Doug Fister struck out a career-high 13, Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer and the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 4-2 yesterday to extended their AL Central leadto 7.5 games.

Fister (7-13) improved to 4-1 in seven starts since being acquired from Seattle on July 30th. The right-hander gave up an earned run and four hits over eight innings.

Jose Valverde pitched a perfect ninth for his 41st consecutive save, extending his team record and helping the Tigers improve to14-4 since holding a 1.5-game lead on the Indians on August 19th.

Detroit began a three-game home sweep of the Indians that night and has won five straight against them, sending Cleveland to itslargest deficit of the season.

Kosuke Fukudome had a home run for the Indians in the eighth inning, his second in a Tribe uniform. Fukudome has 14 RBIs with the Tribe in 36 games. He had 13 RBIs with the Chicago Cubs in 87 games.

The teams play again tonight at Progressive Field. Game Time is 7:05 pm. Rick Porcello pitches for Detroit tonight against Fausto Carmona.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The Akron Aeros couldn’t complete the four-game sweep of the Harrisburg Senators as they concluded the 2011 season with a 5-2 loss in the finale of the series on Monday at Metro Bank Park.

Right-handed pitcher Steve Wright suffered the loss for Akron tossing five innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out three.

Right-hander Carlos Martinez recorded the win for Harrisburg pitching three innings of relief, giving up one earned run on five hits and striking out one while walking none.

The Senators (80-62) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Derek Norris solo home run.

They added three more runs an inning later on a Chris McConnell RBI double and an Erik Komatsu two-RBI single to make it 4-0.

It remained 4-0 until the top of the fifth inning when Donnie Webb drove in Karexon Sanchez with an RBI single to cut the Harrisburg lead to 4-1.

The Senators answered with a run in the bottom of the frame and, despite allowing a run in the top of the ninth inning, went on to the win.

The Aeros (73-69) finished the 2011 season in fourth place, seven games behind first place Harrisburg.

The East Dragons had to battle two opponents on Saturday afternoon at Byers Field in Parma.  The first opponent was the Normandy Invaders.  The second opponent was Mother Nature.

Normandy won the weather battle and beat the Dragons 29-6.

It was a slow start for the Dragons.  The East offense lost 14 yards on their first three plays and fumbled the ball.  Fortunately, the Dragons recovered their own miscue.

After an exchange of punts, Normandy took advantage of as short punt by the Dragons and took over at the East 20.  The Invaders got the ball to the five-yard line, before the drive stalled.  Greg Raimondo kicked a 25-yard field goal to give the Invaders a 3-0 lead.

Following an East punt, Normandy was on the move again.  Quarterback Auston Petruska hit Jake Thomas with two passes for 30 yards on the drive.  Running backs Mike Dell and Ovidiu Pavel shared the carries as Normandy moved the ball to the East four-yard line.  Raimondo kicked another field goal, this one 29 yards to give Normandy a 6-0 lead.  

The Dragons were able to tie the score just before halftime.  Senior Quarterback Tevin Richards hit senior wide receiver Shaquille Alexander on a crossing route.  Alexander broke a tackle and turned on the after burners.  74-yards later, Alexander was in the end zone and the score was tied at six.  On the try for the extra point, Alexander rolled right  and threw a pass to a wide open Richard Fields.  But, Alexander three the ball too high and it fell incomplete. 

At halftime, the game was tied at six.

The Dragons appeared to have taken the lead midway through the third quarter on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Richards to Zamar Whitaker.  But, the Officials whistled the Dragons for holding.  That seemed to take the momentum away from East.

Dragons head coach Damon Beasley agreed.  “These kids were down for a little bit.  Something like that hurt them mentally.  We were looking for something positive to happen there.  It was a great play call.  But, t took a lot out of us.”

Normandy took advantage of the penalty call on their next set of downs.    The Invaders moved 82 yards in 10 plays to score their only touchdown.  Tailback Mike Dell had the big play in the drive, a draw play for 49 yards.  Senior fullback Joe Mubarac closed out the drive with a one yard run for the TD.  The extra point made it 13-6 in favor of Normandy.

The Invaders wrapped up the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 20-yard field goal by Raimondo, his third of the game.  Normandy scored a defensive touchdown when safety Thomas Keller intercepted a Richards’ pass and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

Normandy’s record is 1-1.  East falls to 0-2.

But, Beasley says his team is not down and out.  “Our guys will come back.  We’ve got to. I’ll find a way somehow.’

