Sports – Page 373 – North Platte Post Archive

Showalter, Williams Voted MLB Managers of the Year

Posted on November 11, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Baltimore’s Buck Showalter was voted AL Manager of the Year for the third time, edging the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Scioscia and Kansas City’s Ned Yost.

Showalter received 25 of 30 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Tuesday. He kept up his pattern of winning the award once a decade following victories with the New York Yankees in 1994 and Texas in 2004.

Scioscia was second with four firsts and 61 points and Yost third with 41 points followed by Seattle’s Lloyd McClendon with 29 points.

Showalter guided the Orioles to a 96-66 record and their first AL East title since 1997. Voting took place before the playoffs, where Baltimore swept Detroit in the Division Series and then was swept by Kansas City in the AL Championship Series.

Washington’s Matt Williams won the NL honor, the fourth first-year big league manager to win the award. He played under Showalter.

NPCC Men to Host Midland JV

Posted on November 11, 2014

The North Platte Community College Knights will host the Midland University JV on Friday, November 14, at 7:00 pm at the McDonald – Belton gymnasium.

The Knights have four players averaging in double figures in scoring. Sophomore Cameron Williams from Omaha South leads the team in scoring with a 21.3 average, which in the early season is fourth in Region IX. Other players in double figures are Matt Thomas (13.3) from Elkhorn; Tyree Peter (13.0) from Omaha Benson and Marco Pascolo (12.0) from Udine, Italy. Pascolo also leads the team in rebounding with a 7.0 average.

The Knights are 3-0 on the season averaging 93 points a game while allowing 72.7 points.

The game will be live streamed at www.coachesaid.com

Rockies Send RHP Scahill to Pirates for RHP Carle

Posted on November 11, 2014

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Colorado Rockies have traded right-hander Rob Scahill to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league righty Shane Carle.

The deal was announced Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Scahill was 1-0 with a 4.80 ERA in 12 relief outings for Colorado this season.

Scahill made his big league debut in 2012 with Colorado and pitched 23 games in the majors in 2013.

The 23-year-old Carle was a combined 4-8 with a 3.67 ERA at two levels of Class A ball, mostly as a starter.

Nebraska’s Nate Gerry Liking View from Secondary

Posted on November 11, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Safety Nate Gerry (Gary) has turned into one of Nebraska’s biggest defensive playmakers after spending last season at linebacker.

He’s intercepted a pass in three straight games and in four of the last five. He’s the Cornhuskers’ second-leading tackler.

Gerry said he’s happier playing in the secondary. Coach Bo Pelini said Gerry was needed to bolster depth in a young linebacker corps. The plan was for Gerry to play his more natural safety position this year.

Pelini said Gerry has a better understanding of the defense because of his experience at linebacker.

The 11th-ranked Cornhuskers play at No. 22 Wisconsin on Saturday.

Chiefs Promote West, Sign Supernaw after Injuries

Posted on November 11, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs have promoted running back Charcandrick West from the practice squad and signed tight end Phillip Supernaw after losing Cyrus Gray and Demetrius Harris to season-ending injuries.

West signed with the Chiefs as a rookie free agent this season, and had spent nine weeks on their practice squad. Supernaw has played four games in two seasons with the Ravens and Texans, and has spent time on both practice squads.

Gray, a special teams standout, tore an ACL in Sunday’s victory in Buffalo. Harris broke a bone in his foot during pregame warmups before facing the Bills. Both were put on injured reserve.

The Chiefs signed tight end Adam Schiltz to fill their open spot on the practice squad.

Winners of four straight, Kansas City plays Seattle on Sunday.

Big Ten Baseball Tournament Returns to Omaha in 2016 and 2018

Posted on November 11, 2014

Rosemont, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced that TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., will once again serve as the host venue for the Big Ten Baseball Tournament in 2016 and 2018 after setting record attendance numbers last season. The annual event will return to the site of the NCAA Division I Men’s College World Series from May 18-22, 2016, and May 23-27, 2018.

“We are very excited to return to TD Ameritrade Park for the 2016 and 2018 Big Ten Baseball Tournaments,” Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany said. “It was amazing to see so many passionate fans at the Big Ten Baseball Tournament this past May, and we look forward to coming back to Omaha.”

“The 2014 Big Ten Baseball Tournament far exceeded expectations,” Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority President and CEO Roger Dixon said. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to host the tournament again in 2016 and 2018 and look forward to working with the Big Ten and Nebraska to build on the success.”

The Big Ten Baseball Tournament was held in Omaha for the first time in 2014 and established multiple attendance records. The attendance of 19,965 for the championship game on Sunday, May 25, ranked as the largest single-game conference tournament attendance in NCAA history. The five-day total tournament attendance of 62,020 marked the largest in the history of the event. Four days of the tournament featured attendance of more than 10,000, including Wednesday(10,400), Thursday (11,756), Saturday (12,319) and Sunday.

