United to play Rootstown today

PARMA — United’s baseball team will go for a Div. VI district title today when it faces Rootstown at 5 p.m. at Cuyahoga Community College.

United (20-7) comes in as the No. 4 seed, while Rootstown (17-9) is the 11th seed.

The lone common opponent the teams shared was Salem. Rootstown won 6-5 over the Quakers, while the Eagles lost 5-3.

Kadin Schonauer is likely to get the start for the Eagles. He has pitched 46 1/3 innings for the Eagles with 114 strikeouts, 22 walks and a 3.02 ERA.

The winner will play the winner of No. 1 seed Lake Center Christian vs. No. 17 seed Rittman in the regional semifinal set for 5 p.m. on Wednesday at Louisville High School.

Knicks stay alive

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 32 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds despite a bruised left knee and the New York Knicks stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Indiana Pacers 111-94 on Thursday night in Game 5.

The Knicks won on their home floor for the first time in the series and prevented the Pacers from earning the second NBA Finals trip in franchise history. Indiana will try again Saturday night at home.

Knicks fans chanted “Knicks in 7! Knicks in 7!” in the final minutes as New York extended its first trip to the conference finals since 2000 and kept alive hopes of becoming the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series. No team has won a conference finals series after dropping the first two games at home.

Two nights after giving up 43 points in the first quarter, the Knicks held the Pacers to just 45 in the first half and limited Tyrese Haliburton, who had 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds Tuesday, to just eight points and six assists.

Brunson, outplayed by his point guard counterpart Tuesday, rebounded with his franchise-record 21st postseason game of 30 or more points with the Knicks.

Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench for the Pacers, who had won six straight road games. Indiana shot just 40.5% from the field in by far its lowest-scoring game of the postseason.

Brunson scored 14 in the first quarter as the Knicks held a 27-23 lead — giving up 20 fewer points than in the first quarter of Game 4, when they trailed 43-35.

Towns, who was questionable to play after hurting his left knee in a collision late in Game 4, picked up the slack with 12 in the second, when Brunson was scoreless.

Brunson came back with the Knicks’ first eight of the third quarter as they opened a 20-point lead midway through the period. The Pacers cut that in half before New York regained control with a 12-0 burst, highlighted by Brunson’s four-point play, to make it 86-64.

SEC amps up fines

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference is ratcheting up penalties on schools whose fans storm the field or rush the court, doing away with an escalating fine system and now charging $500,000 per incident.

“The motivation was ‘field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time,'” commissioner Greg Sankey said Thursday in announcing the decision. “The random nature of, if you’re the one getting rushed, it doesn’t feel good. It might be the first time (it happened) there, but it might be your sixth time in a row, literally.”

The conference also has the authority to wave the fine if the visiting team and officials are allowed to get to the locker room before fans descend.

The new policy replaces an old one that called for an escalating fine structure that started with $100,000 for the first offense, raised to $250,000 for the second then hit $500,000 for the third and subsequent incidents.

The SEC first instituted a fine structure for field storming in 2004, but it didn’t stop the problem.

In 2022, Tennessee fans stormed the field after ending a 15-game losing streak to Alabama. But things became congested and some of the Crimson Tide players were trapped; a video surfaced of a Tide player thrusting his arm toward a woman’s head as he tried to get off the field.

Last year, Vanderbilt beat Alabama at home, triggering fans to rush the field, tear down the goalposts and parade them to the Cumberland River. The Commodores were fined $100,000 and, per SEC policy, that money went to Alabama, which also received $100,000 for an incident after a loss at Tennessee last season.

Vanderbilt got fined twice more last basketball season, the last of which cost $500,000.

“We try to set some expectations to the fan base of ‘We’ll welcome your celebration, but let’s let the team from the visiting institution and the officials depart,'” Sankey said.

Fields thinks he can be great

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Justin Fields has been the face of a franchise, a disappointing draft pick, a promising newcomer and an eager backup.

And that’s all in the span of his first four NFL seasons.

The 26-year-old quarterback has never lost his confidence through it all and sees a potential opportunity to achieve what he has always wanted as a pro while now leading the New York Jets’ offense.

“I think I can be great, you know?” Fields said Thursday after the Jets’ fifth practice of organized team activities. “That’s been the goal for me my whole life, my whole career. Like I’ve said, I think the sky’s the limit for this team, for this offense. But we do have a long way to go.”

Fields has certainly come a long way himself.

He was the 11th overall pick by Chicago in the 2021 draft out of Ohio State, became the Bears’ starter early in his rookie season and showed some flashes — and struggles. He remained under center for most of the next two seasons and his ability to make plays with his legs made him an intriguing quarterback option, but his accuracy, decision-making and overall play had the Bears looking to move on.

Fields was traded to Pittsburgh last year and filled in as the Steelers’ starter for an injured Russell Wilson, going 4-2 in his six starts before hitting the sideline once the veteran was healthy.

In March, Fields signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Jets, who have tapped him to be their starter with the hope he can develop into a consistent playmaker in New York.

“I take to him because he’s authentic and he’s himself,” coach Aaron Glenn said last week. “It’s one thing that players can pick out is someone that’s fake, and there’s nothing about him that’s fake. So, I love everything about the player, I love everything about the way he carries himself.”

On the field, Fields’ dual threat ability excites the Jets’ coaching staff.

“Everybody talks about the running,” offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said Thursday. “Well, the guy’s got an arm, too. And he does a great job with that. And mentally, he’s phenomenal.”

Added quarterbacks coach Charles London: “I really like where he’s headed for us right now. I think the arrow is pointed up.”

Fields might be able to gain some measure of revenge when the Jets open the regular season against the Steelers — who may or may not have Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback by then. But if Fields has that date circled, he’s not letting on right now.

“Umm, that’s who we play in Week 1,” Fields said when he saw the schedule. “There wasn’t really a thought to that.”

Engstrand was Detroit’s passing game coordinator the past three seasons and worked with more of a prototypical pocket quarterback in Jared Goff. Fields, who set the NFL regular-season, single-game rushing record for quarterbacks with 178 yards against Miami in 2022, could give New York’s offense some unpredictable flair.

“I think it just opens things up more, that’s all,” Engstrand said. “It just adds a different another layer to what we can do with where we’re going on offense.”

Fields has spent much of the offseason learning the playbook and his teammates. There are some familiar faces from college, such as wide receiver Garrett Wilson, tight end Jeremy Ruckert and center Josh Myers. But there have also been group bonding trips — the offense and defense — to local golf simulators and crab boils.

“That camaraderie and that closeness that we’re trying to get to as a team, I think all of that just makes us play for each other more, get to know each other better, and really just learn about each other’s backgrounds,” Fields said. “So it’s really just things that you can’t measure on the football field. But I think the closer our team is, the better we’ll be.”

On the field, though, what Fields is able to accomplish will likely go a long way to determining the Jets’ success.

“They always say it’s up to players to make plays when we need them the most,” he said. “So it’s not necessarily in the scheme or anything like that.

“But when it’s time to make those plays in the game, when it’s time to make something happen, that’s what I’m going to do. And that’s what the guys around me are going to do as well.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl