February 20, 2020 3:44 am
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Pablo Reyes was suspended 80 games under the major league drug program following a positive test for the performance-enhancing drug Boldenone. He became the second player in three days suspended for Boldenone, which is sold under the brand name Equipose and is used commonly on horses. Houston pitcher Francis Martes also was suspended. Reyes is a 26-year-old outfielder and infielder who made his major league debut in September 2018 and hit .293 with three homers and seven RBIs. He hit .203 with two homers and 19 RBIs for the Pirates last year.
February 19, 2020 3:47 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Ike Hilliard is the new wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hilliard replaces Darryl Drake, who passed away last August during the early days of training camp. Ray Sherman filled the role on an interim basis last season. Hilliard caught 546 passes during a 12-year NFL career split between Tampa Bay and the New York Giants. He spent the last six seasons as the wide receivers coach for the Washington Redskins. Hilliard previously worked as an assistant with the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills.
February 18, 2020 3:44 am
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Denny Hamlin is the first driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s since Sterling Marlin in 1994 and ’95. Hamlin joined six Hall of Fame drivers as winners of three or more Daytona 500s. The race was marred by a crash that caused Ryan Newman’s car to flip over several times before catching fire. NASCAR read a statement from Roush Fenway Racing that said Newman is in “serious condition, but doctors have indicated his injuries are not life threatening.”
February 18, 2020 3:39 am
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) – Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings finds himself with a chance to be in the starting lineup on opening day for the first time in his career. Stallings arrived at spring training as the team’s most experienced catcher after the club parted ways with Francisco Cervelli and Elias Diaz in 2019. Stallings has drawn raves from the team’s pitching staff for his attention to detail. New manager Derek Shelton called the 30-year-old Stallings’ perseverance during his slow climb through the organization a testament to his character. Stallings says he’s not getting ahead of himself and that he’s simply trying to take another step forward in 2020.
February 17, 2020 3:47 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Patric Hornqvist had two goals and an assist and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-1. Sidney Crosby scored his 11th of the season, Kris Letang added his 14th on the power play and Sam Lafferty also scored for Pittsburgh, which moved within one point of first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division.
February 17, 2020 2:43 am
It’s been a rough start to the playoffs for high school basketball teams from the Washington-Greene County area. Seven games, seven losses for the locals. Half of the 14 teams listed on the brackets at the pairings meetings have been eliminated, including girls teams from Burgettstown and Chartiers-Houston, boys teams from California, Charleroi, McGuffey, Wash High and West Greene. Tuesday, three more squads take the floor, Avella and California girls, Peters Township boys. The first round wraps up Wednesday night with Charleroi girls and Ringgold boys games. Two area teams have byes to the quarterfinals. West Greene’s girls team is #2 in Class 1A and is off until Friday. The Trinity girls are the #3 seed in Class 5A and have a bye to Saturday’s second round.
The WPIAL basketball quarterfinals are scheduled for Feb. 20-22 with championship games set for Feb. 27-29 at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Opening round games for teams from the two-county area are listed below along with WPIAL Bracket links.
Girls WPIAL Brackets — — Boys WPIAL Brackets
Tuesday, Feb. 18–First Round
1A Girls #7 Avella vs. #10 Propel Andrew Street, 6:30 pm at Peters Township WJPA-AM (1450)
1A Girls #12 California vs. #5 Greensburg Central Catholic, 8:00 pm at Peters Township WJPA-AM (1450)
6A Boys #9 Peters Township vs. #8 Hempfield, Class 6A Sweet 16, Tuesday, 8 pm, at Mt. Lebanon WJPA-FM (95.3)
Wednesday, Feb. 19–First Round
3A Girls #10 Charleroi vs. #7 East Allegheny, 6:30 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
4A Boys #9 Ringgold vs. #8 Ambridge, 8:00 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
Friday, Feb. 21–Quarterfinals
1A Girls #2 West Greene vs. Avella/Propel Andrew Street winner, site/time to be determined
Saturday, Feb. 22–Quarterfinals
5A Girls #3 Trinity vs. Gateway/Penn-Trafford winners, site/time to be determined
February 17, 2020 2:30 am
Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence won his fourth WPIAL wrestling championship Saturday night, becoming the 29th four-time champion in the history of the sport. Lawrence missed much of the season due to a shoulder injury but showed no ill effects of the layoff, topping McGuffey’s Ethan Barr, 9-0, in the championship match. The top seven wrestlers in each weightclass at the WPIAL AA Championships qualify for next weekend’s PIAA Southwest AA Regional at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Action starts Friday afternoon at 1 o’clock with the finals Saturday evening.
