Sports briefs
WVU, Alabama agree to football series
Alabama and West Virginia have agreed to a home-and-home football series with games in 2026 and 2027.
West Virginia made the announcement Friday.
Alabama will play in Morgantown on Sept. 5, 2026. The Mountaineers will play at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Sept. 4, 2027.
The teams have met once before. Alabama beat West Virginia 33-23 in the 2014 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta.
Steelers sign Alualu to 2-year contract
Tyson Alualu is sticking with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers re-signed the defensive lineman to a two-year contract on Friday that will run through the 2020 season.
The 31-year-old Alualu has 61 tackles, with four sacks, in 31 games for the Steelers after signing with the team as a free agent in 2017. The veteran has started seven games for Pittsburgh, providing the defensive line with depth behind Cam Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and Javon Hargrave.
Alualu spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who selected him with the 10th overall pick in the 2010 draft. He has 21½ career sacks and has proven durable during his time in the league, missing just three games across nine seasons.
College baseball
California University swept a season-opening series Friday against Walsh, 9-8 and 5-2, at Wild Things park.
The Vulcans’ sweep was highlighted by a pinch-hit, walk-off single in extra innings of the opener and a complete-game victory by junior Bradyn Kail in the second game.
Cal entered the bottom of the eighth inning trailing 8-6 in the opener before registering three runs on four hits to complete the comeback victory. Senior catcher Kristian Webb opened the inning by belting a solo homer over the left field wall. After a hit by pitch and throwing error, Patrick Brogan delivered a bunt single to bring in pinch-runner Aaron Previsky to tie the game at 8-8. Jacob McCaskey put runners on the corners and stole second, then pinch-hitter Bill Hitman laced a single to left field to drive in the game-winning run.
In the second game, Kail tossed a seven-hitter and struck out three in his second career start.
In the NHL
Coach Scott Gordon says veteran goaltender Brian Elliott will start the Flyers’ Stadium Series outdoor game Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins instead of rookie sensation Carter Hart.
Gordon told Elliott and Hart of his difficult decision before Philadelphia’s outdoor practice under the lights Friday at Lincoln Financial Field. Hart said he was disappointed but hopes to respond and not let it set him back.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired Matt Duchene from the Ottawa Senators on Friday in exchange for a 2019 first-round draft pick and two top prospects, adding a veteran center as they make a push for a playoff spot.
The 28-year-old Duchene, one of the top players available ahead of Monday’s NHL trade deadline, was dealt for forwards Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson. Columbus also got minor league defenseman Julius Bergman hours before the two teams played each other in Ottawa.
Columbus will send an additional 2020 first-round draft pick to Ottawa if it is able to sign Duchene to a contract extension. He will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, as will new Columbus teammates Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky.
- The Washington Capitals upgraded their blue line by acquiring defenseman Nick Jensen from the Detroit Red Wings.
Washington sent a 2020 second-round pick and defenseman Madison Bowey to Detroit for Jensen and a 2019 fifth-round pick. The Capitals then signed the pending unrestricted free agent to a $10 million, four-year extension that carries a $2.5 million salary-cap hit through 2022-23.