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Author: Dave Riggert

Three more Huskers on preseason watch lists

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NU sports Information

Three Husker football players were honored Friday, as they were selected for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Outland Trophy watch lists. Senior All-American defensive tackle Jared Crick was named to both the Outland and Nagurski watch lists, while teammates Lavonte David and Alfonzo Dennard joined Crick on the Nagurski Trophy list.

The Outland Trophy is presented to the top interior lineman in the country and Crick is one of 16 defensive tackles on the 65-player list, while the Nagurski Trophy is presented to the nation’s top defensive player. Both awards are voted on by the Football Writers Association of America.

Crick anchored a Husker defensive line which helped Nebraska rank in the top 12 nationally in scoring defense and total defense in 2010. He totaled 70 tackles, including 36 solo stops, and had 9.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss to rank second in the Big 12. He is one of 16 defensive tackles on the 65-player list with the remaining players being offensive linemen.

Dennard played alongside NFL first-round pick Prince Amukamara in a talented 2010 Husker secondary that helped the Huskers rank in the top five nationally in pass efficiency defense and passing yards allowed. He totaled 30 tackles, four interceptions and seven pass breakups in 2010.

David, a first-team All-Big 12 pick and the league’s newcomer of the year, recorded 152 tackles to set the single-season school record. He ranked 11th nationally in tackles per game and was second on the team in sacks (six), tackles for loss (15 for 60 yards) and pass breakups to earn first-team All-America honors from several outlets.

2011 Watch Lists
Bednarik Award – Alfonzo Dennard, Jared Crick, Lavonte David
Maxwell Award – Taylor Martinez
Mackey Award – Kyler Reed
Nagurski Trophy – Alfonzo Dennard, Jared Crick, Lavonte David
Outland Trophy – Jared Crick

MU’s Gooden, Hoch, Madison named to watch lists

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MU Sports Information

It’s the offseason for college football, but that doesn’t stop the anticipation for what promises to be another exciting season for the Missouri Tiger program.  The national awards committees undoubtedly agree that Mizzou is poised for big things in 2011, as three more Tigers were unveiled Friday as candidates for prestigious national individual awards.

Junior LB Zaviar Gooden (Pflugerville, Texas) was named Friday to the pre-season watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which goes annually to the nation’s most outstanding defensive player.  This is the second award watch list that Gooden has been named to, as he previously this week was tabbed for the Bednarik Award watch list, which also goes to the top defender nationally.  Gooden is coming off a breakthrough season when he led the Tigers in tackles as a first-year starter in 2010, with 85.

Joining Gooden on the Nagurski watch list is junior DE Brad Madison (Bethany, Mo.), who enjoyed a breakout year in 2010 as well.  Despite not being a full-time starter, Madison led the Tigers in tackles for loss (11.0) and quarterback sacks (7.5), while earning 2nd-Team All-Big 12 acclaim.  Mizzou and Texas are the only two Big 12 schools with two players on the Nagurski watch list.

Senior OL Dan Hoch (Harlan, Iowa) was also named Friday to the pre-season watch list of the Outland Trophy, which is presented to the nation’s most outstanding interior lineman.  Hoch has started 26 consecutive games for the Tigers at right tackle, and earned 2nd-Team All-Big 12 honors a year ago.

Mizzou has now had six different players receive mention on pre-season watch lists.  Gooden had earlier this week been named to the Bednarik Award list.  Hoch and Madison join senior TE Michael Egnew (Mackey Award), junior WR T.J. Moe (Biletnikoff Award) and senior PK Grant Ressel (Lou Groza Award) on the pre-season watch lists.

Mustangs bounce back by blowing out Chillicothe

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The St. Joseph Mustangs had their seven-game winning streak snapped Wednesday by Omaha, but they bounced back in impressive fashion Thursday night with a 12-3 victory over Chillicothe inside Phil Welch Stadium.

St. Joe’s summer college baseball team scored first with two runs in the third inning and then broke the game open with a seven-run fifth inning.

Chillicothe scored all three of its runs in the sixth inning but never got closer than that.

