Diamondbacks salvage a split with Cardinals

Arizona Diamondbacks


Rubby De La Rosa allowed just two hits in seven innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks salvage a split in the four-game series at Chase Field with a 3-0 win in the finale tonight over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Chris Herrmann hit a two-run homer and Brandon Drury connected on a solo shot, while De La Rosa went about his business, finishing with a career-high 10 strikeouts.

Arizona (12-12) continues its home stand tomorrow night. The Colorado Rockies are in town for a three-game series.

Potter feeling it at the plate

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Tom Potter went 4 for 5 and drove in four runs today at Udall Park as Team Blue walloped Team White 14-8 in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball game.

"I'm feeling it," Potter said, after the game. "It feels good to hit the ball."

Potter, a blues singer and a guitar picker, will take time off from baseball this weekend to perform at the Tucson Folk Festival.

"I sing the blues, play the harmonica and play the old-time rock and roll on the guitar," says Potter, "It's a great gig this weekend in downtown Tucson."

Potter will perform with Wally Lawder and the Acoustic Sky on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on the La Cocina Stage and with the band, I Hear Voices, at 5:30 at the Courtyard Stage.

One thing is for sure, Tom had the TOTS' pitchers singing the blues today.

Wildcats travel to USC

Arizona Wildcats Baseball


After a masterful performance from Kevin Ginkle, a two-hitter at ASU on Tuesday, the Arizona Wildcats (27-14, 10-8) travel to southern California to take on USC in a three-game series, scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Wildcats, fresh off their 8-0 non-conference win in Tempe, are batting .295 as a team, after 41 games. Cody Ramer continues to lead the squad in hits. He now has 60.

Ochoa has a perfect day at the plate

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Jesse Ochoa had a perfect day at the plate today at Udall Park.

Ochoa, 64, went 5 for 5 and drove in three runs -- including the eventual game-winner in the seventh inning as Team Blue edged Team White 9-7 in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

It was another battle to the wire between the two teams. Danny "Pigpen" Price started the game for Team Blue and pitched 5 1/3 innings before giving way to Joe Opocensky, who pitched the final 1 2/3 innings of shutout ball. Lloyd Barzell pitched a complete game for Team White and was saddled with the loss.

Ochoa's RBI-single in the top of the seventh broke a 7-7 tie and Team Blue added on an insurance run just in case.

Barzell tried to keep his team in it with a 5 for 6 day and four RBI.

The TOT will be back in action on Wednesday.

Photo: Jesse Ochoa

Pirates outlast Diamondbacks in 13 innings

Arizona Diamondbacks


The Arizona Diamondbacks (10-10) win one of three with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Chase Field over the weekend. The D'backs lost the finale today in 13 innings 12-10. Arizona used 23 players and eight pitchers in the game and was forced to send pitcher Shelby Miller to the left field spot to close out the contest.

Paul Godschmidt hit two home runs, Welington Castillo hit one and Yasmany Tomas went yard as well, but this one got away from the Diamondbacks as Pittsburgh scores two in the 12th inning and two in the 13th to pick up the win.


St. Louis comes to town on Monday.

Chico returns to the mound

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

When a Tucson Old Timer gets injured, no problem he just gets rewired and returns to action.

Case in point: 77-year-old Chico Bigham had surgery on his pitching arm last July. According to Bigham, the surgeon went in and wired a couple of ligaments back together.

Now here we are nine months later and Bigham returned to the mound today and pitched a complete game at Udall Park. Brigham threw seven innings for Team White and even recorded a couple of strike outs.

Unfortunately, there were a few costly errors behind him and Team Blue went on to win the game, 12-9. Bob Daliege, who was named the club's TOT of the Year on Thursday, picked up the win and Bigham was saddled with the loss.

Tim Tolson went 3 for 4 and drove in four runs for Team Blue, while Tom Potter also had a fine day at the plate, going 3 for 4 and driving in two runs. Dennis Crowley went 3 for 5 for the losing team.

