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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Provided
Monticello baseball coach Chris Jones, left, and his son, Wade. Wade is a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Monticello Middle School who has Cri-du-chat syndrome, a rare chromosomal condition. Before Wednesday’s Monticello baseball and softball games, Wade threw out the first pitch to spread awareness about Cri-du-chat syndrome.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Congratulations to Asher Pruemer of the St. Joseph-Ogden baseball team and Bionca Walton of the Rantoul softball team. The pair is our latest high school Athletes of the Week, powered by Copper Creek Contractors. Read more about the duo in Tuesday’s News-Gazette.
➜ 2. Monticello baseball and softball teams spreading awareness of Cri-du-chat syndrome, a chromosomal condition affecting one in 50,000 children. One of those children is Wade Jones, the 13-year-old son of Monticello baseball coach Chris Jones.
➜ 3. Both Sages’ programs had Wade throw out the first pitch on Wednesday when Monticello baseball hosted Pana and Monticello softball welcomed in Maroa-Forsyth. Well done.
Mahomet-Seymour graduate Blake Wolters is off to a strong start this season with the Class A Columbia Fireflies.
Numbers game: .165
is what opponents are batting off Mahomet-Seymour graduate Blake Wolters this season. The 21-year-old Wolters is 2-1 with a 1.65 earned run average in six starts for the Columbia Fireflies, a Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Wolters threw 5 2/3 innings and only gave up one run on two hits while striking out nine for the Fireflies during their 7-2 road win against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers on Tuesday.
Kenta Miyoshi will try to help the Illinois men’s tennis team beat Ohio State on Friday in an NCAA tournament Super Regional match in Columbus, Ohio.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Illinois at Ohio State men’s tennis. If the 14th-seeded Illini (24-7) can beat the third-seeded and host Buckeyes (31-4) at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, either TCU (23-5) or Stanford (19-8) awaits next Thursday at the NCAA Championshps in Athens, Ga.
➜ 2. San Antonio Spurs at Minnesota Timberwolves. Former Illini Ayo Dosnumu and Terrence Shannon Jr. will try to help the Timberwolves go up 2-1 when this second-round series resumes at 8:30 p.m. on Friday at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
➜ 3. Northwestern at Illinois baseball. Final home series of the season for the Illini (24-23, 10-14 Big Ten) starts at 6 p.m. Friday against the Wildcats (20-25-1, 7-17) from Illinois Field in Champaign.
Westville junior Braxton Barrett plays baseball for the Tigers.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with Westville junior baseball player Braxton Barrett:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are … Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Ben Zobrist.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is … “Tulsa King.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … putting someone else’s glove on your hand.