Benton graduate Jake Kretzer led the Mustangs’ 17-hit attack as he finished 4-for-5 with five RBI.  Spiker Helms and Mark Robinette added three hits each, while Brent Seifert had two hits and three RBI and Kris Koerper went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs.

Andrew Polly (3-2) earned the win for St. Joseph has he allowed three runs and eight hits in 6.1 innings of work.  He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter, while all three runs were unearned.

The Mustangs improve to 29-8 and 23-8 in the MINK League.  They are back at home Friday night as they entertain Joplin at 7:00 p.m. inside Phil Welch Stadium.

Royals lose series opener against Detroit

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Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Max Scherzer wasn’t happy to see Tigers manager Jim Leyland marching toward the mound.

The right-hander was clinging to a one-run lead against the Kansas City Royals with two outs in the seventh inning, and a pair of singles had put runners on first and second. The bullpen gate was swinging open and Scherzer knew that his night was done.

“I want the ball,” Scherzer said after watching the Detroit bullpen hang on for a 3-1 victory on Thursday night. “In that situation, I still had plenty in the tank. I understand why he made the move, he wanted the lefty-lefty matchup, but of course I want the ball.”

Instead, Phil Coke sprinted in from right field to retire Mike Moustakas and end the threat.

Joaquin Benoit survived a leadoff single by Brayan Pena in the eighth inning, Don Kelly homered in the bottom half to give the Tigers a two-run cushion, and All-Star closer Jose Valverde hung tough through a wild ninth inning for his 22nd save in 22 chances.

“It is what it is,” said Scherzer (10-4), who finally joined teammate Justin Verlander in reaching the double-digit win plateau before the All-Star break. “I want the ball, and really, that’s the way it’s got to be. If I don’t want the ball in that situation then something’s wrong.”

Leyland said he was simply trying to protect Scherzer, who had thrown only 88 pitches.

“I wasn’t going to let him get hurt,” Leyland said. “After pitching that good, I wasn’t going to let him make one mistake and somebody hits a three-run homer.”

Valverde gave up a two-out walk to Eric Hosmer and an infield single to Jeff Francoeur in the ninth inning, but the animated reliever came back to retire Moustakas with the tying run on second base, marching off the mound with an emphatic fist pump after Detroit’s second straight win.

Moustakas went 0 for 4 after a 0-for-11 series against the Chicago White Sox.

“I’ve been putting some good at-bats together lately. I’m just not getting the results I want right now,” said the rookie third baseman. “The time’s going to come when these fly balls will start turning themselves into line drives and then home runs, hopefully, and the RBIs will start coming.”

The Royals’ inability to score squandered the best start of Danny Duffy’s young career.

The 22-year-old left-hander, who many pundits consider a future ace, allowed two runs and four hits over six stellar innings. Duffy struck out six and walked only one while throwing 65 of 102 pitches for strikes — but still lost for the fourth time in his first five big league decisions.

“He threw the ball great tonight. Really did a nice job,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

In fact, the only major mistake he made was a 1-2 delivery to Raburn with two outs in the second inning that went soaring into the Kansas City bullpen. The two-run shot brought home Miguel Cabrera and gave Scherzer and the Detroit bullpen just enough run support.

“It was down but he went and got it. It just must have been the exact coordinates on the map that he was thinking it was going to be at that point in time,” Duffy said. “I wasn’t finding the zone very well in that inning. It was just a tough inning. It’s a shame it happened the way it did.”

The Royals optioned Duffy to Triple-A Omaha after the game so that he could keep pitching on a regular schedule during next week’s All-Star break.

“He kept us in the game,” Yost said. “He did what we want.”

The Royals just couldn’t help him out at the plate.

They scored their only run in the fifth, when Hosmer shot a pitch down the left-field line for a leadoff double. He advanced to third on Francoeur’s fly ball before scoring on Moustakas’ groundout.

“It’s nice,” Scherzer said. “It’s nice for the team to come in and win the first game of the series.”

St. Louis falls to Arizona Thursday night, 4-1

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Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Justin Upton hit a two-run homer and Joe Saunders threw five scoreless innings to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

The Diamondbacks won for the fourth time in the last six games.

