Compiled by Craig Potter
Today’s SportsROC Report includes stories on the Rochester Red Wings victory; the Rochester Rhinos suffer their first home defeat since August, 2014; what did we learn about the Buffalo Bills off-season practices?; and the Rochester Rattlers win in Denver.
The Rochester Red Wings got back on the winning track with a 5-1 triumph over the Toledo Mud Hens on Saturday night in the Buckeye City.
The Red Wings got on the scoreboard first with a pair of runs in the third inning. John Ryan Murphy singled and Logan Schafer drew a 2-out walk before Jorge Polanco ripped a double to right to score both runners.
The Mud Hens cut the margin in half with a run in the fourth off Rochester starter Logan Darnell (8-5), who hurled 7 innings while scattering 4 hits and striking out 6 in earning the win.
The Wings made it 3-1 in the 7th when Murphy lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Rosario, who had walked, took second on a single and third on an error.
Murphy drove in his second run of the game with a single in the 9th to plate Wilfredo Tovar, who had doubled. James Beresford made it 5-1 with a RBI hit that scored Buck Britton, who had gotten on base with an intentional walk and advanced to second on Murphy’s hit.
Rochester (41-29) increased its International League North Division lead over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (39-30) to 2 games, with Lehigh Valley (38-30) 2.5 games out.
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The Rochester Rhinos suffered their first loss at home since 2014 on Saturday night with a 1-0 defeat to the Louisville City FC at Rhinos Stadium.
In a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals from last season, the Rhinos faced first place Louisville FC. Louisville took a 1-0 lead with a goal in the 28th minute and made it stand up.
The Rhinos had a great opportunity to score early on with a shot from leading goal scorer Christian Volesky, but it was saved by Louisville goalkeeper.
Due to the heat, three minutes of stoppage time was added to the first half. In that time the Rhinos held their defense high trying to close the gap before half. After a card to a Louisville player for a foul on Mike Garzi, the Rhinos had time to set up an offensive attack, but instead played a short pass that they failed to turn into anything productive.
In the second half, the Rhinos offense struggled to remain on sides as several of their chances were brought to a halt by the whistle.
The Rhinos attempted to even the score in the 82’ minute but the goal was called back due to off sides once again.
Rochester looks to restart its home streak next Saturday against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
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What did we learn from the Buffalo Bills off-season practices? Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the answers. Here is his report:
From Robert Woods resurgence to the budding Brown-Ragland tandem in the middle of Buffalo’s defense there are some interesting things we now know about the 2016 version of the Bills.
1 – Robert Woods is ready to be the No. 2 receiver
A lot of Bills fans worry that there aren’t too many ultra-productive playmakers at wide receiver after Sammy Watkins on Buffalo’s roster. If they had the chance to observe Robert Woods through the course of the spring OTA and minicamp practices, they’d be a lot less concerned.
Woods could merit MVP honors for the offseason practices. His speed off the line is significantly faster this year and his separation is the most consistent it has been in his NFL career.
Last year’s torn groin compromised his effectiveness and required offseason surgery, but Woods has been a terror on the field. Provided it continues when the pads go on, there will be someone who can draw attention away from Watkins.
2 – Taylor poised to advance his game
He’s done everything right when it’s come to pushing his personal game forward once he was named the starting quarterback last summer. Deeply committed with an unrelenting work ethic, Taylor’s work is paying off.
Whether it’s been throwing needle threader passes, directing traffic pre-snap or providing feedback or counsel to a teammate, Taylor knows all the requirements of the job and is delivering on each and every front.
It’s all setting up for him to put together an even better season than 2015 was for him.
RELATED: Bills minicamp notes – Day 3
3 – On field and coach to player communication significantly improved
It was part of the problem for Buffalo’s defense last season. Lack of communication on the field, lack of communication between players and coaches. That’s all in the past now. Though assistant secondary coach Ed Reed was not on hand to witness it in Buffalo last season, he’s been told by his fellow assistant coaches that the communication with the team in all forms is much better than it was in 2015.
“I can only comment off of what coaches have told be about last year,” said Reed. They said, ‘It wasn’t like this last year, Ed, I promise you. You didn’t have guys coming upstairs wanting to ask questions to the coaches.’ They are like, ‘I can count on my hands how many guys came up here last year to ask questions about the defense.’
“Now we’re having guys who want to meet, want to understand what’s going on. Totally bought in to what we’re doing as coaches. For me personally, I was just a safety. I played safety and me and Ray (Lewis) had a culture around that. Baltimore had a culture around the facility. We had tradition on how we did things. We had a standard on how we did things.
“I couldn’t coach here, couldn’t coach the safeties, if they’re not communicating. It’s a given, you have to talk out there. If you’re not talking, something’s wrong. In order for you to talk, you have to understand your job, what you have to do to get guys lined up. If you’re not talking, you’re not going to be successful.
“If you watch the film from last year, you saw a lot of confusion, a lot of not communicating and guys not giving effort. So with that in mind, there couldn’t have been too much communicating out there.
“Some of the offensive guys even said it. You could hear a pin drop last year. So for us to be effective, that’s got to happen. We got to communicate. And to see those guys comment like that, man, we’re getting better. We’re getting a lot better. For where we were last year from what I heard, we’ve gotten a lot better.”
4 – Dez Lewis has the inside track on No. 3 receiver role
In no way is second-year wide receiver Dez Lewis going to allow himself to think he’s got a roster spot in the bag with the Bills, but the strides he has made with his personal game have been big ones. From filling out his body with lean muscle mass, to improving his route running, to establishing a genuine rapport with Tyrod Taylor, Lewis has done everything in his control to advance his game.
He now sits in a pretty advantageous position heading into training camp.
5 – Brown and Ragland could be a heck of a tandem
Preston Brown was given a ton of praise by Assistant head coach/Defense Rob Ryan on Thursday. The third-year linebacker has embraced the defensive scheme wholeheartedly and knows it like the back of his hand. Not far behind him is the man lining up next to him in rookie inside linebacker Reggie Ragland.
The two players are cut from the same cloth. They eat, sleep and breathe football and their work as a tandem could be very entertaining for Bills fans this fall.
“This Preston Brown is going to be a star. He’s been fantastic,” said Rob Ryan. “He’s a vocal guy, he’s extremely smart. He knows the defense. He knows the ins and outs now, so he’s really going to grow in this system. And he’s got a young player next to him that is like his twin. They love football. They’re both tough guys and they’re going to grow together. And we’re going to have something special here, you watch.”
6 – Incognito wins offseason lifter award
The Bills have a number competitions as part of their offseason conditioning program. This year’s winner for Lifter of the offseason was Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito.
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The Rochester Rattlers improved to 4-3 on the season with an 19-11 victory over the Denver Outlaws on Saturday night in the Mile High City.
Jordan Wolf paced Rochester with 10 points on 6 goals and 4 assists. Jeremy Boltus contributed 4 goals and 1 assist as Jordan MacIntosh added 4 goals.
The other goal scorers for the Rattlers included: Jack Near, Jesse King, Ned Crotty, Ty Thompson, and Penfield native Kyle Denhoff, all with one apiece.
Goalie John Gollway made 23 saves.
All-Stars
Four Rochester Rattlers have been named to the MLL All-Stars roster for the game July 9, at Cal State Fullerton Titan Stadium.
The Rattlers players include goalie John Galloway, defenders Mike Manley and Joel White, and Midfielder Ned Crotty.
Irondequoit native Joe Walters also was selected as a midfielder from the Chesapeake Bayhawks.