By Greg Halbleib
Pontiac boys golf edged Rantoul 182-188 at the Pontiac Elks Club.
Pontiac girls tennis beat Bishop Mac 6-3.
Rantoul beat Pontiac volleyball in a three-set thriller, 29-27, 21-25, 30-28.
Former Illinois football coach Tim Beckman has stepped down as a volunteer assistant coach at North Carolina after two days on the job, saying after considerable backlash that he didn’t want to be a distraction.
The CornBelters broke a four-game skid with a 9-1 win at Evansville behind a six-run fourth inning to back eight strong innings from Horacio Acosta on the hill. The Belters continue the road trip against the River City Rascals tonight, who lead the Belters by 1 ½ games for the last playoff spot. WJBC.com pre-game is 6:20 from O’Fallon, Missouri.
The Chiefs ended a road trip with a 5-4 loss at Wisconsin.
The Cardinals fell to the Mets 10-6, who took two out of three over the Cards in the series. The Cardinals host the Athletics tonight as Oakland sends Ross Detwiler to the mound to face Luke Weaver in his third major league start for St. Louis.
The White Sox beat the Mariners 7-6 as Todd Frazier tied the game in the seventh and won it in the ninth with singles. The series continues on the South Side with a pair of aces, Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez and Sox lefty Chris Sale.
The Cubs had Thursday off and visit Dodger Stadium tonight, Cubs lefty Mike Montgomery against L.A. right-hander Bud Norris.
Matt Moore came within one out of a no-hitter in his Giants debut in a 4-0 win over the Dodgers.
Illinois State women’s soccer fell 2-1 at home to Marquette.
Illinois State volleyball opens the season tonight at Number 21 Loyola Marymount. It’s on WJBC.com at 8:30.
It’s time to flip on the Friday night lights as high school football returns tonight. Pontiac hosts Metamora live on 98.9 WJEZ, and on WJBC-AM 1230 the Friday Night Extravaganza features defending Class 2A champion Tri-Valley at Central Catholic with updates from Bloomington at Manual, Urbana at Normal Community, Peoria at Normal West and U-High at Washington. Clifton Central visits Prairie Central and Dwight visits Seneca among other local games.