St. Louis, which lost for the fourth time in six games, fell into the first-place tie with Milwaukee in the NL Central.

Saunders (6-7) allowed one hit, struck out one and walked four. He was removed from the game after a 50-minute rain delay in the sixth inning.

Upton hit his 15th homer of the season off Kyle McClellan (6-6), who has not won since May 19, covering his last six starts. McClellan, who returned after the delay, gave up four runs, three earned, and six hits in seven innings.

Benedictine men’s basketball signs Junior College post player

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BC Sports Information

Raven head men’s basketball coach Ryan Moody announced this week the signing of TJ Stevens, a 6’7″, 230-pound post.

Stevens averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds per game for Coffeyville Community College head coach Jay Herkelman. TJ played in 34 games in 2010-11 and helped Coffeyville Community College finish the season 31-5 with a No. 5 ranking in the country in NJCAA.

Stevens was awarded the 2011 NJCAA National Tournament Charles Sesher Sportsmanship Award. Stevens played his high school basketball for Coach Ed Fritz at Blue Valley Northwest High School.

“TJ gives us a true post player both on offense and defense,” Moody said, “He has played for two excellent coaches and will give us maturity and toughness inside. We are excited to add TJ to the Benedictine College men’s basketball family.“

Stevens is the sixth recruit in new Benedictine College head coach Ryan Moody’s first recruiting class. He joins John Anaekwe from Lenexa, Brett Fisher from Overland Park, Jallen Messersmith from Blue Springs, Mo., Luke Norville from Council Bluffs, Iowa and Dean Tiwald from Omaha, Neb.

Northwest names Chad Bostwick as linebackers coach

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NWMSU Sports Information

Northwest Missouri State University head football coach Adam Dorrel has announced that former Northwest linebacker and graduate assistant coach Chad Bostwick has been named the team’s linebackers coach.

“We’re excited to have Chad Bostwick come home and rejoin his Bearcat family,” Dorrel said. “Chad demonstrated his dedication and hard work through his years at Northwest, first as a walk-on player who went on to have a very successful football career, and then as a graduate assistant. He has a great background as a recruiter at the Division II level, which will obviously be a huge asset moving forward. He also has tremendous credentials coaching successful teams, as he has been a part of conference championship teams and has playoff experience.”

Since March, Bostwick served as the linebackers/special teams coach at the University of Central Missouri. Prior to his time at UCM, he spent four seasons as the offensive line coach at Colorado School of Mines where, in 2010, he helped the Orediggers to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title and a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs. He also coached a player who participated in the Cactus Bowl as well as four, first-team all-conference selections.

“I’m extremely thrilled to be coming back home to Northwest as a member of the Bearcat coaching staff,” Bostwick said. “This place has always held a special place in my heart, and the opportunity for my wife and me to be able to return to our alma mater was something we could not let pass. This is like a dream come true for me, and I cannot wait to get to work.”

During the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Bostwick was a graduate assistant coach at Northwest, in charge of the linebackers. The team finished as the national runner-up both seasons and captured the 2006 MIAA Championship. Prior to serving as a GA coach, Bostwick played for the Bearcats and earned All-MIAA honorable mention accolades at linebacker in 2004 as a senior and also helped the Bearcats win three MIAA titles (2000, 2002, 2003) and make the NCAA Division II playoffs three times (2000, 2002, 2004) while finishing the 2004 season as the third-ranked team in the nation. Individually, he won the Don Black Award in 2003 as the MVP of the Homecoming football game and also won the Spirit of the Bearcat Award as a senior.
He joins a program that enters its 96th season three wins shy of 500 (497-388-33) and owns a 46-game regular season winning streak against MIAA opponents. The Bearcats have made the NCAA Division II football playoffs 13 of the last 15 seasons.

Bostwick is the brother of Scott Bostwick, who was named Northwest’s 18th head football coach in December and died June 5 of an apparent heart attack.

Bostwick earned his bachelor’s from Northwest in 2005 followed by his master’s in 2006. He and his wife Kelli, who also attended Northwest, have a 1-year-old daughter, Geordynn.

