Photo via MSU Athletics
GILMORE AND VEBER CLAIM POST-SEASON HONORS
Sierra Gilmore and Jenna Veber of Murray State softball have earned All-OVC accolades. Gilmore garnered All-OVC second team honors, while Veber landed a spot on the league’s All-Newcomer team. Gilmore led the Racers with a .327 batting average, .381 on-base percentage, a.532 slugging percentage, 40 RBIs, and a league-high 17 doubles. Veber posted a 2.58 ERA over a conference-leading 39 appearances on the year. She struck out 61 over 127 1/3 innings of work while walking just ten batters. Her 6.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks 25th in the nation and she is fourth in the nation in walks allowed per seven innings with a mark of 0.55. That is the second-best single-season rate in program history behind her 0.26 mark through 53.1 innings in 2020. Eastern Illinois’ Megan Burton was named the OVC Player of the Year while Southeast Missouri’s Rachel Rook was voted the OVC Pitcher of the Year. Austin Peay’s Jordan Benefiel is the OVC Freshman of the Year while SEMO’s Mark Redburn was named the OVC Coach of the Year.
MARSHALS HOLD OFF CALLOWAY COUNTY
In high school softball yesterday, Marshall County held off Calloway County 14-11 in a wild game in Draffenville. With the Lady Marshals leading 10-2 after three innings, Calloway County used a 6-run fifth inning to tie the game at 11 before Marshall County regrouped with 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth to pick up the win. Bailee Grogan led Calloway with a 3 for 5 day at the plate and 4 RBI’s while Emerson Grogan was 3 for 3 with an RBI. Serena Thomassi and McKenzie Elkins each drove in three runs for Marshall County, which improved to 17-9 while the Lady Lakers fell to 15-7.
OVC TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGIN TODAY
The Murray State track and field team is set to compete at the OVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Charleston, Illinois beginning today and continuing through Saturday. Following the cancellation of the 2020 OVC Outdoor Championships, the Racers will look to repeat after they won the 2019 OVC Outdoor Championships in Cape Girardeau. Eastern Illinois is hosting this year’s event. The event will be streamed on ESPN+ all three days.
RACER BASEBALL SERIES ALTERED
Murray State and SIU-E have rearranged their weekend baseball series in Edwardsville to a Friday doubleheader beginning at 2 pm and single game on Saturday at 1 pm. The Racers enter the series tied for first place in the OVC standings with Southeast Missouri.
EAGLES EXTEND SPRADLIN
Morehead State has extended the contract of head men’s basketball coach Preston Spradlin. The extension will keep Spradlin as the Eagles’ head coach through the 2024-25 season. Spradlin led the Eagles to their first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship in ten years and into the NCAA Tournament with a 23-8 record. The Eagles finished as the 7th ranked team in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll.
CATS GET WASHINGTON
Kentucky men’s basketball has announced the signing of TyTy Washington. The 6-foot-3 guard from Phoenix is the third freshman to ink with the Wildcats, joining forwards Daimion Collins and Bryce Hopkins, who signed with UK during the fall signing period. Washington is ranked as high as the No. 12 overall player in the class of 2021 and second at his position by ESPN.
THREE OVC PLAYERS NAMED FCS ALL-AMERICANS
Three Ohio Valley Conference football players have been named to the Associated Press FCS All-American Team. Jacksonville State sophomore safety Nicario Harper was a first-team selection while JSU senior tight end Trae Barry and Austin Peay senior nickelback Kordell Jackson were second-team selections. Each of those players earned Stats Perform All-American honors earlier this week.
RAIN ENDS JSU’S SEASON IN BATON ROUGE
Jacksonville State’s attempt to compete in the NCAA Women’s Golf Regional was rained out again. For the third-straight day, tournament and course officials canceled play at the Baton Rouge Regional. Overnight and morning rains prompted an announcement before noon on Monday and the same thing happened on Tuesday. The decision ended the season for 12 of the teams and advanced the top six seeds to the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona next week. The Gamecocks end their final season in the OVC as the Ohio Valley Conference Champions for the first time since 2012.
CARDINALS FALL TO MILWAUKEE
The Cardinals held the Brewers in check before giving up three runs in the bottom of the eighth and losing 4-1 in Milwaukee. Ryan Helsley was tagged with the loss after allowing all three of those runs. Tyler O’Neill’s homer in the top half of the eighth for St. Louis, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. The three-game set wraps up today with a 12:40 afternoon affair. Airtime is set for 11:45 this morning on WNBS AM and FM.
NASHVILLE DOWNS MEMPHIS
After a dominant 18-6 victory on Tuesday, the Redbirds fell to the Nashville Sounds 9-6 last night to even the series at 1-1. The Redbirds trailed by as many as six runs and their ninth inning comeback attempt fell short by three runs. The Rebirds and Sounds will face off for the third of six games tonight.
TITANS SCHEDULE RELEASED
The 2021 NFL regular season schedule has been released, and the Titans have the 13th-hardest schedule in the league. The Titans will have nine matchups against 2020 playoff teams and an average opponent win percentage of .507. A midseason five-game stretch will be filled with tough games, as they will host the Bills on October 18th, followed by a home matchup with the Chiefs, road games against the Colts and Rams, and another home game against the Saints on November 14th. Tennessee opens the season against the Cardinals at home on September 12th.
BLUES WIN
The St. Louis Blues blanked the Wild 4-0 at the Enterprise Center. St. Louis and Minnesota wrap up the regular season tonight at the Enterprise Center.
