The skinny

Bulls’ season ends after being swept in playoffs

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Stephen Vogt had three hits, but the Bulls were swept by Columbus in the best-of-five series, 5-2 on Friday. Columbus, the defending Triple-A National champions, never trailed in the series after recording a league-best 88-56 mark in the regular season.

Columbus took a 2-0 lead in the second inning against Alex Torres (0-1), a leadoff walk to Chad Huffman (who homered the first two games of the series) was followed two batters later by a Nick Johnson RBI double. Back-to-back singles followed before Torres settled in.

Durham got on the board when Tim Beckham hit a two-out double to right center in the third off Joe Martinez (1-0), scoring Robinson Chirinos, who started the frame with a double to right.

Columbus answered right back on a two-out single by Johnson. Matt Carson threw out a second runner trying to score.

Durham had second and third with none out in the fifth but only got one run on a John Matulia groundout. The Bulls came close to tying it in the eighth when Vogt collected his third hit, a two-out double to left-center, but Dan Johnson lined to left to end the inning.

Columbus then got two two-out runs in the eighth. Carson almost threw out the first run, but Chirinos couldn’t handle his one-hop throw, and a second run scored on an error.

For the series, Durham was held to just five runs and went 4-for-26 with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-9 in the final game.

The Bulls enter the off-season having won five straight South Division titles, and collected 80 wins or more for a third straight season, only the second time that’s happened in history.

Featured stories, Panthers, Redskins, The skinny

Predictions: Panthers to fall in Arizona while Redskins upset Giants

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The Carolina Panthers will be better than last year and they have defeated the Cardinals all four times they’ve played them in Arizona. So, why won’t they win Sunday?

Well, the Cardinals’ offensive line should dominate the Panthers’ defensive line and the Cardinals’ defensive line should dominate the Panther’s offensive line. In addition, Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald is a game changer unlike anyone on the Panthers’ team. Let’s say Cardinals 31, Panthers 17.

As for the Redskins, they have looked good in the preseason (even with Rex Grossman at quarterback) and the Giants are beat up (especially defensively). The Redskins defensive line is better than last year and should do a better job containing New York’s running game than the Skins have done in recent years.

As for intangibles, Gen. Colin Powell is serving as the Redskins’ honorary captain on 9/11 in the nation’s capital, and family members who lost loved ones in the attacks will be honored in a pregame ceremony. How about Redskins 27, Giants 17.

Duke, Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny, UNC

Wake stuns Wolfpack while Tar Heels overcome turnovers to win

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Wake Forest broke a seven-game ACC losing streak by stunning N.C. State 34-37. North Carolina overcame turnovers and penalties with big plays to defeat Rutgers 24-22. And Stanford looked less like an academic school that Duke in whipping the Devils 44-14. Also, ECU scared Virginia Tech but finally fell 17-10. For a complete ACC scoreboard with boxscores and recaps please click here.

Featured stories, The skinny

Big rivalries highlight week 4 of the high school football season

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Cary travels to Apex, Middle Creek goes to Garner and Ravenscroft travels across Raleigh to Cardinal Gibbons. And those aren’t the only big games across the Triangle area Friday night.

It will be clear and mid-70s so try to get out to one of these 10 football games being played tonight that are within driving distance in the Triangle area. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7. In bold below are the predicted winners. Last week my record was 8-2 for a 21-9 season mark.

Cary at Apex

East Chapel Hill at Carrboro

Enloe at Knightdale

Green Hope at Athens Drive

Hoke County at Sanderson

Middle Creek at Garner

Panther Creek at Holly Springs

Ravenscroft at Cardinal Gibbons

Southeast Raleigh at Wake Forest-Rolesville

Wakefield at East Wake

Other games of interest in the Triangle this week are Lake Norman at Wake Christian, Lawrence Academy at Cary Christian, Lee County at Fuquay-Varina and Millbrook at Northern Durham. Check out the results by clicking on the High School Football tab at the top of the left sidebar of this site.

Featured stories, The skinny

Hurricanes mourn death of Vasicek, a plane crash victim

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A plane crash in Russia earlier this week claimed the lives of members of the Lokomotiv hockey team, which included former Carolina Hurricanes player Josef Vasicek, who was a member of the 2006 Stanley Cup Champions.

The coach of Lokomotiv, Brad McCrimmon, who played for the Hartford Whalers, also perished in the crash.

Jim Rutherford, president and general manager of the Hurricanes, issued this statement:.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of today’s tragedy in Russia. Josef was an key part of the Hurricanes for six years, helping us achieve some of our greatest successes. More importantly, he was a great teammate on and off the ice, and was respected as a person as well as a player. Brad McCrimmon was a member of our team while we were still in Hartford, and was well-liked by all who came in contact with him. His presence in the hockey community will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go to the Vasicek and McCrimmon families, and the loved ones of all of today’s victims.”

Vasicek, 30, was about to begin his fourth season with Lokomotiv. In 341 games with the Hurricanes, he had 57 goals, 78 assists for 135 points. Vasicek skated in 37 Stanley Cup playoff games with Carolina, earning five goals and two assists for 7 points.

Featured stories, The skinny

Durham Bulls lose in playoffs; face elimination

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Chad Huffman homered for the second straight game for the Clippers in their 8-3 victory over the Durham Bulls on Thursday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The win gives the Clippers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Chris Archer (0-1) settled down after allowing four runs in the first two innings to the Clippers and went five and two-thirds innings allowing seven hits and five runs, walking three and fanning a Triple-A career high 11.