Triple-A wrestlers have waited since the end of the WPIAL/PIAA Team Tournaments for their individual tournaments to get started. That wait ends Saturday when the League holds four Section tournaments with the top five placewinners advancing to the WPIAL AAA Championships. We’ll have all the action of the PIAA Southwest AA Regional Friday & Saturday live on WJPA-AM (1450) and online Listen Here. You can hear the WPIAL Section 4-AAA Tournament from Chartiers Valley Saturday on WJPA-FM (95.3) and online Listen Here. Follow all of the individual wrestling tournament action on the WJPA Wrestling Page — Click Here
February 15, 2020 8:03 pm
Not a good start by any measure. Washington County teams lost all five of their WPIAL basketball playoff games Friday night. Saturday saw the end of the line from one more plus Greene County’s only boys qualifier. Wash High boys lost a 12-point lead over the final 10 minutes of regulation, then couldn’t get the game-winning shot to drop in overtime, losing to Neshannock in overtime. Charleroi also lost in overtime, failing to get a shot off over the final 75 seconds of regulation before falling to Carlynton. Charleroi has lost 13 straight first-round games since 1997. McGuffey’s boys season ended with a loss to Seton-La Salle. Burgettstown’s girls team playoff drought continues. The Blue Devils haven’t won since 1993, losing to Riverview after leading by 10 points in the third quarter Friday. And Chartiers-Houston girls finished the season without beating a team with a winning record, losing to Winchester Thurston.
Saturday, Shenango ran past California while West Greene lost to Imani Christian.
A dozen teams from Washington County started in this year’s brackets along with two from Greene County. The West Greene girls (1A #2) and the Trinity girls (5A #3) are the highest-seeded teams from the two-county area. The other 12 teams were all seeded seventh or lower. First-round games (Sweet 16) will be played through Wednesday with quarterfinals scheduled for late next week. The WPIAL Basketball Championship games will be played at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center Feb. 27-29. Bracket links and Listen links are listed below for the weekend. All told, we’ll have seven of the 11 first-round games involving Washington County teams for you on WJPA.
Girls WPIAL Brackets — — Boys WPIAL Brackets
Saturday, Feb. 15–First Round
1A Boys #6 Imani Christian 67, #11 West Greene 41
2A Boys #6 Shenango 71, #11 California 51
February 15, 2020 3:46 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Newly-acquired Jason Zucker scored his first two goals with the Pittsburgh Penguins during a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Zucker scored his 15th and 16th of the season in a 1:42 span, with Montreal’s Tomas Tatar getting a goal in between. Zucker provided 2-0 and 3-1 leads and has nine goals in 12 career games against the Canadiens. Kris Letang scored a power-play goal against his hometown team and his 13th overall of the season, and Zach Aston-Reese added an empty-net goal. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had three assists. Tatar scored his 21st of the season for Montreal
February 13, 2020 3:42 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Al-Amir Dawes scored 18 points, Tevin Mack added 16 and Aamir Simms finished with 12 as Clemson continued its mastery of Pittsburgh with a surprising 72-52 rout. The Tigers (12-12, 6-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their seventh straight over the Panthers (15-10, 6-8) by emerging from a shooting funk to snap a three-game losing streak. Clemson shot 50% (22 of 44) from the field, including 13 of 22 (59%) from 3-point range after shooting just 22% from 3 during their recent slide. Justin Champagnie led Pitt with 11 points and Au’Diese Toney chipped in 10 but the Panthers couldn’t seem to figure out Clemson’s zone defense.
