4 I THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010
LINEUP
HTS ON TV
MLS
Seattle vs D.C. United
8 p.m., ESPN2
(AP
Nets hire Billy King
as new GM
Billy King is the New
Jersey Nets' new general
manager.
King was hired Wednesday
to replace Rod Thorn as the
team's top executive, new
owner Mikhail Prokhorov
announced in a release.
Contract terms were not
immediately available.
"He has all of the qualities
we've been looking for in a
candidate: professionalism,
good relations with the
league, players and agents,
and strong communications
skills," Prokhorov said. "He
will be an excellent fit with
head coach Avery Johnson.
Most importantly, Billy is
ambitious. He wants to win.
This is what I felt when I met
with him and why he will be a
strong addition to the Nets
organization."
Union prepares for
potential lockout
Insisting that the NBA's
financial projections "don't
hold water," players' associa
tion executive director Billy
Hunter says he's seen noth
ing to change his belief that a
lockout is possible.
Hunter disputes commis
sioner David Stern's forecast
of nearly $4OO million in losses
this season, countering that
the league's basketball-relat
ed revenues increased to
their highest point ever in
2009-10.
The league's collective bar
gaining agreement expires
next summer, and the sides
remain far apart on talks for a
new one, creating fears of the
first work stoppage since
1998-99.
Rogers reaches
deal on gun charge
Cleveland Browns nose
tackle Shaun Rogers has
reached an agreement with
prosecutors that could dis
miss charges that he tried to
carry a gun through airport
security in April.
1.1
Nets regress with
King hire
How do you fix a team that
finished the regular season
12-70?
Apparently the New Jersey
Nets think hiring one of the
most inept general managers
in recent memory is the fix.
Billy King ran the Sixers
into the ground after the
team reached the Finals in
2001. After the departure of
team President Pat Croce in
2003, King took over the title
of president and GM.
During his tenure he
showed an inability to evalu
ate talent and a penchant for
overpaying players (ie:
Samuel Dalembert). King
also traded Bruce Bowen
and Larry Huges for Toni
Kukoc in 2001
King hired bad coach after
bad coach before being
replaced by Ed Stefanski as
the Sixers' GM in 2007.
The Sixers made the play
offs in the five season leading
up to Kmg's being named
president and GM. The next
four years, the team made
the playoffs just once.
Good luck, Nets.
• r - 5 V A
MAJOR LEAGUE
Q: In what year did the
New York Yankees win thier
first World Series under
George Steinbrenner?
Wednesday's answer:
Steven Gerrard made his
Liverpool debut in 1998.
Offense explodes in win
By Jake Kaplan
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
In his last start, Zack Von
Rosenberg gave up just one run
on two hits in five innings, but did
not get enough
run support to get
his first win.
The 19- - )1d
•-year-ot
State College
Spikes opening
day starter gave
his team a similar State College
performance
Wednesday night.
This time, howev
er, they backed
him up with plen
ty of offensive pro
duction.
Connecticut
The Spikes offense, coupled
with another good performance by
Von Rosenberg, propelled them to
an 11-1 win against the
Connecticut Tigers at Dodd
Stadium in Norwich, Conn. It took
six starts but Von Rosenberg. the
2009 sixth-round pick of the
Pittsburgh Pirates, tallied his first
professional win.
Baseball excited for
By Ryan Loy
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Penn State and Nebraska's
baseball teams have combined for
more than 6,000 games played and
nearly 4,000 wins __ _ _
since both pro
grams began
than
playing more
100 years ago
Yet, the two programs have
never faced each other on the dia
mond.
That should change in two sea
sons, when Nebraska begins com
petition as a member of the Big
Ten.
The history the Cornhuskers
have built while playing in the
Big 12 has the Penn State players
and coaches excited to face
Nebraska and hopefully create a
new rivalry.
Joey Deßernardis (right) slides into home in a game against Duquesne last season. Deßernardis and his
teammates said they are eager to play Nebraska in 2011.
