Four former TinCaps received honors from the San Diego Padres for their performances last season.
Rico Noel, Rymer Liriano and Keyvius Sampson – who all played for the TinCaps last season – and 2010 Fort Wayne player Jedd Gyorko received minor league awards.
Noel was named the organization’s defensive player of the year after posting a .996 fielding percentage and committing only one error in 94 games. The center fielder also had nine assists.
Liriano was named the base runner of the year after stealing 66 bases in 87 attempts, which was the third most in professional baseball.
Sampson picked up pitcher of the year honors. The right-hander went 12-3 with 2.90 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 118 innings.
Gyorko, who played for Single-A Lake Elsinore and Double-A San Antonio last season, was named offensive player of the year. The former TinCap hit .333.
Former Fort Wayne hitting coach Tom Tornincasa also earned the organization’s Jack Krol minor league coach of the year award.
BASKETBALL
Big Ten honors IU’s Zeller again
Indiana’s Cody Zeller was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week Monday. It is the sixth time he has won the award. Zeller scored 22 points and grabbed five rebounds to help the Hoosiers to an 84-71 win over Illinois on Thursday. He scored 14 of the 22 points in the second half.
Martinsville coach out after arrest
Longtime Martinsville boys coach Tim Wolf is stepping down after his indecency arrest in an Indianapolis park. He was arrested Sunday on a misdemeanor public indecency charge after an Indianapolis police officer found him in “a state of nudity” in his car in the company of a teenage girl at Eagle Creek Park. Wolf, 65, had a record of 457-348 in 37 years of coaching, including 25 at Martinsville.
NBA news
Bulls star Derrick Rose remains day to day for Chicago because of lower back spasms. Rose was examined Monday by a specialist, and general manager Gar Forman says no structural damage was found. Rose has missed seven games. … Cavaliers rookie point guard Kyrie Irving did some non-contact work during practice and is now closer to returning from a concussion – perhaps as early as Wednesday against Indiana.
Baylor star finalist for Olympic team
Baylor All-American Brittney Griner is among 21 finalists for the U.S. women’s basketball team that will compete at the London Olympics. The 6-foot-8 center joins WNBA stars Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings and Diana Taurasi. All three of whom won gold in the 2008 Beijing Games. The 12-person roster for the Olympics will be chosen this spring.
FOOTBALL
Chandler Harnish picks up honor
The Touchdown Club of Columbus, Ohio, awarded Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish its Male Athlete of the Year award. The Norwell graduate passed for nearly 3,000 yards and 26 touchdowns, and he rushed for 1,382 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also graduated with a 3.65 GPA in business management. He is pursuing his master’s degree in business at NIU.
Ex-Dolphins, 49ers receiver dies
Freddie Solomon, the former Miami Dolphins and 49ers wide receiver who became known as “Fabulous Freddie” and committed himself to community service for decades, died Monday. He was 59. The 49ers announced the passing of Solomon, who lived in Florida and had battled cancer over the past year. He played on the first of the franchise’s four Super Bowl championship teams in the 1980s during an 11-year NFL career.
GOLF
St. Francis lands Bellmont athlete
Bellmont senior Nathan Kortenber will play collegiately for Saint Francis next fall.
Ratings up 96% for Pebble Beach
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods together in the final round has produced the highest rating for CBS Sports at Pebble Beach in 15 years. The network said the overnight rating from final round was 5.1 with a 10 share, which was up 96 percent from last year. It was the highest rating for the final round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am since a 5.8 with a 13 share in 1997, when Mark O’Meara held off Woods and David Duval.
