Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page D3

ARGUSLEADER.COM 3D SPORTS be a go-through-the-motions kind of a season. If you go through the motions, not going to lay. He expects you to play the game the way upposed to be The lineup will look a lot different than last year Ford, who will begin the season at third base, is the only returning position player from 2014 and left-hander Joe Bircher will be the only member of the pitching staff who was on the team last year. he 29-year-old Paterson, who is five years ounger than Jason Repko, a former major-leaguer who will play right ield for the Canaries, is coming off a season where he earned manager of the ear honors with the Rio Grande Valley White- Wings after guiding the eam to a 51-27 record and aUnited League Championship. Sioux Falls was not part of the picture while Paterson was winning all those games, but during the off- season he got up to speed ith the recent doldrums.

wins last ear we have to do things Paterson said. trying to do almost everything the oppo- ite of how they did them in the past. Hopefully it pans I an effort to point everything in a different direction, Paterson has ade an effort to show the players over the last 10 days that the work-day environment is going to be different over the next three-and-a-half months. the phone calls when I first talked to these uys, been about posi- said Paterson, a former pitcher at NDSU. a new future for all of them from where they came from and from where coming from.

want a positive environment and start from Day 1with a winning envi- There are several spots in the everyday lineup that ill be shared in the early going, though the outfield appears to be set with Repko in right field, Harrison Kain in center and Brian Humphries, an all-star at double-A with the Colorado Rockies organization ast year, playing left field. Jerome Pena, who spent the last four seasons i the Baltimore organization, will start at shortstop, and Michael Wing, who played indepen- ent baseball in the Frontier League last year after pending six seasons in the Los Angeles org anization, will begin the season at second base. Dav id Bergin, who two years ago hit 19 home runs in the United League, will start at first base. yler Tewell and Richard Stock will both get ime behind the plate in the early season with R.J. Perucki, Vickash Ramjit and former and Augustana player Tony Viger capable of filing in at several positions.

Viger, who had a .347 career batting average at Augustana, played for Lincoln in the American Assoc iation and Windy City in the Frontier League last eason. have a year under my belt and I think that has elped my confidence Viger said. came in this spring knowing I can lay at this Brett Gerritse will be the opening-night starter i Sioux City. The former N.Y. Yankee minor-leaguer played at three different levels last year, finishing with a 6-8 record and a 3.92 ERA.

want to make it better for the whole said erritse, who spent six years in the organization. want to do i for the town and for us everybody wants to win. excited about getting out Canaries Continued from Page 1D EMILY SPARTZ WEERHEIM ARGUS LEADER Joe Bircher is the only pitcher who returns from the 2014 Canaries team. In the same press release in which the Stampede confirmed Eades was one, the organization stated it would announce the next coach at a news onference at the Premier enter today at 3:30 p.m. As reported by the Minnesota-based Play the Stampede are expected to announce hat Scott Owens, a 59- ear-old best known for his 15 years as coach at olorado College, will take ver as coach and general manager.

resume inc ludes junior hockey stops ith the Madison Capitols and Des Moines prior to his time at Colorado Coll ege, where his teams went 324-228-54. He resigned in 2 014 after going 7-24-6 that eason. Eades, a former player a North Dakota and long- ime assistant at the chool, was 22-7-1against argo over his three years ith the Stampede. The former Sioux Falls oach, who declined to be i nterviewed Wednesday by the Argus Leader indicated that contract issues igured in his departure. able to come to terms on a con- ract extension, and as I ooked around and looked at different opportunities at the pro level and college evel, I was contacted by the Force and immediate- was extremely interest- in Eades told the Forum things in life hat you can control and ome things you I as very proud of what we id in Sioux final season, the first for the franchise in he Premier Center, inc luded a new USHL attendance record, as well as the first USHL title since 2 007.

want to thank Cary for his contributions to the lub over the last three ears, including a championship this past said Stampede president a nd CEO Tom Garrity. appreciate what he has one to put a winning prod- ct back onto the ice and wish him nothing but the est in Herd Continued from Page 1D NEW COA CH Today: The Stampede are hosting a news conference at 3:30 p.m. to announce their new coach. You can watch it ive at argusleader.com alate charge by Fort Wayne. kids competed all night and were comfortable after getting that early SDSU head coach Dave Schrage said.

bullpen stepped up and played big down the tretch. We played really ice defense tonight, too. I was an all-around solid game for The Jackrabbits took two of three from Oral oberts in late April, set- ing up an intriguing game onight as ORU puts Xavier Altamirano, 8-2 with a 2.82 ERA, on the mound. SDSU will counter with lefty Chris Anderson, who i 8-2 on the season with a 3 A ltamirano and Anderson faced each other earlier in the season with the Jackrabbits winning 2-1. oth pitchers were named all-conference.

was great baseball tonight, going to be a great pitching game tomorrow between these Schrage said. ooking forward to tomor- ow night. going to be a great Pitcher Adam Bray set the tone for SDSU against Fort Wayne, giving up just four hits through 7.1 innings. Fort Wayne was off-balance all night, but finally got to the righty in the eighth when Brandon Soat hit a two-run shot over the left field wall to cut it to 7-3. was probably my fault for keeping him in in the Schrage said.

he pitched a great game. He hit his spots all night. They really touch him until that The Jackrabbits were in control all night as Bray kept the Mastodons out of scoring position for four innings while SDSU built their lead. defense really stepped up for Bray said. strung some hits together and played pretty well all around.

