Balanced Phantoms earn season’s first win

October 4, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

ANN ARBOR, MICH.

The Youngstown Phantoms used a balanced scoring attack to pick up its first win of the season, 5-2, over Team USA’s U17 team at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor.

Tommy Parran, Bryan Lemos, Kevin Conley, Josh Melnick and Ryan Lomberg scored for the Phantoms (1-1-0, 2 pts). Chris Birdsall stopped 20 shots to earn his first victory in net for Youngstown.

William Lockwood and Clayton Keller were the goal scorers for Team USA, who was out shot 31-22 by the Phantoms.

Youngstown travels to Bloomington today as the team continues its road trip to start the season. The home opener is next Saturday at 3:05.

Griswold playing pro soccer in Croatia

Kaitlyn Griswold, a graduate of Cardinal Mooney and Butler University, is playing professional soccer for Dinamo Maksimir. The team is located in Zagreb, Croatia. She has scored three goals in her first two games including two in a 3-2 win over Ombla.

YSU’s Egler joins exclusive club

Valparaiso, IND.

Youngstown State senior outside hitter Lexi Egler joined an exclusive group of Penguins to record 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs on Friday in a four-set loss at Valparaiso. The set scores were 16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-13.

Egler is the fifth player in school history in the 1,000/1,000 club, joining Amy Hermann, Heather Luben, Jill Raslevich and Vickie Robinson. She is one of 12 Penguins with 1,000 kills and one of 14 with 1,000 digs.

Egler finished the match with 14 kills and 14 digs, and Shannon Watson had 12 kills for the Penguins, who are now 10-8 overall and 1-2 in Horizon League play. Nikki Thompson added 27 digs, while Jessie Gerig posted a career-best 15 digs. Val Jeffery also had a double-double with 46 assists and 11 digs.

They play UIC today at 5 p.m.

Saints safety Byrd has season-ending surgery

METARIE, La.

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton says starting three-time Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd has had season-ending knee surgery.

Payton says Byrd injured his lateral meniscus Thursday during practice and had surgery on Friday. Payton, who doesn’t normally announce injuries, says Byrd had informed his father, Gill, an assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who the Saints play Sunday.

Byrd was a free agent acquisition during the offseason from Buffalo, where he intercepted 22 passes during his first five years in the league.

In four starts this season, Byrd had yet to intercept a pass but created a turnover with a forced fumble in the season opener at Atlanta.

The injury is another blow to a defense that has struggled this season, ranking 29th in yards allowed.

Kiner, Enberg among 10 Frick finalists

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.

Former slugger Ralph Kiner and longtime announcer Dick Enberg are among the 10 finalists for the 2015 Ford C. Frick Award presented by the Hall of Fame for excellence in baseball broadcasting.

The Hall announced the finalists Friday. The winner will be announced Dec. 10 during the winter meetings.

Kiner was elected to the Hall in 1975 after leading or tying for the league home run lead in seven of his 10 seasons. He spent more than 50 seasons as an announcer, mostly with the New York Mets.

Enberg broadcast games for the Angels and Padres for 16 seasons. He’s been a sports announcer for more than 50 years.

A 20-person panel that includes the 16 living Frick Award winners will choose this year’s recipient.

Also on the ballot are: Richie Ashburn, Billy Berroa, Rene Cardenas, Dizzy Dean, Ernie Johnson Sr., Ned Martin, Joe Nuxhall and Jack Quinlan.

Staff/wire reports