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Brian Bogusevic is coming back to Salem, but not as a pitcher and not for long if all goes as planned.

The Houston Astros' first-round pick in 2005, Bogusevic is switching from the mound to the outfield and is coming back to Salem from double-A Corpus Christi to make the transition.

According to Corpus Christi media relations man Matt Hicks, the plan is for Bogusevic to play only a few games with the Avalanche -- a week or two -- to build up his conditioning.

Bogesevic was both a pitcher and outfielder at Tulane, but was drafted as a pitcher. The lefty went 9-7 with a 4.01 for the Avalanche last season and 2-6 with a 5.50 ERA in Corpus Christi this year.

Pitchers get to hit when two National League affiliates play in the Texas League, so Bogusevic has been to the plate a few times this season. In 10 games, he went 2-for-10 with a double, a triple, three sacrfice bunts and a RBI.

-- katrina waugh

“I was in the room here one day... watchin’ the Mexican channel on TV. I don’t know nothin’ about Pele. I’m watchin’ what this guy can do with a ball and his feet. Next thing I know, he jumps in the air and flips into a somersault and kicks the ball in — upside down and backwards... the goalie never knew what hit him.
"Pele gets excited and he rips off his jersey and starts running around the stadium waving it around his head. Everybody’s screaming in Spanish. I’m here, sitting alone in my room, and I start crying. That’s right, I start crying. Because another human being, a species that I happen to belong to, could kick a ball, and lift himself, and the rest of us, up to a better place to be, if only for a minute... let me tell ya, kid — it was pretty ... glorious. It ain’t the six minutes... it’s what happens in that six minutes.” -- Speech by Elmo, played by the late J.C. Quinn, to high school wrestler Louden Swain in the 1985 movie Vision Quest.

I felt the same way watching the epic Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on Sunday. Thank you to both. —Buddy Wright

Saturday's Avalanche game at Potomac wasn't delayed by rain, it was delayed because the Avalanche's bus broke down and couldn't get the team from the hotel to the ballpark.

Potomac Nationals GM Jon Griffith came to the rescue, sending his employees with SUVs and the like and even calling cabs to get the Avalanche to the field.

He also pushed game time back from 6:35 to 7:05 to give the team a chance to warm up and settle down from the hectice rush.

The payoff? An 8-7 Avalanche victory.

That's what you get for picking up hitchhikers.

-- katrina waugh

Friday night at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore., William Fleming and George Mason graduate Ryan McCoy was 22nd out of 24 entrants in the men's triple jump prelims with a jump of 50 feet 9 1/2 inches.He did not advance to the finals.

In the women's 5,000 meters final, Virginia Tech's Tasmin Fanning was ninth out of the 16 runners with a time of 15 minutes, 41.05 seconds.

Making the Olympic team in that event were winner Kara Goucher at 15:01.02, second-place Jennifer Rhines at 15:02.02 and third-place Shalane Flanagan at 15:02.81.

The men's hammer throw final was won by A.G. Kruger at 248-09. The women's high jump was won by Chaunte Howard at 6-05 1/2.

Saturday, it wil be Tech hurdler Kristi Castlin's turn in the spotlight. The first two rounds of the 100-meter hurdles will be held. Can Castiln advance to Sunday's semis, or will the strained leg muscle that caused her to withdraw from the NCAA championships hinder her?

-- Mark Berman

Rick Hawkins of Pro-Motion Sports and his matchmaker, Scott Farmer, are getting closer to filling out the card for the event that is coming to the Salem Civic Center on Aug. 9.

For now they have a co-main event featuring Andrew Farmer of Front Royal and Jaywon Woods of Danville.

Farmer (10-1) will fight Rod Salka of (6-0) of Bunola, Pa., in a scheduled eight-rounder at light welterweight. Woods (7-0) will fight Terry Roy (7-0) of Front Royal in a scheduled six-rounder at cruiserweight. Woods is 22 and Roy is 35 and a southpaw.

In another light welterweight bout, Roanoker David Hopkins will make his pro debut against Randolph Scott (0-1) of Salisbury, Md.

The other match that is set is Roanoker David Novia (0-1) vs. Dontre King (0-1) of Cumberland, Md.

Roanoke light middleweight Charles Norwood (3-3) and Bassett heavyweight James Price (2-0) do not yet have matches.

John Mackey, who defeated Norwood, was originally on the card and Hawkins said they were going to have him fight a rematch with Joshua Snyder, who recently beat Mackey. But Hawkins said their managers decided they wanted at least six months before the rematch because their first fight was such a brawl. That fight was seen on ESPN.

Hawkins said he'd like to add another main event and possibly have as many as eight fights.

-- Jeff Gilbert

It’s time for the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association to vote for the ACC male and female athletes of the year. The male nominees include Tyler Hansbrough, Matt Ryan, Virginia Tech soccer star Patrick Nyarko, national baseball player of the year Buster Posey of FSU and two-time NCAA singles champ Somdev Devvarman of UVa. The female nominees include Angela Tincher, Khadijah Whittington, UVa soccer star Becky Sauerbrunn, national golfer of the year Amanda Blumenhurst of Duke, national soccer player of the year Mami Yamaguchi of FSU and national field hockey player of the year Rachel Dawson of UNC. I’m voting for Tincher, and I just might vote for Devvarman instead of likely winner Hansbrough. — Mark Berman

Salem and Lynchburg's radio broadcasting teams are joining together for Thursday's game, putting the game on both team's stations -- WFIR in Roanoke and KD Country in Lynchburg.

The two play-by-play crews -- Jason Benetti and Joel Godett for Salem and
Scott Bacon and Alex Vispoli of Lynchburg -- will rotate throughout the
broadcast, with a representative from each pairing in the booth at all
times.

The broadcast can be heard via milb.com’s Gameday Audio and will begin at
6:45 p.m. WFIR will join in Salem at 7 p.m.

-- katrina waugh