I was attacking the zone. what I do try and get ahead of Eric Danforth led the Jackrabbits at the plate, going 3-for-4. Al Robbins had two RBI and Paul Jacobson and Reid Clary each added two hits for SDSU. a real credit to our guys to keep adding on Schrage said. you get a lead with Adam Bray on the mound, it gets a lot easier to manage.

When ahead like that, a little easier to be aggressive and take some JOE AHLQUIST ARGUS LEADER SDSU infielder Cody Sharrow (7) tags out IPFW's Brandon Soat (12) between first and second base during a Summit League Baseball Championship game on Wednesday. SDSU won 7-3 and will face top-seeded ORU today. SDSU Continued from Page 1D JOE AHLQUIST ARGUS LEADER SDSU's Adam Bray (31) pitches against IPFW on Wednesday. ray pitched 7.1innings and gave up three earned runs for the win. The Jackrabbits won 7-3.

LeBron James scored 31points, while J.R. Smith made eight 3-pointers and added 28 to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers past the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks 97-89 in Game 1of he Eastern Conference inals Wednesday night. I ntent on bringing Cleveland its first NBA tit le, James sealed the victory with a soaring dunk in the final minute. But Smith was the one who ignited the Cavaliers, going 8 of 12 from 3-point range. For the Hawks, it was the second straight series in which lost the opening game at home.

Cleveland will look to take command of the series in Game 2 Friday night. Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 27 points. But the night really turned sour for the Hawks when De- Marre Carroll, their leading scorer in the playoffs, went down with what appeared to be a left knee injury driving to the basket with 4:59 remaining. He was helped to the locker oom, not putting any eight on his knee. he Cavaliers took control when Smith knocked down back-to- back 3s in the third quart er.

After the second one, turned toward the At- anta fans and blew off his right index finger and motioned toward his side, like he was holstering his pistol. ep, he was that hot. leveland outscored he Hawks 22-4 over the final 5 minutes of the third quarter and the first 2minutes of the fourth. In fact, the Cavs scored the irst 11points of the final period for their biggest lead, 85-67. injury left the crowd in silence and could be a huge blow for the Hawks.

Not only was he their main defender on James, he has turned into an offensive force in the playoffs, averaging more than 17 points coming into the first Eastern Conference final in Atlanta history. Cleveland slowed the pace down the stretch, looking to milk the clock, and nearly squandered the big lead. Atlanta losed to 91-87 with about a minute remaining, but ames got loose from Paul Millsap out near the arc, took off down the lane uncontested and lammed home a dunk to inish off the Hawks. he Cavs hit just 35 percent in the opening quarter, but a dominating performance on the boards kept Atlanta from ulling away. Cleveland utrebounded the Hawks 1 5-6 over the first 12 minutes.

NBA PLAYOFFS: CLEVELAND 97, ATLANTA 89 Cavaliers win opener behind eBron, Smith ASSOCIATED PRESS Schedule CONFERENCE FINALS game Cleveland 97, Atlanta 89 (Cavaliers lead series 1-0) game Houston at Golden State, 8 p.m. (ESPN; Warriors lead eries 1-0) game Cleveland at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. (TNT) BRETT TODAY SPORTS Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith, left, shoots over Hawks guard Kyle Korver during the fourth quarter Wednesday night. Smith hit eight 3-pointers and finished with 28 points.

TAMPA, Nikita ucherov scored 3:33 into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 6 -5 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. Ondrej Palat had two goals and an assist, and Tyler Johnson, Steven tamkos and Alex Killorn each had one goal and an assist for the Lightning. hey took a 2-1lead in the best-of-7 series that continues Friday night at Amalie Arena. he winner came about a minute after New ork goalie Henrik Lundqvist made a terrific top on J.T. reakaway.

ew York tied it at 5 on Dan rebound with 1 :56 left in regulation. esper Fast scored twice, and the Rangers also got power-play goals from erick Brassard and Ryan McDonagh. Johnson, who paced ampa 6-2 road vic- ory in Game 2 with a hat trick, scored his playoff- leading 12th goal after ampa Bay overcame an early 2-0 deficit. he Rangers also ame back after trailing 4-2, with Fast scoring his econd goal late in the second period and McDonagh converting a power- lay opportunity early in the third. After splitting the first two games in New York, he Rangers talked about cleaning up mistakes that ost them in Game 2, as well as the need to create ore scoring opportuni- ies against Lightning oalie Ben Bishop.

They have a lot chances early, but did ake the most of team. Brassard scored on the first shot of the game, ending the puck over shoulder from the left circle. Fast made i 2-0 with the nifty back- and made possible, in part, by a big hit on Tampa Matthew Carle. ishop finished with 23 saves for Tampa Bay. undqvist stopped 34 of 4 0 shots, giving up six goals for the second traight game.

NHL PLAYOFFS: TAMPA BAY 6, N.Y. RANGERS 5 Lightning claim 2 -1series lead ASSOCIATED PRESS Schedule CONFERENCE FINALS game Tampa Bay 6, N.Y. Rangers 5(Lightning lead series 2-1) game Anaheim at Chicago, 7 p.m. (NBCSN; series tied 1-1) game N.Y. Rangers at Tampa Bay, 7p.m.

(NBCSN).