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

East –           0 – 6 – 0 – 0 = 6

Normandy – 3 – 3 – 7 – 16 = 29

FIRST QUARTER:

N – Greg Raimondo 25 yard field goal 4:24

SECOND QUARTER: 

N – Raimondo 29-yard field goal 8:06

E – Shaquille Alexander 74 pass from Tevin Richards (pass failed) 0:40

THIRD QUARTER:

N – Joe Mubarac 1 yard run.  (Raimondo kick):07

FOURTH QUARTER:

N – Raimondo 20 yard field goal 6:04

N – Thomas Keller 62 yard return of an intercepted pass.  (Raimondo Kick) 5:27

N – Matt Silvestro 1 yard run. (Kick failed) 1:45

The athletic landscape has changed this year at Walsh Jesuit High School.

Gone is the days of being an Independent and searching for schools to schedule. This year, the Warriors are members of the North Coast League. It's the first time in school history that Walsh is in a conference. Other schools in the North Coast League include Archbishop Hoban, Padua, Holy Name, Benedictine and Lake Catholic.

Instead of playing only for State Championships, the Warriors will compete for League Championships. Will that make a difference? Yes.

For example, Walsh Jesuit will be able to add a 10th regular season football game. In the past several years, Walsh only played nine games in the regular season.

Warriors head coach Gerry Rardin says this year's team features plenty of offensive weapons and a stout defense.

Walsh Jesuit has a big game tonight on the gridiron hosting the Fighting Irish of St. Vincent-St. Mary.

The Copley Indians will look for their first victory of the High School Football season tonight when they play the Firestone Falcons at Copley Stadium.

Copley is thought to be one of the favorites in this year's Suburban League race. Last week, Jackson defeated Copley 38-28.

The Indians have plenty of offensive firepower back for this 2011 season. Quarterback Lou Gigliotti leads the way for Copley. Gigliotti has been described as a very accurate passer who does a good job in leading the copley offense.

Carrying the ball in the backfield for Copley is tailback Aregeros Turner.

What Jackson exposed in last week's game against the Indians was a weak defense.

Copley head coach Ron Viscounte says some of his players on defense who were injured in Week One against Jackson will be back in the line-up this week. Viscounte says they will be needed because Firestone has a strong offense. Plus, Viscounte says he knows Firestone head coach Tim Flossie will have his team playing at a high level for the entire 48 minutes.

You'll be able to hear tonight's Firestone at Copley game on 1590 WAKR beginning at 7 o'clock.

The finishing touches are being put in place at the new Barberton Middle School.

The doors swing open next Tuesday, September 6th. Barberton School Officials are planning a 'soft' opening for the building and the 1,200 students that will attended classes there.

Fifth graders only will attend the school on September 6th. Sixth graders will going the fifth graders in the building on September 7th. Seventh and eighth graders will join the other students at the new Barberton Middle School on September 8th.

Middle School Principal Judy Myers says the building truly is 'state of the art'.

Among the changes parents and teachers will notice from a 'traditional' school building is disappearance of chalkboards. Myers says classrooms are equipped with 'white boards' which allows teachers to hook-up their computer screen from their lap-top so the entire class can see.

Another change is where students will eat their lunch, it's called a cafetorium. The concept combines a traditional cafeteria with an auditorium. Myers says the auditorium portion of the facility has state-of-the-art lighting and a sound system that will allow their Drama Club to put on productions.

Myers says they have been working closely with the Barberton Police Department and other city officials to insure a smooth traffic flow around the new building. The new Middle School is located in close proximity to Barberton High School.

Gio Gonzalez pitched seven shutout innings and baffled Cleveland again, and the Oakland Athletics avoided a four-game sweep with a 7-0 win yesterday over the Indians, whoadded another player to their overflowing disabled list.

Gonzalez (12-11) improved to 5-0 with a 0.72 ERA in six career starts against Cleveland. He hasn't given up a run to the Indians in 27 2-3 consecutive innings, and handed them a loss they can't afford.

The left-hander allowed four singles and was never in trouble against a lineup missing several injured regulars.

Cliff Pennington had four hits and three RBIs as the A's did just enough against Fausto Carmona (6-13) and snapped a five-gamelosing streak.

The Indians head to Kansas City tonight to begin a three-game series with the Royals. Justin Masterson gets the start for the Indians against left-hander Bruce Chen for the Royals.

The Indians remain five-and-a-half games behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central Division race. The Tribe is tied with the Chicago White Sox for second place in the Central.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The Akron Aeros scored just one run as they lost the regular season home finale to the Reading Phillies 6-1 Thursday at Canal Park.

