Thursday State Sports Briefs: Packers announce expansion project for Lambeau

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Lambeau Field

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GREEN BAY -- The Green Bay Packers announced a $130-million-dollar expansion project for Lambeau Field this morning. The team said it would add 6,600 outdoor seats above the stadium bowl – and they’ll ready in time for the 2013 season.

The new seats be in four steep levels in the space that was left open when Lambeau was renovated in 2003. The Packers said they would pay for the project themselves with loans, and possibly another stock sale. The expansion will bring Lambeau’s seating capacity to just over 79,000, making it the fourth-largest stadium in the National Football League.

The Packers surveyed ticket holders a few months ago to determine what they’d like to see in terms of an expansion – and how much they’d be willing to pay. The upper ranges of the ticket prices will be from $87-to-$313. Ground-breaking for the new project is scheduled for a week from today. This year, the Packers installed a new sound system. Next year, the team plans to have new video boards on each end – along with a tower in the north end zone with an outdoor viewing platform that club-seat holders can use on game-days. The Packers said it could create an additional revenue opportunity, since the platform can be used for special events on days with no Packer games.

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Green Bay Packers’ rookie Derek Sherrod looks more at home at the left tackle spot where he played in college. The Packers tried out Sherrod at left guard as a possible replacement for the departed Daryn Colledge. But third-year pro T-J Lang beat him out for the starting guard job – and Sherrod has been practicing at his natural tackle spot this week. He hurt a knee and missed practice on Monday. But the rest of the week, he scored perfectly in the one-on-one pass-blocking drills. The Packers are getting ready to play at Indianapolis tomorrow night in the third exhibition game. The Pack is 1-1 so far in the pre-season.

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Madison golfer Jerry Kelly shot a two-under-par 69 today in his first round of the PGA’s Fed-Ex Cup Playoffs. That tied Kelly for 14th place as of mid-afternoon at the Barclays, the first of four tournaments that will decide the Fed-Ex championship. Steve Stricker of Madison was still playing his first round, after thunderstorms delayed play from mid-morning until early afternoon. Stricker was tied for ninth place after 13 holes, at three-under-par. Pewaukee native Mark Wilson had not started his first round yet. Wilson came into the tournament in 11th place in the Fed-Ex point standings. Stricker was second, and Kelly was 62nd. Harrison Frazar had the mid-afternoon lead at seven-under going into his final hole of the day.

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The second round of match play began this morning at the rain-delayed U.S. Amateur golf tournament northwest of Milwaukee. Top-seeded Gregor Main of Danville, California was upset in the first round by Bobby Leopold of Cranston, Rhode Island. Cranston had the lowest seed of the 64 qualifiers, and he defeated Main 2-1. In his second round, Leopold was three-up on Harris English of Thomasville, Georgia through 10 holes. Main was the top finisher in 36 holes of stroke play earlier this week. The Number-two qualifier, Blake Biddle of Saint Charles, Illinois, won his first-round match over Marty Jeppesen of Ypsilanti, Michigan, 5-3. And Biddle was leading Peter Williamson of Hanover New Hampshire in their second round match today. Biddle was three-up after four holes. Once the second round is finished, only 16 players will remain.

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Milwaukee's Prince Fielder is the only Major League Baseball player with 100 RBI’s this season. And he’s only the second Brewer ever to reach the century mark for four years in a Milwaukee uniform. Cecil Cooper is the other one back in the 1980’s. Ryan Braun will join that exclusive club when he gets 15 more RBI’s. Adrian Gonzalez is second in the Majors this year with 99 runs driven in. That leads the American League. Braun is 11th in the big leagues with his 85 RBI’s. The Brewers are off today. They’ll open a home series against the Chicago Cubs tomorrow night. The Brewers have a 10-game lead over second-place Saint Louis – and that number will either rise or fall later tonight, when the Cardinals open a home series against Pittsburgh.

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Brett Lawrie was the Brewers’ top prospect on offense when they traded him to Toronto for starter Shaun Marcum. Now, the 21-year-old Lawrie is going gang-busters for the Blue Jays. He’s batting .328 in 18 games for Toronto with four homers, 12 RBI’s, and a high on-base-plus-slugging-percentage of one-point-oh-three-five. Ten of Lawrie’s 20 hits have been for extra bases – and he went 2-for-3 with a homer and a triple last night in a 4-3 Toronto victory over Kansas City. Lawrie was a catcher when the Brewers drafted him in the first round. But he became a second baseman in the minors, and the Blue Jays have moved him to third. He didn’t come up to the Majors until May, after he broke his left hand when he was hit with a fastball while playing for Triple-“A” Las Vegas. Lawrie is a native of Langley in British Columbia – and he was excited to be playing for his home country’s Major League team.

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The UW-Green Bay women’s basketball team will have a tough non-conference schedule this fall – and coach Matt Bollant said he wanted it that way. The team has released its schedule for next season. And seven of the Phoenix’s 11 non-conference opponents made the post-season tournaments in March. Green Bay will play Illinois and Georgia Tech in a Thanksgiving tournament starting November 24th in San Juan. Georgia Tech was a number-five seed in last spring’s NCAA tourney. Green Bay made the Sweet-16 of the NCAA’s for the first time last season. UWGB plays at Wisconsin on December 23rd. Bollant figures the game will have more buzz than normal because he interviewed for the Badgers’ coaching job that was given to Bobbie Kelsey. The Green Bay women will open on the road for the 25th straight year. They’ll be at North Dakota State on November 11th. The home opener is November 20th against Toledo, which won the WNIT last spring. Green Bay’s Horizon League schedule opens December 29th against Illinois-Chicago. The Phoenix has won 13 straight regular season league titles.

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The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers will host Kane County again tonight in a Midwest League contest near Appleton. The Rattlers fell to Kane County 4-1 last night. Eric Arnett, the Brewers’ first-round draft choice in 2009, gave up two runs in the first inning and suffered the loss. The Beloit Snappers will host Burlington again tonight, on the heels of a 6-1 Snapper loss. Also tonight, Western Division leader Quad Cities plays at Peoria. Clinton is at Cedar Rapids. East leader Dayton is at Great Lakes. South Bend hosts Fort Wayne. Lansing entertains Bowling Green. And Lake County plays at West Michigan.

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SCORES

In the Midwest League…

Kane County 4, Wisconsin 1

Burlington 6, Beloit 1

Quad Cities 4, Peoria 2

Clinton 7, Cedar Rapids 3

Great Lakes 9, Dayton 3

West Michigan 2, Lake County 1 in 13 innings

South Bend 5, Fort Wayne 3

Lansing 4, Bowling Green 1

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Here are Wednesday's results from the American Association:

St. Paul 5, Sioux City 3

Winnipeg 7, Fargo-Moorhead 4

Kansas City 5, Sioux Falls 0

Gary 12, Lincoln 5

Amarillo 4, Wichita 4

El Paso 6, Fort Worth 1

Grand Prairie at Shreveport-Bossier, PPD