Wednesday August 5th Local Sports

TONIGHT:
AM-1300 KGLO — Minnesota Twins at Pittsburgh — pre-game 5:30, first pitch 6:05

 

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — José Berríos pitched six innings, Nelson Cruz had three hits and the Minnesota Twins beat Pittsburgh 7-3 for their fifth straight win. Minnesota improved to 9-2 for the second time in the team’s 60-year history. The other was 2001. The Pirates lost their fifth in a row and have baseball’s worst winning percentage at .182. The game was delayed for nine minutes in the fifth inning and players were pulled off the field when an unauthorized drone flew over center field at Target Field. A few pitchers in the bullpen threw balls at the drone but missed.

 

 

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 to even their qualifying series at a win each. Tanner Pearson, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat also scored for the Canucks, and Jacob Markstrom made 32 saves. Kevin Fiala had two goals and Luke Kunin scored for Minnesota. Alex Stalock made 24 stops. Game 3 is Thursday, when lower-seeded Minnesota will be the home team for the first time in the series. Matt Dumba continued to raise his right fist on the Wild’s bench through the pregame anthems to bring attention to racism and social injustice.

 

 

 

DES MOINES — There won’t be fans but there will be a track meet at Drake Stadium later this month. The Blue Oval Showcase on August 29th will be a one-day meet featuring professional athletes. Blake Boldon is Director of the Drake Relays, which was cancelled this year due to COVID-19.

Boldon says the meet will follow all safety protocols.

Boldon says the meet has been in the planning stages for several months.

Boldon says they are thrilled to host a meet like this in a year they were forced to cancel the Drake Relays.

The schedule of events for the Blue Oval Showcase includes sprints, hurdles, field events, and the USATF 1 Mile Road Championships. The competitions exclusively occurring inside Drake Stadium are ones deemed low risk by USA Track & Field. The USATF 1 Mile Road Championships, previously scheduled as part of the Grand Blue Mile races in April, will be limited to approximately 10 male and 10 female participants and will finish on the Blue Oval

 

 

 

CEDAR FALLS — University of Northern Iowa officials have the go-ahead to create a “team room” for the Panther football team inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“To the extent there are corners in a round building, it’ll go in the northeast corner of the UNI-Dome. It’ll add 120-140 seats and that can be divided in two for offense and defense or whatever. It’ll also serve as premium seating on game day and other special events,” says Michael Hager, a vice president at the University of Northern Iowa.

The board that governs the state universities approved the project at its meeting in late July. The project will cost about $2 million and Hager says it will be financed with private contributions.

“There’s no public funds, no general fund dollars going to this,” Hager says. “It’s entirely private gifts from generous donors will pay for this.”

The UNI-Dome was built in the mid-1970s and is the home for Panther sports as well as the Iowa High School Football Championship games.

 

 

 

AMES — There’s at least a temporary delay in planning for more upgrades to Hilton Coliseum in Ames, the home floor for ISU basketball, volleyball and gymnastics.

The original schedule had called for Board of Regents approval last week, to kick off the process of seeking bids for designs that would expand the arena’s north and south concourses.

“It was to be funded by athletic department operations and private giving. This is an excellent project and will greatly enhance this facility,” said Milt Dakovich of Waterloo, an ISU graduation who is a member of the Board of Regents. “Exercising an abundance of caution in these uncertain economic times, we have deferred this project two months, to our September meeting.”

The board will review all the athletic budgets for Iowa State, Iowa and UNI at that meeting. The board cited the “volatility surrounding college sports” as the reason for not conducting that review at its July 29 meeting.