With the loss (and a Richmond loss), Akron’s elimination number is down to two.

Left-handed pitcher T.J. McFarland suffered the loss for the Aeros pitching seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits and striking out six while walking two.

Right-handed pitcher Tyler Cloyd recorded the win for Reading tossing 6.2 innings, giving up one earned run on eight hits and striking out five while walking one. Right-hander B.J. Rosenberg earned the save pitching 2.1 scoreless innings of relief.

The R-Phils (70-68) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Derrick Mitchell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded forcing home Ozzie Chavez.

Chavez singled home Chris Lubanski an inning later to increase the lead to 2-0.

Reading added runs in the top of the sixth and seventh innings to take a 4-0 lead.

The Aeros (70-68) lone run came in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Jordan Henry RBI single to cut the lead to 4-1.

That was all Akron would muster as Reading added two runs in the top of the ninth inning and went on to the win.

The Aeros will head to Harrisburg on Friday to close out the 2011 regular season with four games against the Senators. Akron has yet to determine a starter for Friday’s game. Harrisburg will give the ball to right-handed pitcher Shairon Martis, who is 8-5 with a 2.81 ERA this season. First pitch is at 7 p.m.

The No. 2 University of Akron men's soccer team played Cal State Fullerton to a 0-0 draw Thursday in the opening match of the Cal State Northridge Labor Day Classic at Matador Soccer Field.

Despite a 10-2 advantage in shots, including a 6-1 margin on frame, in the first half alone, UA (1-0-1) was a little unlucky and had a hard time adjusting to the physical bullying by Cal State Fullerton (1-0-1), which recorded 28 fouls (to Akron's seven) and five yellow cards.

"We're not going to make excuses; we didn't play our best game today," said UA head coach Caleb Porter. "But clearly, Fullerton's game plan was to chop the game up with fouls and be physical and not allow us to get into a rhythm.

"We could be disappointed with the way the game was officiated, but the bottom line is we didn't handle (the physical play) very well. To me, we looked like a young team that wasn't ready to deal with a physical team that came to play. Fullerton wanted to rattle us and, in some ways, it worked. We have to do better next time."

The goalkeepers for both teams stood out for their performance. Akron's David Meves made four saves, incaluding a pair of highlight-reel worthy stops, as well as made great reads on balls in the box while Fullerton's Trevor Whiddon finished the game with nine stops.

Ironically, Whiddon was not involved in the Zips' best opportunity to score however, when a Fullerton defender cleared the ball off the line in the 29th minute. Following a Zips' free kick from 40 yards out, Tommy Schmitt, who earned his first career start, gained control on the left side near the touch line and served the ball into the box. Scott Caldwell, who finished with a career-high seven shots, was there to receive it and headed it towards an open net only to be denied.

If the Zips were unlucky in the first half, they were lucky to start the second when a long-ranged shot by Fullerton's Roberto Vernaschi rang the left post following a Titans' free kick.

The remainder of play was fairly even with both teams earning chances, but neither could get into a rhythm due in large part to the sizable number of stoppages. For the game, the Zips out-shot the Titans 20-14 overall and 10-4 on frame.

UA's best opportunity to score in overtime came in the first stanza during a three-minute stretch that saw shots by Darren Mattocks and Caldwell result in Whiddon saves and a third shot by Wil Trapp, who had a good look from straight on, sail high.
Akron will have an off day before returning to Matador Soccer Stadium Saturday to take on host Cal State Northridge at 10 p.m. (ET) Live stats and an audio stream will be available on GoMatadors.com.

The Firestone Falcons will take on the Copley Indians Friday night at Copley Stadium in the second game of the 2011 High School Football season.

The Falcons played well last Thursday night against the GlenOak Golden Eagles, but lost 35-17.

Firestone head coach Tim Flossie says his team will have to deal with another high powered offense on Friday night. Flossie called Copley quarterback Lou Gigliotti 'an accurate passer' and running back Argeros Turner 'a back that can take it all the way'.

Flossie was pleased with the effort his players gave in the game against GlenOak, saying his team 'played hard throughout the game'. Falcons quarterback Nick Heimbaugh passed for over 200 yards and two touchdowns against GlenOak. Flossie said Heimbaugh 'hung in there despite taking a couple of hard shots'.

You can hear the game between the Firestone Falcons and the Copley Indians on 1590 WAKR beginning at 7 o'clock Friday night.