District 2’s baseball championships have been back in a professional setting for the past three years.

Now the district committee is looking to, at long last, do the same with its basketball championships.

According to minutes of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association District 2 annual meeting that was held in April, district chairman Frank Majikes informed the member schools that the district “is very close to completing negotiations for the utilization of the Mohegan Sun Arena for the basketball championships over the next two-year cycle.”

The Mohegan Sun Arena, in Wilkes-Barre Township, is the home of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins American Hockey League franchise.

The arena has been used minimally for basketball and high school events since opening in 1999.

The PIAA begins its next two-year cycle in the 2016-17 school year, so the first time the eight basketball championship games could all be held at the arena would likely be in 2017. Every two years, the state organization recalculates enrollments and adjusts classifications for teams.

In order to assure the games could be held at the arena, the Penguins would have to commit to the dates needed and inform the AHL to have them on the road that weekend, a routine part of the league’s planning each summer.

All six Susquehanna County schools are District 2 members. Forest City played in the 2015 Class A girls’ basketball final, which was held at Lackawanna College, the former Scranton CYC, one of the multiple sites the district uses each year.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Abington Heights graduate Cory Spangenberg, the only Lackawanna League graduate in Major League Baseball since the retirement of Montrose’s Rich Thompson, will be on the disabled list until the All-Star Break.

The San Diego Padres second baseman injured his left knee in a June 27 game, sat out the next day and was placed on the 15-day disabled list June 30. An MRI showed know tendon or ligament damage in what is being treated as a contusion.

Spangenberg was 4-for-5 in his last two games before going on the disabled list. The leader of Abington Heights’ 2009 PIAA Class AAA state title, Spangenberg opened the season as a utility player and won the starting second base job at the end of April.

On the season, Spangenberg is hitting .254 with eight doubles, two triples, two homers, 11 RBI and seven stolen bases in 67 games. He made his Major League Debut as a September call-up in 2014.

The Lackawanna League gained another professional player during the week when Scranton graduate Joe McCarthy signed with the Tampa Bay Rays for a bonus that was reported to be close to $400,000.

McCarthy, a fifth-round pick in this year’s MLB Draft, helped the University of Virginia become the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to win the College World Series in the past 60 years as a junior outfielder this spring.

LOOKING AHEAD

Catcher Austin Romine and first baseman/designated hitter Kyle Roller have been named to the International League All-Star team that will take on the Pacific Coast League in the 28th annual Triple-A All-Star Game July 15 in Omaha, Neb.

The 8 p.m. game will be broadcast live on the MLB Network.

Romine was on a 17-game hitting streak, longest in the IL this season, at the time of his selection Thursday. He had 16 RBI while batting .371 during the streak.

Roller was tied for fourth in the IL with 12 home runs, tied for fifth with 43 RBI and ranked second in walks with 41.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

EARNHARDT WINS AT DAYTONA

Dale Earnhardt Jr. winner of Daytona Cup race

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Dale Earnhardt Jr. won Sunday’s rain-delayed Sprint Cup race that didn’t end until nearly 3 am on Monday morning.

While there have been many wild finishes at Daytona, this was one of the most dramatic.

First, a spin by Sam Hornish with six laps to go set up a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart, Earnhardt was able to lead all the way to the finish line. As he reached the stripe, all hell broke loose behind him, involving 15 cars.

Austin Dillon, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race was hit from behind. He went airborne, flying over several other cars, and crashed into the grandstand fence, knocking a big hole in it.

Pieces of his car flew off into the crowd of fans. Several fans received minor cuts, with six needing additional medical care.

When Dillon’s No. 3 car came to a stop on the pavement, it was in two different pieces. The car body, which was now just a shell, with Austin in it, was in one spot, while the motor, transmission and running gear were laying about 100 feet away.

Miraculously, Dillon was unhurt, and waved to the crowd after he was extricated from what remained of his race car.

“That scared the hell out of me,” Earnhardt said in victory lane. “I saw it in the rear view mirror. Things like that have the potential for real danger.

“This was a great car. It’s the same one we ran at Talladega. I hope the boss doesn’t put it in the barn anytime soon.”

In addition to winning the race, Earnhardt started on the pole and led the most laps (96).

“That’s just part of our sport,” said Jimmie Johnson, who finished second. “But I’ve never seen anything like that, the way the car is laying out there, and the engine is a long ways off.”

Denny Hamlin finished third.

I really didn’t see what happened,” said Hamlin. “The four-car (Kevin Harvick) had me jacked up. He was pushing and I was lucky to even finish.”

The remaining top-10 drivers: 4. Kevin Harvick, 5. Kurt Busch, 6. Jeff Gordon, 7. Austin Dillon, 8. Ryan Newman, 9. Trevor Bayne, 10. Clint Bowyer.

The race which was scheduled for an 8 pm starting time didn’t begin until 11:50 pm Sunday night, because of rain. It officially ended at 2:48 am on Monday morning.

Top-10 Chase leaders after 17 of 36: 1. Harvick-656, 2. Earnhardt-593, 3. Johnson-589, 4. Logano-581, 5. Truex-569, 6. McMurray-526, 7. Keselowski-520, 8. Kurt Busch-508, 9. Kenseth-501, 10. Gordon-500.

AUSTIN DILLON PERSEVERES FOR XFINITY WIN

Austin Dillon won Saturday night’s Xfinity race by avoiding a late accident, and then surviving a green-white-checkered finish.