The TOTS will return to action next week with games scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Photo: Chico Bigham

The TOTS 2016 Luncheon and Award Ceremony a success

The Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)


60-and-over baseball

Bob Daliege won the 2016 TOT of the Year Award Thursday at the Tucson Old Timers annual luncheon and award ceremony, held in the Copper Room at the Randolph Park Golf Course.

A crowd of 58 attending the luncheon and were treated with a short speech and then a lengthy question and answer segment from Greg Hansen, the well-known sports columnist for the Arizona Daily Star.

Also receiving awards were Tim Tolson, the winner of the Joe Tappero Sportsmanship Award, Danny Price awarded the Hall of Fame Award (years with the TOTS, plus age totaling 80), and a special award, The TOTS Iron-Man Award, presented to 90-year-old Floyd Lance, a TOT since 1999 and still active -- becoming the oldest member in the history of the club to ever take to the field of play.

Photos: (1) Bob Daliege, 2016 TOT of the Year (2) Tim Tolson, Sportsmanship Award winner (3) Danny Price, Hall of Fame Award (4) Floyd Lance, the TOTS Iron-Man Award.

A special thanks goes out to the TOTS co-managers, Pete Peters and Jesse Ochoa. Job well done, guys!

Arizona sweeps the Giants!

Arizona Diamondbacks


The Arizona Diamondbacks (9-8) sweep the Giants in San Francisco, winning the final game of the series 6-2 today behind the relief pitching of Tyler Wagner (1-0), who picks up his first win as a Diamondback.

Wagner takes over for Shelby Miller in the third inning and hurls five innings -- allowing just two hits. Yasmany Tomas homers and Jean Segura went 3 for 5 -- including a triple and two RBI.

New adult fiction book, The Loner, available at amazon/kindle

My new adult fiction book, The Loner, hits the Kindle shelf today.

Go to amazon.com/kindle

Diamondbacks reach .500 mark at 8-8

Arizona Diamondbacks



The Arizona Diamondbacks finally get a good outing from their ace Zack Greinke (1-2) and go on to beat the Giants in San Francisco, 2-1. Greinke allows just one run in 6 2/3, while striking out seven.

Welington Castillo homers as the Diamondbacks improve to 8-8 on the season.

The Diamondbacks try to sweep the four-game series today as Shelby Miller takes the mound for Arizona.

Matijevic leads Wildcats to win over NMSU

Arizona Wildcats Baseball



JJ Matijevic went 3 for 5, 2 RBI, a double and a home run to lead the Arizona Wildcats to an 8-7 win over NMSU last night at Hi Corbett.

The Wildcats, fresh off a series' win over Stanford -- winning 2 of 3 games earlier in the week, improve their overall record to 23-14 and 7-8 in Pac-12 play.

Cody Ramer leads the Wildcats in hits with 53 while Nathan Bannister is Arizona's top starting pitcher at 5-1 and Bobby Dalbec is 7-3.

The cover for my new adult fiction book, The Loner

My new adult fiction book, The Loner, is set for

release today on amazon.com/kindle

Team Blue edges Team White, 8-7

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)


60-and-over baseball

Team White tried their best to pull out a win at Udall Park today.

Down 8-5 to Team Blue in the bottom of the seventh inning, Team White scored two runs on RBI singles from Dick Ducklow and Ted Davis, but the next two runners -- Tim Tolson and Davis -- were thrown out at home plate for the final outs of the game as Team Blue escaped with an 8-7 win.

Joe Opocensky, Lloyd Barzell, Jesse Ochoa and Pigpen Price all went 2 for 4 today for Team Blue, while Bob Daliege was the big gun for Team White with four hits in four trips to the plate -- including a double to start the rally in the seventh. Opocensky drove in three runs in the game to lead all players in that category.

Both pitchers hurled complete games with Tim Boyd picking up the win for Team Blue, while Dennis Crowley took the loss.

The TOTS are back in action on Friday at Udall.

