First Call: Steelers coach Mike Tomlin watches son score at B.C.'s spring game; Gerrit Cole's strong start continues

Monday’s “First Call” features the scouting destination of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin this past weekend.

We also look ahead to the Pirates’ next series. Plus, a former Pirate is off to a torrid start, a big transfer win for West Virginia’s basketball team, and America comes up clutch in the women’s World Hockey Championships.

A little independent scouting

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was at Boston College’s spring game to watch his son, Dino, in action over the weekend.

Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin in the house ️ pic.twitter.com/b59qQcFmJU

— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) April 15, 2023

The coach has to be happy as his son scored a touchdown during the Eagles scrimmage.

Emmett Morehead to Dino Tomlin for 6... and the dance pic.twitter.com/omN5XrBsIT

— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) April 15, 2023

Did Dino learn that dance from Antonio Brown or JuJu Smith-Schuster?

Tomlin and the rest of the Eagles depth chart will be taking on the massive role of filling the void left by Zay Flowers. Likely a high-round NFL draft pick later this month, Flowers had 78 catches for 1,077 yards a season ago. He also scored 12 touchdowns.

No other BC wide receiver had more than 27 catches, 388 yards or five TDs. Tomlin accounted for 181 yards on 10 catches.

Rocks getting rolled

After splitting a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pirates are heading to Denver to face the Colorado Rockies for a three-game set starting Monday night.

At 9-7, the Pirates are tied for second place in the National League Central with the Chicago Cubs, two back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers. Meanwhile at 5-11, the Rockies are tied with the Washington Nationals for the worst record in the National League. The Rocks were just swept by the Mariners during a three-game series in Seattle. Jarred Kelenic delivered the only RBI of Sunday’s 1-0 win for the Mariners.

.@jarredkelenic puts us ahead! #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/jc0xoioSKS

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) April 16, 2023

As is usually the case, we are seeing lots of runs at Coors Field this season. The first game of the year there was a 1-0 Nationals win. Since then, every game in Denver has featured between 11-15 runs.

Colorado’s team ERA is 4.99. The Cincinnati Reds (5.21) and the Philadelphia Phillies (5.48) are the only National League pitching staffs with worse ERAs. The Pirates sit at 4.29, 15th out of 30 MLB teams.

More sports

• Madden Monday: Penguins missing playoffs could be 'a blessing in disguise'
• Brian Dumoulin among several Penguins players whose future is uncertain
• With experienced hands, Phil Jurkovec holds the keys to Pitt's offense

Red hot Cole

The fast start to Gerrit Cole’s season continues.

The former Pirates ace had another standout performance Sunday for the New York Yankees. En route to a 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium, the right-hander hurled a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts for his fourth career complete-game shutout.

YANKEES WIN!

Gerrit Cole with his first complete-game shutout since July 10th, 2021. pic.twitter.com/WuaPe5Kij5

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 16, 2023

The complete game was just the second this season in all of Major League Baseball. Sandy Alcantara had the other on April 4, also against the Twins.

Thus far in 2023, Cole is 4-0 with a 0.95 earned run average. His 32 strikeouts are tied with Minnesota’s Pablo Lopez for the MLB lead. Lopez was the loser in Sunday’s matchup even though he only allowed two runs, both courtesy of D.J. LeMahieu—a homer in the sixth inning, and a RBI single in the third. He racked up seven strikeouts in six innings pitched. Lopez’s ERA sits at 1.73.

Eyeing up Edwards

Bob Huggins has landed a big name — and a big player — in the transfer portal.

Former Syracuse standout Jesse Edwards will play out his final year of eligibility in Morgantown. ESPN’s Jeff Borzello had the 6-foot-11 center ranked as the third-best player in the transfer portal.

Via ESPN, Edwards picked WVU over Kansas, Gonzaga, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech and Michigan. A native of Amsterdam, Edwards averaged 14.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 1.3 steals in 32.6 minutes for Syracuse last season. He was All-ACC Third Team and was on the All-ACC Defensive Team as a redshirt junior.

Here is an interesting quote from Edwards at the end of the ESPN.com story.

“I mostly wanted to have a fresh start and a new challenge,” Edwards said. “NIL isn’t what I’m playing for. I didn’t really want to get into this, but it doesn’t seem that Syracuse as an organization is that into that. I’m not really sure what their plan is or what the school’s idea is behind it. For me it was something that they couldn’t offer in that way.”

Already dealing with the transition away from Jim Boeheim as head coach, if Syracuse isn’t willing to play the NIL game as much as necessary, don’t expect Edwards to be the last player to transfer or decommit from the Orange.

USA gets gold

After losing to Canada in group play, the U.S. women’s national hockey team beat their neighbors to the north to win gold at the World Championships in Brampton.

Hilary Knight paved the way with a hat trick, as America won 6-3.

100 FOR HILARY

Hilary Knight's 100th point is on the power-play and Team USA takes a 4-3 lead.#WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/NrXLFrIoVr

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 17, 2023

That was the go-ahead goal with 3:10 left in regulation. The Americans won their 10th women’s world hockey championship gold medal and first in four years.

Team USA scored four unanswered goals in the third period. It was a sweet victory for the American club after losing the past two world championships to Canada, as well as the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.