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BSportsTHE REGISTER-HERALD

Saturday SectionJuly 13, 2013

Sports Editor: Cam HuffmanPhone: 304-255-4475Scores: To report a sports scorecall 304-255-4475 or toll-free at800-950-0250 after 5 p.m. Online: www.register-herald.com

INSIDE SPORTS:Golf ....................2BScoreboard ........3BMLB ..................4B

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KESELOWSKIWINS POLE

IN NEWHAMPSHIREINSIDE | Page 3B

I love the game of golf. I playit about as well asRoseanne sings the nation-

al anthem, but I love to hack itaround, even if it takes me 120strokes to finish.

As much as I love to play it,though, I enjoy watching iteven more. My wife regularlyquestions why I spend many of

my Sunday afternoons watch-ing guys I don’t know chase awhite ball around a place I’venever been, and it nearlycaused a war when I explainedthat we had to pay our satellitecompany a few extra dollars amonth to assure that The GolfChannel was part of our televi-sion lineup.

Watching it live?Well, that’s even better.The hardest part aboutleaving South Carolinato come back to WestVirginia a year ago wasleaving behind the gig Ihad covering the Mas-ters. My first goal onceI got back home wasfiguring out how toweasel my way backonto golf’s most hal-lowed ground — some-thing I’m proud to say Iaccomplished this April.

A nice consolationprize is certainly TheGreenbrier Classic. It’snot a Major Champi-onship, but it’s about asclose as you can get.You won’t find a betterevent anywhere on thePGA TOUR schedule,and I thoroughly enjoywhat admittedly is abusy week.

But after some timeoff to “recover” from thedifficult assignment of

eating jambalaya and peach

cobbler at The Greenbrier, it’sback to more golf, as the 33rdannual BNI Memorial Classicbegins today.

The event — which FirstCommunity Bank has helpedto make possible as the majorsponsor, with Lewis Automo-tive also serving as a sponsor— will include more than 150golfers with tee times todayat both Grandview CountryClub and Brier Patch GolfLinks. It will be played this

M ORGANTOWN — Theycalled him “Big Cat” fromUpper Tract.

But this gentle 6-foot-9, 250-poundgiant named Jeremy Bodkin still re-sides in Morgantown and is remem-bered as an outstanding center onWest Virginia’s 1990-91-92-93 men’sbasketball teams.

He had a huge hand in helping theMountaineers torecords of 16-12, 17-14, 20-12 and 17-12under the guidance ofcoach Gale Catlett.Bodkin was elected ateam captain as asenior.

Three of those fourteams played in post-season — one in theNCAA Tournamentand two in the Na-tional Invitation

Tournament.Bodkin, who was born in Harrison-

burg, Va., grew up in PendletonCounty, and is a graduate ofFranklin High School. He playedfootball, basketball and baseballthere.

“I really enjoyed playing basket-ball for Coach Catlett very much,”Bodkin said recently. “It was a greattime of my life.”

He certainly was a very fine playerfor WVU.

Bodkin recalled, “It was a chal-lenge playing center. I playedagainst some guys who were taller,heavier and stronger than I was attimes.

“Obviously, everyone likes to scorepoints. But I also enjoyed rebound-ing. In Coach Catlett’s offense, itwas my job mainly to pass the ball,set screens for others, and reboundthe ball.

“I just did what the coach told meto do because I wanted to play (asmuch as I could).”

During his four years at WVU, heappeared in 101 games with only 50starts and averaged playing 17.4minutes per game. He made 223field goals in 407 attempts (47.8 per-cent), and 135 of 190 free throws(71.1 percent) for a total of 581points.

Bodkin, who admits that his scor-ing slipped because other needs weregreater, also logged 132 offensive re-bounds and 308 defensive rebounds.

Bodkinstood tall in early ’90s

MickeyFurfari

FANFARE

See FURFARI, 7B

By Dan StillwellREGISTER-HERALD SPORTS WRITER

Bob Tucker has it made.On weekends he travels

around the Midwest from dirttrack to dirt track, wife Ericaand baby son Charlie at hisside.

His race car of choice: abright, red and black, WingedSprint car.

“Look at it. It’s awesome!”the 27-year-old Chillicothe,Ohio, driver said Friday nightas he waited for the rain tostop at Beckley MotorsportsPark. “It’s the most excitingcar you can race.”

We’re talking true love here.“It’s 800-plus horsepower,

and 1,375 pounds,” Tuckersaid. “You do the math. They’revery, very, wicked cars.”

