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LOU HOLTZ TRIBUTE TICKETS ON SALE
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Tickets still remain for today’s ‘Tribute to Lou Holtz’ with special guests Urban Meyer and Skip Holtz set for 7 p.m. at the East Liverpool High School auditorium. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Upper Ohio Valley Museum and Learning Center at the Lou Holtz Hall of Fame. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. For more information call (330) 386-5443.
CLINE LEADS OAK GLEN
GLENMOOR -- Oak Glen’s golf team beat Wellsville and East Liverpool Christian on Wednesday at Historic Highlands.
Gannon Cline had a 1-under par 34 for the Bears who shot 158. Maddox Chaffin posted a 39. Zach Jenkins had a 41 and Jack Cline 44.
Wellsville’s total was 225, while East Liverpool Christian shot 234.
For Wellsville, Darnell Roe had a 48, Cooper Frank 52, Maximus Crabtree 61 and Ethan Corbin 64.
For East Liverpool Christian, Noah Williams had a 52, Lucas Balser 59, Kinsey Smith 61 and Thomas Walker 62.
SPAGHETTI BOWL IS TODAY
LISBON -- Lisbon will host Leetonia in the annual Spaghetti Bowl at 7 p.m. today at War Memorial Stadium. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.
FUDD ENDS ROOKIE SEASON
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd is set for season-ending surgery on a sore knee that has sidelined this year’s No. 1 overall pick for the past five games.
The team said Wednesday that Fudd will have arthroscopic surgery on her right knee next week in Connecticut, where she starred for UConn before becoming the Huskies’ second consecutive top overall pick by Dallas. Reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers was the No. 1 choice last year.
Fudd was eased into the lineup as a rookie, coming off the bench for the first six games. She scored 24 points in that sixth game and immediately became a full-time starter. Fudd had a season-high 26 points in a win over Seattle in June.
Fudd, who averaged 13.1 points in 30 games, went through warmups before a home game against Golden State on Aug. 7 and was held out of the game “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the team. The soreness persisted.
PIRATES STOP TIGERS
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Brandon Lowe homered off Detroit closer Kenley Jansen with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 victory over the Tigers on Wednesday.
Rafael Flores Jr. homered twice for Pittsburgh, including a tying shot off Jansen (3-5) with one out in the ninth. Lowe followed two batters later with a towering shot to right field that clanged high off the foul pole.
The homer was the 27th this season for Lowe, the most in club history by a second baseman. It was the 83rd this year by the Pirates at PNC Park, the most at the venue since it opened in 2001.
Mason Montgomery (5-3) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth as the Pirates went 4-2 during a six-game homestand against Boston and Detroit.
Pirates ace Paul Skenes, the reigning National League Cy Young winner, allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings with four walks and five strikeouts. The towering 6-foot-6 right-hander has a 5.05 ERA over his last 16 starts dating to May 17.
The Pirates gave Skenes a full week to recover following a loss to Miami in which his fastball velocity dipped to 95 mph, well below the standard he set during the first two years of his career and a tick off from the upper-90s that had been the norm most of this season.
While Skenes did look a little fresher -- he touched 98 mph and frequently was in the 96-97 range -- his command remained scattershot. He threw 46 of his 81 pitches for strikes and was pulled after giving up an RBI single to Gleyber Torres with one out in the fifth.
It was the sixth time Skenes failed to pitch at least five innings this season. He had five starts of fewer than five innings pitched across his first two years in the majors combined.
Kevin McGonigle drove in two runs for the Tigers, who have lost five of six.
MORE ELIGIBILITY GRANTED
Several athletes, including some who signed contracts with NFL teams, were granted a temporary restraining order by a Louisiana court that would make them eligible to return to college athletics, ESPN reported Wednesday.
Former Oregon State running back Anthony Hankerson (Seattle Seahawks), former Florida and LSU pass rusher Jack Pyburn (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and ex-Mississippi starters Dae’Quan Wright (Cleveland Browns) and Wydett Williams (Arizona Cardinals) are on NFL rosters and were part of the lawsuit.
NFL teams are deep into training camp, and rosters have to be cut to 53 players by Aug. 30. Many who don’t make those clubs could look for a fallback plan in college football, barring a successful appeal by the NCAA.
According to ESPN, 16 football players were part of the lawsuit that included 33 athletes across several sports who are seeking a fifth year of eligibility.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The governing body for collegiate sports has been dealt a series of legal setbacks regarding its eligibility rules.
On July 31, a federal court in Denver ruled that all high school class of 2022 athletes who exhausted their fourth season of college eligibility this spring are eligible for a fifth season this academic year.
That decision came a little more than a month after the NCAA passed a rule that gives athletes five years to complete five seasons of competition, starting with those who enroll in the fall of 2027. The Colorado ruling eliminated the waiting period.