Sports – Page 613 – North Platte Post Archive

Big Ten Baseball Tournament Expands to Eight-Team Field

Posted on February 7, 2014

Rosemont, Ill. – The conference office announced today that the Big Ten Baseball Tournament will feature an eight-team field for the first time in conference history, beginning with the 2014 event. The 2014 Big Ten Baseball Tournament will be held May 21-25 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., home of the College World Series.

The tournament’s double-elimination format will culminate with a single championship game on Sunday, with the winner earning the tournament title and the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Championship. All eight teams will begin play in one of two brackets, with the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 8 seeds appearing in one bracket and the No. 2, No. 3, No. 6 and No. 7 seeds appearing in the other bracket.

The tournament begins with four contests on Wednesday and Thursday and two games slated for Friday. Saturday will feature the winners of each bracket facing the remaining one-loss team from the opposite bracket in the semifinals. As many as four games are scheduled forSaturday, with the opportunity for two if necessary games to be played to determine Sunday’s championship game participants.

The full 2014 Big Ten Tournament bracket is attached as a PDF. Game times and television information will be available at a later date.

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. 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 with four tournament crowns, Indiana with three and Purdue with one.

Opening day of the 2014 Big Ten baseball season is Friday, Feb. 14, with all 11 teams beginning the new campaign. Indiana appears in the top 10 of numerous preseason publications, while six conference standouts have been named preseason All-Americans by various outlets.

5 Things to Know About the Sochi Olympics

Posted on February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fast five, Friday edition: Things you’ll want to know about the 2014 Winter Olympics.

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NO YOGURT: Chobani is the U.S. Olympic team’s official yogurt. It’s also hard to find here in Sochi. And therein lies a problem. Some 5,000 cups of Greek yogurt isn’t getting to Russia because of a customs dispute between Washington and Moscow. This is producing unhappiness but also determination. Says U.S. skier Lyman Currier: “Whether we have our yogurt or not, we’ll be able to adapt.”

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OPENING DAY: The Sochi Games have been clouded by fears of terrorism and a Russian law that has been used to discriminate against gays. Friday night’s opening ceremony gives President Vladimir Putin a chance to sweep those issues under the rug for a few hours and Russia a chance to show a different, more vibrant side to the rest of the world for the first time since Soviet Moscow hosted the Summer Games in 1980.

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WORLD LEADERS: Here’s who’s coming: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Chinese counterpart. Here’s who’s not: Barack Obama, French President Francois Holland and the prime ministers of Britain and Germany. And then there’s Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, who announced Friday he’ll be at the Sochi Olympics, held in the country that invaded his own in 1979. Organizers say some 66 leaders — including heads of state and international organizations — are joining the games.

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GOOGLE’S STATEMENT: The new Google doodle is about the Olympics, and it’s bound to be controversial. With the Winter Games opening, the company changed its logo to illustrations of athletes competing against a rainbow-colored backdrop. Google isn’t commenting on the move — it says it wants the illustration to speak for itself — but it is pretty clearly keyed toward the outcry against Russia’s law restricting gay-rights activities.

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THOSE OTHER OLYMPICS: “The Lake Placid Olympics was one of the most poorly organized.” So begins a paragraph about the contentious 1980s Olympics that appears this month in the in-flight magazine of the Russian airline Aeroflot. Also there’s this:. “The Americans used the games to wage a propaganda campaign in support of a boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.” This was in the middle of the Cold War, and evidently at least some resentment still lingers.

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Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: https://apne.ws/1c3WMiu

Irish Wrestlers Win the SPVA Conference Tournament

Posted on February 7, 2014

The South Platte Valley Athletic Conference held its conference wrestling tournament in Sutherland on Thursday. When the dust had settled the St. Patrick’s Irish grapplers came out on top.

The Irish started off the SPVA with a dual against Sutherland and came out on top 48-33. St. Pat’s win in the second round was their closest of the day as they held off Maxwell 42-39. The Irish then beat Hershey (41-27), Kimball (51-18), Perkins County (54-6), and wrapped up the tournament with a win over Chase County (48-9). Cody Weaver (106, 113), Trey Dodson (113, 120), Nate Chrisman (120, 126), and Brayden Divine (152) all went undefeated on the day.

The Maxwell Wildcats placed second in the SPVA. Maxwell beat Kimball (54-21), Perkins County (66-6), Sutherland (39-27), and Chase County (60-18). The Wildcats lost to St. Pat’s (42-39) and Hershey (43-42). Jaylon Sturdivant (152, 160) and Taylor McKeeman (170, 182) went undefeated on the day.

