Minnesota Sports Briefs: Twins put Spann on DL

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MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins placed center fielder Denard Span on the 15-day disabled list with a right sternoclavicular joint strain.

Span initially suffered the shoulder injury sliding for a ball August 12th versus Tampa Bay. The move is retroactive to August 28th. Ben Revere started in center field in the Seattle series. The Twins are expected to make another move to fill Span's roster spot.

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First-year lefty Will Smith will try to reverse the result of his initial meeting with the Minnesota Twins on Saturday when the Kansas City Royals host them in the opener of a doubleheader to kick off a weather- impacted three-game set at Kauffman Stadium. The teams were scheduled to begin the set on Friday night, but were postponed by rain. A 23-year-old product of Florida Gulf Coast University, Smith faced Minnesota in his third big-league start on June 4 in Kansas City and took a 10-7 loss. He allowed seven runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings of work, which stood as his second-shortest outing before he was chased in 3 2/3 innings in a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay two starts ago on Aug. 20. The 6-foot-5, 240-pounder won three times in five decisions between those two subpar outings, defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Baltimore and Oakland while pitching seven innings in each game. Smith is 1-3 with a 6.46 earned run average in four road starts this season. He'll be opposed by fellow rookie Cole De Vries, a right-hander who's trying for a second straight win after failing to record a victory for nearly two months. The 27-year-old Minnesota native was 2-1 after 10-7 and 5-1 defeats of the Royals on June 4 and June 30, respectively, but then went 0-4 across 10 outings before defeating Texas, 6-5, on Aug. 26. In the two wins against the Royals, De Vries combined to allow 11 hits and six runs in 11 innings with a walk and 10 strikeouts. Against Texas, he gave up an earned run on three hits in five innings while striking out five. De Vries is 2-2 with a 3.16 ERA in eight road appearances.

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The University of Minnesota football team opened the 2012 season with a 30-27 triple overtime victory at UNLV. Jordan Wettstein kicked the 32-yard game-winning field goal for Minnesota just before 2 a.m. central time. Coach Jerry Kill says it was a struggle but the bottom line is they found a way to win. Gopher quarterback MarQuies Gray got off to a slow start before throwing two touchdown passes to tight end John Rabe in the first two overtimes. Gray finished 17-of-30 for 269 yards with two TDs and an interception. Running back James Gillum rushed for a 16-yard TD in the second quarter to give the Gophers a 7-3 halftime lead. Minnesota's defense had a pair of sacks and three interceptions - defensive back Derrick Wells had two of the picks. The Gophers host New Hampshire in the home opener next Saturday.

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The University of Minnesota men's basketball team will open the Big Ten season at home on New Year's Eve against Michigan State. The Gophers will host Northwestern in the second conference game January 9th. Michigan (1/17), Nebraska (1/29), Iowa (2/3), Illinois (2/9), Wisconsin (2/14), Indiana (2/26) and Purdue (3/2) will visit Williams Arena this winter. Minnesota's November non-conference home schedule includes Toledo(11/12), Tennessee State (11/15) and Richmond (11/18). Tubby Smith's team will begin play against Minnesota State-Mankato in an exhibition matchup November 1st at the Barn.

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Here are the results from Thursday night's games in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference:

#2 Minnesota-Duluth 45, Southwest Minnesota State 20

MSU-Mankato 44, Minot State 10

Sioux Falls 32, #16 St.Cloud State 19

Winona State 58, UM-Crookston 6

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