SPORTS DIGEST || Scrappers name Carlin as manager

Scrappers name Carlin as manager

Niles

Former Cleveland Indians catcher Luke Carlin will be the manager for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers this season.

Carlin served on the Akron staff in 2016. He had a 14-year professional career from 2002–2015, appearing in 56 Major League Baseball games with San Diego, Cleveland and Arizona.

Grant Fink will be the bench coach. From 2013-15, Funk was a first baseman and third baseman in the Indians organization after being selected in the 23rd round of the 2013 draft out of Missouri Western State University (St. Joseph, Mo).

The Spokane, Wash., native played in the Frontier League in 2016 before his recent hire as the Bench Coach at Mahoning Valley.

Pete Lauritson will be the Scrappers hitting coach. He most recently served as the volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Iowa, after a successful 13-year hitting coach stint at North Iowa Area Community College from 2004–16.

Returning to the Scrappers staff are trainer Jake Legan and strength and conditioning coach Juan Acevado.

TC Rockers runner-up in CSU Indoor Classic

CLEVELAND

The U18 TC Rockers men’s club soccer team finished runner-up at the Cleveland State Indoor Soccer Classic.

Team members are Blake Gill (Lakeview), Mitch McConnell (South Range), Kristopher Foor (LaBrae), Zac Champiney (Badger), Harry Romesburg (Greenville, Pa.), Reese Babuder (South Range), Jake Drotar (Lakeview), Mike Augustine (Lakeview), Noah Busefink (Lakeview) and Jarrett Collins (Lakeview).

The coaches are Marc Champiney and Anthony Augustine.

YSU-Milwaukee game time changed

YOUNGSTOWN

The game time for the Youngstown State-Milwaukee men’s basketball game on Sunday at Milwaukee has been moved to 1 p.m. The game had originally been scheduled for 3 p.m.

Streaking Clippers lose PG Paul for 6-8 weeks

LOS ANGELES

The streaking Clippers are down another All-Star.

Chris Paul will undergo surgery today to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb and is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

The team said Tuesday its veteran point guard will continue to undergo treatment and evaluation by the club’s medical staff.

Paul was injured on a first-half play involving Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook in Monday night’s victory. Paul didn’t return in the second half.

Paul is averaging 17.5 points, 9.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds, and leads the NBA with 2.25 steals per game. He missed a total of seven games last month and early this month because of hamstring issues.

The Clippers are 7-0 in 2017, equaling their best start to a calendar year since 1974.

They’ve done it without star forward Blake Griffin, who is likely to be back next week after recovering from right knee surgery.

The condition can cause kidney damage.

Angelique Kerber wins Aussie Open match

MELBOURNE

Angelique Kerber smiled and waved her arms like an orchestra conductor as the Rod Laver Arena crowd sang “Happy Birthday” after her 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-2 second-round win on Wednesday at the Australian Open.

The defending champion didn’t enjoy the entire performance on her 29th birthday, angrily swiping her racket in the second set in a burst of frustration that momentarily threw her off her game — and allowed Carina Witthoeft back into the match.

Top-ranked Kerber was cool and controlled in the first set, but struggled against some deep, powerful forehands late in the second.

In the tiebreaker, she led 3-2 but double-faulted twice — once on either side of the change of ends — and didn’t win another point as Witthoeft leveled the match.

From staff and wire reports