February 18, 2021 3:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Left-hander Tyler Anderson is embracing a fresh start in Pittsburgh. Anderson finalized a one-year deal with the Pirates worth $2.5 million. The 31-year-old Anderson is coming off a solid season in San Francisco. Anderson went 4-3 with a 4.37 ERA with the Giants. Anderson joins a very young pitching staff in Pittsburgh. He says he’s fine with being the group’s elder statesman and believes the Pirates have talent to be competitive in 2021.
February 17, 2021 2:35 am
The PIAA Individual Wrestling Championship Series began Tuesday, the first step on a difficult road to the PIAA Finals Mar. 12-13 at the Giant Center in Hershey. COVID-19 protocols have the PIAA & WPIAL limiting participation to no more than eight wrestlers per weight at a single location. That has forced the addition of several steps in qualifying as well as fewer wrestlers advancing to the next level. WPIAL wrestlers will begin with Sub-Section tournaments (AA Tuesday, AAA Wednesday/Thursday). Only the top two in each Sub-Section advance to Section tournaments this weekend. From there, only the top two move on to WPIAL Championships. The PIAA has also added Super Regional (East & West) tournaments in both classes, each including just eight wrestlers with the top four advancing to Hershey. Follow all of our coverage of the PIAA Individual Wrestling Championship Series from Sub-Section to PIAA Finals. Click Here!
Wednesday, Feb. 17
WPIAL AAA Sub-Section Wrestling
4:50 pm Sub-Section 4A on WJPA-AM (1450) — Listen Here!
Chartiers Valley, South Fayette, Trinity, Waynesburg at Canon-McMillan
WPIAL AA Sub-Sections were held Tuesday night. Burgettstown dominated Sub-Section 1A, taking first place in 12 weights while advancing all 13 wrestlers to the Section tourney Friday. Chartiers-Houston qualified four wrestlers for the next step, Wash High three. In Sub-Section 1B, Beth-Center took the top spot in five weights with a sixth qualifier advancing to Friday’s action. McGuffey has five qualifiers, Jeff-Morgan four, Bentworth and West Greene three apiece.
February 17, 2021 3:54 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Conor Sheary and Jakub Vrana scored in the second period, and the Washington Capitals stopped a four-game slide by topping the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. Lars Eller also scored for Washington, and Vitek Vanecek stopped 26 shots in his 11th straight start. Pittsburgh won its first five games at home, including three against the Capitals. Zach Aston-Reese set a career high with his third goal in as many games, and Tristan Jarry made 39 saves for the Penguins.
February 17, 2021 3:51 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton says he’s worried about his team improving and not the predictions of a bumpy 2021 for the Pirates. Pittsburgh finished with the worst record in the majors during the truncated 2020 season. The team spent most of the offseason flipping established veterans like first baseman Josh Bell for young prospects. Shelton says he and general manager Ben Cherington are in “alignment” when it comes to the club’s blueprint for success and he is confident the Pirates will become winners at some point down the road. Meanwhile, the Pirates are closing in on a one-year deal with left-handed pitcher Tyler Anderson. The deal, which won’t be complete until Anderson passes a physical, is worth $2.5 million. The 31-year-old Anderson went 4-3 with a 4.37 ERA last season while pitching for San Francisco. Anderson, who spent the first four years of his career with Colorado, is 22-27 with a 4.65 ERA in 86 games (82 starts) with the Rockies and the Giants.
February 17, 2021 3:52 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired Grady Brown as their new secondary coach. Brown replaces Tom Bradley, whose contract was not renewed at the end of last season. This is the first NFL job for Brown. He takes over a veteran unit that includes cornerbacks Joe Haden and Steven Nelson along with All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds. Brown’s decision to join the Steelers came less than a week after the University of Houston hired Brown to serve as the program’s cornerbacks coach.
February 16, 2021 3:27 am
UNDATED (AP) – M.J. Walker scored 17 points and No. 16 Florida State built a big first-half lead, beating No. 7 Virginia 81-60 in a showdown between the top two teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. RaiQuan Gray had 15 points as the Seminoles handed 2019 national champion Virginia its worst ACC loss in four years. Walker made five of Florida State’s season-high 13 3-pointers – on 24 attempts. Gray scored in double figures for the seventh straight game. Florida State has won 24 consecutive ACC home games dating to a victory over Clemson on Jan. 22, 2019. Trey Murphy III had 13 points for Virginia, which had won four in a row.
February 16, 2021 3:29 am
MIAMI (AP) – Small crowds at Marlins Park will be back this season. The attendance-challenged Marlins plan to allow fans at home games, although crowds will initially be limited to about 25% of capacity. That would mean a maximum of about 9,300 spectators in the 37,446-seat ballpark. The Marlins, like the rest of MLB, didn’t allow fans during the 2020 regular season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Limited crowds were permitted for the postseason. In Derek Jeter’s first two years as CEO, the Marlins averaged about 10,000 fans in 2018 and 2019, worst in the majors.
February 16, 2021 3:28 am
BRANDON, Fla. (AP)- Former NFL wide receiver Vincent Jackson has been found dead at a Florida hotel room, days after authorities spoke with him as part of a welfare check. There were no signs of trauma and the medical examiner’s office was looking into a cause of death. Sheriff’s officials said his family initially reported Jackson missing on Wednesday. Deputies tracked him down to a hotel in Brandon two days later, spoke with him and canceled the missing persons case. Jackson was then found dead Monday morning in his hotel room by a housekeeper. Jackson played for the San Diego Chargers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was selected to the Pro Bowl three times.
February 15, 2021 3:57 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Bryan Rust scored two goals and added an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins remained unbeaten at home with a 6-3 victory over the Washington Capitals. Brandon Tanev, Jake Guentzel, Zach Aston-Reese and Sidney Crosby also scored for Pittsburgh. Nicklas Backstrom collected his 250th career goal for Washington. Jakub Vrana and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored, but the Capitals couldn’t rally back while playing for the first time in a week following a series of COVID-19 related postponements.
February 15, 2021 4:00 am
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Michael McDowell couldn’t have picked a better time, place or venue in which to get his first victory in 358 career Cup Series starts. McDowell pulled ahead and won the Daytona 500 after Penske Racing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski wrecked on the final lap. McDowell was running third when Keselowski got a huge run on Logano. Keselowski tried to pass Logano on the low side, but Logano tried to block him and ended up crashing both of them. That gave McDowell the lead for the only time in the season-opening NASCAR race. Chase Elliott was second, followed by Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin was trying to become the first in NASCAR history to win three consecutive Daytona 500s. A major pileup and a thunderstorm put the race on hold for nearly six hours and led some drivers to head across the street for some food while the event remained red-flagged with just 15 laps completed. The big wreck occurred 14 laps into NASCAR’s marquee event, triggered when Aric Almirola turned into pole-winner Alex Bowman and started a 16-car pileup. Christopher Bell started the melee when he pushed Almirola too hard near the front of the field and forced the Stewart-Haas Racing driver to bobble as he tried to avoid a slide.
