Sports category, Page 1026
Pirates No. 1 pick Termarr Johnson shut down from spring training with right hamstring strain
Termarr Johnson, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first-round pick and one of their top prospects, has been shut down from spring training after straining his right hamstring. The 18-year-old second baseman was selected No. 4 overall in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Atlanta’s Mays High School and signed to a $7...
While games grow in intensity, Pitt’s Jeff Capel seeks more of the same on defense
Pitt’s victory against Georgia Tech on Tuesday padded the Panthers’ NCAA Tournament resume and relieved some pressure and perhaps some doubt among the fan base after the loss at Virginia Tech. More importantly, it fortified one important thought in coach Jeff Capel’s mind: It’s time to get tough in practice....
PNC Park scoreboard doubles in size, amid Pirates’ ballpark improvements
Screens keep getting bigger and bigger these days, and PNC Park is joining the trend. The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Wednesday that installation has begun for a new left-field scoreboard. The massive, high-definition LED screen will be more than twice the area of the previous outfield screen. The new screen will...
Jerry Olsavsky no longer on Steelers staff following hire of Aaron Curry to coach linebackers
Mike Tomlin reached out to the Pacific Northwest to find his newest assistant coach. The addition of Aaron Curry, however, comes at the expense of a long-time member of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization. The hiring of Curry as inside linebackers coach Wednesday ended the tenure of Jerry Olsavsky, who has...
Penn State 2023 early look: What to expect from the interior of the Lions’ offensive line
We’ve sorted through most of Penn State’s positions as James Franklin’s program moves closer to the start of spring drills. The Nittany Lions, coming off an 11-2 season, should be in the top-10 conversation in 2023. Penn State won its last five games to close out 2022. The improvement of...
Pitt freshmen sacrifice last days of high school to prepare for life as college football player
No one can predict how many or to what extent Pitt’s freshman football players will impact the team next season. So much time, so much to learn and so many moving parts stand in the way before the opener Sept. 2 against Wofford. After winter conditioning, spring practice begins next...
Mark Madden: Penguins’ mangled defense needs a shakeup, but can management pull it off?
The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost three in a row, looked bad doing it, and are currently not in a playoff position. They finally got their starting goalie back after a month out, but he soiled the blue paint and blew Monday’s must-win home date with the New York Islanders. Tristan...
Pirates RHP Roansy Contreras wants to add changeup to repertoire, stop-and-go seasons
Roansy Contreras worked on his changeup and curveball over the offseason in an effort to round out his repertoire with pitches that can play off his four-seam fastball and slider. The 23-year-old right-hander showed that he belongs in the major leagues last year by going 5-5 with a 3.79 ERA...
After quirky box score against St. Louis, Duquesne looks for basic improvements against La Salle
Saturday’s 90-85 Atlantic 10 conference loss at St. Louis (18-9, 10-4 conf.) featured some numbers in the box score that are hard to ignore for the Duquesne Dukes. As much as they’d probably like to do so. • At one point, Duquesne (18-9, 8-6) led by 15 in the first...
Tim Benz: No, the NFL shouldn’t adopt the XFL’s goofy, artificial scoring rules
As we outlined in Monday’s “First Call” post, former Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowler Hines Ward lost his XFL coaching debut over the weekend 18-15 to the St. Louis BattleHawks. Ward’s San Antonio Brahmas blew a 12-3 lead, yielding 15 points in the final 90 seconds of the game. But the...
First Call: Pittsburgh tabbed as best fit for Vegas free-agent CB; Steelers show interest in star HBCU edge defender
Pittsburgh is listed as a top destination for one NFL free-agent defensive back, while a current Pittsburgh Steeler may want to consider heading west. The Steelers are one of many teams intrigued by an HBCU star pass rusher. An infamous name in recent Steelers history is looking for work. Connor...
Men’s volleyball pushing to make sport more accessible, appealing to Black athletesVideo
After the Penn State men’s volleyball team’s season-opening victory over Central State, players from both teams exchanged customary handshakes and high-fives. The Nittany Lions’ Toby Ezeonu, however, hung around the court a little longer to mingle with Central State’s players. To the athletes from the fledgling Division II program, Ezeonu...
