DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WESH) – A search is underway in Daytona Beach for a driver who took off after running over and killing a toddler, police say. Officials with the Daytona Beach Police Department said the child was struck near North Charles Street in Daytona Beach. Police said it appears the driver was backing out […]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – At least one person was injured in a crash involving a motorcycle and another vehicle in St. Petersburg, according to police. The crash occurred on 8th Avenue South and 49th Street Friday morning. Police said 49th Street South will be closed in both directions between 8th and 10th Avenues until […]

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports Durham’s recently added infielders — Lucius Fox and Kevin Padlo — contributed to the offense Thursday. I’m not sure if Lucius Fox’s promotion to Durham is temporary while Jake Cronenworth is sidelined or a longterm move, but I’d lean toward the latter. His performance with Montgomery wasn’t great — he batted just .224 — but like with Jesus Sanchez, 100 or so games at a level may be enough for them to feel he’s ready for the next level. Triple-A Durham Bulls (58-40) Durham was topped by Toledo, 8-5. The Mud Hens scored three in the first, but the Bulls tied the game in the seventh. Toledo immediately answered with three in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good. Aaron Slegers was charged with four runs in 6 1?3 innings. 3B Matt Duffy: 4-for-5, 1 RLF Joe McCarthy: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K (.795)RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 2B (.798)SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-4, 2 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 2 K (.800) RHP Aaron Slegers: 6 1?3 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (6.45)RHP Ian Gibaut: 5 BF, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K (3.48) Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (17-10) Taylor Walls’ first Double-A home run wasn’t enough in Montgomery’s 6-4 loss to Jackson. He reached base four times, had two extra-base hits, and stole a base, but the rest of the Biscuits only had four hits. Matt Krook opened with 1 1?3 scoreless innings, and Riley O’Brien allowed two runs in in 3 2?3 innings. 2B Vidal Brujan: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB (.781)SS Taylor Walls: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB (.727)CF Josh Lowe: 1-for-5, 1 2B, 3 K (.758) LHP Matt Krook: 1 1?3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (3.79)RHP Riley O’Brien: 3 2?3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K (3.93) Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (22-6) Charlotte’s six, first-inning runs weren’t enough in a 9-8 loss to St. Lucie. Wander Franco and Ronaldo Hernandez’s back-to-back RBI doubles started the scoring, and Hernandez later stole home on a double steal. The Mets tied the game at six, but the Stone Crabs went back in front on back-to-back homers by Kaleo Johnson and Moises Gomez. St. Lucie then scored the next three runs to take its first lead. Michael Plassmeyer had a rare rough outing, getting charged with six runs — four earned — in 3 1?3 innings. SS Wander Franco: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K (1.015)C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 SB (.726)LF Moises Gomez: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (.661)CF Garrett Whitley: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS (.738)1B Kaleo Johnson: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (.642) LHP Michael Plassmeyer: 3 1?3 IP, 8 H, 6 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 0 K (2.74) Charlotte’s site offers this recap. Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (17-9) Bowling Green was shut out by Kane County, 6-0. The Hot Rods were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base. Miller Hogan was charged with three runs in four innings. C Chris Betts: 2-for-4, 1 K (.763) RHP Miller Hogan: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (3.48) Bowling Green’s site offers this recap. Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (17-14) Hudson Valley was edged by Brooklyn, 3-1, in Game 1 of their doubleheader. Jacson McGowan’s two-run homer accounted for all of the Renegades’ offense. Edisson Gonzalez had another nice start, striking out six and allowing two runs in 5 2?3 innings. The Renegades split the doubleheader with a walk-off 7-6 win. The Cyclones scored six in the third to erase Hudson Valley’s 3-0 lead, but the Renegades scored four unanswered runs. In the seventh, Luis Trevino’s RBI single tied the game, and after a wild pitch and intentional walk to load the bases, Mason Mallard delivered the winning hit. John Doxakis was charged with a run in 2 1?3 innings. 1B Jacson McGowan (1): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.701)SS Nick Sogard (2): 2-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.688) RHP Edisson Gonzalez (1): 5 2?3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (3.82)LHP John Doxakis (2): 2 1?3 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (3.38) Rookie Princeton Rays (14-15) Princeton rolled to an 8-2 win over Kingsport. The Rays led 7-0 through four innings. Luis Leon hit a solo home run in the first. They scored three in the second and two in the third, and in the fourth, Leon hit an RBI single. With the early run support, Taj Bradley had a great start, striking out six in five scoreless innings. CF Nick Schnell: 0-for-4, 1 BB (.721)DH Luis Leon: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.939)3B Gionti Turner: 3-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB, 1 HBP (.891) RHP Taj Bradley: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (3.24) Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (10-9) The GCL Rays were off. CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES Friday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com) Durham @ Indianapolis 