The Hershey Panthers finished in third place on Thursday. Hershey beat Chase County (36-12), Perkins County (48-6), Maxwell (43-42), and Kimball (29-24). The Panthers lost to St. Pat’s (41-27) and Sutherland (36-34). Tucker Hicks (106), Chayton Crow (138, 145), Wyatt McConnell (170), and Lane Richardson (285) all went undefeated.

Sutherland finished in fourth place for the tournament. The Sailors beat Chase County (48-18), Kimball (42-30), Hershey (36-34), and Perkins County (48-6). Sutherland lost to St. Pat’s (48-33) and Maxwell (39-27). Collin Fleecs (132), Blake Scott (152, 160), Zachary Blake (170), and Nathaniel Foster (195) went undefeated.

Round-by-round results can be seen below.

SPVA Conference Duals Results
Guaranteed Places
1st Place – North Platte St. Patricks
2nd Place – Maxwell
3rd Place – Hershey
4th Place – Sutherland
5th Place – Kimball
6th Place – Chase County
7th Place – Perkins County
Round 1
North Platte St. Patricks defeated Sutherland 48-33.
Hershey defeated Chase County 36-12.
Maxwell defeated Kimball 54-21.
Perkins County defeated null 0-0.
Round 2
Sutherland defeated Chase County 48-18.
Hershey defeated Perkins County 48-6.
North Platte St. Patricks defeated Maxwell 42-39.
Kimball defeated null 0-0.
Round 3
Sutherland defeated Kimball 42-30.
North Platte St. Patricks defeated Hershey 41-27.
Maxwell defeated Perkins County 66-6.
Chase County defeated null 0-0.
Round 4
Sutherland defeated Hershey 36-34.
North Platte St. Patricks defeated Kimball 51-18.
Chase County defeated Perkins County 24-6.
Maxwell defeated null 0-0.
Round 5
Kimball defeated Chase County 30-15.
Hershey defeated Maxwell 43-42.
North Platte St. Patricks defeated Perkins County 54-6.
Sutherland defeated null 0-0.
Round 6
Maxwell defeated Sutherland 39-27.
Kimball defeated Perkins County 36-6.
North Platte St. Patricks defeated Chase County 48-9.
Hershey defeated null 0-0.
Round 7
Sutherland defeated Perkins County 48-6.
Maxwell defeated Chase County 60-18.
Hershey defeated Kimball 29-24.
North Platte St. Patricks defeated null 0-0.

80 Percent of Sochi Olympic Tickets Sold

Posted on February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Sochi Olympic organizers say more than 80 percent of tickets to events have been sold.

Russian spectators, who were allocated 70 percent of the total available, have faced lengthy lines in Sochi to collect their tickets.

Ticket collection points are operating at the airport, at railway stations in downtown Sochi and at the Olympic Park in the borough of Adler. Tickets can also be collected in Moscow.

Adler resident Oksana Yeguryan says she waited for four hours to collect a hard copy of her 20,000-ruble ($578) ticket for the opening ceremony.

Sergey Galkin came from Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains to pick up 50,000 rubles ($1,444) worth of biathlon, ski jumping and luge tickets.

Del Rio Signs 2-Year Deal with Broncos

Posted on February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has signed a two-year contract that will keep him in Denver through 2015.

Del Rio went 3-1 as interim coach when John Fox underwent heart surgery last season.

Fox is entering the final year of his contract, but he and the Broncos hope to reach an extension this offseason following Denver’s runner-up finish to Seattle in the Super Bowl.

Including the 3-1 mark under Del Rio, the Broncos are 37-17 since Fox took over in 2011, including 3-3 in the playoffs.

Del Rio was Denver’s seventh defensive coordinator in seven seasons when he joined the Broncos in 2012 after serving as Jacksonville’s head coach from 2003-11.

Lillard Competing in 3 All-Star Saturday Events

Posted on February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Portland’s Damian Lillard will become the first player to compete in three events during All-Star Saturday night in New Orleans, including a slam dunk contest that features three All-Stars for the first time in 26 years.

Indiana’s Paul George and Washington’s John Wall also will take part in the night’s marquee event Feb. 15. There haven’t been three All-Stars in the dunk contest since the famed 1988 duel, when Michael Jordan beat Dominique Wilkins on his home floor in Chicago, in a field that also included Clyde Drexler.

Lillard, the reigning Rookie of the Year, will play in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night before defending his Skills Challenge title and competing in the 3-point contest.