The Big Ten Baseball Tournament has been played annually since 1981, with a four-team field through 1999 and a six-team event from 2000-2013 before moving to its current eight-team format in 2014. Six different schools have won the Big Ten Baseball Tournament, with Minnesota leading all conference programs with nine titles. Michigan and Ohio State have each won eight conference tournaments, followed by Illinois and Indiana with four tournament crowns and Purdue with one.

The 2015 Big Ten baseball season begins in February and culminates with the Big Ten Baseball Tournament returning to Target Field in Minneapolis, the home of Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins. The site of the 2017 Big Ten Baseball Tournament will be announced at a later date.

Abdullah Named Finalist for Two Awards

Posted on November 11, 2014

Lincoln – University of Nebraska senior I-back Ameer Abdullah was selected as a finalist for a pair of awards Tuesday afternoon. The Homewood, Ala., native was chosen as one of 10 finalists for the 2014 Senior CLASS Award and one of 12 finalists for the 2014 Wuerffel Trophy.

Both awards combine athletic accomplishments along with off-field performances. The Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School^®)Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The Wuerffel Trophy is a national award that honors the college football player who best exhibits exemplary community service.

Abdullah has been a standout on the field and in the community during his tenure at Nebraska, as he returned to school for his senior year to complete his degree.

Abdullah has been one of the nation’s top players in 2014, as the senior ranks among the national leaders in all-purpose yards (1,691, first), rushing yards (1,250, fifth) and points scored (114, fourth) entering Saturday’s nationally televised game with No. 22 Wisconsin. Abdullah, who has led the Huskers to an 8-1 record and a No. 11 national ranking, has four 200-yard rushing games this season and is the only player in the FBS ranks with two games with 300 all-purpose yards, including a school record 341 all-purpose yards against Rutgers. He has been the Big Ten’s Player of the Week four times in 2014.

During his career, Abdullah is the only Husker in 125 years of Nebraska football to post three 1,000-yard rushing seasons and trails only 1983 Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier on Nebraska’s career rushing chart. Abdullah leads all active FBS players in career rushing yards (4,227), yards from scrimmage (4,817), 100-yard games (23) and all-purpose yards (6,605). In addition, he also ranks second on the Big Ten’s all-time all-purpose yards list.

Abdullah, who will graduate from Nebraska in December with a degree in history, has been named to Nebraska’s Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll three times and was an academic All-Big Ten selection in 2013. One of the most active Huskers in the community, Abdullah was named to the 2014 Brook Berringer and Tom Osborne Citizenship Teams, as he has worked with numerous groups during his career, including elementary schools, team hospital visits and the Uplifting Athletes organization to raise awareness for pediatric brain cancer.

For the Senior CLASS Award, the list of 30 candidates was trimmed to 10 and nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner. Fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website (seniorCLASSaward.com) through December 15. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner, which will be announced in January. The Wuerffel Trophy, which is voted on by the Wuerffel Trophy national directors, selection committee members and past winners, will be formally announced onDec. 9, 2014

Huskers Set for Rematch with Spartans

Posted on November 11, 2014

The No. 11 Nebraska volleyball team will face Michigan State for the second time this season on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Spartans are the second repeat Big Ten opponent for the Huskers and first since the opening week home-and-home matches with Iowa. Each of the final six Husker matches is a rematch. NU defeated MSU 3-1 in East Lansing on Oct. 10.

The Huskers are 16-7 overall and 10-4 in the Big Ten after resounding home sweeps against No. 12 Purdue and Indiana last week. The Huskers have now won four straight conference matches by sweep for the first time since 2010, when the Huskers won eight Big 12 matches in a row by sweep. John Cook is in his 15th season as head coach at Nebraska and is 429-55 leading the Huskers.

The Spartans enter the week 13-12 overall and 6-8 in the Big Ten. Michigan State fell twice at home last week, 3-1 to Minnesota and 3-0 to Wisconsin, and has now lost five of its last six. The Spartans are 8-5 away from home this season but are 2-4 on the road in Big Ten play. Cathy George is in her 10th season as head coach with a record of 182-138.

Media Information
Wednesday’s match will only be streamed online with a HuskersNSide subscription. Fans can also listen to the action with John Baylor and Diane Mendenhall on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and The Wolf 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans inside and outside the state of Nebraska will also be able to catch the live audio feed on Huskers.com for free. Live stats will be available at Huskers.com as well.

Series History
Nebraska is 13-2-2 all-time against Michigan State and is 5-2 against the Spartans since joining the Big Ten. NU won earlier this season in East Lansing on Oct. 10, 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23). Kadie Rolfzen had 16 kills and 12 digs, while Alicia Ostrander (12) and Amber Rolfzen (10) also reached double-digit kills. The Huskers swept MSU in Lincoln last year on Nov. 15, 25-23, 25-13, 25-22.