Gonzalez traded to Braves in five-player deal
By Charles Odum
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ATLANTA -- The NL East-lead
ing Atlanta Braves, looking to bol
ster their lineup for the second
half of the season,
acquired Alex
Gonzalez in a
swap of short
stops that sent
Yunel Escobar to Toronto on
Wednesday.
The Braves also traded left-han
der Jo-Jo Reyes to the Blue Jays
in the five-player deal while also
adding left-handed minor league
pitcher Tim Collins and minor
league shortstop Tyler
Pastornicky.
The 33-year-old Gonzalez is hit
ting .259 with 17 home runs and 50
RBIs. He is tied for fifth in the
American League with 43 extra
base hits.
"He's an outstanding defensive
shortstop and he's having a very
State College (14-12) jumped on
Tigers starting pitcher Brennan
Smith early. Spikes first baseman
Matt Curry and designated hitter
Chase Lyles both had RBI singles
in the first inning to give State
College a 2-0 lead. Curry who
went 3-for-3 with two RBI in the
contest, has now hit safely in each
of his 11 games with State College.
Left fielder Pat Irvine helped
add to the lead in the third inning
with an RBI double. The next bat
ter third baseman Kelson Brown,
singled home two more runs
before catcher Miguel Mendez
singled. chasing Smith from the
game. Brown, who led the team
with three RBI, would come
around to score on a Kyle Saukko
groundout before the inning was
over, increasing the Spikes' lead to
six.
Connecticut (13-13) got one run
back in the bottom of the inning
but State College scored three
more in the fourth and two more
in the sixth to give the Tigers a
ten-run deficit they would not
recover from.
The eleven State College runs
All-time
Records
Penn State: 1,835-1,1 88-21
.
Nebraska: 1,898-1,380-11
'Any time you get a new team
that you weren't expecting, it's
always fun," pitcher Ryan Ignas
said.
"We like to play teams that are
nationally known in the Big 12.
When we went down and played
Texas and Texas A&M we were
pumped up."
Despite finishing 27-27 in 2010,
Nebraska has been dominant dur
ing its time in the Big 12.
The Cornhuskers are second to
perennial power Texas in number
of Big 12 regular season and tour-
good offensive season," Braves
general manager Frank Wren
said. We think he can improve
our run production. He immedi
ately leads our team in home
runs."
Troy Glaus had 14 homers to
lead the Braves at the All-Star
break.
Escobar hit .299 with career
best totals of 14 homers and 76
RBIs last season. He has strug
gled this year, hitting only .238 with
no homers and 19 RBIs.
"We feel that Yunel Escobar will
absolutely turn it around,"
Toronto general manager Alex
Anthopoulos said Tuesday.
"There's certainly an element of
risk there, but we feel he has a
very good opportunity to turn it
around."
"I think if Yunel Escobar was
doing what he did in the past, he's
not available to us and this trade
does not present itself."
Wren said Escobar could enjoy
Kyle Saukko (left) connects with a pitch in a game earlier this season
on 13 hits would be more than up from the Gulf Coast League
enough support for Von Sunday. He threw just one inning
Rosenberg, who went five innings but allowed no hits and struck out
and gave up just the one run on two.
five hits. The 6-foot-5 right-hander Casey Sadler, Teddy Fallon and
mixed in five strikeouts and Jason Townsend pitched an
walked only one Tiger, improving inning each to close out the game,
his record to 1-4 and his ERA from combining to give up just one hit.
5.57 to 4.85. State College and Connecticut
Colton Cain, another 19-year
old, made his first appearance in a
Spikes uniform since being called To e-mail reporter: jyksl42@psu.edu
Nebraska
nament championships won.
Nebraska has claimed three regu
lar season and four conference
tournament titles in 14 seasons of
Big 12 play.
In addition to success in the Big
12, Nebraska made three appear
ances to the College World Series
in the last decade (2001, 2002 and
2005).