Photo: Bob Daliege goes 4 for 4 today with a double in a losing cause

Thunder Tolson at it again

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Thunder Tim Tolson was at it again at Udall Park today.

Tolson went 3 for 5, including a gigantic home run to right field as Team White beat Team Blue 15-10 in a Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) 60-and-over baseball game. Tolson, a hard-hitting lefty, scored five times and knocked in six runs.

Team Blue starter Pigpen Price gave up the Tolson home run in the fourth inning and headed for the showers in the fifth inning with his team trailing, 11-8. Price was relieved by 86-year-old right-hander Billy Heiny.

Lloyd Barzell picked up the pitching victory and Price was saddled with the loss.

Joe Opocensky was the big hitter for Team Blue with three hits in four trips to the plate. Price went 2 for 4, scored a run and knocked in a run in a losing cause.

Defensively, there were enough errors to go around on both sides. And the windy conditions didn't help matters, either.

The TOTS will be back in action at Udall on Wednesday. Game time 10 a.m.

Photos: 1- Tim Tolson 2- Joe Opocensky

Davis knocks in 4 runs in TOTS win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Ted Davis went 2 for 4 and drove in four runs to lead Team White to a 9-6 win over Team Blue at Udall Park today in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers baseball game.

Davis doubled in two runs in the third inning and singled in two more runs in a three-run fifth as Team White turned a 6-6 tie into a 9-6 lead.

Lloyd Barzell went 4 for 4 and drove in three runs for Team Blue in a losing cause. Lefty Dennis Crowley was the winning pitcher and right-hander Bob Daliege took the loss.

After three straight rain outs, the TOTS were a little rusty as each team committed their share of errors. The TOTS will be back in action on Monday.

Warriors set single season wins record, while Bryant scores 60 points in his final game

The Golden State Warriors (73-9) broke the NBA single season wins record with a resounding 125-104 win tonight in Oakland over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies.

Congrats to the Warriors and to the two former Wildcats -- Steve Kerr and Luke Walton. Kerr the head coach of the Warriors and Walton the assistant coach.

It was quite a night in the NBA as the LA Lakers Kobe Bryant scores 60 points in his final game as a professional basketball player. By the way, the Lakers beat Utah, 101-96

Golden State ties Bulls' record

The Golden State Warriors (72-9) beat the Spurs in San Antonio tonight 92-86 and tied the Chicago Bulls for the most wins in a season in NBA history.

Stephen Curry scored 37 points to lead the Warriors, who fought off the Spurs --  the second-best team in the Western Conference.

The Spurs drop to 65-15 on the season. It was there first loss at home. The San Antonio Spurs are 39-1 on its home court

The Warriors return home on Wednesday and will try to break the record as they take on the Memphis Grizzlies.

Willett overtakes Spieth to win The Masters

The Masters


Danny Willett from England overtook Jordan Spieth, -- who struggled on the back nine at Augusta today --  to win The Masters with a four-day total of 283 -- a five-under-par performance. Spieth finished  the week at 2-under-par in a tie with another fella from England, Lee Westwood.

Diamondbacks lose 3 of 4 to Cubs

Arizona Diamondbacks


The Arizona Diamondbacks (2-5) are at the bottom of the NL West after dropping 3 of 4 to the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field -- including a 7-3 loss today in the series' finale.

Paul Goldschmidt hit his second homer of the season, but the Diamondbacks and their new hurlers are reeling.

Golden State Warriors 71-9

The Golden State Warriors won 100-99 tonight at Memphis and now need two win their final two regular season games to break the record for wins in a single season.

Standing in the Warriors (71-9) way are an away game at San Antonio on Sunday and back home to close out the regular season against the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

Spieth clinging to a 1-stroke lead at The Masters

The Masters

Jordan Spieth is trying to go wire to wire at The Masters.

Spieth fires a 1-over-par 73 today and has now gone from 6-under-par after Day 1 to  3-under-par with three days in the books.

Smylie Kaufman is in second place, while Bernhard Langer and Hideke Matsuyama are two strokes back in a tie for third.

