Im a part of this big university and representing them in a

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners hit fewer home runs than the New York Yankees, but got more scoring out of them.Mike Zunino and Kyle Seager each hit a three-run homer and Nelson Cruz added a solo shot as the Mariners rallied to beat the Yankees 7-5 Monday night.The Yankees got two homers apiece from rookie catcher Gary Sanchez and Starlin Castro -- all off starter Cody Martin -- but three of them were solo shots.You win by the homer, you die by the homer, Mariners manager Scott Servais said. I think thats the story of tonights game. We had a rough one yesterday and we got some big hits tonight.New York took a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning on a two-run shot by Sanchez, his eighth homer of the season and sixth in the last seven games, and Castros second solo homer, his 17th.Zunino, recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on July 20, answered in the bottom half with his ninth home run -- off Anthony Swarzak (1-2) -- to put Seattle ahead 6-5.We had in the report that he was about a 50 percent slider guy, so I went up there and I knew I was going to get that eventually, Zunino said. I ended up seeing only one fastball. Thats where I step out 3-2 and tell myself to commit to hitting the slider and I was able to get one up in the zone and drive it.Cruz added a solo homer, his 32nd, in the eighth.Nick Vincent (3-3) retired all three batters he faced to get the win. Rookie Edwin Diaz survived a shaky ninth, putting runners on second and third with one out before getting Mark Teixeira on a fly ball and Brett Gardner on a grounder to pick up his 10th save in 10 chances.The Mariners, who gave up four runs in the ninth inning in a 7-6 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday when Diaz was rested, remained one game behind Baltimore for the second American League wild card.Robinson Cano singled to open the bottom of the sixth and Seager drew a one-out walk, chasing starter Michael Pineda. Left-hander Tommy Layne relieved and retired lefty-hitting Adam Lind. Right-hander Swarzak came on but gave up the homer into the right-field seats by the righty-hitting Zunino on a 3-2 pitch.Sanchez, honored as AL Player of the Week earlier in the day, had a solo homer in the first and Castro another in the second to give New York a 2-0 lead. Sanchez also had a single in four at-bats to raise his average to .385 and threw out a runner trying to steal second.Its very tough when you can put a couple runs on the board and hit some home runs but you dont win the game, Sanchez said. Unfortunately, it didnt go our way tonight, tomorrow we have to come back and try to win.Seagers three-run homer put Seattle up 3-2 in the fourth. Seth Smith doubled and moved to third on Canos single. Smith was then caught too far down the line on Cruzs high chopper and was tagged out trying to get back to third. Seager got the green light on a 3-0 pitch and hit his 24th homer over the center-field wall.Its the ultimate hitters count, Seager said. If you get into that count and you get the green light, you can be as picky as you want to be. Fortunately for me there, I got a pitch to hit. Theyre hard to come by off of him (Pineda).Mariners right fielder Shawn OMalley, who came on as a defensive replacement in the seventh, had a sensational catch for the second out of that inning, making a long run into foul territory and reaching over the wall to snag Tyler Austins fly ball, hanging on as he tumbled into the seats.SANCHEZ REMAINS RED HOTOver his last seven games, the Yankees rookie catcher is hitting .560 (14-for-25) with six homers, two doubles, nine RBI, four walks and six runs scored.Its been unbelievable what hes done, the way hes swung the bat, the way hes played defense, the job hes done, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. He throws another guy out. Hes been extremely impressive.YANKEES STREAK ENDSNew York had won eight consecutive games at Safeco Field since June 8, 2013, tied for the longest winning streak by any visiting team. The Chicago White Sox also won eight straight at Safeco from May 2011 to April 2012.TRAINERS ROOMMariners: RHP Drew Storen (3-3, 5.77 ERA) was placed on the 15-day DL with right shoulder inflammation. Storen was 2-0 with a 4.35 ERA in 10 appearances with Seattle after being acquired from Toronto on July 26. ... OF Guillermo Heredia was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma. He hit .280 in a 12-game stint with Seattle before being sent down Aug. 9.UP NEXTYankees: LHP CC Sabathia (7-10, 4.49 ERA) will start on extended five days rest due to a day off Thursday. Sabathia is 8-1 with a 2.16 ERA in 12 starts at Safeco Field.Mariners: RHP Taijuan Walker (4-7, 4.10 ERA), optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on Aug. 8, is expected to be recalled to make the start Tuesday, although no official announcement was made. Joe Horn Jersey .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Morten Andersen Jersey . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. http://www.customsaintsjersey.com/custom-teddy-bridgewater-jersey-large-1812e.html . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Derland Moore Jersey . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. Bobby Hebert Jersey . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Texas and Stanford are both volleyball royalty, but theyre not the teams everyone expected to be in the last match of 2016. The Cardinal lost seven times this season; the Longhorns lost four. Neither team was ranked No. 1 at any point during the year, and neither won its conference title.Yet, you get the sense that we really will be seeing the best two teams as of right now when they meet for the national championship Saturday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2/WatchESPN).The AVCA polls top ranking stayed in the Big Ten all season, with Nebraska being No. 1 for 12 weeks, Minnesota two weeks and Wisconsin one week. Did the grind of Big Ten play wear out NCAA tournament top seed Nebraska and No. 2 seed Minnesota? Perhaps, but whats certain is that the No. 4 Longhorns and No. 6 Cardinal definitely wore them out in Thursdays semifinals.Texas swept Nebraska, and Stanford beat Minnesota 3-1. Now, well see who has more firepower when they face each other for the 27th time in the programs history; Stanford leads the series 18-8.Each team had scares during earlier rounds this year, with Texas facing two match points against BYU in the regional semifinals and Stanford being down 2-0 to Wisconsin in the regional final. But its as if every test that the Longhorns and Cardinal faced along the way was a needed step to getting here.Stanford is the top blocking team in Division I at 3.4 per set. Texas, meanwhile, is second in hitting percentage at .311. So that right there is a very intriguing matchup. Nebraska is a strong blocking team, too, yet the Longhorns successfully challenged that in the semifinals. Stanford should provide a bigger obstacle, literally.The Cardinals size certainly was tough for Minnesota to deal with, including 6-foot-8 junior Merete Lutz, and 6-6 freshmen Kathryn Plummer and Audriana Fitzmorris. But Texas hitters Ebony Nwanebu, Paulina Prieto Cerame and Micaya White are all major threats against even the best block.Stanford will be playing in its 15th NCAA championship match; the Cardinal have won six titles, but none since 2004. For Stanford, appearing in the final four used to be about as common as the calendar changing to a new year. It has been more difficult in recent seasons, which coach John Dunning acknowledges. At the same time, he understands exactly why so much is always expected from the Cardinal.Stanford gives us the resources to have a chance to be great, Dunning said. And thats all I could ask for. Its up to us to go out and find the players who fit at Stanford and will be happy there.Weve been to 20 of the final fours, and thats a lot of success. In the last six or seven years, we havent been here as much, and yes, thats frustrating. Just because I want the program to succeed at the level that all the people who came before set the bar at. But it is harder, because there are so many good teams.Kerri Walsh Jennings, who helped lead Stanford to two NCAA titles in thhe 1990s, said shes thrilled to see the Cardinal playing in the national championship match for the first time since 2008.ddddddddddddIts such an amazing program, Walsh Jennings said. It just shows the level of collegiate volleyball that Stanford has come up short the past few years. Im not surprised that they can do what theyve done with freshmen, though, because Ive seen leadership and greatness at all ages. It says something about how the freshmen feel empowered that they can do that.Stanfords rookies, including AVCA National Freshman of the Year Plummer, say the connections with the past are strong enough that they energize the current Cardinal athletes.I was reading the emails that former players sent to us, Stanford freshman setter Jenna Gray said. And the one that probably got me the most excited was from Bryn Kehoe, the setter who led them to a national championship as a freshman [in 2004]. Its crazy, because the All-Americans are up on the wall in our locker room, and now theyre talking to us.Texas has not won as many championships (two, in 1988 and 2012) nor been in as many final fours (12) as Stanford, but the Longhorns consistency in the past decade in particular has been tremendous. Texas has made the final four in eight of the past nine seasons and is playing in the final for the sixth time overall. As with Stanford, the Texas alumni have been reaching out to current Longhorns with good wishes.It just lets you take a step back, Texas senior setter Chloe Collins said, and be like, Wow, Im a part of this big university and representing them in a way that I never thought I could.The pressure that comes from that, though, perhaps got to the Longhorns at times this season.They wanted it so bad, Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said of a chance at winning a title, and they didnt know how to get it. We [coaches] were just confident in what we were doing with them.Its important to be able to create leadership within our team that is able to speak when were not in the locker room, and on the road, and those kind of things. You have to be very real with them, and you have to be honest with them.Elliott and Dunning are both in their 16th seasons at their respective schools; Dunning also coached 16 years before that at Pacific, where he won two NCAA titles to go along with his two at Stanford. Both coaches have watched how much the sport has grown and changed.Ive seen it from like the very embryo kind of stage -- at least on the college and high school scene -- through now, Dunning said. And its remarkable. It doesnt surprise me at all, the parity we have right now.In the end though, the 2016 final has come down to two programs that have, for the most part, defied parity and stayed at or near the top. Now they are back on familiar turf: playing for a championship. ' ' '