Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffrey got a big commitment Wednesday evening when seven-foot-one-inch center Adam Woodbury verbally commited to the Hawkeyes.  The Sioux City East senior had narrowed his choices to Iowa and North Carolina.  Woodbury is a four star recruit who is in the top 50 of all the major recruiting services lists.  Woodbury averaged 18.5 points and 12.4 rebounds last season.  He also had scholarship offers from Nebraska, Ohio State, Stanford, Wisconsin and a number of other schools.  In June, Woodbury was named the MVP of the NBA Players Association’s Top 100 camp in Charlottesville, Virginia.  He is Iowa’s fourth recruit for that class, joining 6-2 Mike Gesell of South Sioux City, 6-3 Patrick Ingram of Indianapolis and 6-9 Kyle Meyer of Alpharetta, Georgia.  Woodbury said he was impressed with McCaffrey and looks forward to being a part of the Hawkeyes resurgence.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pirates clinched their 19th consecutive losing season, a record for a major league franchise in North America, losing to the Cardinals 3-2 as Yadier Molina hit a tiebreaking, two-run double.  A year after going a big league-worst 57-105, the Pirates were 51-44 and led the NL Central by a half-game before play on July 20.  But they have gone 16-38 since, and at 67-82 are ensured of  another sub.-500 record.  St. Louis, which has 13 games left, has won seven of eight and remained 4 1-2 games behind Atlanta in the NL wild-card race. The Cardinals moved 5 1-2 games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central.  Edwin Jackson (5-2) allowed two runs and eight hits in 7 1-3 innings and improved to 4-0 in his career against Pittsburgh. Three relievers combined to hold Pittsburgh scoreless over the final 2 1-3 innings. Jason Motte pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in 10 chances.  Morton (9-10) lost his fourth straight start, giving up three runs, six hits and three walks in seven innings.

     ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) – Tight end Scott Chandler still recalls hopping in his car and making the 14-hour drive from Iowa to Buffalo after his flight was canceled in May.  There was no way he was going to miss a chance to bond with his new teammates, who were holding player-organized workouts during the NFL lockout.  The road trip is paying off substantially after Chandler scored twice in a season-opening 41-7 win at Kansas City last weekend.  The touchdowns were his first since 2006, when he was a senior at Iowa. And after four seasons of bouncing around the NFL, Chandler might have finally found a home in Buffalo with a team benefiting from his 6-foot-7 presence in its passing attack.  The Bills prepare for their home opener against Oakland on Sunday.

     DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State will embrace the national spotlight with a new look: all-white uniforms.  Cyclones spokesman Tom Kroeschell says the team plans to wear white pants and white jerseys when they face Connecticut in Friday night’s nationally-televised game.  It’s the first time Iowa State has worn all white since 2006,
before the university redesigned the school’s logo and updated its uniforms.  Those hoping the Cyclones will top the look off with white helmets won’t get their wish, though.
     Kroeschell says the team will wear its familiar cardinal helmets against the Huskies.