Scouting Michigan State
Chloe Reinig leads the Spartans (13-12, 6-8 Big Ten) with 329 kills this season (3.66 per set). Alyssah Fitterer chips in 2.65 kills per set. Kori Moster averages 4.57 digs per set. Jazmine White leads the team in blocks at 1.22 per set. The Spartans are fourth in the B1G in blocks (2.60 per set) and second in aces (1.33 per set). MSU is holding opponents to a .173 hitting percentage this season, fourth-best in the Big Ten.

Up Next
Nebraska finishes its four-match home stretch with Maryland on Sunday at 2 p.m. That match will air on NET.

Noting the Huskers
• Nebraska turned in a record-setting defensive performance against Purdue last Wednesday before producing one of the best offensive outputs in school history on Sunday against Indiana. NU used 17 blocks to brush aside the Boilermakers, a three-set season high for the Big Red. The Huskers then hit .525 in the Indiana sweep, the sixth-best hitting percentage in school history and the best by a Husker team since 2000.
• The Huskers turned in two perfect sets against Indiana with zero attacking errors. NU had just one error-free set all season entering Saturday. The Huskers posted two error-free sets in a match for the first time in the John Cook era.
• Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.56 kills per set and ranks seventh in the Big Ten. The 2013 third-team AVCA All-American has 15 or more kills nine times this season. Rolfzen is also second on the team in digs with 2.67 per set.
• Kelsey Fien is second on the team in kills per set with 3.06. Over her last six matches, Fien is averaging 3.68 kills per set and hitting .349.
• Amber Rolfzen adds 2.16 kills per set with 1.75 digs per set and is second on the team in blocks with 61.
• Justine Wong-Orantes leads the Huskers in digs with 3.81 per set.
• Mary Pollmiller, the Huskers’ lone senior, has 832 set assists for 10.27 per set to rank fifth in the conference. She also adds a defensive presence at the net with 58 blocks to rank third on the team.
• Nebraska ranks second in the Big Ten and 17th nationally with 2.86 blocks per set. Meghan Haggerty is third in the Big Ten with 1.33 blocks per set and tied her career high with 11 against Purdue.
• The Huskers are 10-1 in matches played on Monday through Friday this season, while they are 6-6 in matches played on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Huskers are 231-0 when hitting .300 or better under John Cook.
• Nebraska is 377-16 when winning the first set under Cook.
• Cook is 141-42 (.770) against ranked opponents at Nebraska. Just under one-third of Cook’s total victories at Nebraska (429) have come against ranked teams.
• Nebraska volleyball leads the nation with 214 consecutive sellouts, the longest sellout streak in the history of NCAA women’s athletics. NU owns a 196-18 record during the streak.

Fien, Haggerty Win B1G Weekly Honors
For the second straight week, Husker volleyball took home weekly Big Ten honors. On Nov. 10, Kelsey Fien was named Big Ten Player of the Week, and Meghan Haggerty won Defensive Player of the Week. Fien led the Huskers offensively in sweeps over No. 12 Purdue and Indiana. The junior from Bakersfield, Calif., averaged 4.3 kills per set with a match-high 15 kills along with four blocks against Purdue. Fien added 11 kills and a career-best .526 hitting percentage against Indiana. The honor is the first of Fien’s career. Haggerty, a junior from Glen Ellyn, Ill., led two dominant Husker defensive performances. Against Purdue, Haggerty tied her career high with 11 blocks, the most by a Big Ten player in three sets this season. She averaged 2.2 blocks per set on the week and had six kills and a .444 hitting percentage. It’s Haggerty’s second-career B1G Defensive Player of the Week honor.

NPCC Lady Knights Basketball team hosts Hastings College JV

Posted on November 11, 2014

The North Platte Community College Lady Knights will be in action on Wednesday, November 12 against the Hastings College Junior Varsity Lady Broncos at 7:00 pm at the McDonald- Belton Gymnasium.

The Lady Knights come into the contest with a 1-3 record in the early season, 1-1 at home.

Sophomore April Stull from Sweeny, TX leads the Lady Knight attack with 19.0 points and 10.0 rebounds a game.

Other players to watch are Sophomore Aliyah Brown from Omaha (Burke), NE who averages 5.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, and Freshman Sara Mahr from Sidney averaging 5.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Another local athlete that could see playing time is Maddie Seamann from Hershey.

The game will be aired on ESPN Radio 1410 or on www.northplattepost.com. It will be videostreamed at www.coachesaid.com.

Nebraska Hunters Urged to Find Check Stations

Posted on November 11, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Game and Parks officials are urging hunters to find check stations before going out to find deer after the firearm hunting season opens on Saturday.

The commission says the list of check stations has changed since it was first printed.

During the firearm season, hunters must deliver their deer to check stations no later than 1 p.m. on Nov. 24, which is the day after the Nov. 23 season close.

An updated list of check stations is available online at OutdoorNebraska.org.