Last night was the opening night of the ‘09-’10 hoops seasons for Loyola, Towson, Coppin State, and Morgan State.

And just how did our Baltimore schools fare?

Four locals… four winners.

And away we go…

Loyola:

Harvey Scores 23 As Loyola Men’s Basketball Opens Season With Win Over Vermont

Towson:

Tigers Drop RedHawks 82-71 in Opener Behind Calvin Lee’s Career High 25

Coppin State:

Eagles Take Down Lincoln (PA) 76-69 in Coppin State Classic Opener

Morgan State:

Reggie Holmes Drops Game-High 23 Points As Bears Win Over Albany, 69-65

Jones’ stellar outfield play in his second big league season helped earn him his first career All-Star selection in July and now makes him the first Orioles Gold Glover since Mike Mussina in ‘99.  Jones also becomes just the second Orioles outfielder to ever to be honored; Paul Blair took home a Gold Glove eight times between 1967-1975.

In the field Jones registered a .986 fielding%, while committing just 5 errors in 363 chances.  The 24-year old also flashed his strong arm by recording 9 assists from his spot in center.  Jones batted .277 at the plate with 19 HR and 70 RBI in 119 games this past season before suffering a season ending left ankle injury on September 1st.

The other American League outfielders recognized were Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Torii Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  Each were recipients for the 9th time.

Today, Tuesday October 20th, is the last day for you to reserve your spot on our Miller Lite/WNST Soldier, the Loop, and Lambeau Trip.

What could be better than Monday Night Football at Lambeau with your fellow Purple Road Warriors?

It’s really a great deal.

Fly out of BWI to Chicago-Midway on Sunday December 6th and when in the Windy City you’ll have the option of heading to Soldier Field to see St. Louis take on Chicago or doing some shopping on Michigan Avenue.

Our bus will depart Chicago’s Loop for Green Bay and we’ll arrive at Holiday Inn-Manitowac on Sunday evening.

On Monday, we will have a shuttle to Green Bay for those who want to see the Hall of Fame earlier in the day and we’ll also offer an optional casino trip during the day in Green Bay.

We will have an indoor designated tailgate area for the game at Lambeau Field for the 7:30 CST game.  Then after a long day of festivities, we will spend Monday night in Manitowac and will return to BWI via Chicago-Midway on Tuesday.

So if you want to be there… you have to sign up AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

For more information and to purchase your trip package click here to visit our ‘Trips Section’ on the WNST.net Toolbar.

It’s just one of our great trips… we’ll also be headed to the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton and then to the Purple - Cleveland game on MNF in a few week, and a big-time bus trip to up to Pittsburgh for a battle of AFC North Supremacy.

On the fence?

WNST has the BEST trips… check out the footage from the New England Trip a few weeks ago.

The pitching matchup for the contest will pit O’s rookie David Hernandez (4-4, 3.81) against the Angels’ 26-year old right-hander Ervin Santana (5-6, 6.38).

Now that Aubrey Huff has been sent to Detroit, Dave Trembley’s lineup has quite the different look to it.

Most surprisingly, Luke Scott will man first base and bat fifth, while Ty Wigginton will DH and bat eighth.  It’ll be interesting to see how the team plays it at first between those two, Michael Aubrey (acquired earlier this season from the Cleveland farm system) and Rhyne Hughes (the PTBNL in the Zaun deal with Tampa), both of whom are currently at Triple-A Norfolk.

Also of note, Cesar Izturis will be in the #2 hole and Felix Pie will be in left, batting ninth tonight.

Here are the evening’s starters:

Orioles

Brian Roberts - 2B
Cesar Izturis - SS
Adam Jones - CF
Nick Markakis - RF
Luke Scott - 1B
Matt Wieters - C
Melvin Mora - 3B
Ty Wigginton - DH
Felix Pie - LF

Angels

Chone Figgins - 3B
Maicer Izturis - 2B
Bobby Abreu - RF
Vladimir Guerrero - DH
Juan Rivera - LF
Kendry Morales - 1B
Erick Aybar - SS
Gary Matthews Jr. - CF
Jeff Mathis - C

“Columbia Pictures and Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions have acquired an untitled script for a comedy based on an incident in the life of former major-leaguer Rick Dempsey, whose Little League coach turned out to be a bank robber, Daily Variety reported.  The script, written with input from Dempsey, is ‘Catch Me if you Can’ meets ‘Bad News Bears’ with a touch of ‘Bad Santa’, according to one of its writers.”

