IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Former Iowa basketball recruit James Speed, whose career was cut short when he went blind, has died of complications from liver cancer. The University of Iowa says Speed died Wednesday in Las Vegas, where he lived since the mid-1970s. He was 61. Speed was a Hawkeye recruit in 1970, when he lost his sight in both eyes due to a sinus infection before he played a game for Iowa. Speed, who grew up in Shreveport, La., was a 6-7 forward who played junior college basketball in El Centro, Calif. After losing his sight, Speed worked as a basketball coach and most recently in real estate.

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.

w/ Jim Field

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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.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson is back training after spraining her right foot, just a few days before the final world team selection camp. Johnson slipped off the balance beam Tuesday, and agent Sheryl Shade says she was back at practice later that night. Johnson says she’s fine, tweeting Wednesday: “I’m doing ok everyone! Healing fast & still planning on giving it my all!” She leaves Saturday for the final selection camp, and the world team is expected to be named next Wednesday. Worlds are Oct. 7-16 in Tokyo. Johnson made big improvements at last month’s U.S. championships, her second meet since winning four medals at the Beijing Olympics. She was fourth on beam and sixth on uneven bars – the Americans’ weakest event – and planned to upgrade the difficulty of her routines.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa sophomore forward Jade Rogers will miss all of next season to repair her left knee. The Hawkeyes say Rogers will have surgery Thursday to realign her left leg to aid healing in her knee. Rogers tore her anterior cruciate ligament in high school and has had issues with her knee while at Iowa. Rogers had 21 points and 22 rebounds in 13 games last season. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder says the surgery will give Rogers a chance to return to basketball and improve the quality of her life after she’s done playing.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The St. Louis Cardinals announced their 2012 home regular season schedule today in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s league-wide release. The Cardinals will open their home slate Friday, April 13 vs. Chicago. It marks the latest home opener for the Cardinals since 1991 when the team’s first home game was on April 19 vs. Philadelphia. The Redbirds’ opening homestand
features three games against division rival Chicago (April 13-15), followed by three vs. the Cincinnati Reds (April 17-19). The Cardinals play division opponents in each of their first four home series through May 3.  The club’s home interleague action features a three-team homestand that brings the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals to St. Louis (June 8-17). Following a 9-game road-trip, the club returns home for a 10-game homestand facing Pittsburgh for three, the Colorado Rockies for four games and Miami for three games (June 29-July 8) leading into the All-Star break. The other three team homestand falls in August (14-23) when the club is home for 16 of 19 games August 3-23.

St. Louis will host the Chicago Cubs two additional times besides the home opening weekend; hosting a two-game Monday-Tuesday series, May 14-15, and a three game weekend series in July (20-22). The Cardinals will host both Milwaukee and Pittsburgh for three, three-game series each. However division opponent Houston will visit St. Louis just twice next season, with their first visit not coming until August 21-23.  Cincinnati is also at Busch Stadium on just two occasions next season. After hosting the Reds for three games during the opening homestand, the Cardinals don’t see the Reds at Busch Stadium until the final three games of the season (October 1-3). St. Louis will close the season at home with three games vs. the Washington Nationals (Sept. 28-30) followed by the final three vs. the Reds as the season once again ends on a Wednesday.  The Redbirds will host every National League East and West team one time during 2012, playing the National League East 16 times at home and the National League West teams 17 times. St. Louis will host 43 games at Busch Stadium before the All-Star break, and 38 after the break. The team has nine home dates in April, 15 in May, 11 in June, 15 in July, a season-high 16 in August and 15 September/October home games.

The Cardinals will make future announcements regarding game times, ticket pricing and availability for the 2012 season. The 2012 home schedule follows.

2012 St. Louis Cardinals Home Schedule
April
April 13-14, Friday-Sunday – Chicago Cubs
April 17-19, Tuesday-Thursday – Cincinnati Reds
April 27-29, Friday-Sunday – Milwaukee Brewers
May
May 1-3, Tuesday-Thursday – Pittsburgh Pirates
May 11-13, Friday-Sunday – Atlanta Braves
May 14-15, Monday-Tuesday – Chicago Cubs
May 21-23, Monday-Wednesday – San Diego Padres
May 24-27, Thursday-Sunday – Philadelphia Phillies
June
June 8-10, Friday-Sunday – Cleveland Indians
June 12-14, Tuesday-Thursday – Chicago White Sox
June 15-17, Friday-Sunday – Kansas City Royals
June 29-July 1, Friday-Sunday – Pittsburgh Pirates
July
July 2-5, Monday-Thursday – Colorado Rockies
July 6-8, Friday-Sunday – Miami Marlins
July 20-22, Friday-Sunday – Chicago Cubs
July 23-26, Monday-Thursday – Los Angeles Dodgers
August
August 3-5, Friday-Sunday – Milwaukee Brewers
August 6-9, Monday-Thursday – San Francisco Giants
August 14-16, Tuesday-Thursday – Arizona
Diamondbacks
August 17-19, Friday-Sunday – Pittsburgh Pirates
August 21-23, Tuesday-Thursday – Houston Astros
September/October
Sept. 3-5, Monday-Wednesday – New York Mets
Sept. 7-9, Friday-Sunday – Milwaukee Brewers
Sept. 18-20, Tuesday-Thursday – Houston Astros
Sept. 28-30, Friday-Sunday, Washington Nationals
October 1-3, Monday-Wednesday, Cincinnati Reds

CHARITON, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s first two deer hunting seasons open Saturday and allow participants to hunt deer in a comfortable setting. The seasons are for youth and disabled hunters. Tom Litchfield is a state deer biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. He says the seasons allow young and disabled hunters to hunt deer in favorable conditions, compared to the December shotgun seasons. Each youth hunter must be accompanied by an adult mentor who has a valid hunting license and has paid the habitat fee. The youth and disabled hunter seasons close Oct. 2.