He grew up in a WingedSprint family. His father,Glenn Tucker, raced one for 20years.

When Bob, a former mo-tocross driver, decided to giveit a try, Glenn had some sageadvice.

“He told me to, ‘Run it intothe corner until you think youare going to die, count to two,and then let off!’” Bob recalled.“When the cars are on, they’lldo amazing things. Things you

don’t think they can do. They’llstick to the ground.”

Winged Sprints are famedfor their high speeds, and theymore than lived up to their rep-utation the last time they werein Beckley, in 2010.

A Sprint made it around thehigh-banked, 3/8th-mile oval in11.6 seconds, a new trackrecord. Previously, the markwas 12.96 seconds, set by theusual kings of the track atBMP, a Late Model.

“We’ll set a new record againif we get to run tonight,” Tuck-er said.

By Gary FauberASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

A game that started well for theWest Virginia Miners didn’t exactlyend that way.

Yes, the Miners picked up a win,needing a four-run seventh inning tobeat the Slippery Rock Sliders 9-6 on adreary Friday night. The win raisedthe Miners’ lead in the ProspectLeague East Division to two gamesover the Chillicothe Paints, who lost 7-1 to Butler.

But there was some uncertainty insome spots after the game.

For one, Robert Tavone Jr. was pen-ciled in as the starting catcher but wasa late scratch because of an injury tohis right wrist. It was unclear howlong Tavone will be out, but with therecent exit of Jordan Parris from theteam, West Virginia is left with onlyone catcher — Josh Galvan, who madehis debut Friday night.

The injury does not affect Tavonewhen he throws.

“(Tavone) can’t swing the bat.There’s something going on there,”West Virginia manager Tim Eplingsaid. “And we’re down to one catcher.... We’ll get an MRI (today) and seewhat happens. We’re going to have tofigure something out if the report isbad.”

West Virginia may also have lostone of its top hitters in Zach Woolcock.The infielder from Radford had an al-together horrible seventh inning at theplate. He fouled a pitch off his leg,then was hit in the head by a pitchfrom Slippery Rock reliever Tyler Wil-son.

Woolcock stayed in the game, but af-ter advancing to second when Galvanwas hit in the right shoulder by theSliders’ Kevin Becker-Menditto, he ap-peared to pull a hamstring one out lat-er when Nick Paxton reached on afielder’s choice.

Woolcock was then lifted for pinch-runner Dale Davis.

It was unknown after the game howmuch time Woolcock will miss, if any.Woolcock was voted last week as thestarting third baseman for Wednes-day’s Prospect League All-Star game.

Right-hander Brandon Koch was alate replacement for scheduled starterEvin Einhardt and started as if he wason course with team history. Koch,starting for the first time after having

made 12 relief appearances, struck outeight of the first nine batters he faced.Gentry Kinsella walked with one outin the third but was thrown out tryingto steal second before Koch struck outTom Crimi to end the inning.

Koch was perfect in the fourth, butcould not get out of the fifth. With oneout, Ryne Clark doubled to the rightfield corner, then Max McDowelllaunched a two-run homer to left topull the Sliders to 4-2.

Koch got another out but allowedtwo more baserunners when he wasreplaced by Vince Bartolone.

Epling said Einhardt will starttonight’s game. He said Einhardt was

scratched because he threw a bullpensession Thursday and “I really don’tlike throwing a bullpen the day beforethey (start).”

The Miners (26-15) took a 4-0 lead inthe second, keyed by Kenny May’stwo-run triple. Nick Paxton added aRBI double and later scored on EvanPotter’s groundout.

The Sliders (17-24) scored four runsin the sixth to go up 6-4. Clark drove inCooper Mickelson on a groundout andthen scored when McDowell — a fresh-man at UConn who joined the teamThursday — hit a triple to center field.

Miners rally, extend leadPitching duel turnsinto offensive battleas W.Va. beats Sliders

BNI showcases golf’s ‘other side’

CamHuffman

VIEW FROMTHE SIDELINEAnnual golf tournament’s 33rd edition

begins today at two Beckley courses

See BNI, 7B

T. PAIGE/THE REGISTER-HERALD

West Virginia Miners pitcher Brandon Koch delivers to the plate against SlipperyRock’s Tom Crimi during the Miners’ 9-6 win over the Sliders Friday at Linda K.Epling Stadium.

