Indiana Cutters travel to Indianapolis to face rival, Indiana Tornados
The Second Round of the Best Rivalry Indiana Semi Pro Football will take place Saturday Night at 6pm at the Indiana School for the Deaf when the Indiana Cutters take on the Indiana Tornados. The school is Located right next to the Indiana State Fairgrounds and fans are asked to plan ahead in getting to the game as their will be heavy traffic in the area due to the Indiana State Fair and fans are asked to use the flyer that is on the Indiana Tornados Facebook page, so they do not have to pay a parking fee. Both teams enter the game at 4-4 with first place on the line in the Blue-Collar Football League Western Conference Red Division. The Tornados knocked off the previously unbeaten Columbus Gladiators 14-12 on the road while the Cutters lost in Cincinnati to the Southern Ohio Blaze 52-7. The Cutters won the first matchup 14-6 in Martinsville on July 23rd.
The Kentucky Cardinals is 3-5 in the blue division and face the 6-1 Southern Ohio Blaze at home in Bardstown Kentucky. The Cin City Buccaneers who are 4-2-1 on the season travel to Lancaster Ohio to face the Gladiators. The Blaze and Buccaneers are in the Western Conference Red Division with just two games left going into this weekend playoff seeding is very important for home field advantage and one team will be on the outside looking in as the top four teams make the playoffs.
Bloomington North Boys Basketball Senior JQ Roberts announces commitment to Vanderbilt
Bloomington North boys’ basketball standout JaQualon “JQ” Roberts started off the new school year with a big announcement on Thursday, declaring his commitment to Vanderbilt and coach Jerry Stackhouse. Roberts announced his commitment on his twitter account.
Roberts received more than a dozen Division I offers, mostly from schools throughout the Midwest, including Indiana, Butler, Evansville, and Ball State, with the one from Vanderbilt revealed by Roberts on July 8. Roberts, listed at 6-foot-7 and 198 pounds on the North roster, was a Herald-Times First Team All-Area player, averaging 14.4 points and a team high 9.1 rebounds per game. He shot 52% from the floor, 38% on 3s (30-of-80) and had 24 blocks and 31 steals. He was named to the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association’s Underclass Supreme 15 and was also named a Junior All-Star. He was a beast during the Cougars’ postseason run to semi-state, recording five straight double-doubles.
Vanderbilt went 19-17 last year (7-11 over a tough SEC slate), winning a pair of NIT games before falling by two to Xavier. Stackhouse, a former standout at North Carolina and in the NBA where he had an 18-year career, is entering his fourth season as head coach after stints coaching with the Memphis Grizzlies and in the G League. The Commodores were the only SEC program to improve their NET ranking in each of the past three seasons and made their first postseason appearance since the 2016-17 season.
Former Indiana University Men’s Basketball Player Romeo Langford to have HS Court dedicated
Romeo Langford had many memorable moments at the Doghouse. On August 20th, he’ll add another. That day New Albany’s home basketball court will be officially named for the former Bulldogs’ star, Indiana University standout and current member of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. The Romeo Langford Court Dedication Ceremony is scheduled to start at noon two weeks from this Saturday. Doors will open for the free event at 11:30am that morning.
Langford, who will also make an appearance at halftime of the New Albany football team’s season-opener against Bloomington South the night before, will sign items (one per person) and be available for pictures after the August 20th ceremony. Last month, the New Albany-Floyd County School board accepted, and approved by a 7-0 vote, the recommendation of the New Albany High School Administration and Central Administration to name the school’s basketball court after Langford, who recently completed his third season in the NBA.
During his playing career (2014-18) at NAHS, Langford scored 3,002 points — which ranks fifth on the state’s all-time scoring list. In that time, the Bulldogs posted a 100-10 record (including 43-1 at home) while winning four sectional titles, two regionals, one semistate and the Class 4A state championship in 2016. Langford tallied a game-high 28 points in New Albany’s 62-59 victory over McCutcheon in the state final on March 26, 2016. After graduating from New Albany, Langford played one season at Indiana University before heading to the NBA. He averaged 16.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game for the Hoosiers prior to being selected 14th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2019 NBA Draft.
In his first season, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard averaged 2.5 points and 1.3 rebounds per game for the Celtics. In his second campaign, he put up 3.1 points and 1.9 rebounds a game for Boston. This past season, Langford averaged 4.7 points and 2.4 rebounds over 44 games with the Celtics before he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs. Due to injuries, Langford played in only four games for the Spurs and averaged 2.8 points and one rebound a game.
Hagerstown Little League Baseball to represent Indiana in Great Lakes Regional
For the second time in its Little League Baseball History the Hagerstown Little League will represent the State of Indiana in the Little League World Series Great Lakes Regional in Whitestown Indiana. Hagerstown won the Indiana State Championship for the first time since 2013. There are five Teams in this regional that have won the state championships in Illinois, Ohio Michigan and Kentucky. This is a double elimination format with the winner advancing to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Hagerstown will play Gross Pointe Farms Michigan Saturday at 7pm after the opening game at 10 am when Hinsdale Illinois take on London Kentucky. Hamilton Ohio will play on Sunday at 4pm against the Illinois-Kentucky winner. ESPN Plus will televise the first five games of the tournament. ESPN will have Monday’s second game at 7pm along with Tuesday game at 3 pm. The Championship game is scheduled for Wednesday at 5pm.
Indianapolis Indians Coverage
Indians Split Doubleheader with Louisville
Mason Martin roped his second walk-off single of the season to lead the Indianapolis Indians in a doubleheader-opening victory on Wednesday afternoon, 4-3. The Louisville Bats then bounced back to take the nightcap, 9-6. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the game knotted at 3-3, back-to-back singles by Brendt Citta – playing in his first Triple-A game since May – and Jamie Ritchie extended the game to Martin. On a 2-2 offering from Matt Pidich (L, 4-3), Martin launched a fly ball that carried over the left-fielder’s head to plate the game-winning run.
The Indians (48-51) bounced back from an early 1-0 deficit with a solo home run by Diego Castillo and go-ahead RBI single off the bat of Jack Suwinski in the third inning. Following a leadoff walk to Martin and the power-hitter’s 11th stolen base this season, Rodolfo Castro lined a single into right field for an insurance run. Miguel Yajure kept Louisville quiet following first-inning traffic, allowing just one baserunner with five strikeouts over his next four frames. All three of his hits allowed came in the first inning. In the top of the sixth, a pair of homers in a three-batter span by TJ Friedl and Colin Moran tied the game at 3-3 to set up Martin’s walk-off hit. Eric Hanhold (W, 3-2) entered the game and stranded the go-ahead run at first base in the top of the ninth.
Facing a 2-0 deficit early, Indianapolis climbed back to tie Game 2 with Suwinski’s fifth Triple-A homer of the season in the second inning and back-to-back singles by Jared Oliva and Hoy Park in the third. Trailing by two again in the fourth, an RBI single by Taylor Davis and a two-run triple by Oliva – his third three-bagger of the season – against Jared Solomon (W, 2-1) gave Indy it’s first lead of the contest. Louisville (42-59) then plated four runs, three of which were charged to Noe Toribio (L, 1-1) in the fifth inning to take a lead it would not relinquish. After Citta drove in one more in the fifth, the Indians stranded the game-tying run at the plate in both the fifth and sixth innings.
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