That’s cool, I like those movies.

Question is, I wonder when Dempsey first grew his mustache?  It’d be great to have a 12-year old actor playing a young Dempsey… wearing a nice, thick upper-lip toupee.

Tonight’s lineup looks a little different than normal.  Matt Wieters has been moved up to the #6 spot in the order, and will hit behind Nolan Reimold, the O’s DH for the night.  Felix Pie will man Reimold’s normal spot in left and will bat 8th.

O’s rookie Chris Tillman will make the fourth start of his promising young career and will do so coming off his best major league effort in his last outing.  Six days ago in Toronto, the 21-year old Tillman was impressive over his 6.2 innings of work and allowed the Blue Jays to only two runs on four hits.  Yet it wasn’t enough for the win as the O’s offense could only tally two themselves and would eventually lose the game in the bottom of the 10th, 3-2.  Tillman still hasn’t gotten his first decision, be it win or loss, and has pitched to an ERA of 5.19 in his three starts since being called up from Triple-A Norfolk on July 29th.

Fresh off a home sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Angels will begin a nine-game raodtrip tonight and send to the mound 26-year old Jered Weaver.  Weaver has been the Angels most consistent pitcher in ‘09 and has an undefeated 5-0 record in his last nine starts.  Overall the lanky 6′7, 205lb right-hander has amassed a 12-3 record with an ERA of 3.73 and ranks 7th in the A.L. in strikeouts ith 137.

As for the evening’s lineups:

Orioles

Brian Roberts - 2B
Adam Jones - CF
Nick Markakis - RF
Aubrey Huff - 1B
Nolan Reimold - DH
Matt Wieters - C
Melvin Mora - 3B
Felix Pie - LF
Cesar Izturis - SS

Angels

Chone Figgins - 3B
Maicer Izturis - 2B
Bobby Abreu - RF
Vladimir Guerrero - DH
Juan Rivera - LF
Kendry Morales - 1B
Erick Aybar - SS
Mike Napoli - C
Gary Matthews Jr. - CF

Chris Tillman, MLB.com's #16 overall prospect in baseball, will look for his first career major league W tonight against the Angels. (Courtesy:AP)

Last night’s O’s 3-2 win ended a nine-game losing streak to Oakland dating back to July 22, 2007.  David Hernandez was exceptional in picking up the win, going 6.2 innings and striking out a career-high six, while allowing A’s hitters to just two runs on two solo homers.

Two rookie right-handers will once again be matched up between the O’s and A’s when it’ll be Jason Berken (2-9, 6.72) going against Oakland’s 21-year old Vin Mazzaro (3-8, 5.70).

The early start will give the Orioles lineup a different look, including Adam Jones batting in the five spot for the first time this season. Also, Nolan Reimold and Melvin Mora are on the bench with Felix Pie and Ty Wigginton taking their places in left and at third respectively.

Orioles

Brian Roberts - 2B
Felix Pie - LF
Nick Markakis - RF
Aubrey Huff - 1B
Adam Jones - CF
Luke Scott- DH
Matt Wieters - C
Ty Wigginton - 3B
Cesar Izturis - SS

Dating all the way back to July of ‘07 the O’s have now lost an incredible nine consecutive decisions to Oakland with last night’s 9-1 L being the latest in line.

Aubrey Huff returns to his regular clean-up spot in Dave Trembley’s lineup, while Chad Moeller will make his first appearance behind the plate since being re-called from Triple-A Norfolk to replace the now traded Gregg Zaun.

David Hernandez, another of the four rookies in the O’s current rotation, will make his tenth career start in the majors and will be matched up with one of Oakland’s own rookie starters, Trevor Cahill.