"This is Daytona, man,” Dillon said. “There are so many family memories here. … I’m just happy for my grandfather (Richard Childress). He told me once when we were here in victory lane with Dale Earnhardt that you’ll have this opportunity one day. It means so much to be here.”

Elliott Sadler, Chase Elliott, Kasey Kahne, Benny Gordon, Dakoda Armstrong, David Ragan, Erik Jones, Harrison Rhodes, and Ross Chastain were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Top-10 points leaders after 15 of33: 1. C. Buescher-560, 2. Elliott-526, 3. T. Dillon-517, 4. Smith-493, 5. Sadler-489, 6. D. Wallace-472, 7. Scott-453, 8. Reed-441, 9. Gaughan-438, 10. Suarez-437.

HOW POLITICALLY CORRECT SHOULD NASCAR BE

It offends me that NASCAR gets offended so easily.

It seems like every week NASCAR derides someone, a cause, or company because of what they consider an incorrect political stance.

This past week Donald Trump was singled out.

Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis informed NASCAR that neither he nor anyone from his company would participate in any event on Trump property, “due to blatantly bigoted and racist comments from Donald Trump in regards to immigrants.”

The announcement, concerning Trump, involved moving the location of the 2015 NASCAR Camping World and Xfinity Series post season banquets.

The series held two of their 2014 banquets at Trump’s National Doral Resort in Miami, but after NASCAR received a letter from Camping World, the decision was made to distance themselves from Trump.

“We started talking about it earlier this week, and we were evaluating everything,” NASCAR Spokesman David Higdon said. “We'll stick with our plan to announce later this summer where we will be going. We looked at obviously everything that we saw coming down and what we heard from our sponsors and our partners and what we feel we should be doing, and that is what led us to the decision today.”

Two weeks ago, the organization put down the Confederate flag, and issued a statement trying to discourage fans from displaying it at their tracks. The Daytona track offered to exchange an American flag for a Confederate flag. But as of Saturday morning, Joie Chitwood, the track president, said, “there had been no takers.”

If anyone would take time to look around them, they will see all types of non-conformity, bigotry, and other undesirable behavior. It’s always been there. To some, it might be considered unacceptable, something to be done away with.

On a personal level, we can shun what we don’t like, but we can only go so far.

This is not heaven. It never has been, and never will be.

I don’t know how far NASCAR will take this political correctness in order to appear “squeaky clean”. Appearing to always be the good guy might eventually be their downfall. The sport of racing is built on emotions. Take away the emotional aspect of it, and you water it down, to where it is no longer fit to watch.

In NASCAR’s defense: What do you do when a yearly multi-million dollar sponsor, like Camping World, says, “Jump,” NASCAR has no other recourse than to comply.

There is a lot of uneasiness in NASCAR right now, as they attempt to create some type of racing-utopia.

I would enjoy receiving fan comments. Maybe it’s me that has a blind spot. Contact me at: hodges@race500.com, or call me: 251-626-4086.

Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup, Xfinity, and Truck teams are at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway for three night races.

Thurs., July 9; Truck Series race10 of 23; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Fri., July 10; Xfinity Series race 16 of 33; Starting time: 7; 30 pm ET; TV: NBCS.

Sat., July 11; Sprint Cup Series race 18 of 36; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: NBCS.

Racing Trivia Question: Which team owner helped Carl Edwards break into NASCAR?

Last Week’s Question: Where did Jeff Gordon win his first Cup race? Answer. It was the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. He also went on to win the Inaugural Brickyard 400.

Jake Decker

Jake Decker admitted his arm was becoming weary from heavy use in the postseason.

But, he was not about to leave the mound with Blue Ridge on the brink of a first-time accomplishment.

Decker fought through a complete game and had the game’s biggest hit to carry Blue Ridge to a 3-2 state tournament victory over Montgomery and into the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A quarterfinals where the team was eventually eliminated.

The win meant Blue Ridge won a District 2 title and a state tournament game in baseball in the same season for the first time in school history.

“We didn’t really change anything,” Decker said. “We just played our game and played our hearts out.”

For his role in that accomplishment, Decker has been selected as the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.

The Raiders had closed out May by winning the District 2 Class A title when Decker retired nine of the last 10 batters in a two-hit shutout to stop Forest City, 2-0, at PNC Field in Moosic.

June opened with the first round of the state tournament where Decker was working on a one-hitter after four innings. He wound up allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits and three walks while striking out nine.

Decker also had the hit which, combined with a Montgomery error, led to all three Blue Ridge runs in the fifth.

The Raiders and Decker allowed a run in the seventh before escaping with the victory.

“He gutted it out,” Blue Ridge coach Billy Marvin said.

Decker was a big reason why Blue Ridge, a last-place team early in the season, won eight out of nine games before losing in the state tournament.

“We knew we had a good team, but we never thought we’d make it this far and be the best team to come from Blue Ridge,” Decker said. “That was a big accomplishment.”

The sophomore was the team’s number-one pitcher, the shortstop in other games and had the top batting average from his leadoff position.

Decker also started as a freshman, playing second base, shortstop and pitcher. This summer, he is playing with the Broome County Bandits U-16 travel baseball team as a pitcher, shortstop and occasional outfielder.

Jake is the son of John and Evie Decker of Susquehanna. He also ran cross country as a freshman before missing his sophomore season with a foot injury.