Morning State Sports Briefs: UW grids to play four night games next fall

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MADISON - Four University of Wisconsin football games will be played at night this season in front of national prime-time TV audiences. Two of those contests were added to the schedule yesterday.

They’ll be played October 22nd at Michigan State, and October 29th at Ohio State. Both will start at seven p.m. on either ABC or ESPN. Wisconsin also has two home contests under the lights at Camp Randall Stadium. They’re the season-opener against Nevada-Las Vegas on Thursday night, September first – and Nebraska’s first Big Ten game at Madison on October first. Wisconsin is 8-2 in night games since 1998. And they’ve won 26-of-their-last-29 evening contests.

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The Milwaukee Brewers will open a three-game series against Pittsburgh tonight at Miller Park. The Brewers have dominated the Pirates in recent years. But now, Pittsburgh is two games ahead of Milwaukee in the National League Central standings. The Pirates are in third place at 18-19, three-and-a-half games behind front-running Saint Louis. The Brew Crew is two games behind Pittsburgh in fifth place at 16-and-21. One reason for the Pirates’ improvement is an 11-8 road record. Another is strong starting pitching. Four of their five starters have ERA’s of three-point-six-two or lower. Milwaukee was off yesterday. The Pirates started a game at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers. But the rains came in the second inning with the Dodgers up 1-to-nothing. They hung around for a few hours before the game was finally called off. Right-hander Yovani Gallardo will start the Brewers tonight against Pittsburgh right-hander James McDonald.

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In the NL Central last night the Chicago Cubs got pounded by Saint Louis, 9-1 last night at Wrigley Field. Casey Coleman gave up six runs in four-and-a-third innings, and took the loss to drop to 1-3. Jeff Baker went 3-for-4 and had the only RBI for Chicago, which has lost three-of-its-last-four. Jon Jay had three hits and three RBI’s for the Redbirds, who’ve won six-of-their-last-nine.

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Brewers’ reliever Zach Braddock struck out all five batters he faced last night in a minor league rehab start for the Class-“A” Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Wisconsin won the game over Cedar Rapids, 5-3. But the deciding run wasn’t scored until later on – so Braddock didn’t get the win. He’s recovering from a sleep disorder, and he’s not scheduled to come off the 15-day disabled list until Monday. It’s not certain whether Braddock will make another rehab start before being called up.

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The UW-Eau Claire men’s golf team is 14th going into today’s final round of their NCAA Division-Three tournament at Greensboro North Carolina. Eau Claire shot a combined 318 in yesterday’s third round – their highest score of the tournament. The Blugolds are now at 53-over-par, 44 strokes behind first-place Greensboro. Dan Nelson of UW Stout is the state’s top individual. He dropped from 9th place to a tie for 23rd with an 80 in his third round. Nelson is at six-over-222. He kept playing even though his team failed to make the cut after Wednesday’s second round. Tim McCormick is Eau Claire’s top player. He’s tied for 45th at 12-over.

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At the Division-Three women’s tournament, Eau Claire is tied for 10th going into today’s final round at Howey-in-the-Hills Florida. The Blugolds are at 140-over-par, 50 strokes behind first-place Methodist. Carroll of Waukesha is 19th-and-last at 226-over. Catherine Wagner of Eau Claire dropped from second to a tie-for-ninth among the individuals. She shot an 85 yesterday, and is now at 24-over-par-243, 11 strokes off the lead.

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Former University of Wisconsin men’s golf coach Jim Schuman won the Wisconsin PGA’s Match Play Championship yesterday. He defeated Brian Janty of Milwaukee 3-and-2 at Kenosha’s Club at Strawberry Creek. It was Schuman’s third match play title, but his first since 2002. He recently resigned as the Badgers’ golf coach to start a golf academy at a private club in Verona owned by his brother-in-law.

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Al Harris will get the Super Bowl ring he has played years for. Green Bay Packers’ president Mark Murphy confirmed it when he answered a fan’s question in Eau Claire during the Packers’ Tailgate Tour. And Harris’s agent, Jack Bechta, said his client’s been told he’ll get a ring. Harris was among the Packers’ top secondary defenders for over seven years, until he tore a knee in November of 2009. But he couldn’t make a comeback during Green Bay’s Super Bowl season in 2010 – and he was released after spending nine weeks on the physically-unable-to-perform list. Harris said the release caught him by surprise, and he was on Miami’s roster for three games before being put on injured reserve. Many fans had wondered if Harris would get a Super Bowl ring – and Bechta he would expect nothing less from the Packers’ organization.

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