The 24-year old Hernandez is coming off a rocky outing last Thursday where he only lasted three innings while yielding five earned in a 7-3 loss to Detroit.  The decision dropped his record to 3-4 and raised his ERA to 3.96.

Cahill, MLB.com’s preseason #17 overall rated prospect in baseball, has shown glimpses of potential greatness, but also common inconsistencies that plague so many young, talented pitchers.  Cahill’s 6-11 record and ERA over 5.00 isn’t pretty, but scouts universally seem to agree that Cahill is a guy that will be at the front of someone’s rotation for years to come.

Here’s tonight’s starting lineups:

Orioles

Brian Roberts - 2B
Adam Jones - CF
Nick Markakis - RF
Aubrey Huff - 1B
Nolan Reimold - LF
Luke Scott - DH
Melvin Mora - 3B
Chad Moeller - C
Cesar Izturis - SS

Athletics

Adam Kennedy - 3B
Rajai Davis - CF
Scott Hairston - LF
Jack Cust - DH
Kurt Suzuki - C
Tommy Everidge - 1B
Ryan Sweeney - RF
Mark Ellis - 2B
Cliff Pennington - SS

Following their 2-5 roadtrip in Detroit and Toronto last week, the O’s will send Jeremy Guthrie to the bump with his 7-11 record and 5.28 ERA.  In his last outing five nights ago, Guthrie was out-dueled by Edwin Jackson of the Tigers and was the hard-luck loser in the eventual 5-3 Detroit win.  He featured not only some of his best stuff on the year but also exhibited decent command in his seven-plus innings, something which has eluded him for good sized stretches the season.

The A.L. West’s last place Oakland A’s will have 24-year old rookie Gio Gonzalez on the hill this evening.  Gonzalez has pitched to a 3-2 record with an ERA above six in his 10 appearances.  Though it should be noted, he is coming off perhaps the best start of his young career, when he shutout the Texas Rangers over 6.1 innings last Tuesday.

Here are the game’s starting sides:

Orioles

Brian Roberts - 2B
Nolan Reimold - LF
Adam Jones - CF
Nick Markakis - RF
Ty Wigginton - 1B
Luke Scott - DH
Melvin Mora - 3B
Matt Wieters - C
Cesar Izturis - SS

A’s

Adam Kennedy - 3B
Rajai Davis - CF
Scott Hairston - LF
Jack Cust - DH
Kurt Suzuki - C
Tommy Everidge - 1B
Ryan Sweeney - RF
Mark Ellis - 2B
Cliff Pennington - SS

For the second consecutive game we’ll see a pair of rookies going head-to-head on the mound; tonight it’ll be Orioles righty Jason Berken squaring off with the Blue Jays’ Rick Romero.

Berken has been the less effective of the two, and by a good amount.  Since winning his major league debut start back on May 25th, Berken’s record has been 0-9… not good.  His last outing came Sunday where the Red Sox pummeled the young pitcher with six runs and in the process chased him after just 1.1 innings.  On the year, Berken’s ERA has swollen to 6.93.

On the other hand, Romero has been mostly phenomenal in his first full season in the bigs and has put himself in the discussion for the American League’s Rookie of the Year Award.  In his last nine starts the 24-year old lefty has gotten the win on seven occasions and has parleyed the hot streak into a 10-4 record and 3.53 ERA.

As for the lineups:

Orioles

Brian Roberts - 2B
Adam Jones - CF
Nick Markakis - RF
Aubrey Huff - DH
Nolan Reimold - LF
Melvin Mora - 3B
Ty Wigginton - 1B
Matt Wieters - C
Cesar Izturis - SS

Blue Jays

Marco Scutaro - SS
Aaron Hill - 2B
Adam Lind - DH
Lyle Overbay - 1B
Vernon Wells - CF
Alex Rios - RF
Edwin Encarnacion - 3B
Rod Barajas - C
Joe Inglett - LF

In his last start Jason Berken allowed 9 of the 13 Red Sox batters he faced to reach base. (Courtesy: Gene Sweeney Jr.)