Compiled by Craig Potter
The Rochester Red Wings completed a sweep of the Columbus Clippers for the first time at Frontier Field on Thursday afternooon with a 6-2 victory before a crowd of 4,814 fans.
Jorge Polanco belted a 3-run homer and ended up driving in 4 of the 6 runs for the Red Wings.
Polanco plated the first run in the first inning on a fielder’s choice that scored Danny Santana, who had singled, stole second, and moved to third on Wilfredo Tovar’s single.
In the fifth, Santana and Tovar each stroked 1-out singles before Polanco blasted the ball 366 feet over the left field fence.
Starting pitcher Jason Wheeler hurled 7.2 innings, scattering 4 hits and giving up 2 runs. He also walked 2 and struck out 7 in gaining the win (5-1).
The Clippers scored their 2 runs in the top of the 8th, but the Wings got them back in the home half on a 2-run homer by Tommy Field.
Reliever J.T. Chargois recorded the final 4 outs in picking up his fifth save of the season for Rochester.
The Red Wings hit the road for a 7-game trip starting Friday night in Toledo.
Rochester (40-27) is in first place in the International League North Division. The 40th win on June 16th is the earliest since 2006 when the Wings were 40-23 when they achieved their 40th victory.
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The Buffalo Bills continued minicamp on Wednesday at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
The Bills closed out their spring practice season Thursday and feel good about how they’ve positioned themselves as a team for training camp.
Closing strong
At mandatory minicamp came to a close for the Bills on Thursday, the players were encouraged by the progress that was made on the field through the course of the spring. One player who finished strong was Leonard Hankerson. The receiver, who was slowed by a hamstring injury at the start of OTAs, returned and made a handful of plays to cap a solid spring for him.
“We’re all just coming out here to work hard,” said Hankerson. “These past 10 weeks have been fun. We enjoyed them. We took pride in coming out here and getting the job done.”
Hankerson only spent a brief amount of time with the club late last season before re-signing this offseason. But seeing everyone on the field so eager to compete he believes that collective approach will help push the team’s level of consistency forward.
“I think it’s everybody getting their head right to compete with each other,” said Hankerson. “It’s been a long offseason so what are you going to do? Come out here and BS around? You can’t do that so you’ve got to come out and make plays and get on the same page and strive to greatness.”
Hankerson was in sync with Tyrod Taylor during 11-on-11 work Thursday as Taylor found him a couple of times on comeback routes to the sideline. Hankerson also had a key first down reception during a two minute drill.
Rex: we won the offseason
Bills head coach Rex Ryan felt there was good commitment from the players last offseason, but comparing spring preparations from the 2015 season to the work put in this spring the difference is night and day as Ryan sees it.
“I think the weight room where we get points for how you perform, it wasn’t even close from last year to this year,” Ryan said. “I thought we had a good offseason last year, but not like this. We competed so well against each other like with the challenges that we have. I just feel great about it. I look at where this team is now compared to this time last year and I said it was a zillion miles. It’s so much further along than they were. Individually you can see it. This guy is getting better. It goes without saying you’ve got a year under your belt and you should be better, but wow it looks good to me.”
So good that Ryan thinks the 31 other NFL clubs would be hard pressed to have accomplished as much or prepared as effectively as Buffalo has for training camp.
“We’ve won the offseason. I will challenge any team. I think we won the offrseason, but we need to win July,” he said. “That’s when everybody is off on their own, so they have to do the things to be in great shape when we get to camp so we can avoid some of the injuries we had last year. The soft tissue injuries and let’s take off and see what can happen with this team. “I’ve been blown away by this group. I really have.
“This time of year I usually can’t wait to go on vacation, but I can’t wait to get the season started. Forget the vacation. I wish it was shorter and I mean it. I’m excited about this team.”
Reserves playing roles
With a number of veteran players sitting out or excused on Thursday some of the players who have not gotten as many reps as some of the projected starters saw a lot of time on the field Thursday.
Chief among them on defense were veteran OLB Lorenzo Alexander, DT Corbin Bryant, DL Jerel Worthy and OLB IK Enemkpali. The Duke Williamsand Jonathan Meeks safety tandem moved up a unit to work with the starters. Meanwhile on offense Cyrus Kouandjio continued to man the left tackle spot in place of Cordy Glenn and rookie Jonathan Williams and Mike Gillislee handled carries out of the backfield for the first unit.
Minor nicks not a worry for training camp
While there were a handful of players who sat out the final day of minicamp with minor injuries there no cause for concern with respect to availability for training camp. Marcell Dareus (thumb) and Aaron Williams (hamstring) did not participate on Thursday.
LeSean McCoy was again limited to individual position drill work due to his ankle. Cordy Glenn (undisclosed) missed the entire week of minicamp, but Buffalo’s head coach expects all of them to be ready to roll come late July.
