Morning Box Score
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 12, 2010 2:45PM
Royals Rout Sox
The Sox take a step forward one night and then the next they take a step back. After picking up a game on the Twins on Friday, the Sox got routed by the Royals last night 8-2 and subsequently lost that game back to Minnesota. Edwin Jackson struggled on the hill for the Sox, giving up 13 hits and 6 runs to Kansas City while the Sox offense didn't produce much of anything in the way of offense, hitting only 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine men on base. Said A.J. Pierzynski, "Just one of those things. It goes up and down, and we had eight hits tonight, scored a couple of runs. We had some chances, and we just didn't get it done." The Sox hope to bounce back and get it done in the series finale today before the Twins come calling - the Sox last chance to make a run at the division - later this week (1:05 p.m., CSN).
Cubs Shutdown Brewers Again
For the second straight night, the Cubs pitching staff shut down the Brewers with a three-hit shutout as this time it was Ryan Dempster who was on the winning side of last night's 1-0 victory. Dempster allowed three hits over seven innings of shutout baseball, striking out eight along the way for his 100th career victory. The only offense from either team came in the top of the seventh when Xavier Nady belted a solo home run, enough to give the Cubs another win against Milwaukee. The North Siders go for the sweep of their neighbors to the North this afternoon behind rookie Casey Coleman (1:10 p.m., WGN).
The Fire and College Football, after the jump.
Fire Fall To Union
For the second straight game, the Fire couldn't score a goal and this time it cost them, losing 1-0 to the expansion Philadelphia Union who recorded their first ever shutout. A Steven Kinney header in the 9th minute was called back for offsides and a Calen Carr header late, in the 76th minute, sailed high as the Fire's best two chances of the night. The Fire get the week off before heading out west next Saturday to take on Real Salt Lake (3:00 p.m.).
College Football
Notre Dame looked like they had a chance to pull off the victory over rival Michigan but saw their last attempt sail high in a 28-24 loss. The Irish were without QB Dayne Crist for most of the first half after he had blurry vision following a hit on the ground. Nate Montana came on in relief, but Crist would return and throw for 277 yards, two TDs, and a interception. But the Irish defense had no solution for stopping Michigan QB Denard Robinson who destroyed the Irish with 502 total yards on his own, including an 87 yard TD run. Despite that, the Irish still had a chance late, driving down to the Michigan 27 yard line, but Crist's pass sailed high and out of the endzone as the clock hit zero. Coach Brian Kelly also made a strange call at the end of the first half: down 21-7, the Irish had a first and goal at the Michigan 3 yard line with just 3 seconds left but Kelly went for a touchdown instead of taking three points with a field goal. Ultimately, though, it was their failure to stop Robinson and three costly turnovers that cost the Irish the game and dropped them to 1-1 on the year.
Week two saw an improved performance from Illinois who eased past Southern Illinois 35-3. Nathan Scheelhaase threw for 229 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Mikel Leshoure led the ground attack with 115 yards and two touchdowns of his own. There's still room for improvement, though, as the Illini committed three turnovers in the victory.
Northwestern rolled up 434 yards of total offense in a 37-3 rout of Illinois State. Dan Persa was sharp, completing 19 of 23 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns while Arby Fields ran for 96 yards (and had 6 yards receiving) with a touchdown on the ground as the Wildcats moved to 2-0 on the young season.
NIU held off a second half rally to beat North Dakota 23-17. QB Chandler Harnish threw for 146 yards and ran for 178 more as NIU racked up 510 total yards on offense in the victory with Chad Spann adding another 140 yards on the ground in the win.