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Alvarez finalizes retirement plans from UW (AUDIO)

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Barry Alvarez

Barry Alvarez announced his retirement during a celebration in Madison on Tuesday, making official what had been reported by various media outlets in the past two weeks.

Alvarez has been at the University of Wisconsin for nearly 32 years, including the final 18 as the school’s Director of Athletics and will officially retire on June 30, 2021.

Under his watch, Wisconsin produced 16 National Championship teams and 74 conference regular-season or tournament crowns.  In 2017-18, the 74-year-old Alvarez captured Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year honors.

His impact goes beyond the playing field too.  Alvarez oversaw numerous capital projects and inspired donors to contribute more than $150 million over the past 10 years.  During his tenure, UW Athletics’ endowment to support student-athlete scholarships more than doubled and rose to one of the largest in the Big Ten. [Read more…]

Brewers send Arcia to Atlanta

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The Milwaukee Brewers are going all in on Luis Urias at shortstop, trading Orlando Arcia to the Atlanta Braves for a pair of pitchers on Tuesday.

The Brewers acquired right-handers Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka in the deal, assigning both to the teams Alternate Training Site in Appleton.  The Brewers then replaced Arcia on the roster with veteran reliever Brad Boxberger.

Arcia was hitting .091 through the first four games, starting the team’s last two games at third base.

Arcia hit .260 in the pandemic shortened 2020 season but is a .244 career hitter.  Arcia’s best season came in 2017 when he hit .277 with 15 home runs and 53 RBI.

The 27-year-old Sobotka was a fourth-round draft pick of the Braves in 2014 and has pitched in 50 major-league games since 2018, all in relief.  He is 1-0 with a 5.36 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 47 innings.

The 26-year-old Weigel made his major league debut for the Braves last season, throwing 2/3 of an inning in one relief appearance.  He was a seventh-round pick by Atlanta in 2015 and missed most of the 2018 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  He split the 2019 season at Class AA and AAA, going 6-2 with a 2.73 ERA in 28 games, including 18 starts.

The Brewers originally drafted Weigel out of Oxnard College in the 22nd round of the 2014 draft but were unable to sign him.  The Braves picked him the following year out of the University of Houston.

 

UW Volleyball team awarded the top overall seed in NCAA Tournament

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The Wisconsin women’s volleyball team has been ranked number-one in the country all season long.  Sunday, for the first time in program history, the Badgers earned the top overall seed for the NCAA Tournament.

The tournament was reduced from 64 to 48 teams, giving the top 16 seeds first-round byes.  UW (15-0) gets a first-round bye and will open against either Bowling Green 922-1) or Weber State (18-1) at 6 p.m. on April 15 in Omaha.  Bowling Green and Weber State will meet in the first round at 6 p.m. on April 14.

Five other Big Ten teams were seeded in the top 16.  Minnesota at number-three, Nebraska 5th, Purdue 7th, Ohio State 9th and Penn State 13th.

The Badgers have only lost three sets this season, but they’ve played only three matches since Feb. 22, due to COVID-19 issues [Read more…]

Brewers open their season today, after COVID scare (AUDIO)

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The Milwaukee Brewers will open their 2021 Major League Season this afternoon against the Minnesota Twins (1:10 p.m.) at American Family Field and it comes after a COVID-19 scare.

An unidentified player had a false positive during COVID-19 testing earlier in the day on Wednesday.

“At the time we got it, we did not know it was a false positive, we treated it like a positive,” said President of Baseball Operations David Stearns.  “We went through Major League Baseball’s protocols and we are now confident that it was indeed a false positive.  We went through our entire contract-tracing protocol, went through our quarantine protocol.”

“Out of an abundance of caution and through the recommendation of Major League Baseball, we have gotten all our players re-tested today.  But we don’t anticipate any issues at this point.  We are confident this was a false positive and we’ll have our full complement of players tomorrow.”

Brandon Woodruff will make his second straight opening day start for the Brewers.  Woodruff said the COVID scare brought a [Read more…]

Supreme Court strikes down Governor’s mask order and health declarations

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The State Supreme Court has ruled that Governor Evers cannot keep issuing emergency declarations for COVID-19.

In a 4 to 3 decision, the court ruled on Wednesday that Governor Evers has overstepped his bounds on issuing declarations for the same emergency event past the original 60 day window. After that, the Governor does need to get Legislative approval.

The move would strike down the current health emergency that has served as the basis for statewide mask orders.

The Governor was told to come to the Legislature last year after emergency rules were stuck down the first time by the Court, but his request for a rules extension was immediately dismissed, which led to the repeated orders.

DHS expands vaccine eligibility in Wisconsin to all age 16 and above

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There’s big news, in Wisconsin’s coronavirus vaccination effort. Beginning Monday, everyone age 16 and up will be eligible for a shot.

“This decision to move ahead with everybody really simplifies the whole scenario, for our vaccinators, for our public,” Deputy Health Services Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said on Tuesday. “No more having to sort out if you’re in or if you’re out. It’s time to just move forward and get everybody with a shot in their arm.”

Deputy Health Services Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said DHS felt comfortable with expanding eligibility because the federal government’s estimates of vaccine allotments to Wisconsin have gotten more accurate, and the state has done a good job of vaccinating its initial eligibility groups.

Caufield signs with Montreal Canadiens

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It didn’t take long for Wisconsin sophomore forward Cole Caufield to take the next step.  Just over 24-hours after the Badgers fell to Bemidji State 6-3 in the NCAA’s East Regional opener, the nations leading scorer in goals and points announced he would forego his final two years of collegiate eligibility after signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Caufield was selected 15th overall in the 2019 NHL draft and helped the Badgers win the Big Ten regular-season title with his second straight Big Ten scoring title.  He also helped the Badgers reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.

The Big Ten Player of the Year and Hobey Baker top-10 finalist leads the country with 30 goals and 52 points in 31 games.  He holds a 12-goal advantage over the next closes goal scorer.  He also became the first Badgers since 1990 to tally 30 goals in a season.

Caufield finished out his collegiate career for the Badgers with 11 goals in a six-game goal streak.  He also wrapped up his career with a nine-game point streak that included 13 goals and 19 points.

In addition to his collegiate accolades, Caufield served as an alternate captain for Team USA to help the team capture gold at the 2021 World Junior Championship.

Caufield is expected to join the AHL’s Laval Rockets to start his professional career following a required quarantine period.

Wisconsin A.D. Alvarez expected to announce retirement soon

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Barry Alvarez

University of Wisconsin Barry Alvarez is expected to retire as the schools athletic director.  He’s served in that capacity since 2006 after first coming to Wisconsin in 1990 as the university’s head football coach.

Alvarez went 118-73-4 as head coach at UW from 1990 through 2005, leading the Badgers to three Big Ten titles and three Rose Bowl championships.  He held the dual role of head coach and A.D. from April 1, 2004 through Jan. 2, 2006.

According to Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Alvarez is expected to make his retirement official in the next couple of weeks.  He turned 74 in December.

Chris McIntosh has been the school’s deputy athletic director since July of 2017 and was being groomed as Alvarez’ successor.  But [Read more…]

Shaka Smart Named Head Coach at Marquette

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Wisconsin native Shaka Smart has been named the 18th head coach of the Marquette University men’s basketball program on Friday.  The university will officially Smart during a news conference on Monday.

In 12 seasons as a head coach at Virginia Commonwealth (2009-15) and Texas (2015-21), Smart guided the two programs to a total of eight NCAA Tournament appearances.  Those trips were highlighted by a run to VCU’s first Final Four appearance in 2011.

The 43-year-old Smart owns an overall record of 272-142 (.657) and seven of his first 10 teams played in the NCAA tournament.  He posted a record of 163-56 (.744) at VCU and five trips to the NCAA.  While at Texas, the Longhorns were 109-86 (.559) and made NCAA appearances in 2016, 2018 and 2021.  Texas also claimed the National Invitation Tournament title in 2019.

 

 

Peralta lands fifth starter spot in Brewers rotation (AUDIO)

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Freddy Peralta

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell unveiled his five-man starting pitching rotation on Thursday and Freddy Peralta has landed the spot as the fifth and final starter in that rotation.

Peralta settled into the fifth spot after a solid spring in which he pitched 8 1/3 innings in three appearances with one start.  He struck out 15 hitters, had a 1.08 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP.  In his last appearance, a start against Seattle, he allowed a home run and a walk with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.

“I thought his last start against Seattle was a great example of, he’s pitching like a starting pitcher,” Counsell said.  “The rhythm of the game, the pitches he used, the weapons he had for different hitters, different handed-ness of hitters…just really a complete step up from a couple years ago when he had to rely on the fastball, essentially.”

“He’s worked really hard to get to this place and I think he’s had a great spring.  He’s added things to his game that I think give him a chance of having a great, great season.”

It means Josh Lindblom will start the season pitching out of the bullpen. [Read more…]