The final day of competition at the Nebraska Junior Amateur Golf Championship takes place today at the Country Club in Lincoln, and a North Platte golfer will try to take home the men’s championship. Cameron Bargell, who will be a junior at North Platte High next year, enters today in a tie for sixth place after a first-day score of 74. Bargell shot a 38 on the front and back nines to put himself solidly in contention. He has qualified for the Class A State Golf Tournament in his first two years of high school golf at North Platte High. Jared Arensdorf, also from North Platte, failed to qualify for the second day after shooting a 94. In the Girls Amateur Championship, North Platte’s Karissa Moreland was the lone local competitor. Moreland did not qualify for the second day after she shot a 97, leaving her in a five-way tie for 19^th.

Five years after he last played professionally, Eric Crouch will return to the gridiron. The Omaha World-Herald reports that Crouch will sign with the UFL’s Omaha Nighthawks at a press conference today. Crouch had performed at a mini-camp with the team last month, hoping to make a comeback to professional football. The former Husker and 2001 Heisman Trophy winner hasn’t thrown a pass in a professional game since a brief stint in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts in 2006. Crouch was a third-round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams, in 2002 but never appeared in an NFL game. He’ll compete for Omaha’s starting quarterback role vacated by last year’s starter, Jeff Garcia. Crouch isn’t the only Husker to ink a contract with the Nighthawks – the team has also signed wide receiver Maurice Purify.

The Colorado Rockies leave Atlanta battered and beaten. An injury-depleted Rockies squad has now lost five straight games after the Braves finished off a four-game sweep with a 6-3 victory yesterday afternoon at Turner Field. Rockies starting pitcher Juan Nicasio failed to make it out of the third inning, allowing five runs in that frame. Rockies starters have posted an unsightly 10.13 ERA during the team’s five-game losing skid. Tim Hudson worked into the eighth inning, limiting the Rockies to three runs. Jason Giambi had a pair of RBI to highlight the Rockies offensive efforts. The Rockies have now dropped a season-high six games below the .500 mark. They head to the nation’s capital for three games against the Washington Nationals this weekend. ESPN Radio 1410 has game one of that series tonight, with pregame coverage at 5:30 and the first pitch at 6:05.

The circumstances continue to stack up against the Colorado Rockies. They have lost the first two games of their four game series in Atlanta against the Braves entering the third game tonight. Once again, the Rockies will be without both center fielder Carlos Gonzalez and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki due to injury. The Rockies were able to scratch out three runs without their leadoff and cleanup hitters last night, but it wasn’t enough in a 5-3 loss. Runs may be even harder to come by tonight as the Rockies face one of the hottest pitchers in the game in Atlanta’s Jair Jurrjens, who enters tonight with an 11-3 record and an NL-best 1.89 ERA. Aaron Cook starts on the mound for Colorado, looking for his first win in his sixth start of the season. ESPN Radio 1410 has the game tonight with the pregame show at 5:30 and the first pitch at 6:10.

What was shaping up to be a thrilling home finale for the North Platte First Nationals Seniors was cut short in the bottom of the seventh inning last night due to lightning and rain. The First Nationals were poised to push across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning when the game was called, ending their contest with Ogallala in a 4-4 tie. North Platte had held a 3-1 lead before the visitors scored three times in their half of the fifth to take the lead. But Joe Smidt’s RBI double in the seventh tied the score, and Smidt advanced to third with nobody out before lightning forced the teams off the field. In the first game of the doubleheader at Bill Wood Field last night, the First Nationals Juniors routed Ogallala 11-3 in a game stopped in five innings due to the mercy rule. Tonight, the First Nationals seniors visit Chappell to take on the Buckley Bombers in a doubleheader.

New Nebraska head baseball coach Darin Erstad rounded out his coaching staff yesterday with the announcement that another former Husker would be a volunteer assistant for the 2012 season. Jeff Christy, who played at Nebraska from 2003 to 2006, will join Erstad’s three-man assistant staff. Christy was a two year starter at catcher for the Huskers, helping them reach the College World Series in 2005. He was drafted in the sixth round of the MLB Entry Draft by the Minnesota Twins in 2006 and rose as high as the AAA level of the minor leagues before retiring after a brief stint in independent minor league ball in 2010. Last season, he assisted on the staff at Wichita State, helping them to a 39-26 record. Christy joins fellow former Husker Will Bolt and new pitching coach Ted Silva on Erstad’s first coaching staff as head man.

Not only did Atlanta’s Derek Lowe out-pitch Colorado’s Jhoulys Chacin last night, he out-hit him, too. Lowe’s three-run double in the fourth inning was the difference as the Rockies fell to the Braves 5-3 in Atlanta. Chacin struggled with command all night, walking the bases loaded ahead of Lowe’s big hit and finishing the night with six walks in five innings of work. Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla homered for the Braves in the win. For the Rockies, Mark Ellis had three more hits, and Chris Iannetta and Charlie Blackmon each had run-scoring singles. The Rockies will once again be without both Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki for the third game of their series in Atlanta tonight, though both could return Thursday for the series finale. You can hear tonight’s game on ESPN Radio 1410, with pregame coverage at 5:30 and the first pitch at 6:10.

The Colorado Rockies could not have started their seven-game road trip in a worse fashion. Not only did the Rockies lose to the Atlanta Braves 4-1 last night, they lost All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki when he left the game in the fourth inning with tightness in his right quadricep. Tulowitzki isn’t expected to need to make a trip to the disabled list, but he joins Carlos Gonzalez on the list of Rockies stars who will miss time on this pivotal road trip. Ubaldo Jimenez took the loss in the game, allowing three runs in five and a third innings despite striking out nine batters. Todd Helton drove in the only Rockies run in the defeat. The Rockies and Braves play game two of their four-game series tonight. ESPN Radio 1410 has the call with pregame coverage at 5:30 and the first pitch at 6:10.

There’s baseball at Bill Wood Field tonight, a doubleheader with the North Platte First Nationals Juniors and Seniors playing one game apiece against Ogallala. It’s the final home game of the regular season for both the Juniors and Seniors, with the state tournaments for both teams looming on the horizon next weekend. The Seniors are hoping to rebound from a 1-3 performance at the Mike Peterson Tournament in Lincoln over the weekend. On Friday the First Nationals lost to a team from Calgary, Alberta, Canada 9-0 and then lost in extra innings to Lincoln U-Stop 9-8. Saturday, the First Nationals were blanked by Beatrice 8-0 before salvaging one win out of the tournament with a 4-2 win over Lincoln Union Bank. The juniors get the action started tonight at Bill Wood Field at 5:30. The seniors game begins at 8.