Missouri’s Ressel on Groza Award watch list

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MU Sports Information

The pre-season award candidates keep rolling out from the Mizzou Football program, with the latest being senior PK Grant Ressel.  Ressel was named today to the pre-season watch list for the Lou Groza Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding kicker.

Ressel, who has been a Groza semi-finalist each of the last two years, has made a combined 96.2% (127-of-132) of his total kicks over the last two seasons (43-of-46 FGs, and 84-of-86 PATs).  In 2010, Ressel went 17-of-19 on field goals and led the Tigers with 96 points scored.  That followed his amazing break out season in 2009, when he won 1st-Team All-American honors after breaking an NCAA single-season combined kick accuracy record (made 65-of-66 overall kicks that season, for a 98.5% success rate).

Kansas Speedway announces track inprovements

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News Release

Immediately following the 2012 STP 400 at Kansas Speedway, the track will undergo a massive renovation project that includes repaving of the existing track surface, reconfiguration of the oval, and the addition of a new infield road course.

“These are significant projects for Kansas Speedway and our fans,” said Kansas Speedway President Patrick Warren. “Given the harsh weather conditions in the Midwest, a repave of our existing racing surface was a must.  Repaving a track is a huge undertaking so we decided it was the right time to make the other changes to our facility, which we believe will enhance our fans experience at Kansas Speedway.”

ISC Design and Development, International Speedway Corporation’s in-house design and construction group, will oversee the repave and road course projects.  The group will utilize state of the art computer modeling to develop track geometry that features up to 20 degrees of variable banking in the turns; the current banking at Kansas Speedway is 15 degree uniform banking in the turns. To accomplish this reconfiguration, construction crews will remove the existing oval track asphalt pavement and re-grade the underlying soil to create the variable banking. In addition to the turns, the frontstretch, backstretch and pit road will all be reconstructed.

Kansas Speedway’s new road course will feature a layout that winds through the infield. Portions of the infield will be graded and paved as part of the road course development.

Kansas Speedway will host the Hollywood Casino 400 (fourth Race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup) on Oct. 9, 2011 and the Kansas Lottery 300 on Oct. 8, 2011.

Cardinals activate Laird and promote Walters

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Cardinals Media Relations

The St. Louis Cardinals announced a series of roster moves prior to their series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks this evening, activating catcher Gerald Laird from the 15-day disabled list and purchasing right handed pitcher P.J. Walters from Memphis (AAA).

The Cardinals also designated Memphis pitcher Bryan Augenstein for assignment and they optioned first baseman Mark Hamilton and pitcher Brandon Dickson to Memphis.

Laird has been on the disabled list since May 23, missing 40 games due to a fracture of his right index finger.   He was 3-for-7 (.429) with a double and RBI in two games with Memphis while serving an injury rehabilitation assignment Wednesday and Thursday.

Laird, 31, was batting .214 (9-for-42) with 4 RBI in 15 games for the Cardinals prior to being injured May 22 in Kansas City when he was hit by a pitch in the 10th inning of the Cardinals 9-8 win over the Royals.

Walters, 26, was 7-4 with a 4.27 ERA in 17 games (all starts) for Memphis, recording 87 strikeouts in 103.1 innings pitched.  He has been exceptional over his last 10 starts, going 7-1 with a 2.81 ERA and he has worked six or more innings in each of his last six starts.

Walters has seen time with the Cardinals in each of the past two seasons, compiling a career mark of    2-0, 7.24 ERA in 15 games (4 starts).  He was 2-0, 6.00 ERA in 7 games (3 starts) for St. Louis last season.

Walters will wear uniform #40.

Hamilton had a key RBI single in the Cardinals 1-0 win on July 4 vs. Cincinnati and Dickson contributed 2.1 scoreless innings last night against the Reds as the Cardinals staged a comeback from being down 8-0 to tie the game at 8-8 before losing in 13 innings.  Dickson also collected his first Major League hit last night, singling and scoring during the Cardinals five-run uprising in the 7th inning.

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