A rare misstep for the Colorado Rockies’ most consistent starting pitcher led to a one-sided defeat yesterday afternoon. Jhoulys Chacin posted the worst start of his young career as the Rockies fell to the Chicago Cubs 7-3 at Wrigley Field in a makeup game from an April rainout. Chacin allowed six earned runs in five innings of work and gave up three home runs, a career high. Carlos Pena and Aramis Ramirez homered twice for the Cubs in the win. Carlos Gonzalez hit a pair of home runs for the Rockies in the losing effort. The Rockies have lost three straight games and end their seven-game roadtrip with a 3-4 record. They return home for a six-game stretch that will conclude interleague play starting tonight with the first of three contests against the Chicago White Sox. ESPN Radio 1410 has the action from Coors Field with pregame coverage at 7:05 and the first pitch at 7:40.

The Nebraska football recruiting class of 2012 was bolstered on Friday afternoon with a third commitment in a week, and a second four-star commitment in as many days. Paul Thurston, an offensive lineman from Arvada, Colorado, pledged to the Huskers late Friday, making him the fifth member of the recruiting class. Thurston ranks as a four-star prospect and a top 20 player at his position according to both Scout.com and Rivals.com. He had made prior visits to Michigan, Oregon, and Notre Dame and had offers from at least a dozen BCS schools, but made one final trip to Lincoln two weekends ago and chose Husker red over maize and blue. The 6-foot-5, 275 pound Thurston is the first offensive lineman to commit to the class of 2012. So far, the five member class is represented by five different states.

The Colorado Rockies have handled interleague play with their customary ease, winning four out of six games against AL Central foes Detroit and Cleveland in the last week. Now they step into the AL East and face the game’s most storied franchise as they open a three-game series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium tonight. The Rockies haven’t faced the Yankees since 2007, when they swept the Bronx Bombers at Coors Field. A similar result will be hard to come by this weekend. The Yankees are 43-30 and half a game behind Boston in the AL East race. They are 23-17 at Yankee Stadium this season. Tonight the Rockies open the series with Ubaldo Jimenez on the mound, in search of his second straight win. The Yankees counter with fellow right-hander AJ Burnett. ESPN Radio 1410 has the action with pregame coverage at 5:30 and the first pitch at 6:05.

Three days after securing their third commitment to their recruiting class of 2012, the Husker football program added their first big name to their class. Greg McMullen, a defensive lineman from Akron, Ohio, chose the Huskers yesterday over offers from Ohio State, Michigan State, and Notre Dame, among others. McMullen is rated as a four-star prospect, the 21^st best player at his position nationally according to Scout.com and a top 100 player in the country on Rivals.com’s list. The 6-foot-5, 250 pound defensive end had 55 tackles and eight and a half sacks in his junior season at Archbishop Hoban High School. McMullen joins Lincoln Southeast’s Sam Cotton as commitments to the Huskers this week. The Omaha World-Herald reported yesterday that the Husker football class of 2012 will likely be Bo Pelini’s smallest yet due to the scholarship regulations established by the NCAA.

The Colorado Rockies once again fell short of a series sweep after a 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians last night. The Rockies have won four straight three-game sets, but in the last three have failed to finish off sweeps with losses in the third of those games. The Rockies offense came from the bat of Ty Wigginton, who blasted his eighth and ninth home runs of the season and drove in all three runs. Jason Hammel took the loss for the Rockies, allowing four runs in six innings of work. Hammel balked in a run in the third inning when he forgot what pitch he was throwing in the middle of his wind-up and stopped his motion. He also allowed a two-run home run to Cleveland’s Travis Hafner. The Rockies drop back to .500 with the loss last night. They are off tonight, traveling to New York for a three-game series against the Yankees that starts Friday.

The Vanderbilt Commodores survived to set up an all-SEC final in Bracket One at the College World Series. Vanderbilt knocked off, and knocked out, North Carolina with a 5-1 win last night at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. Connor Harrell and Curt Casali each homered off of Tar Heels starting pitcher Greg Holt to help the Commodores to a 5-0 lead in the third inning. Vanderbilt’s pitching took it from there. Taylor Hill worked the first seven frames, allowing just one run on four hits, and Corey Williams finished things off, allowing a single hit in the final two innings, to finish off the Tar Heels. Vanderbilt will now play Florida, who beat them on Monday night, and must return the favor twice to advance to the championship series. Tonight in Omaha, it’s an elimination game in Bracket Two as the Cal Bears take on the Virginia Cavaliers.

The Colorado Rockies giveth, and then Seth Smith taketh away. After coughing up a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, Smith’s solo home run leading off the ninth was the game-winner as the Rockies edged the Cleveland Indians 4-3 in Cleveland last night. It was Smith’s second homer of the game. The right-fielder hammered a two-run blast in the sixth inning to extend the Rockies lead at the time to 3-0. Jhoulys Chacin hurled six and two thirds innings of one-run, one-hit ball, but had to settle for a no-decision after the Indians scored twice off two Rockies relievers in the eighth. After Smith’s homer regained the lead, Huston Street put the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the ninth before finishing his 22^nd save. The Rockies, back over the .500 mark, finish their series with the Indians tonight. ESPN Radio 1410 has the action with pregame coverage at 5:30 and the first pitch at 6:05.

The Cinderella story of the California Bears baseball team has at least one more chapter to be written in Omaha. The Bears, back from the brink of literal program extinction, staved off elimination in a 7-3 win over Texas A&M yesterday afternoon that sent the Aggies home. The Bears scored three times in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to open up their big lead, with freshman second baseman Derek Campbell driving in a pair of runs. In the winner’s game in Bracket Two last night, South Carolina won their 13^th straight postseason game dating back to last year’s World Series as they rolled over Virginia 7-1. A three-run first inning sparked a surprising offensive onslaught and puts Virginia, the top national seed, on the cusp of elimination. Tonight in Omaha, Vanderbilt takes on North Carolina in a Bracket One elimination game.

The North Platte First Nationals seniors were comeback kids last night at Bill Wood Field, erasing a three-run deficit in the late innings to defeat Twin Cities 9-8 in a nine-inning contest. The visitors jumped out ahead early, seizing a 6-2 lead after a five-run third inning that chased First Nationals starting pitcher Kade Folchert. Reliever Joe Smidt stabilized the situation after that, allowing just two runs in six innings of relief while the offense worked to play catch-up. Trailing 8-5 in the seventh inning, the First Nationals scored a pair of runs in the bottom half thanks to two Twin Cities errors. In the bottom of the eighth, Nick Martinez scored the tying run on the back half of a double steal, and Andrew Armstrong hit an RBI single to score Riley Evarts with the eventual winning run. The First Nationals play a doubleheader at Goodland, Kansas today.

For Sam Cotton, Nebraska football literally runs in the family. So it was only natural that the Lincoln Southeast tight end would commit to play his college ball for the Huskers. Both Rivals.com and Scout.com reported yesterday that Cotton gave his commitment to Nebraska yesterday. He’ll be the third of offensive line coach Barney Cotton’s sons to suit up for the Big Red. Ben is a junior tight end, and Jake is a redshirt freshman on the offensive line. Sam is a 6’4”, 235-pound two way player who projects to play tight end in college and is rated as a three-star prospect. He is the third player to commit to Nebraska’s recruiting class of 2012. The Huskers had previously received commitments from wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp of Lombard, Illinois, and linebacker Michael Rose from Kansas City, Missouri.