Daniel DeLuca (Photo via Dave Winder, MSU Athletics)
DELUCA NAMED RACER MEN’S GOLF COACH
Murray State has named Daniel DeLuca as the head men’s golf coach for the Racers. DeLuca is a native of Lexington who comes to Murray State after serving as assistant men’s coach at the United States Military Academy at West Point for the last two years. From 2017-19, he was assistant men’s and women’s coach at Stephen F. Austin University. As a student-athlete at Eastern Kentucky University from 2011-16, DeLuca played in 22 events and stayed on as graduate assistant coach. DeLuca earned the OVC Medal Of Honor in 2012 and 2016 for having the highest grade point average for men’s golf across all OVC teams. Deluca is set to take the Racers’ men’s golf program into the future following in the footsteps of coaching legends, Eddie Hunt and Buddy Hewitt.
SWEENY GOES TO YANKEES IN FIRST ROUND OF MLB DRAFT
Eastern Illinois All-American shortstop Trey Sweeney was selected by the New York Yankees with the 20th pick of the First Round of the 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Sweeney is just the third OVC player selected in the First Round, joining Morehead State pitcher Drew Hall and Eastern Kentucky pitcher Christian Friedrich. Southeast Missouri All-American pitcher Dylan Dodd, the 2021 OVC Pitcher of the Year, was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the Third Round.
MORE LOUISVILLE PLAYERS LAND SPOTS IN MLB DRAFT
Players with connections to Louisville continue to be drafted by Major League Baseball teams. The Milwaukee Brewers took third baseman Alex Binelas in the third round, the Yankees selected second baseman Cooper Bowman in the fourth round, and the Washington Nationals took pitcher Michael Kirian in the sixth round. Trinity High School star Daylen Lile was also taken by the Nationals with the 47th overall pick in the second round.
SALTER TRANSFERS TO LIBERTY
Ex-Tennessee quarterback Kaidon Salter is transferring to Liberty. Salter was kicked off the team by head coach Josh Heupel after two off the field incidents. He got suspended for spring football following after he was arrested for an incident on the UT campus in March. Salter came to Knoxville as a four-star QB out of Cedar Hill, Texas.
BROWN TALKS ABOUT TIGERS
Memphis Tigers assistant coach Larry Brown is bullish on the future prospects of the program. In a press conference, Brown said he thinks the Tigers can recruit anybody and that the program “Could be anything that we want it to be.” Brown, 80, won a NCAA title with Kansas in 1988 and an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Murray State faces Memphis on December 11 at FedEx Forum.
NATIONAL SPORTS BRIEFS
Mets slugger Pete Alonso is defending his crown. Alonso hit 23 home runs in the final round to beat Orioles slugger Trey Mancini to claim back-to-back Home Run Derbies after winning in 2019. Alonso hit a whopping 35 home runs in the opening round and dispatched of Kansas City’s Salvador Perez. In the second round, Alonso worked his way past Washington’s Juan Soto, who had beaten the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani in a first round swing off.
Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani will be leading off both on the mound and at the plate in the 2021 MLB All-Star Game. Ohtani was announced as the starting pitcher for the American League and will bat leadoff for the group. Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer was tabbed as the starter for the National League, with San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. batting leadoff. Ohtani is the second Japanese player to be tabbed as the starting pitcher for an All-Star Game, following in the footsteps of Hideo Nomo, who did it in 1995 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team is losing back-to-back exhibition games for the first time since pros joined the roster in 1992. Australia upset the Americans 91-to-83 Monday in Las Vegas to get the team off to an 0-and-2 start. They lost to Nigeria over the weekend. Team USA had been 54-and-2 in exhibition games since pros joined the roster. They’ve now matched those losses over nearly three decades in only three days.
Willie Green is emerging as the front-runner to become the next head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. Green is currently an assistant for the Phoenix Suns and has worked for the teams for the past two seasons. He also served as an assistant for the Golden State Warriors from 2016-to-2019. Green played 12 seasons in the NBA, spending time with five teams, including a lone year with New Orleans in 2010-11. He would become the eighth coach in franchise history, replacing Stan Van Gundy.
The Washington Football Team’s new name will be revealed in early 2022, and they won’t be called the Warriors. Team president Jason Wright said the new team name and logo will not have “linkage to Native American imagery.” Wright told the Washington Post that the traditional burgundy and gold colors will remain. The Team changed its name last July.
Pro golfer Zach Johnson is among the golfers withdrawing from this year’s Open Championship after testing positive for COVID-19. The Iowa native won the Open in 2015. Johnson released a statement wishing competitors luck while saying he looks forward to returning to the tournament next year at Saint Andrews in Scotland. Meantime, the PGA Tour announced Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama is out of the tournament after testing positive earlier this month.
MONDAY’S SCOREBOARD
MLB Home Run Derby
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Final Round
1. Pete Alonso – 23
2. Trey Mancini – 22
NBA Playoffs
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No Game Scheduled
WNBA
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No Games Scheduled
TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE
MLB All-Star Game
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7:30 p.m. – American League vs National League (at Denver, CO)
NBA Playoffs
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No Game Scheduled
WNBA
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No Games Scheduled