7:15 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)TBA vs. Alex McRae (6-6, 5.03) Montgomery vs. Jackson 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)TBA vs. TBA Charlotte vs. Dunedin 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)TBA vs. TBA Bowling Green @ Kane County 7:30 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)TBA vs. Adrian Del Moral (1-1, 2.40) Hudson Valley vs. Brooklyn 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)TBA vs. TBA Princeton vs. Kingsport 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)TBA vs. Nate Peden (0-1, 5.16) GCL Rays vs. GCL Braves 10 a.m. DOUBLEHEADER Both games will be seven innings. *Listed as TBA on milb.com Scouting the opposition Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh)48-48 (2nd in IL West)Offense: 434 R (14th) .750 OPS (13th)Pitching: 4.88 ERA (7th) 1.44 WHIP (6th)Top-30 prospects: 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (1), RHP Mitch Keller (2), SS Cole Tucker (4), 2B Kevin Kramer (8), 1B Will Craig (11), OF Jason Martin (20), RHP JT Brubaker (22) Jackson Generals (Arizona)15-9 (2nd in SL North)Offense: 432 R (1st) .727 OPS (1st)Pitching: 3.52 ERA (5th) 1.28 WHIP (5th)Top-30 prospects: SS Jazz Chisholm (1), C Daulton Varsho (3), 1B Pavin Smith (17), 3B Drew Ellis (21), C Dominic Miroglio (23), RHP Emilio Vargas (25) Dunedin Blue Jays18-11Offense: 452 R (1st) .720 OPS (1st)Pitching: 3.18 ERA (3rd) 1.21 WHIP (2nd)Top-30 prospects: C Alejandro Kirk (6), OF Ryan Noda (14), OF Cal Stevenson (16), RHP Joey Murray (28) Kane County Cougars (Arizona)18-8 (T-1st in MWL West)Offense: 416 R (4th) .698 OPS (5th)Pitching: 2.79 ERA (1st) 1.19 WHIP (2nd)Top-30 prospects: SS Geraldo Perdomo (5), OF Alek Thomas (8), SS Blaze Alexander (10), RHP Matt Tabor (14), RHP Ryan Weiss (18), 3B Buddy Kennedy (19), RHP Jackson Goddard (28), OF Dominic Fletcher Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)18-13 (1st in NYPL McNamara)Offense: 118 R (11th) .649 OPS (8th)Pitching: 3.35 ERA (7th) 1.11 WHIP (2nd)Top-30 prospects: None Kingsport Mets14-15 (3rd in AL West)Offense: 125 R (8th) .693 OPS (7th)Pitching: 4.20 ERA (5th) 1.36 WHIP (5th)Top-30 prospects: C Francisco Alvarez (12), RHP Junior Santos (25), 3B Brett Baty GCL Braves7-9 (4th in GCL South)Offense: 68 R (16th) .617 OPS (15th)Pitching: 4.30 ERA (12th) 1.48 WHIP (12th)Top-30 prospects: OF Michael Harris Daily news and links At Baseball America, Ben Badler reported that MLB wants to implement an international draft as soon as possible. On a recent podcast, the MLB.com prospect team discussed something that’s discussed here every time Brendan McKay has a good start. pic.twitter.com/o614UMDzfP— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 18, 2019

Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images/NHLI To no one’s surprise, Ron Francis gets the GM job in Seattle. The Bolts Geo took a look at the Lightning and Canadiens swapping Jonathan Drouin for Mikhail Sergachev two years later. This is a fun article for Lightning fans to read. Not so fun for Canadiens fans to read. Some Habs fans will certainly point to Drouin’s point production and say, “See! He’s valuable!” And that’s true, he does provide some value there. He’s a good playmaker. And he probably should be a better shooter than the 8.8% shooting he’s put up the past two seasons with Montreal. But so much of his point production comes on the power play. That production just doesn’t make up for his shortcomings at even strength as he neither drives play offensively or defends well enough for his scoring to overcome. In other Mikhail Sergachev news, he seems to be enjoying living close to the beach. New hobby ??? pic.twitter.com/bo2yHXb50r— Mikhail Sergachev (@sergachev31) July 18, 2019 Sammy Walker is becoming a fan favorite among the Lightning’s prospects. A late round pick who flashed some offensive skill in his freshman year in the NCAA, Walker looks like he has a chance to outperform his draft slot. Here’s a chance to get a look at how he spent his days during Development Camp last month. A day in the #BoltsDevCamp life with @walker_sammy10?Sign us up! ?? pic.twitter.com/wmRv0dMh9g— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 18, 2019 The Prospects Alexander Kuqali isn’t really a prospect but he does play for the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate in Orlando and he sat down for an interview with the team. I really enjoyed my time from January on, because the organization and all of its staff take great care of us, not just on the ice but away from the rink as well. I felt really cared about on all fronts, and everyone here wants the best for us as players and people. Everyone here is trying to help you be better. I have a really good relationship with Drake, so it made it easy when I decided I wanted to continue playing, and there was no question I wanted to come back to Orlando. The Game As expected, the Seattle expansion team officially named Ron Francis as the team’s first General manager yesterday. The news leaked out several days so the press conference was more about building up the hype than breaking any news. After a Hall of Fame playing career, Francis worked his way up in the Carolina Hurricanes organization. He took on roles in player development, scouting, coaching and operations over 12 years. He was named General Manager in 2014. Long-time Carolina GM Jim Rutherford spotted Francis’ potential during the new Seattle GM’s playing days: “His credibility and leadership qualities were apparent to players, coaches and management,” said Rutherford this week. Greg Wyshynski wrote his thoughts on the hiring at ESPN. Look, no matter how much Listerine one gargles, it’s hard to get rid of the rancidness of four losing seasons or seeing Scott Darling as his solution in goal -- a devastating story on a personal level, but an undeniable managerial misstep in handing the crease to an unproven commodity on a four-year deal with trade protection. He bet big, and lost, and that signing came to define Francis’ tenure in Raleigh.