DAN STILLWELL/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Bob Tucker, a 22-year-old race car driver from Chillicothe, Ohio,stands beside his Winged Sprint car before action began Friday atBeckley Motorsports Park.

Ohio driver brings beloved Winged Sprint car to BMP

See DRIVER, 5B

See MINERS, 5B

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Sports 5BTHE REGISTER-HERALD

Saturday, July 13, 2013www.register-herald.com

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Not that Tucker him-self would set a record.He’s still learning.

But give him time.“We’ve won a few heat

races, but we’re racingagainst guys who havebeen doing this 25, 35years,” he said. “We’re arookie, and to come outand run against thoseguys is pretty cool.They’re the guys Ilooked up to. They’vegot a lot more seat timethan I’ve got.”

Tucker, a forklift andheavy equipment me-chanic in his day, racestwo or three times eachweekend. He was mak-ing his Beckley debutFriday.

“It looks like it will bereal fun,” he said. “We’llbe able to run throughthe corners real hard onthe gas.”

The cars are loud,even for a sport thatpiles on the decibels.But they’re hardlypushing their motors.

“A lot of guys soundlike they’re wide open,but they’re probablyhalf-throttle around thetrack,” Tucker said.“There’s not any placeon the track you can ac-tually hold it wide open.

“That gives you anidea how much horse-power these thingshave. We’re runningtrack records at halfthrottle.”

The track was in ex-cellent shape, despitethe rain (the track didnot get a downpour, un-like other places in theBeckley area). Fanscontinued to pour in,hoping that, as Tuckerpredicted, anothertrack record would beset.

Results of the WingedSprint and other raceswere not available atpress time.

— E-mail: dstillwell@register-herald.com

DRIVERContinued from 1B

A run-scoring single byAaron Lindgren drove inMcDowell to make it 5-4.Lingren stole second andlater third, and scoredwhen Galvan’s throwsailed into left field.

Bartolone wound upgetting the win despitegiving up four runs,three of them earned,and five hits over 2 1-3innings.

Kolin Stanley, makinghis season debut, pitchedaround a leadoff single inthe ninth for the save.

Becker-Menditto, theleague leader in saves,

took the loss.The teams will meet

again at 7:05 p.m. today.Notes: Former Miners

catcher Clayton Pre-stridge watched thegame from a seat behindhome plate. The 2012

league batting championwill throw out today’sceremonial first pitch ...There will be severalpromotions tonight, in-cluding Dickey’s BBQNight and MilitaryNight, with the Army

National Guard givingaway free T-shirts. Thefireworks extravaganzaoriginally scheduled forJuly 3 will followtonight’s game.

— E-mail: gfauber@register-herald.com

MINERSContinued from 1B

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FIREWORKS TONIGHT!

NEW YORK (AP) —The blockbusterbreakup of the Celticsis complete. Paul Pierceand Kevin Garnett areBrooklyn bound.

The Nets and Celticsfinalized their draft-night trade Friday, anine-player, three-draftpick swap centered onthe two aging champi-ons who won a title inBoston in 2008.

And with a champi-onship chapter in the

Celtics’ storied historyclosed, it ’s the Netswho are thinking big asthey head into theirsecond season in Brook-lyn.

“Today, the basket-ball gods smiled on theNets,” Nets ownerMikhail Prokhorov saidin a statement. “Withthe arrival of KevinGarnett and PaulPierce, we haveachieved a great bal-ance on our roster be-

tween veteran starsand young talents. Thisteam will be dazzling towatch, and tough tocompete against.”

The Nets also got Ja-son Terry and D.J.White from Bostonwhile sending GeraldWallace, KrisHumphries, MarShonBrooks, Kris Joseph,Keith Bogans and first-round draft picks in2014, 2016 and 2018 tothe rebuilding Celtics.

Boston also gets theright to swap first-round picks in 2017.

The teams agreed tothe deal on June 27 butit couldn’t be completeduntil after next sea-son’s salary cap wasset. The Nets plan tointroduce their newstars next Thursday atBarclays Center.

Boston won fivestraight division titlesfrom 2008-12 beforefalling back last sea-

son, the first followingRay Allen’s departureto Miami. Then theCeltics let Doc Riversout of his contract afterthe season by acquiringa first-round pick fromthe Los Angeles Clip-pers, and this tradesignals a new phase forthe team that has wonan NBA-high 17 cham-pionships and got usedto being in the huntagain after Garnett ar-rived in 2007.

Pierce, Garnett to Nets as blockbuster finished