Pitt avoids upset, pulls away from Georgia Tech for 20th victory
By a strict mathematical standard, Pitt’s 76-68 victory Tuesday night against Georgia Tech didn’t qualify as a game the Panthers absolutely needed to win. If Pitt had lost in front of 9,482 at raucous Petersen Events Center, there would have been time to recover. There are three games left in...
Robert Morris tops league-leading Youngstown State for 4th straight win
Three years into its Horizon League voyage, Robert Morris is finally making some noise in men’s basketball. After settling for low seeds that resulted in early exits from the Horizon Tournament in their first two seasons in the league, the Colonials on Tuesday night enhanced their chance of securing a...
Alabama hoops star Brandon Miller delivered gun in shooting, police sayVideo
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller brought a teammate the gun that was used in a fatal January shooting near campus, an investigator testified Tuesday. Miller, a freshman standout, brought Darius Miles’ gun to him on the night of the shooting after Miles texted him and...
Maulers pursue prospects from FCS level in 10-player USFL draft
After finishing with the worst record in the USFL’s rebirth season in 2022, the Pittsburgh Maulers decided to take an unconventional approach to this year’s college draft. On the heels of 1-9 season, what did they have to lose? And so it was that while other USFL teams primarily selected...
Column: LIV resumes after break that was anything but loudVideo
LOS ANGELES — LIV Golf decides when to hold tournaments by avoiding what its leader, Greg Norman, calls heritage events. That’s another way of saying it will find holes in the PGA Tour schedule with weak fields or marginal interest. He got that part right. More attention should have been...
NBA futures update: Awards, finals and playoffs odds after All-Star Weekend
BY GABE HENDERSON | Home Field Sports The Super Bowl is behind us and the NBA returns from All-Star Weekend in a couple of days. It’s full steam ahead from now until the summer for basketball as fans begin to tune in before the start of the playoffs. We’re 55...
New-look AAC releases ’23 football slate with 6 new schools
IRVING, Texas — The American Athletic Conference on Tuesday released its 2023 football schedule that includes the league’s six incoming teams. Each of the 14 AAC teams will play eight conference games in a single-division format. The top two teams in the standings will play in the conference championship game...
On the clock: New timer will affect more than just pitchers
SARASOTA, Fla. — As one of the game’s top prospects, Grayson Rodriguez will probably make his debut for the Baltimore Orioles pretty soon, and then the 23-year-old right-hander can begin adjusting to the big leagues. In one respect, he has a critical head start: Rodriguez has plenty of experience with...
WPIAL reveals new consolation brackets for basketball, includes 3rd-place games
The last time WPIAL basketball had a consolation bracket, the league used a combination of play-in games and follow-the-winner tiebreakers to qualify teams for the 2016 state tournament. This winter, the consolation brackets are back and more elaborate than last time. Now, all state playoff seeds will be decided on...
Penguins forward Rickard Rakell is racking up pointsVideo
Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell had a spat on Monday morning. “First time he passed to me!” Malkin bellowed. “Yeah, it was nice that he drove the net,” Rakell retorted. “Not drove,” Malkin claimed. “Flying!” Rakell was asked by a reporter about how he set up Malkin for a power-play...
Brittney Griner re-signs with Phoenix Mercury
Brittney Griner will be back in the WNBA this season, once again playing with the Phoenix Mercury. Griner, who was a free agent, re-signed with the team Tuesday. The 32-year-old Griner had said she would return to Phoenix in a social media post in December, after she returned home from...
Woods, McIlroy break ground on high-tech golf league site
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy put the silver-plated shovels into a pile of dirt and left sizable divots. With that, their high-tech golf league got a bit closer to launch. The ceremonial groundbreaking for the arena that will house the league that’s being called TGL...
Taking a chance on the Champions League and an NHL total: Best bets for Feb. 21
BY GABE HENDERSON | Home Field Sports Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer. Here are...
