Pancakes with the Potters

EAST LIVERPOOL — Pancakes with the Potters will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday at The Vault.

East Liverpool boys basketball players and coaches will be serving food on the buffet line.

Cost is $12 for two pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage + bacon and fresh fruit.

All proceeds are to benefit the East Liverpool boys basketball program.

Minnesota extends Fleck

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2030 season with an increase in retention bonuses that was approved by the university’s board of regents on Wednesday.

Fleck’s annual $6 million salary remains the same. The retention bonus provision added to his deal in an amendment last year after UCLA pursued him will pay Fleck $1 million for staying at Minnesota through the end of 2025. The annual sweetener increases to $1.2 million for 2026, $1.3 million for 2027, $1.4 million for 2028, $1.5 million for 2029 and $1.6 million for 2030, an additional $2.3 million from the previous amounts.

Including the retention bonus, Fleck is tied for 11th in coach compensation in the 18-team Big Ten. The Gophers are 58-39 in eight seasons under Fleck, including 6-0 in bowl games and 34-36 in Big Ten play. His overall winning percentage is third-best in program history among coaches with at least 45 games.

Giants catcher makes history

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Patrick Bailey’s entrance into the Major League Baseball record books on Tuesday night began with a tight swing that sent a fastball from Phillies reliever Jordan Romano into Triples Alley.

It ended with Bailey chugging his way around third base then getting mobbed at home plate by his teammates after becoming the third catcher in major league history to hit a game-ending, inside-the-park home run.

The three-run shot had an exit velocity of 103.4 mph and bounced off the brick wall at the Giants waterfront ballpark. It ricocheted back toward center field as Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh gave chase.

Bailey said his initial thought was to get a triple before he saw third base coach Matt Williams waving him in.

“Off the ball I just knew I got it well,” Bailey said. “I saw it was towards Triples Alley and I was like, ‘Oh I gotta go. I at least gotta get to third.’ Once I saw the bounce, I was like ‘All right, just don’t fall over.'”

It’s the ninth time this season that the Giants have won in their final at-bat, tops in the majors.

It was also the first time in nearly nine years that a player has hit a walk-off, inside-the-park home run in the majors. Cleveland’s Tyler Naquin was the last to do so on Aug. 19, 2016.

The three-run home run lifted the Giants to a 4-3 victory that had the Oracle Park crowd roaring as Bailey crossed the plate.

Royals sign Keuchel to minor league contract

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals signed former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel to a minor league deal, the team announced Wednesday, hours before they played the finale of a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 37-year-old Keuchel worked out for the Royals last week. He will head to their training facility in Surprise, Arizona, and then is expected to spend time at Triple-A Omaha in the hopes of returning to the big leagues.

Keuchel appeared in four games for Milwaukee last season. His last appearance came on July 13, 2024.

Keuchel spent his first seven seasons with the Astros, helping them win the 2017 World Series. He was a two-time All-Star and won the Cy Young in 2015, when he went 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA and won the second of his five Gold Gloves.

Keuchel has bounced through six organizations over the past four seasons, though, going just 4-10 with a 7.59 ERA in 24 starts and 28 appearances. He has a career record of 103-92 with a 4.04 ERA.

Joe Coleman was third pick in first MLB draft

(AP) — Joe Coleman, a lanky right-hander who won 142 games in 15 major league seasons and was an All-Star in 1972 with Detroit, died Wednesday morning, his son said. He was 78.

Casey Coleman said his father died in his sleep in Jamestown, Tennessee.

The son and father of major leaguers, Coleman became the No. 3 pick in baseball’s inaugural amateur draft in 1965 when he was selected by the Washington Senators. His father, also named Joe — who pitched in the majors from 1942-55 — negotiated a club-record $75,000 signing bonus.

The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Coleman became the first player to reach the majors after being drafted when he debuted for the Senators on Sept. 28, 1965. He threw a four-hitter to beat the Kansas City Athletics 6-1.

After the 1970 season, Coleman was traded to Detroit in a deal that sent Denny McLain to Washington. He enjoyed his greatest individual success with the Tigers, going 88-73 with a 3.82 ERA from 1971-76.

In 1971, he went 20-9 with a 3.15 ERA after recovering from a skull fracture that hospitalized him for two weeks. He was an All-Star the following season and made his only postseason appearance, striking out a then-playoff-record 14 batters to shut out the Oakland Athletics in Game 3 of the five-game American League championship series. The Tigers lost the series 3-2 and Oakland went on to beat Cincinnati in the World Series.

Coleman’s strikeout record stood for 25 years. Baltimore’s Mike Mussina fanned 15 in the 1997 ALCS against Cleveland.

Coleman also pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates. In his final season, he made 10 relief appearance for the 1979 Pirates, who went on to win the World Series.

For his career, he was 142-135 with a 3.70 ERA and 1,728 strikeouts in 484 appearances (340 starts).

After retiring as a player, Coleman worked as a pitching and bullpen coach for the California and Anaheim Angels, St. Louis Cardinals and Seattle Mariners along with several minor-league clubs.

“He was a good man with a really good heart,” Casey Coleman said. “Everywhere I went in professional baseball, I met pitchers he coached. Many gave him credit for making it to the big leagues.”

Casey Coleman pitched in 58 major league games for the Cubs and Kansas City from 2010-14.

Born in Boston, Joe Coleman graduated from Natick High. He attended Ted Williams’ baseball camps, where he learned how to throw a curveball and slider.

In addition to Casey, Coleman is survived by his wife, Donna, daughter, Kristen, and three grandchildren.

NFL union appealing ruling in collusion case

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL Players Association is appealing an arbitrator’s ruling regarding collusion by owners over quarterback salaries, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The person, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because it’s a legal matter, said the appeal was filed on Tuesday and the union has been having ongoing discussions with its executive council about the matter. There’s no timeline for a decision that’ll be made by a standing appeals panel made up of three people.

On Jan. 14, arbitrator Christopher Droney ruled there wasn’t sufficient evidence of collusion by owners in contract negotiations with quarterbacks after the Cleveland Browns gave QB Deshaun Watson a record $230 million fully guaranteed contract.

Any attempt to collude to keep salaries down violates the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the union.