BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow's progress in professional baseball this summer with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies will include an appearance in the Eastern League All-Star Game Wednesday in Trenton, N.J.
Tebow's selection to the Eastern Division team for the game was announced by the league June 29 during what has turned into a six-week hot stretch for the former Denver Broncos quarterback.
The 30-year-old outfielder took a seven-game hitting streak into Sunday's game, continuing what has been steady improvement.
Tebow homered on his first pitch with Binghamton April 6 in his Class AA debut, but batted just .226 in April, struggling to make contact and striking out in half of his at-bats.
"Baseball is a game where it's never too high, never too low," Tebow said following a game in April. "It's just one at-bat, one pitch and you have to be focused."
In each month since, Tebow's batting average has gone up and his strikeout rate has gone down. He hit .241 in May, .301 in June, then .391 for the first six games of July.
Tebow had five homers, 33 RBI and a .270 batting average through 76 games.
"He had a great spring and he works really hard on a daily basis," Rumble Ponies manager Luis Rojas said.
Tebow credits Rojas for some of that progress.
"He makes it real easy because he does such a great job of rallying everybody and getting us on the same page," Tebow said.
Tebow is in his second season of professional baseball. He returned to the sport he had last played in high school when he signed with the New York Mets organization September 8, 2016 and began preparing for the 2017 season.
The Rumble Ponies had five players selected for the game for the second straight season.
Tebow will be joined in Trenton by infielder Levi Michael, right-handed starting pitcher Nabil Crismatt, left-handed relief pitcher Daniel Zamora and catcher Patrick Mazeika.
Like Tebow, Michael and Crismatt will be playing in their first professional all-star game. Zamora and Mazeika played in the Florida State League All-Star Game last summer.
Michael is batting .284 with nine homers, 25 RBI and eight stolen bases in his first season with the Mets farm system.
Crismatt is tied for second in the league in wins and tied for third in strikeouts. He is 8-5 with a 3.58 earned run average and 94 strikeouts in 93 innings.
Zamora has 49 strikeouts in 36 innings while going 1-1 with one save and a 3.25 ERA. He has stranded all 10 of his inherited runners this season.
Mazeika has 31 RBI, second-best among current team members, while batting .210.
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders overcame a franchise record for futility when they struck out 18 times but still beat the Pawtucket Red Sox, 3-2, Sunday.
The win, the ninth in 11 games for the RailRiders, continued their recent resurgence. They had won five straight through Friday, putting them at five games above .500 for the first two times this season at the end of Friday's and Sunday's games.
The RailRiders won two of three from the Red Sox by 3-2 scores. They posted eight of the nine wins in the stretch by three or fewer runs.
THE WEEK AHEAD
It is all-star week in minor-league baseball.
The RailRiders have two players in the Triple-A All-Star Game Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio and one in the Futures Game Sunday afternoon in Washington, D.C.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre third baseman Brandon Drury and pitcher Cody Carroll are on the International League team that will play the Pacific Coast League Wednesday.
Justus Sheffield is a pitcher for the United States against the World Team in the Futures Game, which is for the top prospects throughout minor league baseball. Sheffield, a 22-year-old, is 3-3 with a 2.53 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 57 innings since joining the RailRiders in a promotion from Trenton in the Eastern League.
FURTHER AHEAD
The Lackawanna League has set its various sports schedules for the fall.
The 2018-19 high school sport season will begin locally Monday, Aug. 20 when golf season opens with a full schedule, including Montrose at Elk Lake, Forest City at Holy Cross, Old Forge at Blue Ridge and Mountain View at Lackawanna Trail.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
ROOKIE JONES WINS DAYTONA CRASHFEST
Erik Jones Wins Daytona Crashfest
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.--Speed and luck propelled rookie Erik Jones to win the Coke 400 at Daytona, the first Cup Series victory of his career.
Speed helped him in the final laps out duel drivers who had won Cup races as he took the lead from defending Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. on the final lap.
Luck helped him survive 10 caution flags that saw 23 of the 40 cars out of the race. In a race filled with wrecks, the field was reduced to 17 drivers in the final laps and two overtimes were needed by the time the checkered flag was waved.
