August 20, 2022 4:17 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Panthers head into 2022 looking to prove 2021 was no fluke. Pitt won its first ACC title last season behind the play of quarterback Kenny Pickett and wide receiver Jordan Addison. Pickett is now in the NFL and Addison has transferred to Southern California. USC transfer Kedon Slovis and Nick Patti are fighting for the right to replace Pickett while the defense will be led by defensive tackle Calijah Kancey. Pitt is ranked 17th in the preseason AP Top 25 and opens the season at home against rival West Virginia on Sept. 1.
August 19, 2022 3:49 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Bryan Reynolds hit two home runs, JT Brubaker pitched seven shutout innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a six-game losing streak, beating the Boston Red Sox 8-2. The Pirates avoided a three-game sweep and sent Boston back to one game under .500 at 59-60. The Red Sox are five games behind Toronto for the third and final AL wild-card spot. Reynolds hit a pair of two-run homers. He connected in the first, and his drive in the fifth was the 3,000th home run at PNC Park since it opened in 2001. Reynolds and Kevin Newman each had three hits and scored three times. Brubaker allowed two hits, walked none and struck out seven.
August 19, 2022 3:51 am
BEREA, Ohio (AP) – Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will serve an 11-game unpaid suspension, pay a $5 million fine and undergo required professional evaluation and counseling following accusations of sexual misconduct by two dozen women. Watson was accused of sexually harassing and coercing women during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Houston Texans. The league had sought to ban him for at least one year for violating its personal conduct policy. Watson’s suspension begins Aug. 30, when he won’t be allowed at the team’s facility. He may return for the Browns’ game on Dec. 4 in Houston. Cleveland traded for the three-time Pro Bowler in March, signing him to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract
August 19, 2022 3:53 am
The Big Ten has announced its new, seven-year media rights deal with Fox, NBC and CBS that is believed to be the richest ever struck with a college sports conference. A person familiar with the contracts tells The Associated Press that the conference’s soon-to-be 16 member universities eventually will share more than $1 billion in revenue per year. Starting in 2024, when USC and UCLA join the conference, Big Ten football Saturdays will be structured similar to the NFL. That means three marquee games being carried in consecutive time slots on three different major TV networks.
August 18, 2022 2:50 am
New Taipei City scored three runs on just one hit in the fourth inning, then made the lead stand up to win the 70th PONY League World Series championship. Lee, Cheng-Yen doubled with one out. Shih, Cheng-Yu was hit by a pitch, then both runners advanced with stolen bases. Sun, Kai-You hit a grounder to third but the throw to the plate was too late to get Lee. Yang, Wen-Wai hit into a force play at second, scoring Shih, and later scored on a fielding error. NTC added its final run an inning later. Hong, Wei-Zhe. Hong singled with one out and moved to third on a double by Lin, Xin-Hong. Lee grounded softly to short, scoring Hong.
Monterrey scored its only run in the fifth. Roy Kim walked with one out, moved to second on Diego Alvarado’s basehit and both moved up 80 feet when Isai Garza drew a walk. After a strikeout, Yosiro Eguia singled to score Kim before another strikeout left the bases loaded.
Lu, Guan-Wei got the win, working 3.2 innings, scattering five hits and striking out three. Lee, Cheng Yen worked the final 2.2 innings, allowing two singles and striking out seven to pick up the title game save. Lu made four appearances in the World Series, a total of 11.0 innings and did not allow an earned run. The championship is the 11th all-time for teams from Taiwan, all since 1994. They have won five straight World Series in which they’ve appeared, 2015-2016, 2018-2019, 2022.
The World Series Batting championship went to Aiden Revette (Bay County, MI) who was 8-for-13 (.615) with 8 singles and 3 RBI. The John D. Voytek Award, presented to Washington County’s leading hitter, went to L.J. Zidek who went 9-for-18 (.500) with a home run., two triples (tying a PLWS record), 6 runs scored and 5 RBI.
The ERA award was decided by a tie-breaker between Israel Herrera (Monterrey) and Lu, Guan-Wei. Neither allowed an earned run and pitched the minimum required 5.0 innings. Herrera allowed only 4 hits in his work and was named the winner.
August 18, 2022 3:45 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Christian Arroyo had three hits and three RBIs, Alex Verdugo reached base five times and 42-year-old Rich Hill won for the first time in nearly two months as the Boston Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-3. .The Red Sox won for the fifth time in six games and got back to .500 at 59-59. Boston is four games behind Toronto for the third and final AL wild-card spot. Arroyo hit a two-run double and scored on Kike Hernandez’s sacrifice fly in the second inning as Boston went ahead for good 3-2. Pittsburgh has lost six games in a row.
