, made hisfirst appearance in the EasternConference finals and carried theCavaliers past Detroit and into theNBA Finals for the first time. Nineyears, five straight Finals appear-ances, four MVP awards and twochampionship rings later, James isagain on the doorstep of theleague’s showcase event.

It’s all new to Lowry, one ofToronto’s All-Star guards, and theRaptors.

Experience is just one advan-tage the Cavs will enjoy whenthey open the East finals tonight

against the Raptors, who havescratched their way through twoGame 7s in this postseason andare on their deepest playoff run.

And although the Cavs arerecharged following a nine-day

break between playoff series andhave been in this spot before,James doesn’t think his or Cleve-land’s postseason resume givesthem any edge.

“It’s not an advantage,” Jamessaid after practice Monday.“They’re here for a reason. Yougot to go out and play. They alsoplayed two seven-game series andwe didn’t. So they can have theupper edge on that. So, there’s noadvantage to either team. Bothteams are 0-0 and it’s the first tofour.”

The Cavs have yet to go fivegames in this postseason, complet-ing four-game sweeps over Detroitand Atlanta. James has been hisusual dominant self, averaging23.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.3assists. But unlike last year when

Valiant effortValiant effort

Ashland gives PerrysburgAshland gives Perrysburgclose battle but missesclose battle but misseschance at districtschance at districtsBy Curtis PulliamT-G Sports Writer

See Page B3 | Eort

PERRYSBURG — The Ash-land baseball team had thehome crowd and the Perrys-burg Yellow Jackets on theirtoes at Jim Leyland FamilyField on Monday in a DivisionI sectional final matchup.

After Ashland entered thebottom of the sixth with a one-run lead, the Yellow Jacketswere able to plate four runs enroute to a 7-4 victory over theArrows.

"To have them on the ropes,ahead of them 4-3 headinginto the bottom of the sixth,I'm proud of that," Ashlandcoach Rob Lavengood said."Unfortunate ly , we justcouldn't finish."

The Yellow Jackets moveon to a district semifinal gameThursday in Findlay, while theArrows will continue regular-season play today against Or-rville.

“We'd like to send our se-niors with a win," Lavengoodsaid.

Sparking the Yellow Jacketrally was Tyson Kleinfelter,who socked a triple to theright-center field gap.

A sacrifice fly by Grant De-las tied the game at four.

But after a groundout andback-to-back walks, TrevorHafner hit a two-run triple offHunter Krebs to put the Yel-low Jackets up 6-4.

Perrysburg tacked on

Times-Gazette photo/Tom E. PuskarAshland's Keaton Morehead (16) makes a catch in right eld against Perrysburg on Monday in a Division I sectionalAshland's Keaton Morehead (16) makes a catch in right eld against Perrysburg on Monday in a Division I sectional

nal at Perrysburg High School.nal at Perrysburg High School.

Times Gazette photo/Tom E. PuskarAshland's Logan Brewer (53) pitches against PerrysburgAshland's Logan Brewer (53) pitches against Perrysburg

during Monday's game.during Monday's game.

INDIANS

Gomes hitsGomes hits3-run homer;3-run homer;Tribe ralliesTribe ralliesby Cincinnatiby CincinnatiBy STEVE HERRICKAssociated Press

See Page B3 | Rallies

CLEVELAND — Yan Gomes hit athree-run homer in the sixth inning andhad four RBIs, and the Cleveland Indiansrallied from an early four-run deficit tobeat the Cincinnati Reds 15-6 on Mondaynight.

Marlon Byrd hit a two-run homer in afive-run sixth and the Indians erased a 4-0deficit while recording season highs inruns and hits.

Cincinnati scored four times in the firstthree innings, but Cleveland tied it with afour-run third and added three in thefourth.

Francisco Lindor, who was 3 for 5, Ja-son Kipnis and Mike Napoli all had twoRBIs for the Indians, who had 19 hits.

Kipnis’ two-run single broke a 4-all tieand helped the Indians take a three-runlead in the fourth. The Reds cut the leadto one in the fifth, but Gomes, homeringfor the third straight game, and Byrd,who had three hits, unloaded off LayneSomsen.

Gomes, who came into the game bat-ting .167, was 2 for 4 and had a sacrificefly in the seventh.

Tommy Hunter (1-1) pitched 1 2/3 in-nings for the win.

John Lamb (0-1) couldn’t hold the earlylead. The left-hander allowed seven runsin four innings.

Brandon Phillips’ RBI double, andhome runs by Adam Duvall and EugenioSuarez gave Cincinnati a 4-0 lead.

Lindor’s two-run double, along withRBI singles by Napoli and Rajai Davis,tied it in the third.

Jose Ramirez doubled to lead off andDavis drew a two-out walk in the fourth.Kipnis’ line drive fell in center field toeasily score Ramirez. Davis, who was run-ning on the pitch, headed home and wasoriginally called out by plate umpire PaulEmmel.

Indians manager Terry Francona chal-lenged the call and the replay clearlyshowed catcher Ramon Cabrera nevertagged Davis as he crossed home plate.The ruling was changed and Clevelandled 6-4.

Cody Anderson allowed six runs, in-cluding two homers, in 4 1/3 innings. Theright-hander has given up 10 home runsin 32 2/3 inningsPhillips’ RBI double putCincinnati ahead in the first. Duvall hit asolo homer in the second while Suarezadded a two-run shot in the third.Duvall’sone-out homer cleared the 19-foot wall inleft field. Suarez homered to dead center,his team-high eighth, and pushed the leadto 4-0.Jay Bruce had a two-run single inthe fifth.TRAINER’S ROOM: RHP JonMoscot (inflammation in non-throwingshoulder) began a rehabilitation assign-ment Sunday with Triple A-Louisville, al-lowing two runs in five innings at Colum-bus. OF Michael Brantley (right shoul-der) will be examined by Dr. Craig Mor-gan in Wilmington, Delaware on Tues-day. Morgan performed the surgery to re-pair Brantley’s torn labrum in November.Brantley was placed on the 15-day DL forthe second time this season on Saturday

On Deck

Cincinnati at ClevelandWhere: Progressive FieldWhen: 6:10 p.m. todayProbable starters: RHP Danny Salazar (3-2,

1.90 ERA) vs. RHP Alfredo Simon (1-3, 8.67ERA)

Radio: WTAM-AM 1100; WQKT-FM 104.5Television: STO

Cavs TipoCavs Tipo

Atlanta at ClevelandWhere: Quicken Loans ArenaWhen: 8:30 p.m. todayRadio: WTAM-AM 1100WMMS-FM 100.7TV: ESPN