"How about that race, boys and girls?" Jones shouted. "My first Cup win, My first win at Daytona, my first superspeedway win, what an awesome day, man!"
Truex got the lead after the final restart on Lap 167 but couldn't hold it. The outside lane was faster as the final lap unfolded, and Jones got a strong run through Turns 1 and 2.
"He (Jones) got a big run getting into (Turn) 1 and through the center, and I just didn't block him good enough in the middle of 1 and 2," Truex said. "He got to my right rear quarter — just barely — enough to slow me down off of 2, and then the race was on from there."
AJ Allmendinger was third, then Kasey Kahne, Chris Buescher, Ty Dillon, Matt DiBenetto, Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, and Alex Bowman were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won both stages and all eyes were on him for much of the race. He was involved in three separate wrecks. In the first two, his team made repairs and he was able to continue racing. He was running near the front when the race's last caution came out on lap 163. He took a hard hit and was pushed into the outside wall. His night ended with a 17th place finish.
The first major wreck came during lap 54. It involved 22 cars. Many of the veteran drivers were involved. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and polesitter Chase Elliott were eliminated from the race.
"I don't know what happened, but it looked like the 2-car got loose," said Hamlin.
"My fault," said Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Ford. "I wrecked a lot of good drivers tonight. It was just bad blocking on my part."
Another major wreck came during lap 66 that involved Jamie McMurray, Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, William Byron, and Corey LaJoie.
There were five other incidents that claimed at least one car each time. The last one came right after the race's first green/white/checkered on lap 166. Bubba Wallace got squirrelly and spun Clint Bowyer. He bounced off Bowyer into Bowyer's teammate Kevin Harvick, putting him into the wall. All three drivers, plus Stenhouse, Jimmie Johnson, and Ross Chastain were done for the night.
Top-10 leaders after 18 of 36: 1. Kyle Busch-79, 2. Harvick-692, 3. Truex-629, 4. Logano-618, 5. Keselowski-596, 6. Bowyer-594, 7. Kurt Busch-566, 8. Larson-544, 9. Hamlin-538, 10. Almirola.
HALEY DQ'D, LARSON IS DAYTONA XFINITY WINNER
Justin Haley crossed the finish line first in Friday's Xfinity race at Daytona, but was disqualified by NASCAR for going under the double-yellow line, and the win went to Kyle Larson.
The race had gone into overtime with a green/white/checkered finish. The two leaders were Larson and Elliott Sadler. As the field neared the finish line on the last lap, Haley, who was running the high side of the track was able to cut down and pass both Larson and Elliott on the low side. But in making his pass, he went too far down and crossed over the yellow line, resulting in his disqualification.
NASCAR has a strict rule at Daytona and Talladega that forbids drivers from going below the yellow stripe, unless they are forced under it. Since he was not forced or pushed down, it was an automatic disqualification, and Larson went on to claim his third Xfinity Series win of the season.
"I don't know where he (Haley) came from," said Larson. "I was just worrying about Elliott. I didn't even think I'd won until I got to the lug nut check, and they had a big screen down there. I saw a little bit of the replay and saw that he went and clipped the yellow line, so I asked about it, and they said NASCAR was talking about it, and about 10 seconds later we were declared the winner."
Elliott Sadler, still winless at Daytona, finished second for the sixth time there, his third consecutive runner-up finish at the track. He led 17 laps in the final quarter of the race, making him the only driver other than Larson and Blaney to post double-digits in the laps-led category.
"I felt like I was in a good spot there at the end beside Larson," Sadler said. "It just wasn't meant to be."
Haley, who was dropped to 18th, and last car on the lead lap wasn't thrilled with the ruling after the race.
"Seeing the replay there, there was room for me to go up, so I don't know why they're calling me like that," Haley said. "Not how we wanted it to end, but like I said, I'm running trucks full season and I'm extremely blessed to even get the opportunity."
Christopher Bell was third, followed by Ryan Blaney, Kaz Grala, Shane Lee, Timmy Hill, Daniel Hemric, Justin Allgaier, and Ross Chastain.
Top-10 leaders after 16 of 33: 1. Sadler-582, 2. Hemric-570, 3. Custer-556, 4. Bell-547, 5. Allgaier-528, 6. Reddick-503, 7. B. Jones-488, 8. R. Truex-455, 9. Tifft-425, 10. Cindric-388.
KYLE BUSCH QUOTES
Kyle Busch addressed members of the news media last Saturday, prior to the Daytona Cup Series race. Here are some of his quotes:
Are you comfortable if fans see you as the bad guy?
"I don't know. But overall, you certainly always want to be liked. That's how, I think, everybody goes through life. But in the end, somebody told me earlier this week there's only one Judge that can judge you, right?
"And that's when it's all said and done, and you're either going up or you're going down. That's the only Guy you've got to answer to. Everybody else out there is just full of opinions like they're full of something else, and that's just the fact of the matter. It sucks sometimes, but other times when you're doing what you feel is right or if you're doing what you feel is good to those that are around you, then your circle is all that matters, as well."
Racing Joke: Tony Stewart has to appear before the judge for a speeding ticket, in which he was going 80 miles an hour over the posted speed limit.
The judge asks what he does for a living?
Stewart replied, "This and that."
The judge mulls over his reply and asks, "Where do you live?"
"Here and there," said Stewart.
Stewart's answers upset the judge, and he tells an officer to place him in lockup.
"When will I get out," asks Stewart as he is being led away.
"Sooner or later," replied the judge.
Weekend Racing: There will be three night races at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway.
Thurs., July 12; Truck Series race 12 of 23; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.
Fri., July 13; Xfinity Series race 17 of 33 Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.
Sat., July 14; Cup Series race 19 of 36; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.
Racing Trivia Question: Who owns Kentucky Speedway?
Last Week's Question. Which driver has the most wins at Daytona? Answer. Richard Petty tops the list with 10.
Gerald Hodges is a syndicated NASCAR photojournalist and author. You may contact him by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.
Dakota Knehr-Cook, Forest City Baseball
All-star was a description that Dakota Knehr-Cook grew accustomed to as a high school athlete at Forest City.
Knehr-Cook ended his high school career in the Field of Dreams, a baseball all-star doubleheader for seniors from the Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conference. He had also ended basketball by playing in the Lackawanna League's Senior All-Star Game and, although he didn't play in the equivalent senior game for soccer, Dakota Knehr-Cook received all-star recognition from coaches in his final two years in that sport.
After giving the Lackawanna League a shot at the win in the Field of Dreams Small School game, Knehr-Cook has been selected as the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for June.
Knehr-Cook threw a scoreless inning and produced his team's biggest hit in the Lackawanna League's 11-7 loss to the WVC in eight innings in a game that had been scheduled for seven.
The extra inning and the shot at victory came about with the help of Knehr-Cook's two-run triple that highlighted a five-run sixth inning when the Lackawanna League turned a 5-1 deficit into a 6-5 lead.
"I actually thought we were going to come back and win," said Knehr-Cook, who also scored a run. "That would have been awesome."
Knehr-Cook played in the game with Kyle Shema, a teammate through four previous trips to PNC Field in Moosic to play in District 2 championship games. They will both attend Penn College of Technology in Williamsport where Knehr-Cook said he may consider continuing his baseball career once he assesses how well he is handling the challenges of his construction management major.
"I knew Kyle was going to be in the game with me," Knehr-Cook said. "We really had fun on the team."
Knehr-Cook has found repeated success on the baseball field from Little League championships through the chance to play travel ball with the Electric City Bombers and Northeast Outlaws.
After breaking into the lineup as a third baseman in his freshman year, Knehr-Cook proved he could help the Foresters just about anywhere in the field. As he started to settle into the role as catcher and pitcher that he held throughout the final two seasons, Knehr-Cook also spent time in the outfield and middle infield as a sophomore.
Knehr-Cook played goalie for four seasons on the soccer team where he was a second-team coaches division all-star as a junior and a first-teamer as a senior for his role in the Lackawanna League Division 4 championship. In basketball season, he was a two-year starter at power forward and received honorable mention, the equivalent of being a second-team, all-star, in Lackawanna Division 4 from NEPABasketball.com.
Dakota is the son of Josh Cook and Karen Knehr-Cook from Forest City.