The Bulls were down 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning when Tim Beckham got things going with a single. Matt Carson followed with a one-out double to put runners on second and third for Dan Johnson. Johnson drove a singled to center field to score both Beckham and Carson and cut the lead to 3-2, which was as close as the Bulls would get. The Clippers tacked on one run in the second on Travis Buck’s RBI single and would add another in the sixth on Tim Fedroff’s RBI single to make it 5-2.

The big blow came from the Clippers offense in the seventh inning when Juan Diaz connected on an Adam Russell fastball for a two-run double to give Columbus a 7-2 lead. They would go on to add another run when Diaz scored on a Luke Carlin double.

Talbot (1-0) went seven innings allowing seven hits and two runs walking one and fanning five to earn the victory. Jason Rice, Tyler Sturdevant, and Cory Burns combined to work the last two innings allowing three hits and a run, while walking two.

Durham will head to Columbus facing elimination in Game 3 on Friday September 9. The Bulls will send Alex Torres to the mound against the Clippers Joe Martinez. The game can be heard on 620 the Buzz.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

Academic Stanford much better at football than Duke but why?

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With Duke taking on Stanford this weekend, the question arises: Why can Stanford, known for its academics, do so much better than equally admired Duke, which lost to Richmond last Saturday?

Well, I don’t think Stanford ever went to the depths of Duke,” said Blue Devil Coach David Cutcliffe. “They’ve had some modern history where most of our history goes well back where apparently a pretty conscious decision to minimize the importance of football was made at Duke. So we’re in a much different situation as far as recovery.”

But Cutcliffe said Duke can get there. “They do it with quality young men that are great students, and we’re going to do the same thing,” he said. “We feel very good about the track we’re on. We’re recruiting very well. Only thing we don’t feel good about right now obviously is our opening game performance, and that’s my
responsibility.

“But what we’re doing in recruiting and what we’re doing in facilities and focus of taking a program to another level, we’re absolutely on that same path, and there’s no question in my mind we can do what our basketball program does, compete nationally with Duke-quality student athletes.”

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

State’s O’Brien more than happy with QB Glennon

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Prognosticators and football fans everywhere thought NC State would really miss quarterback Russell Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin, but so far, so good in new quarterback Mike Glennon.

Tom O’Brien, during his weekly news conference, noted that he was especially good against Liberty last weekend considering that he had not started a game in four years.

“He hadn’t played a full game since the state championship in high school,” O’Brien said. “so he was all excited and knew that there were some things that he was going to have to do better and learn from, but he’s got a great attitude, a great amount of talent and he will continue to get better as we go along.”

O’Brien said he didn’t like seeing his quarterback get “clobbered” but it was a good sign that Glennon got back up and played unaffected by the hits.

He added that Glennon was able to move around in the pocket well, buying time. He added when nothing was there, he made good choices including tucking the ball in and running for a first down. “He’s a little quicker than people thought he was,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien said that Glennon graded out well as he looked at the films from last week’s game. “You go back and you look at his mechanics. You go back and look at his reads. Is he throwing to the right person? Is he
throwing on time? I think all those things he checked off.”

He’ll have to do it this Saturday against a Wake Forest team that’s better than last week’s opponent. The Demon Deacons return eight starters on defense.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

UNC looking to “clean up” a few things offensively

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Despite UNC quarterback Bryn Renner going 22 of 23 for 277 yards and two touchdowns, Coach Everett Withers is looking to “clean up” a few things offensively this Saturday at home against Rutgers.

“We need to clean up areas in protection calls and line calls on the run game,” Withers said. “We’ve been working that this week, running right routes, right depth, those type things, just the little things.”

As for Renner himself, Withers said, “I’ve seen it really all summer to be honest with you. Nobody expects
the ball not to hit the ground during a ballgame. But I’ve seen the guy just light it up in summer, just
making the right reads.”

Withers said that Renner is his own worst critic. “He’ll complete a deep ball, and he’ll say, I didn’t make the right read or I didn’t take my full drop, and he’ll be talking to himself and that type stuff. So he’s a little bit of a perfectionist. He’s really hard on himself.”

Rutgers, 48-0 winners over NC Central last week, know that it will be tougher against UNC and Renner, who they note has been compared to former Packer great Bret Favre.

“He was incredible,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said after watching film of the UNC victory over James Madison. “He’s as good as I’ve seen, that kid. I heard over the years how good he is when he was playing behind the other kid (T.J. Yates).”

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Cardinal Gibbons, Green Hope, Tom Suiter to be honored at UNC-Rutgers game

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Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons and Cary’s Green Hope High School will be among the schools honored at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Day at halftime of the Rutgers at UNC football game this Saturday at Kenan Stadium.

Cardinal Gibbons and Green Hope High were two of the winners of the Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) Cup for the 2010-11 academic year, symbolic of the best overall interscholastic sports program in the state.

At Green Hope, boys soccer, girls lacrosse, girls basketball, both boys and girls cross country and boys and girls swimming all contributed points that led to the Cup.

At Cardinal Gibbons, more than 700 co-ed student-athletes participate among 40 teams in the following sports: baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and wrestling.

In addition, the newest members of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame, including former WRAL sports anchor Tom Suiter of Raleigh, will be recognized.

A native of Rocky Mount, Suiter joined WRAL in 1971 and eventually started the Extra Effort Award for those athletes who excel in the classroom as well as on the field. Under his leadership, Suiter also started the Football Friday show which covers football games throughout the Triangle and the WRAL viewing area.

Suiter and seven others will be formally inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame next spring during the Hall’s annual banquet and induction ceremonies at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill.