Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

South Atlantic League baseball

Lexington Legends
at Augusta GreenJackets

What: Three-game series

When: Friday through Sunday (7:05 Friday and Saturday nights, 2:05 Sunday afternoon)

Where: Lake Olmstead Stadium (Augusta, Ga.)

Major League affiliates: Kansas City Royals (Legends), San Francisco Giants (GreenJackets)

Probable pitchers (Legends listed first): Friday, RH Bryan Brickhouse (4-3, 2.25) vs. RH Martin Agosta (5-2, 2.47); Saturday, RH Miguel Almonte (2-4, 3.93) vs. RH Justin Schumer (2-4, 6.44); Sunday, RH Christian Binford (4-2, 2.67) vs. RH Chris Stratton (6-3, 3.77).

Cory Hall

Legend to watch: RHP Cory Hall (6-foot-2, 220 pounds, age 25, from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada) is 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA and a  hold over 16 relief appearances totaling 32 2/3 innings. While holding opponents to a .207 batting average, Hall has struck out 35 and walked 18. Signed June 28, 2011 as a non-drafted free agent, he is a 2006 graduate of Thom Collegiate High in Regina. He was a member of Canada’s bronze-medal team at the 2006 World Junior Baseball Championships. He attended Gonzaga University one season before moving to Taft Community College in California, where he was all-conference in 2008. He then played three seasons for Santa Clara University, where he posted a 3.26 ERA and 80 striketouts in 105 innings to earn all-West Coast Conference honors in 2011. He graduated from Santa Clara with a degree in marketing. Last year, with Idaho Falls, he recorded five saves to tie for 10th in the Pioneer League, while going 2-1 with a 2.15 ERA. Hall broke into pro ball in 2011, finishing 2-2 with a 5.55 ERA over 15 relief outings for Burlington of the Appalachian League.

Mitchell Delfino

GreenJacket to watch: 3B Mitchell Delfino (6-2, 210, 22, bats and throws right, from Cloverdale, Calif.) leads Augusta in home runs (7), RBI (38), total bases (88), games (58) and at-bats (228) through Wednesday. Batting .246, he has scored 29 times, and has nine doubles and a triple. Selected by the Giants in the 20th round of the 2012 draft, out of Cal-Berkeley, he split last season between the Arizona League Giants and Salem-Keizer of the Northwest League. Over 53 combined games, he hit .256 with 21 RBI, 22 runs and four stolen bases. Thus far this season, he’s batting .262 against left-handed pitching, .242 versus righties. For his first four games in June, Delfino is 6-for-16 (.375) with two homers and five RBI.

Radio: WLXG-AM 1300

Baseball

                                      South Atlantic League

Lexington Legends vs. Greensboro Grasshoppers

What: Three-game series

When: Sunday through Tuesday (7 Sunday and Tuesday nights, 12:30 p.m. Monday)

Where: NewBridge Bank Park (Greensboro, N.C.)

Major League affiliates: Houston Astros (Legends), Florida Marlins

Alex Sogard

Legend to watch: LHP Alex Sogard (6-foot-3, 215 pounds, from Austin, Texas) is 1-1 with four saves and a 3.54 ERA over 11 relief outings spanning 20 1/3 innings. He has recorded 22 strikeouts to five walks, holding the opposition to a .221 batting average. A 26th-round draft pick last year, out of North Carolina State, Sogard made 22 appearances for the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League last year, including three starts. He worked 41 innings, going 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA, 36 strikeouts and 12 walks. At N.C. State, he came on late in the 2010 season after struggles while recovering from shoulder surgery. He wound up 2-2 with a 5.26 ERA over 15 games, 11 of them starts. With starts in three of his last four games, he went 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA. He transferred to N.C. State from Oregon State.

Michael Brady

Grasshopper to watch: RHP Michael Brady (6-0, 200, from Laguna Beach, Calif.) is 3-0 with seven saves over 16 games and 20 2/3 innings. Want more? He has a 0.44 ERA and is holding opposing batters to a .189 average, has struck out 24 while walking five. The only run he has allowed came in a May 5 game against Hickory. A 24th-round draft pick out of California-Berkeley, Brady broke in last year with the Jamestown Jammers of the NYPL by going 1-1 with three saves and a 1.59 ERA over 26 appearances totaling 28 1/3 innings. He also played one game this season with the Double-A Jacksonville Suns of the Southern League, giving up a run and three hits in two innings.

Radio: WLXG AM-1300

The University of Louisville has been recognized with the U.S. Olympic Achievement Award.

Swimmers Elaine Breeden of Lexington and Caroline Burckle of Louisville earned recognition for their respective universities, Stanford and Florida.

The U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. National Governing Bodies for Sport and National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics joined together to create the award, which recognizes the colleges and universities whose student-athletes and coaches have won Olympic medals.

Ron Mann

A total of 43 colleges and universities contributed to U.S. medal successes at the last two Olympics — the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. Schools are recognized based on two criteria: having a current student-athlete who was part of a medal-winning performance or a coach who was a credentialed member of the U.S. Olympic Team delegation and his/her athlete or team won a medal. Ten schools met both criteria, 16 had a student-athlete and 22 had a coach.

U of L’s Ron Mann was part of the U.S. coaching staff in athletics (track and field) at Beijing.

The U.S. Olympic Achievement Award will be presented every two years following the Olympic Games.

Below are the lists of the universities, athletes and coaches that will be honored.

Colleges/universities — Alabama, Arizona, Boston College, Cal-Berkeley, Cal-Irvine, Concordia, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Harvard, Humboldt State, Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northeastern, Northern Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Santa Monica College, Seton Hall, Shelton State, South Carolina, Southern Illinois, St. John’s, St. Mary’s, Stanford, Syracuse, Tennessee State, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Southern Cal, Wesleyan, Wisconsin.

Coaches (with sport and school) — Harvey Glance, athletics, Alabama; James Li, athletics, Arizona; Frank Busch, swimming, Arizona; Mike Candrea, softball, Arizona; Teri McKeever, swimming, Cal-Berkeley; Jamie Morrison, volleyball, Concordia; Mike Krzyzewski, basketball, Duke; Gregg Troy, swimming, Florida; Jack Bauerle, swimming, Georgia; Sue Woodstra, volleyball, Humboldt State; Jon Valdez, gymnastics, Illinois; Terry Brands, wrestling, Iowa; Ron Mann, athletics, Louisville; Kerry McCoy, wrestling, Maryland; Bob Bowman, swimming, Michigan; Dave Flint, hockey, Northeastern; Myles Avery, gymnastics, Ohio State; Mark Williams, gymnastics, Oklahoma; Randy Jepson, gymnastics, Penn State; Erica Walsh, soccer, Penn State; Marv Dunphy, volleyball, Pepperdine; Kim Keenan-Kirkpatrick, athletics, Seton Hall; Dawn Staley, basketball, South Carolina; Connie Price-Smith, athletics, Southern Illinois; Yury Gelman, fencing, St. John’s; Rob Browning, volleyball, St. Mary’s; John Rittman, softball, Stanford; Jim Boeheim, basketball, Syracuse; Chandra Cheeseborough, athletics, Tennessee State; J.J. Clark, athletics, Tennessee; Bubba Thornton, athletics, Texas; Eddie Reese, swimming, Texas; Gail Goestenkors, basketball, Texas; John Speraw, volleball, Cal-Irvine; Jeanette Bolden, athletics, UCLA; Jillian Ellis, soccer, UCLA; Jodi McKenna, hockey, Wesleyan; Mark Johnson, hockey, Wisconsin.

Athletes — Lacey Nymeyer, swimming (one silver), Arizona; Kelly Stack, hockey (silver), Boston College; Molly Schaus, hockey (silver), Boston College; Nathan Adrian, swimming (gold), Cal-Berkeley; Tim Hutton, water polo (silver), Cal-Irvine; Caroline Burckle, swimming (bronze), Florida; Walter Dix, athletics (two bronze) Florida State; Emily Cross, fencing (silver), Harvard; Jonathan Kuck, speedskating (silver), Illinois; Tobin Heath, soccer (gold), North Carolina; Joceyln Lamoureux, hockey (silver), North Dakota; Monique Lamoureux, hockey (silver), North Dakota; Adam Wheeler, wrestling (bronze), Northern Michigan; Jonathan Horton, gymnastics (silver, bronze), Oklahoma; Stephen Strasburg, baseball (bronze), San Diego State; Ronda Rousey, judo (bronze), Santa Monica College; Deontay Wilder, boxing (bronze), Shelton State; Elle Logan, rowing (gold), Stanford; Julia Smit, swimming (silver, bronze), Stanford; Elaine Breeden, swimming (silver), Stanford; Jessica Steffens, water polo (silver), Stanford; Ricky Berens, swimming (gold), Texas; David Walters, swimming (gold), Texas; Christine Marshall, swimming (bronze), Texas A&M; Lauren Cheney, soccer (gold), UCLA; Amy Rodriguez, soccer (gold), Southern Cal; Klete Keller, swimming (gold), Southern Cal; Rebecca Soni, swimming (gold, two silver), Southern Cal; Kameryn Craig, water polo (silver), Southern Cal; James Krumpholz, water polo (silver), Southern Cal; Meghan Duggan, hockey (silver), Wisconsin; Hilary Knight, hockey (silver), Wisconsin.