Good morning, Pittsburgh. Here’s your day in sports for Saturday, September 12, 2015.
What’s on tap for today:
The rest of the NFL kicks off the 2015 season today, starting at 1:00 p.m. KDKA-TV, CBS
The Pirates (85-56) Have a Sunday matinee at 1:35 as the go for the series win in their four-game slate with the Milwaukee Brewers (62-80). Francisco Liriano will start for the Bucs. A win would put them just two games back of St. Louis for first place in the NL Central. ROOT Sports Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh headlines:
Michael Morse’s pinch-hit grand slam put the icing on the cake of a very satisfying 10-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Left fielder Starling Marte missed yesterday’s game with a stomach issue and manager Clint Hurdle has set his rotation for the upcoming series with the Chicago Cubs.
Pirates beat writer Zachary Weiss asked several MLBers about the role of women in men’s professional sports.
Rookie catcher Elias Diaz, called up to the majors on September 1, has embraced his role with the Pirates.
Our newest writer, Penguins analyst Jacob Betzner, sought out to find the next great Pittsburgh-born NHL player.
He also took a look at what type of value, if any, veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar will bring to the Penguins.
After giving up 37 points in the opener against Youngstown State, the Pitt Panthers defense buckled down against Akron, allowing only 110 yards of offense en route to a 24-7 victory.
Penn State shook off a slow start to beat the Buffalo Bulls 27-14. True freshman running back Saquon Barkley did most of the heavy lifting in the second half.
The Riverhounds went into Wilmington, NC in desperate need of three points to get back into the playoff hunt, but after the Hammerheads took a 1-0 lead and defender Sterling Flunder was sent off, the 10-man Riverhounds did well to earn a draw and live to fight another day.
One week after losing to Pitt at Heinz Field, Youngstown State hosted another Pittsburgh-area school, Robert Morris. This game was much close, and the Colonials took the game into overtime before losing 21-14.
Duquesne University signed a new three-year broadcast deal with WJAS and ESPN Radio 970.
On this date in 1978, a member of the original Penguins team, Andy Bathgate (right), was selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bathgate played three seasons in Pittsburgh, two with the Penguins and one with the AHL’s Hornets.
He finished his NHL career with 973 points in 1069 games.
He said it: “We’re going to continue to play hard because we’re going make the playoffs, and we’re going to win the World Series.” — Pirates rookie catcher Elias Diaz.
Photo credit: Getty Images (main), eBay (inset)