The remainder of the dunk field is defending champion Terrence Ross of Toronto, Golden State’s Harrison Barnes and rookie Ben McLemore of Sacramento.

Rockies to Retire Helton’s No. 17 Jersey

Posted on February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies will retire former first baseman Todd Helton’s No. 17 on Aug. 17.

The club announced its promotional schedule Thursday and it includes a three-day weekend honoring Helton, who retired at the end of last season.

Helton will be honored in a ceremony on Aug. 17 before the Rockies play the Cincinnati Reds.

Also, Root Sports announced former Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs will join its Rockies broadcast team this season.

Spilborghs played a key role in the Rockies’ 2007 World Series run and had considered resuming his career with the Rockies on a minor league contract this season before deciding to retire and go into broadcasting. He’ll be a part of the team’s pregame and postgame shows.

Woods to Skip Match Play Championship in Arizona

Posted on February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods is skipping the Match Play Championship in Arizona in two weeks.

Woods announced on his website Thursday that he wasn’t planning to compete in the first World Golf Championship. He says his plan was to attend the Sochi Olympics in Russia before his girlfriend and champion skier Lindsey Vonn got injured.

Instead, he will stay home and prepare for three tournaments in Florida. He’ll next play the Honda Classic on Feb. 27 followed by title defenses at Doral and Bay Hill.

This was the first time Woods has missed the Match Play Championship when healthy and the tournament was held in America.

This means the Match Play will be without three of the top players in the world —Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott.

Play Ball!: D-Backs Kick Off MLB Spring Training

Posted on February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — While much of the nation is buried in snow, glazed by ice or just plain shivering in the cold, it’s time to play ball in the desert.

Spring training officially began Thursday when Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers and catchers reported, with their first workout set for Friday.

On the other side of suburban Phoenix, in Glendale, Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers and catchers report on Saturday.

Full-squad workouts for both teams begin next week.

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers get an early start because they will open the MLB season with a two-game series in Sydney, Australia, on March 22-23.

The rest of the teams begin workouts next week at their spring training haunts in Arizona and Florida.

Storm Trade For Defensemen At Deadline

Posted on February 6, 2014

KEARNEY, Neb. – Recent injuries to defensemen forced the Tri-City Storm to be active at the trading deadlineThursday, acquiring two defenseman from the North American Hockey League in Donovan Gardiner from the Lone Star Brahmas and Grant Hutton from the Corpus Christi IceRays.

In exchange for Gardiner, Tri-City sent forward Thomas Aldworth to Lone Star, while Hutton was acquired in exchange for future considerations.

Including these most recent moves, the Storm have now made seven trades in the past month.

“Given our injury situation we’ve been in the market for defensemen for quite some time,” said Storm head coach and general manager Jim Hulton. “It became apparent that Cutler Martin won’t be back this season. With injuries last weekend to Sean Lang who is also out for the season and Daniel Fritz, it expedited our needs.”

“We wanted to add some size and right-shooting defenseman. Fortunately we were able to acquire that in both Gardiner and Hutton. Gardiner’s a 20-year old who brings junior experience. Hutton is 18 but he’s big at 6-foot 3-inches. They will complement the players we have here and we think it provides a lot more depth in our lineup.”

Gardiner, who originally hails from Sterling Heights, Mich., played in 38 games this season with the Brahmas. The defenseman has four goals and three assists. A season ago, Gardiner played 45 games in the NAHL for three different teams including Texas, Kalamazoo and Janesville.

Hutton was in his second year with Corpus Christi and has six goals and 13 assists in 43 games played. The defenseman has also spent time on the power play and has five goals and six assists on the man-advantage.

A season ago, Hutton played in 42 games, putting up 10 points with a +16 rating.

The Carmel, Ind. native is now reunited with his former teammate Jalen Schulz, who played on the blue line with the IceRays last season.

Aldworth played in 29 games in his first season with the Storm, scoring three goals and one assist.

“In order to acquire a defenseman there’s a price to be paid and that was Thomas Aldworth,” Hulton said. “We’d like to thank Thomas for all he’s done for the Storm. We think he’s a player with a ton of potential that just needs to go to a new setting and get some confidence. We wish him well and we hope he returns to this league in the future.”

Both defensemen are expected to join the team on the road and make their debut this weekend.

Tri-City is preparing to begin a six-game road stretch starting in Waterloo on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

The Storm will be back at the Viaero Event Center to face Lincoln on Feb. 22 at 7:05 p.m.