Spieth still in the lead at The Masters

The Masters


Jordan Spieth is still in the lead after Friday's action at The Masters.

Spieth, at 4-under after two rounds,  shoots a 2-over-par 74 on Day 2, but maintains a one stroke lead over Rory McIlroy.

Spieth early leader at Masters

The Masters


Jordan Spieth fired a 6-under 66 today at The Masters and is the early leader after Day 1.

Spieth holds a two-stroke lead over Danny Lee and Shane Lowry.

Wrong Story at Chase Field

Arizona Diamondbacks



Colorado rookie Trevor Story hit four home runs in the season-opening series at Chase Field.

It was  definitely the wrong story for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Arizona salvaged one of the three games and lost the series today as the Rockies left town after a 4-3 win. The Rockies won the season opener 10-5 and Diamondbacks regrouped to win the second game of the series 11-6.

Not exactly what the Diamondbacks had in mind. The result: Zach Greinke (0-1), Shelby Miller (0-0) and Pat Corbin (0-1).

Next up: The Chicago Cubs come to town for a four-game series.

Peters walk-off RBI-single lifts Team White to 7-6 win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Pistol Pete Peters singled to left field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning today at Udall Park and Team White knocked off Team Blue, 7-6, in a hard-fought 60-and-over baseball game.

Team Blue had taken the lead in the top of the inning, scoring three runs on consecutive hits from Tim Boyd, Doc Thompson and Pigpen Price to take a 6-5 lead, but in the bottom of the inning, Price, the Team Blue starting pitcher, ran into control problems.

With one out, Price walked a batter and allowed two consecutive hits to Jerry Smarik and Bob Royer to load the bases. It got worse for Price as he hit Tim Tolson in the right leg to force in the tying run -- knotting the score at 6-6.

That brought up Peters, who led the TOTS in hitting for the month of March with a .719 batting average.  Price threw him a waist-high fastball and Peters drilled the pitch over the head of the shortstop Lloyd Barzell to give Team White the walk-off win.

It was a good pitching duel for most of the game. The first inning ended with Team White leading 4-3. Only one run was scored by Team White during the next five innings. Lefty Dennis Crowley went the distance and picked up the win for Team White, while Price was saddled with the loss.

The TOTS will be back in action on Friday with a 10 a.m. starting time at Udall.

Photo: The hard-hitting Pistol Pete Peters

Villanova wins with a buzzer beater, 77-74

NCAA Title Game


Villanova wins the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship tonight in Houston with a buzzer beater 3-pointer by Kris Jenkins.

Final score: Villanova  77  North Carolina  74

What a finish!

4-run 6th inning lifts Team White to 9-7 win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

John Misiaszek, 67,  capped off a four-run sixth inning with a two-run double and Team White edged Team Blue 9-7 today at Udall Park in a 60-and over baseball game.

Team White got the inning started on RBI-singles from Jesse Ochoa and Pigpen Price and Misiaszek followed with his double to center. Both Ochoa and Price ended up with a 2 for 3 day at the plate,  including two RBI apiece.

Bob Daliege, Doc Thompson and Ron Petersen collected two hits in three trips to the plate for Team Blue. One of the highlights of the game was an inside-the-park home run by Dennis Crowley. The blast gave Team Blue a short-lived 6-5 lead.

Collecting an inside-the-park home run is rare in a 60-and-over game. With the fence just 300-feet away and anywhere from 3 to 6 outfielders playing at times, it's tough to "hit 'em where they ain't." Today, both teams had six outfielders -- a total of 12 on a side, making it hard for a hitter to find a gap, much less cruise home with an inside-the-park job.

Right-hander Lloyd Barzell picked up the pitching victory today, while Petersen was saddled with the loss.

The TOTS will be in action on Wednesday at Udall with another 10 a.m. game.

Photos: (top) Dennis Crowley, (bottom) John Misiaszek.

