KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brad Miller homered off Royals closer Greg Holland to break a ninth-inning tie, and the Seattle Mariners beat Kansas City 7-5 despite blowing an early five-run lead Friday night.
Charlie Furbush (1-4) inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth, but the Mariners reliever calmly retired Mike Moustakas on a lazy popup to shallow right field. Furbush then struck out Alcides Escobar to silence a sellout crowd of 38,475 and keep the game tied 5-all.
Miller’s homer off Holland (0-2) came on the fifth pitch of his at-bat, and just skirted the foul pole in right field. Logan Morrison drove in another run later in the ninth.
Fernando Rodney allowed two singles in the ninth, but the veteran bounced back to retire pinch-hitter Nori Aoki on a groundout and Alex Gordon swinging to earn his 19th save.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The College World Series game between Virginia and Mississippi was suspended after a 93-minute lightning and rain delay at TD Ameritrade Park on Friday night.
The game, tied 0-0, will resume Saturday at 3 p.m. EDT with Virginia batting in the top of the second inning. The Cavaliers have runners on first and second base.
Virginia would advance to next week’s best-of-three finals with a win. If Mississippi wins, the teams would play again Sunday.
Texas and Vanderbilt will play a second bracket final on Saturday at 7 p.m. following the Longhorns’ 4-0 win on Friday.
Friday night’s game originally was delayed because of lightning. Heavy rain moved in and forced the suspension of the game. More than an inch of rain fell in a half-hour at TD Ameritrade Park.
Earlier in the day Nathan Thornhill and John Curtiss pitched Texas’ second straight shutout at the College World Series, and the Longhorns forced a second bracket final against Vanderbilt with a 4-0 victory Friday.
The Longhorns (46-20) and Commodores (48-20) will meet again Saturday, with the winner advancing to the best-of-three finals against Virginia or Mississippi. Those teams played a bracket final Friday night.
For the second straight game, Texas pitchers didn’t allow a runner past second base. The Longhorns have held opponents scoreless 19 straight innings and have given up four runs in their four games in Omaha.
Texas scored twice in each of the first two innings to lead 4-0, with a couple of the runs crossing the plate as a result of quirky plays.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Denver Broncos public relations staff has won the 2014 Pete Rozelle Award from the Professional Football Writers of America.
The annual award is named for the NFL commissioner from 1960-89 who began his distinguished career in sports PR roles as a student at Compton (Calif.) Junior College and the University of San Francisco. He broke into the NFL as the PR director of the Los Angeles Rams in 1952.
The Broncos’ PR department is led by executive director Patrick Smyth and includes managers Erich Schubert and Rebecca Villanueva. Jim Saccomano recently retired as vice president of corporate communications after 36 years with the club.
This is the second Rozelle Award for the Broncos, who also won the inaugural honor in 1990.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The death of Hall of Fame baseball player Tony Gwynn might give some pause to college players who use chewing tobacco. Whether it makes them stop is another matter.
Virginia pitcher Josh Sborz says he chews tobacco once a month or every two weeks, and he said Gwynn’s death should make players think.
According to an NCAA survey on substance use, baseball players acknowledging they used spit tobacco at least once in the previous month rose from 42.5 percent in 2005 to 52.3 percent in 2009. Results of the 2013 survey have not been released.
The NCAA banned tobacco in 1994, a year after minor-league baseball did the same. Tobacco is not banned in the major leagues.
College players and coaches caught with tobacco during games are to be ejected.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The head of the Big Ten is painting a dire picture of what college sports would look like if players were allowed to be paid. He says his conference likely would cease to exist and the Rose Bowl probably would not be played.
Jim Delany says the idea of paying players goes against the entire college experience and he couldn’t see league members agreeing to it. He adds that if some did they likely would be kicked out of the conference because such a move would create an imbalance among schools that could not be resolved.
Delany followed NCAA President Mark Emmert to the witness stand Friday in a landmark antitrust suit brought by former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon and others.
Tiger Woods says he is rusty but ready to return to competition.
Woods announced Friday on his Facebook page that he will play next week at Congressional in the Quicken Loans National. This is the first year for a new title sponsor at the PGA Tour event that donates the charity money to the Tiger Woods Foundation.
Woods last played on March 9 at Doral, where he played with pain in his lower back and closed with a 78 to tie for 25th. He had back surgery on March 31, causing him to miss the Masters for the first time. He also missed the U.S. Open.
He says he is just starting to hit full shots and wants to play his way into competitive shape.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — It’s the $5 million question that’s rumbling through NFL front offices and locker rooms alike: Is All-Pro Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints a tight end or a really big wide receiver?
It matters to men like Pro Bowl tight end Julius Thomas of the Denver Broncos, who’s up for a big pay raise and could be facing a franchise tag himself after the upcoming season.
The Saints gave Graham the franchise tag for about $7 million as a tight end, the position he’s been listed at for his entire four-year career — and which he himself lists on his Twitter account.
Graham contends that because he more often is split out away from the tackle, he is really a wide receiver.
Thomas is understandably interested in the outcome.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has set an application deadline of July 15 for meat processors that want to participate in the 2014 Hunters Helping the Hungry program.
The program provides ground venison to Nebraskans in need.
The application form and program guidelines are available online at OutdoorNebraska.com/HHH under Processors and Charitable Organizations.
Deer donation will run from Sept. 1 through Jan. 16. Processors wishing to participate for a shorter period of time are encouraged to contact the program coordinator. Game and Parks will contact eligible applicants by Aug. 1.
