Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/654615
ByJeffLarson ParadisePost PARADISE Afterpracticinginthe gymnasium Tuesday due to a wet field, the Corning High baseball team returned to the diamond the following day to tackle upper division Paradise in a nonleague road tilt. The Cardinals prevailed 3-2 at Paradise behind perhaps the top two parts of the game, as senior starter Austin Fox pitched five innings of two-run ball littered with a game-high nine strikeouts, while the Corning defense backed him up with several plays and no errors all afternoon. "Pitching, defense are going to win us games — always," Corning coach Tom Tomlinson said. Paradise (4-2), meanwhile, was anything but stellar in the field, committing six errors, including a pair of two-out infield mistakes to consecutive Corning hitters, pushing the Division III visitors ahead, 3-0 after 1 innings. "It showed that we had a week off, everyone was a little rusty," Paradise coach Bryson Baker said. "We know how this field plays, (so) we can't make errors." The Bobcats — at the Wood- land tournament to open with Winters at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning — made up for its lack of defense by out-hitting Corning PREP BASEBALL CARDINALSDROP PARADISE ON ROAD Fox pitches 5 innings of 2-run ball while posting 9 strikeouts for Corning PHOTOSBYRICKSILVA—PARADISEPOST Corning High senior starter Austin Fox throws five innings of two-run ball to get the win Wednesday a ernoon in Paradise at Walt Newman Field. Paradise catcher James Erisman chases down a ball behind home plate against Corning on Wednesday CORNING3,PARADISE2 Up next: Paradise at Woodland tournament Saturday; Corning at Chico (2) noon, Friday. THESCORE Online: To see videos of the game between Corning and Paradise, visit PARADISEPOST.COM. A.J. MAST — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Michigan State players celebrate a er a game against Purdue in the finals at the Big Ten Conference tournament Sunday in Indianapolis. Michigan State won 66-62. By John Marshall The Associated Press College basketball fans thought picking the bracket was tough last season. Wait til this NCAA Tournament re- ally gets going. With no clear-cut favorites and seemingly a dozen teams that could take down the nets in Houston, this March could be the mother of mad- ness. Regardless of whether you have to shred your bracket early, it fig- ures to be a fantastic road to the Fi- nal Four, so we've got a rundown of the top matchups, players and some other tidbits about this year's NCAA Tournament. Topteams KANSAS Bracket's No. 1 overall seed. No need to say more. NORTH CAROLINA Preseason No. 1 has the talent to be there at the end, too. OREGON Athletic, frenetic on de- fense, filled with get-to-the-rim play- ers. VIRGINIA Cavaliers guard like the rim is a pot of gold. MICHIGANSTATE Guessing Tom Izzo will use being bumped to a No. 2 in the Midwest as motivation. Never an- ger the Izzo, especially in March. Top games IOWASTATE VS.IONA,THURSDAY,MID- WEST REGION Both average around 80 points a game and will be play- ing in Denver, where the thin air will make it tough to get back on defense. If you like offense, this is your game. WICHITA STATE VS. ARIZONA, THURS- DAY, SOUTH REGION The Shockers had to play in the First Four on Tues- day, but are a talented, upperclass- men-led team — just like Arizona. BAYLOR VS. YALE, THURSDAY, WEST REGION The Bears are talented, but struggled down the stretch. The Bulldogs are playing less than two hours from home and talented. Po- tential for an early 12-over-5 upset. SETONHALLVS.GONZAGA,THURSDAY, MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL AguidetoNCAATournament No clear-cut favorites, with a dozen teams that could take down the nets By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group PEORIA, ARIZ. The San Fran- cisco Giants finally assembled their three forecasted opening day starters in the outfield on Wednesday. But the trio of Denard Span, Hunter Pence and Angel Pagan stayed together for only three in- nings. Span was forced to exit early after jamming his right shoul- der into the turf while trying to catch Robinson Cano's triple in the third inning. Span was mak- ing his spring debut in center field; he had been limited to des- ignated hitter because of a sore left throwing shoulder. "Can't catch a break," Span said. Giants manager Bruce Bo- chy hadn't spoken with train- ers when he addressed report- ers following the Giants' 9-6 ex- hibition road loss to the Seattle Mariners. But he acknowledged concern, and said he hoped to keep his starting outfielders in the game longer than just three innings. "He jammed it pretty good and it was bothering him," Bo- chy said. "That's why he came out." Mac Williamson entered for Span and played center field — an apparent sign that the Gi- ants intend to restrict Pagan to left field this season. Williamson made a running catch near the center field wall, too. Span nearly made a catch on Cano's triple but the ball popped out of his glove — something that he said wouldn't happen once he becomes re-accustomed to playing at full game speed. "I should've caught it," Span GIANTS SPRING TRAINING Span's shoulder injury interrupts chemistry Staff Reports The third annual Fore Baseball Golf Tournament benefiting Red Bluff High School and American Legion Post 167 baseball is sched- uled for April 2 at Wilcox Oaks Golf Club. The tournament is a four-per- son, best-ball scramble format. The entry fee is $75 per golfer, $50 for Wilcox Oaks members. Entry includes 18 holes of golf, a cart, range balls and a barbecue lunch. All proceeds from the tourna- ment are divided equally between the high school and the American Legion baseball programs. The tournament offers team prizes for first, second and third place. In addition to the team scram- ble competition, the tournament includes closest to pin, longest drive, accurate drive and put- ting contests. Prize baskets do- nated by parents, players and lo- cal businesses will be raffled off during the lunch. Families of players who are not participating in the golf tourna- ment are invited to participate in the lunch and raffle. Teams interested in playing in the tournament need to register by March 30. Spaces are limited and will fill up fast. Call J.B. Stacy at 526-8330 to register a team. BASEBALL Golf event to raise funds set on April 2 By Jimmy Durkin Bay Area News Group Donald Penn did his best to block out the negative vibes, and in the end wound up exactly where he wanted to be — protect- ing Derek Carr's blind side as the left tackle for the Oakland Raid- ers. Penn agreed to terms Wednes- day to remain with the Raiders. According to the NFL Network, the deal is for two years with a maximum of $14 million with $7 million guaranteed. The Raiders have not con- firmed the transaction, which was reported on several media outlets and by Penn himself in a Sirius XM radio interview that in- cluded former Raiders linebacker Kirk Morrison as a co-host. Penn, 33 was steadfast in his stance that he wanted to finish his career with the Raiders. Yet there were some tense moments when the Raiders quickly signed Balti- more's Kelechi Osemele, a guard by trade but who finished the sea- son last season at left tackle. "I'm not going to lie, I was (an- gry), I called Jack Del Rio on the cell phone and we had a long talk and reassured me he was going NFL FREE AGENCY Le tackle Penn rejoins Raiders NCAA PAGE 2 RAIDERS PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 CORNING PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, March 17, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1