Wildcats swept in Utah

Arizona Wildcats Baseball


The University of Arizona baseball team took in on the chin in Salt Lake City, losing all three games over the weekend, 6-3, 7-6 and 4-2. The Wildcats fall to 17-11 overall and 3-6 in the Pac-12.

Bobby Dalbec, in a season-long slump, did manage three hits in the finale in four trips to the plate.

Cody Ramer leads the Wildcat in hitting after 28 games with a .362 average. Ramer has 42 hits in 116 at bats. Dalbec's average sits at .245 with 23 hits on the season and four home runs.

Arizona will scoot over to BYU for a a single game today at 2 p.m. for a non-conference affair and the Cougars.

Pollock loss will hurt Diamondbacks

Arizona Diamondbacks


The season is here.

The Arizona Wildcats will open their 2016 season tomorrow night at Chase Field against the Colorado Rockies without A.J. Pollock.

Not a good way to start off.

Zack Greinke, go get 'em!

Villanova, North Carolina to square off in NCAA final

After a couple of undramatic semifinal games, it'll be second-seeded Villanova against a No. 1 seed, North Carolina, in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game in Houston on Monday night.

Oklahoma was no match for Villanova (34-5) in the semis and North Carolina (33-6) had very little trouble with 10th-seeded Syracuse.

I'm still upset my Arizona Wildcats didn't make it to the Final Four or anywhere close.

Two teams from the East...it's a good thing the MLB season gets underway with a few games today and the big opening day on Monday.

Come on, Diamondbacks! I'm jumping on your bandwagon!

Tolson, Peters top TOTS' hitters in March

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Tim Tolson and Pete Peters were the top guns in hitting for the month of March for the Tucson Old Timers. Tolson went 24 for 40 -- including two home runs, while Peters banged out 23 hits in just 32 at bats for a hefty .719 average. Tolson, who batted an even .600 for the month,  led the club in RBI with 20, while Peters was second with 19.

Other top hitters included Bob Daliege (19 for 31, a .613 average), Arnie White (18 for 32, a .563 average), Dennis Crowley (21 for 38, a .553 average) and Brian Reilly (19 for 37, a .514 average).

Right-hander Lloyd Barzell led the TOTS' pitching staff in March with four wins and two losses.

Photos: (top) Tolson, (bottom) Peters

Team White prevails in April Fools' Day game

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

A bunch of young baseball players took the field today at Udall Park.

April Fool!

Actually, they were a bunch of old guys, 60-and-over.

No, fooling!

Team White hung on for a 5-4 win over Team Blue. Team White's Tim Tolson, 63, led the way with a 2 for 3 day and three RBI and lefty Dennis Crowley, 66, picked up the win, thanks to some outstanding plays on defense by 67-year-old third baseman Bob Daliege and an 84-year-old roving center fielder by the name of Jerry Smarik.

Daliege squashed three Team Blue rallies --snaring three line shots, one of which turned into a double play, while Smarik ended another Team Blue rally when he hauled in a hard hit drive in short right-center.

Smarik moved left two feet, opened up his glove and the hard hit ball came to rest smack dab in the pocket of the glove. "I really didn't see it," Smarik said. "I looked down and there the ball was!"

As for the third baseman Daliege, who also had two hits for the winning team, he commented after the game on the three shots at the hot corner. "You either catch  'em or you don't. You don't have a lot of time to react."

Down 5-3, Team Blue had a chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh inning. They loaded the bases with no outs, but could come up with just one run and lost the real nail biter.

Brian Reilly, who turns 65 on April 5,  led Team Blue with a 3 for 3 day and one walk, and 70-year-old Pigpen Price, in his second day back from a foot injury, went 2 for 4 and drove in two runs.

There will be no fooling around for the TOTS, they will be back in action at Udall Park, next Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Photos: 1) Smarik 2) Tolson 3) Daliege 4) Reilly

Note: For all you grammar experts out there, is it April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day? Turns out it depends on what part of the world you live in. For instance, if you're a teacher in the U.S., use April Fools' Day...if you're in Canada, use April Fool's Day.