Contact Teresa Lombard at 402-471-5430 or teresa.lombard@nebraska.gov for more information.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Will Allen drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, Mississippi relievers held TCU without a hit after Kevin Cron’s homer in the fifth, and the Rebels stayed alive in the College World Series with a 6-4 victory Thursday night.
Ole Miss (48-20) will play Virginia on Friday night in a bracket final. The Rebels would need to beat the Cavaliers (51-14) on Friday and again Saturday to reach next week’s best-of-three championship series.
It was the most runs allowed by TCU (48-18) in 16 games.
Allen, who was 0 for 8 in the CWS when he came to bat in the third inning, went 3 for 5 with three RBIs.
Josh Laxer (3-2) worked 2 2-3 innings of relief for the win, and Aaron Greenwood earned his fifth save. Jordan Kipper (8-3) took the loss.
North Platte, Neb. (June 19, 2014) – A home-state cowboy did well at the Buffalo Bill Rodeo today.
Two time world champion steer wrestler Dean Gorsuch turned in a time of 3.3 seconds during the morning slack to win the first go-round.
The Gering man drew a good steer, and took advantage of it. “I knew he was supposed to be good. I got a great start, and he was good,” he said.
North Platte was his first rodeo back after suffering a torn elbow ligament. The injury happened during practice, and Gorsuch hasn’t competed since he was at the Challenge of Champions in Spanish Forks, Utah last month. The elbow “feels good to bulldog,” he said, “but it hurts to do normal things.” He plans on having Tommy John surgery after the rodeo season ends, and after he has competed at the National finals Rodeo, he hopes. He knows he has to qualify for the NFR first. “I gotta make it there first, but we keep trying.” He’s currently ranked eighth in the world.
He competed on his second go-round steer during slack but didn’t fare as well. “My second one, I should have done a lot better. I was going to make another fast run, and I should have just slowed down.” His time was 11.1 seconds, too slow to place in the second go-round and in the average.
Gorsuch and his traveling partners, Rhett Kennedy, who is currently leading the second go-round with a time of 3.5 seconds, Gary Gilbert, Josh Peek, and Aaron Vosler, will leave for a rodeo in Pleasant Grove, Utah on Friday, then make their way to Reno, Nev., Greeley, Colo., and then Cowboy Christmas, the Fourth of July run, the busiest part of the pro rodeo season. Sometimes his sons Taydon (nine), Trell (five) and Teagan (14 months) travel with him, but not on this trip. They’ll stay home with mom Bekah, play baseball, and wait for dad to come home.
North Platte is a special rodeo for him, and as close to a hometown rodeo as he can have. “I feel like this is my hometown rodeo. You get to see family and friends, and I love it. My grandpa ranched north of Mullen and neighbored with (fellow NFR qualifier and bareback rider) Steven Dent. I love this rodeo.”
Other leaders from the Thursday night performance are bareback rider Troy Vaira, Richey, Mont., (78 points), steer wrestler Denard Butler, Warner, Okla. (4.5 seconds), Cody Quaney, Cheney, Kan. (9.2), team ropers Chace Thompson, Munday, Texas and Jett Hillman, Purcell, Okla. (5.1), and barrel racers Cindy Gillespie, Ransom, Kan., and Amy Prather, Goddard, Kan., both with times of 17.66 seconds. In the saddle bronc riding and bull riding, the horses and bulls won; there were no qualified rides in either event.
Tonight was Tough Enough to Wear Pink night at the rodeo, and three cancer survivors: Kandi Franklin, Brule, Amberlee Martin, Stapleton, and Terry Martin, North Platte, were honored. All three women went through the Callahan Cancer Center at the Great Plains Regional Medical Center.
Night number three of the Buffalo Bill Rodeo takes place on Friday, June 20 at the Wild West Arena in North Platte. Tickets are available online atwww.NebraskaLandDays.com, at the NLD office or at the gate.
Preston Kafka, Wagner, S.D. gets bucked off the Beutler and Son Rodeo saddle bronc Fist Full of Dinero at the 2014 Buffalo Bill Rodeo in North Platte. Photo by George Hipple.
Results, 2nd Performance and slack, June 19, 2014
North Platte, Nebraska – Buffalo Bill Rodeo
Bareback riding
1 tie Troy Vaira, Richey, Mont. 78 points on Beutler and Son Rodeo Co.’s Roger Rabbit and Joe Gunderson, Agar, S.D. 78 points on Beutler and Son Rodeo Co.’s 423; 3. Casey Breuer, Mandan, N.D. 76; 4. Craig Wisehart, Kersey, Colo. 74
Steer wrestling
1st go-round (completed after slack)
1 Dean Gorsuch, Gering, Neb. 3.3; 2. Tyler Haugen, Sturgis, S.D. 3.9; 3. tie Stockton Graves, Alva, Okla. and Chad Van Campen, Granada, Colo. 4.1; 5. Trell Etbauer, Goodwell, Okla. 4.2; 6. tie Brad Johnson, Reva, S.D. and Dru Melvin, Hebron, Neb. 4.3; 8. Tyler Pearson, Louisville, Miss. 4.4
2nd go-round
1. Denard Butler, Warner, Okla. 4.5 seconds; 2. Cole McNamee, Pine Bluffs, Wyo. 4.6; 3. Benjamin Robinson, Colby, Kan. 5.2; 4. Dan Cathcart, Carpenter, Wyo. 5.6
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brad Miller homered off Royals closer Greg Holland to break a ninth-inning tie, and the Seattle Mariners beat Kansas City 7-5 despite blowing an early five-run lead Friday night.
