Good morning, Pittsburgh. Here’s your day in sports for Saturday, September 19, 2015.
What’s on tap for today:
The Penguins continue training camp at their new Cranberry Twp. practice facility today at 9:15 a.m.
Duquesne (2-0) will start the college football day off with a 1:00 p.m. start on the road against the Dayton Flyers. Robert Morris (0-2) will host Notre Dame (Ohio) for the school’s homecoming game at 3:00 p.m. 1320 WJAS-AM, ESPN Radio 970
The Riverhounds (10-9-8) season is on the line tonight as they’ll face their arch-rivals, the Harrisburg City Islanders, in a must-win game. The winner moves on to the USL playoffs. The loser goes home. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. Riverhounds.com
Pitt (2-0) and Penn State (1-1) will both play under the lights tonight. The Nittany Lions (1-1) host Rutgers and the Panthers (2-0) travel to Iowa. Both games start at 8:00 p.m. Big Ten Network
The Pirates (87-60) didn’t lose any ground on the Cardinals, but the Cubs are right behind them as the NL Central race heats up. Francisco Liriano will face Clayton Kershaw tonight at 9:15 p.m. ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh headlines:
Zack Grienke went 2-for-2 at the plate and held the Pirates to four hits as the Bucs dropped the series-opener in L.A.
Jung Ho Kang’s season-ending injury will leave the Pirates with some big shoes to fill on the left side of their infield, writes Andrew Hodgson.
First baseman Josh Bell hit a walk-off single to lead the Indianapolis Indians over the Columbus Clippers to force a winner-take-all Game 5 in the International League championship.
The Steelers (0-1) will have to bounce back from their Week 1 loss to the Patriots quickly, as the San Francisco 49ers will come to town looking to right their season after an opening-week loss of their own.
Pitt Coach Pat Narduzzi has played Iowa seven of the last eight years, but this will be his first visit to Iowa City as a head coach. The Panthers have a lot of unanswered questions despite their 2-0 record, including who will start at quarterback, Chad Voytik or Nate Peterman?
Penn State would like to prove that their season-opening loss to the Temple Owls is way in the rear-view mirror, and they can do they when they host Rutgers tonight.
On this date in 1970, Penn State senior Mike Cooper (right, with Head Coach Joe Paterno) became the first African-American starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions. Cooper threw two touchdowns in the team’s 55-7 drubbing of the Naval Academy.
He said it: “Are you really going to ask that?” — Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi after being asked who his starting quarterback would be this week.
Photo credit: Brian Mitchell (main), GoPSUSports (inset)
