By Greg Halbleib
Pontiac girls tennis edged Streator 5-4 on the Williamson Field courts.
Mahomet-Seymour volleyball defeated Pontiac 25-15, 25-21.
Pontiac finished third in a girls swimming triangular with Morris and LaSalle-Peru.
Illinois is expecting a big crowd when North Carolina visits on Saturday in the second game of the Lovie Smith era of Illini football. The Illini are coming off a big 52-3 home win over Murray State.
Illinois State football remains at Number 10 in the FCS poll after opening the season with a decisive win over Valparaiso. The Redbirds are at Northwestern on Saturday afternoon.
The Missouri Valley Conference basketball schedules are set. The Illinois State men open league play at Evansville on December 29. The Redbirds will visit Loyola on New Year’s Day and will host Wichita State on January 14. The ISU women open conference play at home on New Year’s Day against Bradley.
Illinois State’s Haley Smith is the Missouri Valley Conference soccer Goalkeeper of the Week, and Redbird Jaelyn Keene is Valley volleyball’s Offensive Player of the Week.
The Cardinals have used the long ball this season but never more so than last night. The Cards were down to their final strike when Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Jhonny Peralta all homered off closer Tony Watson for a 9-7 win at Pittsburgh. Yadier Molina hit a grand slam in the first. The Cardinals have homered in 25 straight games, tying a National League record. Tonight, Mike Leake takes the ball for the Cardinals while the Pirates start Jameson Taillon.
The Brewers opened a quick lead in a 12-5 win over the Cubs, starting with five runs in the first inning off Cubs starter Jason Hammel. Lefty Mike Montgomery starts tonight for the Cubs against Brewers lefty Matt Garza.
The White Sox rebounded with a 2-0 win at Detroit behind 6 1/3 innings from Miguel Gonzalez in his first start since returning from the injured list. Jose Abreu homered for the fifth time in the last seven games. The series continues tonight on the South Side with a pitching match-up of Tigers right-hander Anibal Sanchez against Sox lefty Jose Quintana.
The Chiefs open a best-of-three Midwest League playoff series tonight in Clinton. The series shifts to Peoria tomorrow and Friday if necessary.
U.S. men’s soccer advanced in World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago.
Novak Djokovic moved into the semifinals of the U.S. Open for the 10th consecutive year after Number 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew with a knee injury. Women’s second seed Angelique Kerber also moved on to the semis.
