Morning Box Score
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 5, 2010 3:30PM
White Sox Sweep Double-Header With Red Sox
In the battle of the Sox, it was all Pale Hose who swept a double-header after Friday's game was rained out by Hurricane Earl. In game one, Chicago won 3-1 as A.J. Pierzynski was responsible for knocking in two runs (only one was credited as an RBI, though). John Danks shut the BoSox offense down, allowing a single run over seven innings for his 13th win of the season. In game two, it was Gavin Floyd (6 IP, 1 ER, 5K) and the bullpen shutting down the BoSox for another 3-1 win. Carlos Quentin and Ramon Castro had RBI in the top of the 7th to break a 1-1 tie and help the White Sox to the sweep. The Sox are now 3.5 games back of the Twins in the AL Central and hope to close the gap and get the sweep this afternoon when Mark Buehrle takes the hill (12:35 p.m., CSN).
Cubs Topple Mets
The Cubs won their third straight - and fourth in five games - toppling the Mets 5-3. Soto, Nady, and Byrd all had RBI early to give the Cubs and early lead and Carlos Zambrano had a sharp outing, striking out eight and allowing just two runs over seven innings. Aramis Ramirez added a solo homer for icing on the cake. The Cubs go for the sweep over their guests from the Big Apple this afternoon (1:20 p.m., WGN).
Fire Draw With Galaxy
It was 87 minutes of scoreless soccer before the Fire and Galaxy, obviously saving the best for last, exchanged a pair of dramatic late goals to play to a 1-1 draw. Collins John gave the Fire the lead in the 88th minute with an unassisted goal from 19 yards out but the Galaxy would answer in stoppage time, Omar Gonzalez heading in a Landon Donovan corner kick in the 91st minute for the draw before a sellout crowd of over 21,000 fans at Toyota Park. There's no rest for the Fire, though, who host Toronto FC this Wednesday (7:30 p.m., MY50).
College Football
Ah, the crisp fall-like weather and Labor Day weekend mean one thing: college football is back.
The Brian Kelly Era at Notre Dame is off to a winning start as the Irish easily handled Purdue 23-12. New Irish QB Dayne Crist threw for 205 yards and a TD while Armando Allen, Jr. scored a TD with 93 yards rushing. But the MVP? Place kicker David Ruffer who nailed all three FG attempts (and both extra points). The big match-up with rival Michigan looms next week.
Northwestern opened the 2010 season on the road facing an SEC team, just as they finished last season, but this time they came away winners, defeating Jay Cutler's alma mater Vanderbilt in a 23-21 thriller. Dan Persa threw for 222 yards and three TDs to lead the Wildcats who led the entire game. But with just 2:25 left, Vandy scored a touchdown to cut the lead to two but the two-point conversion failed, giving the Wildcats a win to open the season.
The Ron Zook Era opened a new chapter and it was as unpleasant as previous ones. Illinois opened up a 13-3 lead over Mizzou before the Illini let the Tigers run off 20 straight points in the second half to down the Illini 23-13. The Ilini suffered from an anemic offense - only 81 yards through the air and 4 turnovers - depending largely on the ground game but it wasn't nearly enough to stop the Mizzou rally.
In a game that was played Thursday night, NIU fell to Iowa State 27-10.