With the Cornhuskers' past suc
cess in the Big 12, Nittany Lion
first baseman Joey Deßernardis
believes they may be a strong
team in the conference once they
begin play in the Big Ten.
definitely think they'll be up
there fin the conference stand
ings]," Deßernardis said.
"They're a good team and coming
from the Big 12, they've been play
ing good competition."
Baseball programs in the Big 12
have been generally strong in
his best years after leaving the
Braves. .
"He very well may," Wren said.
"He's a talented guy. But for our
ballclub we felt we needed to
make some adjustments. It just
wasn't happening here right now."
The Braves also took on more
salary. Escobar is making $435,000
this season. Gonzalez's salary is
$2.75 million; his contract includes
a 2011 club option for $2.5 million.
"Getting a guy we can control
for a year and a half was important
to us," Wren said.
Each shortstop is regarded as a
strong defensive player.
"Alex may not be quite as flashy
as Escobar, but he's an extremely
solid shortstop," Wren said.
Wren said Gonzalez is expected
to be with the team for Thursday
night's game against Milwaukee.
"He's excited to be here and to
be coming to a first-place team,"
Wren said.
The Braves have a four-game
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
contiue thier seires tonight at 7:05
matchup
recent seasons compared to the
Big Ten.
The final NCBWA Rankings for
2010 had two Big 12 teams in the
Top 25 including No. 1 Texas
while two others received votes.
No teams from the Big Ten even
received votes in the poll.
Penn State pitching coach
Jason Bell, who played and
coached in the Big 12 at Oklahoma
State, recently spoke with
Nebraska assistant coach Dave
Bingham.
Bell said Bingham shared the
same feelings with the potential
matchup as the Lions. Bingham
believed Nebraska had a natural
fit in the Big Ten and said the
Cornhuskers were looking for
ward to the change.
Bell said there is no difference
in the style of play between the
two conferences, but he said
Nebraska will have to adjust to a
few differences in rules in the Big
Ten.
The Lion coach mentioned the
disallowance of over-signing play
ers in the Big Ten something
that's allowed in the Big 12 as
one of the minor adjustments the
Cornhuskers will face.
Over-signing allows programs
to use money from potential draft
picks for future scholarships
before those prospects sign major
league contracts.
The Cornhuskers have had
their share of players advance to
the professional ranks.
There are currently three
Nebraska alumni in Major League
Baseball and six others playing in
AAA.
Former Nebraska outfielder
Darin Erstad, who played profes
sionally for the Los Angeles
Angels of Anaheim, Chicago White
Sox and Houston Astros, was
named to their coaching staff July
8.
Bell believes the rich history of
Nebraska and alumni such as
Erstad will help add to the reputa
tion of Big Ten baseball.
"I think it's going to be great,"
Bell said. "It will do nothing but
help the Big Ten as far as recogni
tion."
"When you talk about getting
more teams into regionals and
getting national recognition, it's
another name to lend a hand."
To e-mail reporter: rmlsl3B@psu.edu
lead over the New York Mets and a
4 1 / 2 -game lead over Philadelphia.
Atlanta outfielders Jason
Heyward (thumb) and Nate
McLouth (concussion) are on the
disabled list. Heyward, who was
voted an All-Star starter as a rook
ie, could return on Thursday.
"With the guys coming off the
DL in the next week or so we think
we have the ability to improve our
ballclub and also sit back and see
what our needs may be at the
trade deadline," Wren said.
The Blue Jays, one game under
.500, are 12 1 / 2 games behind the
New York Yankees in the AL East.
Anthopoulos said the Blue Jays
"are not actively shopping"
players.
Reyes, 1-5 with a 5.70 ERA at
Triple-A Gwinnett, has a 5-15
career record with Atlanta.
Kris Medlen's emergence as
Atlanta's No. 5 starter pushed
Kenshin Kawakami to the bullpen
and further blocked Reyes' return.