Sea Dogs add two to Hall of Fame
PORTLAND, Maine — The Portland Sea Dogs have announced that former Sea Dog and current St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Brandon Moss and former Sea Dogs manager Todd Claus are the 2016 inductees into the Unum Portland Sea Dogs Hall of Fame.
Moss was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the eighth round of the 2002 June Draft out of Loganville High School in Loganville, Georgia. He appeared in 268 games for the Sea Dogs in 2005 and 2006 and hit .277 with 28 home runs, 144 RBI, 67 doubles, 7 triples, 163 runs scored, and 14 stolen bases.
Moss was integral in the Sea Dogs’ run to the 2006 Eastern League Championship, hitting .361 with 5 home runs, 10 RBI, and 9 runs scored in 9 playoff games.
Claus led the Sea Dogs to appearances in the Eastern League Championship Series in each of his two seasons as Sea Dogs manager, capturing the 2006 Eastern League Championship. Following the 2006 season, Claus was honored by Baseball America as their Minor League Manager of the Year.
Two trotting records set at Scarborough Downs
SCARBOROUGH. Maine — Two trotting records for four-year-old trotters were rewritten in impressive style during harness racing action Friday at Scarborough Downs.
Tango Pirate, a recent Saratoga import who was up in class off a dominant win last weekend, charged hard from the gate in the opening event with Dan Deslandes calling the shots from the sulky. They glided to victory in a sterling 1:58.1 and eclipsed the previous four-year-old gelding benchmark of 1:58.2 which was established by Names Muscle just five weeks prior.
The standard for four-year-old mares was also lowered later with Cherry Crown Jewel and driver Mark Athearn grinding their way to a torrid 1:57.4 score while demolishing the previous track record of 1:58.3 set almost one year ago to the day by Bryan’s Angel.
Rangers, Pirri agree to deal
The New York Rangers agreed to terms with free-agent forward Brandon Pirri on a one-year contract Friday worth $1.1 million.
Pirri, 25, split last season between Florida and Anaheim, registering 14 goals, 15 assists and 30 penalty minutes in 61 games. He established career-highs in several categories in 2015-16, including games played, assists and points (29). He recorded a goal on five of his six shootout attempts (83.3 percent) and registered two game-deciding goals during the season.
The 6-foot, 183-pound Pirri has skated in 166 career NHL games over parts of six seasons with Chicago, Florida, and Anaheim, recording 80 points (49 goals, 31 assists) and 52 penalty minutes.
Wisconsin, Oregon name starting QBs
Bart Houston will start the opening game of the season for the Wisconsin Badgers next week at Lambeau Field in Green Bay against fifth-ranked LSU.
The fifth-year senior was named Wisconsin’s starter over redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook.
Badgers coach Paul Chryst implied the move is not necessarily long-term.
At Oregon, Dakota Prukop, a graduate transfer from Montana State, was named the Ducks’ starting quarterback.
Prukop will get the start in No. 24 Oregon’s season opener on Sept. 3 against UC Davis. Prukop arrived to the Eugene campus in January and went through all of the spring work with the Ducks.
True freshman Justin Herbert, who joined the team this summer, was named the backup quarterback for Week 1.