GRIZZLIES HOST KINGS
The Memphis Grizzlies are set to host the Kings tonight in the first of back-to-back games against Sacramento. The Grizzlies have clinched a play-in spot and trail the Warriors by a half game for the eighth seed in the West. The last three games will be crucial for the Grizzlies because the eight seed only has to either beat the seven seed twice OR beat the nine or ten seed once, whereas the nine seed has to beat the ten seed once AND beat the loser of the seven-eight seed twice.
NATIONAL SPORTS BRIEFS
The NFL has announced the league’s 2021 schedule. The season will kick off on Thursday, September 9th, in Tampa with the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the Dallas Cowboys. The first Monday Night Football game will feature the Baltimore Ravens and the Las Vegas Raiders. Tom Brady will bring his Bucs to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots in Week Four. On Thanksgiving, the Bears will visit the Lions, the Raiders will visit the Cowboys, and the Bills will visit the Saints.
The New York Yankees are saying seven members of the coaching and support staff have tested positive for COVID. Manager Aaron Boone confirmed Wednesday that pitching coach Matt Blake is among the new positives, joining third-base coach Phil Nevin and first-base coach Reggie Willits, who were announced on Tuesday. Six of the seven positive cases are asymptomatic. Shortstop Gleyber Torres was held out of the lineup out of “an abundance of caution” while the team awaits test results.
Talen Horton-Tucker scored 23 points as the Lakers edged the Rockets 124-122 in Los Angeles. Before the game, the Lakers finally raised their 17th championship banner for the 2019-20 season in front of the home crowd. The Lakers beat the Miami Heat in six games in the Orlando bubble to clinch the title. Los Angeles was without its star attractions — LeBron James and Anthony Davis — both of whom sat out with injuries. The Lakers have won three straight.
James Harden posted 18 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds in his return from an 18-game absence, as the Nets beat the Spurs 128-116 in Brooklyn. Harden had been sidelined with a strained right hamstring. Kevin Durant netted 14 points and Landry Shamet scored a team-high 21 for the Nets, who have won three in-a-row. Brooklyn is within a game-and-a-half of Philadelphia for the top seed in the East.
The PGA Tour is back in Texas this week for the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship. Round one action gets going this morning at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, which is outside Dallas. Sung Kang is the defending champion of the event after winning in 2019. He will be grouped with Jon Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama.
WEDNESDAY’S SCOREBOARD
MLB National League
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Cincinnati Reds 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 (10)
San Diego Padres 5, Colorado Rockies 3 (G1)
Colorado Rockies 3, San Diego Padres 2 (G2, 8 innings)
Philadelphia Phillies 5, Washington Nationals 2 (10)
Milwaukee Brewers 4, St. Louis Cardinals 1
Miami Marlins 3, Arizona Diamondbacks 2
MLB American League
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Detroit Tigers 4, Kansas City Royals 2
New York Yankees 1, Tampa Bay Rays 0
Oakland Athletics 4, Boston Red Sox 1
Houston Astros 9, Los Angeles Angels 1
Chicago White Sox 13, Minnesota Twins 8
MLB Interleague
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New York Mets 7, Baltimore Orioles 1
Cleveland Indians 2, Chicago Cubs 1 (10)
Toronto Blue Jays 4, Atlanta Braves 1
Los Angeles Dodgers 7, Seattle Mariners 1
NBA
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Atlanta Hawks 120, Washington Wizards 116
Brooklyn Nets 128, San Antonio Spurs 116
Cleveland Cavaliers 102, Boston Celtics 94
Dallas Mavericks 125, New Orleans Pelicans 107
Portland Trail Blazers 105, Utah Jazz 98
Los Angeles Lakers 124, Houston Rockets 122
NHL
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Edmonton Oilers 4, Montreal Canadiens 3 (OT)
Ottawa Senators 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 3 (OT)
Vegas Golden Knights 6, San Jose Sharks 0
St. Louis Blues 4, Minnesota Wild 0
Colorado Avalanche 6, Los Angeles Kings 0
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
MLB National League
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1:05 p.m. – Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals
1:40 p.m. – St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers
6:35 p.m. – San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates
8:40 p.m. – Cincinnati Reds at Colorado Rockies
9:40 p.m. – Miami Marlins at Arizona Diamondbacks
MLB American League
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1:10 p.m. – Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers
2:10 p.m. – Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox
7:10 p.m. – New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
7:10 p.m. – Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox
8:10 p.m. – Texas Rangers at Houston Astros
10:10 p.m. – Cleveland Indians at Seattle Mariners
MLB Interleague
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12:20 p.m. – Toronto Blue Jays at Atlanta Braves
NBA
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7:00 p.m. – LA Clippers at Charlotte Hornets
7:00 p.m. – Milwaukee Bucks at Indiana Pacers
7:30 p.m. – Orlando Magic at Atlanta Hawks
7:30 p.m. – Philadelphia 76ers at Miami Heat
7:30 p.m. – San Antonio Spurs at New York Knicks
8:00 p.m. – Toronto Raptors at Chicago Bulls
8:00 p.m. – Sacramento Kings at Memphis Grizzlies
8:00 p.m. – Denver Nuggets at Minnesota Timberwolves
10:00 p.m. – Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns
NHL
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8:00 p.m. – Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues
9:00 p.m. – Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames
9:00 p.m. – Los Angeles Kings at Colorado Avalanche
PGA
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AT&T Byron Nelson Championship (at McKinney, TX)
