Rain has postponed Game 1 of the Appalachian League playoff series scheduled for tonight at Calfee Park in Pulaski.
The game between the Pulaski Mariners and Elizabethton has been rescheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. Game 2 will be Friday in Elizabethton, Tenn. Game 3 will also be in Elizabethton on Friday if necessary.
Mark Ori and Jordan Parraz made the Carolina League's postseason All-Star Team, the league announced today. They were the only representatives on the team from the Salem Avalanche, which is 55-79 with six games left.
Ori made it as the utility infielder; Parraz as utility outfielder.
Ori, Salem's first baseman, ranks third in the league in hitting (.309) and RBIs (88).
Parraz, in addition to ranking 11th in the league with a .289 batting average and fourth with a .399 on-base percentage, led minor-league baseball this summer with his 38-game on-base streak that stretched from June 6 to Aug. 8. He also had two other 24-game on-base streaks.
Sean Glennon will start Virginia Tech's football opener Saturday in Charlotte against East Carolina. Head coach Frank Beamer broke the long awaited news today at his weekly news conference in Blacksburg.
A plan was also announced today to redshirt Tyrod Taylor for the season.
See more in Wednesday's Roanoke Times for what Beamer and Taylor have to say about the situation..
With the Olympics over, UVa has plenty to be proud of. Ex-Cav Angela Hucles, the leading goal scorer in UVa history, now has to be considered one of the best female athletes UVa has ever produced. Not only did she win her second gold with the U.S. women’s soccer team, but she scored a team-high four goals in Beijing — including two in the semifinals and one in the quarterfinals. Ex-Cav Lindsay Shoop also won gold — one of three UVa grads to medal in rowing. And Dawn Staley was part of a winning basketball team as an assistant. As for Virginia Tech? Well, ex-Hokie Ieva Kublina had a few good basketball games for Latvia. And Queen Harrison reached a hurdles semifinal at the age of 19. London could be in her future. — Mark Berman
Tim Hightower is making The Roanoke Times — and Division I-AA football in this state — look good. Hightower was a standout running back at Richmond last fall, helping the Spiders reach the I-AA semifinals. We chose him as the Roanoke Times’ state Division I offensive player of the year, eschewing I-A stars. Now comes word that the fifth-round draft pick will likely be Edgerrin James’ top backup with the Arizona Cardinals. Good for him. I just hope he fares better off the field than our offensive player of the year picks in 1999 and 2004, Michael and Marcus Vick. — Mark Berman
Queen Harrison did not make the final of the 400-meter hurdles at the Summer Olympics.
Harrison was only seventh in her semifinal heat Monday with a time of 55.88 seconds. The top four finishers in each heat made Wednesday's final. She missed out on fourth in her heat by 0.71 seconds.
The other two Americans, Sheena Tosta and Tiffany Ross-Williams, did advance. Tosta won her heat in 54.07 seconds. Ross-Williams was third in Harrison's heat with a time of 54.99 seconds; the heat was won by Melanie Walker of Jamaica (54.20).
-- Mark Berman
Virginia Tech's Queen Harrison advanced to the semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles Sunday at the Summer Olympics.
Harrison was one of 16 hurdlers moving on to Monday's semifinals. The top three finishers in each of the four heats advanced, as did the next fastest four hurdlers overall.
Harrison was only fourth in her heat, but she was 13th overall with a time of 55.96 seconds.
All three Americans advanced.
-- Mark Berman
Five pounds. Five?
That’s what VMI running back Howard Abegesah gained in a summer of workouts on campus.
“I’m up to 222 now,” he said before practice on Thursday in Lexington.
Some folks can pick up five pounds at a Sunday picnic, but Abegesah led the Big South in rushing last season with 1,121 yards and he wasn’t looking to add the kind of bulk that would slow him down.
Instead, he wanted to cut fat and gain muscle. Less than a week into practice he said he is still getting used to carrying his new weight.
He tried, only for an instant, to claim that he had not checked out his newly chiseled physique in the mirror. He couldn’t keep a straight face.
“I have looked ... maybe ... about ... every day,” he said breaking into a huge grin.
-- katrina waugh
Salem's game against the Blue Rocks at 6 p.m. can be found live at milb.com.
WFIR (960 am) will play it on tape delay after the Redskins preseason game against the N.Y. Jets.
-- katrina waugh
Porschia Hadley said she picked Virginia Tech over Clemson, Maryland and South Carolina because of "the family atmosphere and the people there are really nice."
She said she liked the players she met on her visit to campus, likes coach Beth Dunkenberger and, since she plans to one day be a pediatrician, is impressed with the university's biology department.
Hadley, a 6-foot-3 post who averaged 22.6 points and 18.6 rebounds a game for Macon Co. High School, is a three-time all-state pick in Georgia and played AAU with the Georgia Metros this year.
She said she expects to play either 4 or 5 for the Hokies beginning in 2009.
"I think I can come in as a freshman and make an impact," Hadley said.
-- katrina waugh
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