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The National Lacrosse League has released the announcement schedule of finalists for the 2016 NLL Season Awards. Three finalists for each award will be named over the course of the coming weeks. The winners will be announced at the 2016 NLL Season Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, September 27 at Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, Ontario.
The announcement of the three finalists for each award begins on Monday, June 20 with the Sportsmanship Award and continues through Thursday, July 7 with the Executive of the Year award. The 2016 NLL Media Person of the Year (Tom Borrelli Award) winner will be announced on Monday, July 11.
Awards announcement schedule:
Monday, June 20: Sportsmanship Award finalists
Tuesday, June 21: Defensive Player of the Year award finalists
Wednesday, June 22: Transition Player of the Year award finalists
Thursday, June 23: Goaltender of the Year award finalists
Monday, June 27: Head Coach of the Year (The Les Bartley Award) award finalists
Tuesday, June 28: General Manager of the Year award finalists
Wednesday, June 29: Rookie of the Year award finalists
Thursday, June 30: Most Valuable Player award finalists
Tuesday, July 5: Teammate of the Year award finalists
Wednesday, July 6: Air Canada Wingman of the Year award finalists
Thursday, July 7: Executive of the Year award finalists
Monday, July 11: Media Person of the Year (The Tom Borrelli Award) winner
Tuesday, September 27: 2016 NLL Season Awards Ceremony
The 2016 NLL Season Awards are determined by a vote of the league’s Board of Governors, General Managers and Head Coaches at the end of the regular season. The 2016 NLL Media Person of the Year Award is determined by a vote of the league’s covering media. More information on the 2016 NLL Season Awards Ceremony will be announced at a later date.
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After a 1-0 win over Orlando Pride (4-4-0, 12 points) during Week Eight of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), the Western New York Flash (5-3-0, 15 points) look to remain at the top of the standings against Portland Thorns FC (3-0-5, 14 points) on Friday, June 17 in Rochester. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Rhinos Stadium with a live stream available at YouTube.com/NWSL. Tickets for the match are available at wnyflash.com/tickets.
Last week the Flash came out flying and put the pressure on the Pride from the start. Rookie Makenzy Doniak netted her first professional goal in just the fourth minute when Jessica McDonald slipped a pass through the Orlando backline. Doniak finished from a tough angle by knocking the ball off the far post and into the net. The Pride couldn’t recover from the early deficit, and the Flash took all three points with a 1-0 decision.
“We definitely had a really tough game against Orlando – they were really coming at us hard,” said midfielder Samantha Mewis. “We’re happy to get three points out of it, and I’m proud of our resilience in that game. We did great to keep them scoreless, and now we keep pushing and moving forward.”
The win put the Flash in a tie Chicago Red Stars (4-1-3, 15 points) for the top spot in the NWSL standings and helped rookie goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom receive Player of the Week honors as she continues to keep her professional record clean.
Western New York will now face undefeated Portland Thorns FC. Flash head coach Paul Riley coached the Thorns during the 2014 and 2015 seasons and will face his former team for the first time on Friday – a matchup Riley is looking forward to.
“They’re a good side, and it’ll be battle for us,” Riley mentioned after training this week. “They have a lot of top-level midfielders, and I think denying them space and making sure they don’t play through the midfield will be key for us.”
Though Portland boasts some big names, such as Canadian international Christine Sinclair and United States internationals Tobin Heath and Meghan Klingenberg, who is a former Flash player, Riley and his team are keeping the focus on themselves.
“If we just focus on ourselves and work on focusing on our game, I think it’s going to be a great match between both teams,” said U.S. Women’s National Team and Flash defender Jaelene Hinkle.
Samantha Mewis shared similar sentiments, stating, “Portland is a great team and we’re excited to get to play against them this week. We’re just focusing on ourselves. They’re really technical players, but we’re going to focus on our pressure – which we always do – and try to just win the ball back in as dangerous of areas as we can.”
Pressure has been key for the Flash, and Riley believes that will be the key to a successful performance for the Flash, but development is the main goal.
“Our pressure has been very good. Our ability to hit teams on the counterattack has been very good. Our ability to get shots off and creating chances has been good. Obviously there is a long way to go for us. We realize where we are and where we need to go. The process is important for us. The performance is almost more important than the result.”
Portland is coming off a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Red Stars last week. Thorns’ Sinclair opened scoring in the 25th minute of the match by deflecting Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher’s attempt at a clearance into the net. Red Stars forward Christen Press leveled the score in the 62nd minute with a long-range shot.
The match marked the fourth in a row that the Thorns have held opponents to four shots or less, but the Flash are known to create chances, leading the league in shots with 108 – about 20 more than any other team so far. Friday’s matchup will also feature the first time McCall Zerboni returns to the pitch with the Flash where she spent four years from 2011 to 2014.
The Flash continue their long home stand as the Boston Breakers come to visit again. The last time the Breakers were in town, the Flash managed to score 4 goals and earn a shutout.