August 18, 2022 3:46 am
Two people familiar with the negotiations tell the AP that talks between the NFL and NFL Players Association on a discipline settlement for Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson have progressed. It’s uncertain whether the two sides will reach a deal. The sides are seeking a compromise before any punishment is handed down by Peter C. Harvey, who was appointed by Commissioner Roger Goodell to rule on the league’s appeal of a six-game suspension already imposed on Watson. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The league has been seeking a lengthier punishment for Watson, who was accused of sexual misconduct by two dozen women in Texas.
August 18, 2022 3:48 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – LeBron James has agreed to a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension through the 2024-25 season with the Los Angeles Lakers. The maximum deal includes a player option for the 2024-25 season that would keep the second-leading scorer in NBA history with the Lakers past his 40th birthday. James was headed into the final year of his most recent deal with the Lakers, who signed the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player and four-time league champion in July 2018. Barring injury, James is likely to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s career scoring king this winter.
August 17, 2022 1:48 pm
New Taipei City scored a pair of unearned runs early, then added four runs over their final two frames to easily outdistance Johnstown, 6-1, Wednesday afternoon, clinching a spot in the DICK’S Sporting Goods PONY League World Series Championship game. The Asia-Pacific Zone winner will face Monterrey, MX. Game time is 7 pm.
Doing what teams from Taiwan have done for years, NTC used a base hit, an error and a pair of ground outs to take a 1-0 lead in the first. The third inning opened with an error, a stolen base and back-to-back soft singles to make it 2-0. New Taipei City broke the game open in the fifth, scoring three runs on four hits. Johnstown’s only run came on a Charlie Manzi solo home run to open the sixth inning.
Taiwan teams have won the last four PONY Series which they attended, winning back-to-back title in 2015-16 and against in 2018-19. There was no World Series in 2020 due to COVID-19 and no international squads in the 2021 event. Monterrey is playing in the PONY World Series for the first time since winning the championship in 1972.All the action of the DICK’S Sporting Goods PONY League World Series will be heard live on WJPA-AM (1450) or Listen Here.
World Series website link: Click Here
August 16, 2022 11:45 pm
Washington County pitching finally ran out of steam, playing a third game in the span of about 33 hours. Monterrey pounded four home runs, three of them for three runs apiece as the Mexico champions advanced to the World Series title game Wednesday night. They play either Johnstown, PA or New Taipei City, TW who square off in a final elimination game Wednesday morning.
AJ Andronas lined a two-run home run to put Washington County in front in the third, much to the delight of the full-house crowd. That lead lasted all of five batters. That’s when Luis Guajardo hit a three-run shot, followed four batters later by Miguel Alejandro three-run home run. Winning pitcher Emiliano Martinez this a two-run homer in the fifth before pinch-hitter Israel Herrera ended the contest with a three-run homer, putting Monterrey in the finals for the first time since winning the title in 1972.
New Taipei City used small-ball. Johnstown did the long-ball thing. The teams went tied to extra innings when the wheels fell of for Johnstown. The Asia-Pacific champions got a scratch single and followed that with two consecutive bunt base hits. Add three walks, a hit-batter and a single and it adds to 7-2 lead for Taiwan. Johnstown managed a run in the bottom of the eighth but it was too little, too late to avoid a third game against New Taipei City. This one Wednesday with the winner taking on Monterrey in the World Series championship game.
In Tuesday’s daytime action: Nico Patragas stroked a three-run fifth inning home run to break a 2-2 tie, leading Washington County past Palmview, TX and into Tuesday’s division final vs. Monterrey, MX. The Hosts scored a run earlier in the frame to tie the game on an RBI grounder by MJ Maruschak. Washington County took advantage of a pair of Palmview errors to score their first and last run, the second proving to be the game-winner. Palmview scored three times in the top of the seventh but left the bases loaded when Cayden Laskosky coaxed a flyout to left to the game. Sebastian Shulsky pitched 6+ strong innings, hold Palmview to three unearned runs on just two hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Earlier in the session, Yang, Wen-Wei homered, doubled and drove in four runs leading New Taipei City past Bay County in five innings. The Asia-Pacific champions score four in the first, added four more in the second to cruise to the win and a rematch with unbeaten Johnstown in Tuesday’s division final. Bay County’s only real threat came with three singles in the third but the North Zone champions left the bases loaded following a looking strike out and a fly out to left.
The PONY League World Series continues Wednesday with a final elimination game with Johnstown taking on New Taipei City at 11 am. The winner returns Wednesday night to play Monterrey for the 70th PONY championship. All the action of the DICK’S Sporting Goods PONY League World Series will be heard live on WJPA-AM (1450) or Listen Here.
World Series website link: Click Here
