TORONTO - Forgive Max Pentecost if his attentions divided this weekend. The Blue Jays second pick in the first round (11th overall) is competing in this weekends NCAA super regional for his school, Kennesaw State, against the Louisville Cardinals. All the while, he could be days or weeks away from signing a multi-million dollar contract to turn professional and enter Torontos organization. Pentecosts Owls were down a game in a best-of-three heading into action on Saturday night. Hes got business to take care of first but with a draft slot value at just under $2.9-million, the potential is there to strike it rich. Still, when you hear him speak in his southern drawl, its a reminder that the 21-year-old, like everyone his age, is in many ways still a kid. "I cant wait to get out there and go play," said Pentecost. "Theres going to be one day where Im going to have to clean out my locker and putter around home just because my parents had to move me out of my apartment while we were coming to the super regionals." Selected in the seventh round of the 2011 draft by the Texas Rangers, Pentecost chose not to sign when the Rangers included a 90-day clause in the contract offer, a shield against a recurring injury he suffered in high school. In Pentecosts sophomore year at Winder-Barrow High School near Atlanta, he suffered a stress fracture of his olecranon, which is the bony point of the elbow. He was prescribed rest and rehabilitation. It didnt work and the injury recurred during his junior year. Another season of rest and rehab didnt work and Pentecost suffered the injury a third time in his senior year. He had surgery, two screws were implanted, and there hasnt been an issue since. "I looked at it as I can go to college, work on a degree and if anything I can show them I can play three or four years without the injury recurring," said Pentecost. "I can play healthy and thankfully I was blessed enough to have a good career and improve my stock." His faith in himself has been rewarded. Pentecost has improved as a hitter in each of his three years at Kennesaw State, working a slash line of .423/.483/.631 this season. "I feel that Im more of a hit for average, Im more of a gap to gap, line drive kind of guy," said Pentecost. "I have power but Im not known as a power hitter. You know, it just kind of happens. I feel like I have pretty decent speed for baserunning, for stealing bags. I usually have a pretty good approach, hit offspeed well."Growing up in Georgia, Pentecost admitted he doesnt know much about the city of Toronto. He joked about his time in the Cape Cod League, the collegiate summer circuit in Massachusetts, where he picked up French-language radio stations beaming out of Quebec. It was his time in "The Cape," as its known, when he hit .346/.424/.538 with seven home runs for the Bourne Braves, that Pentecost feels he made his name. "I think thats the only reason I am where I am today," said Pentecost. "Going up there, nobody really knew who I was or had never even heard of Kennesaw State. So going up there I felt like I was really going to have to prove myself and prove my game just to prove who I am. I made a lot of changes to my game, really played hard, enjoyed it. The overall experience was, I mean, it was just a blast." Pentecost cites Jason Kendall and, more recently, Buster Posey as players hes looked up to. He considers himself a versatile athlete; if the catching thing doesnt work out, he could play a corner infield position or in the outfield. First things first, Pentecosts got a game to win on Saturday night. Hell worry about becoming a millionaire later, although getting the draft out of the way will help him relax. "Its a huge weight off my shoulders," he said. SANTOS UPDATE Sergio Santos will throw a bullpen session in Toronto on Sunday. If all goes well, hell report to Single-A Dunedin on Monday. The plan, Santos says, is to throw an inning each on Tuesday and Thursday. Hes hopeful of being activated off the disabled list late next week and of meeting the team in Baltimore.
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http://www.officialjazzproauthentic.com ... zz-Jersey/. Two-time Olympic bronze medallists Savchenko and Szolkowy received 79.02 points to finish ahead of world bronze medallists Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada, who had 77.01 points.
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Swingman Rudy Gobert Jersey . Consider it received. Attacking on offence early and often, the Penguins topped the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Saturday night as Jussi Jokinen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to help give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference playoff series.Mason gets the Flyers to even, Toews lifts the Blackhawks to another OT win and Getzlafs return helps Ducks pull away from the Stars. Also, notes on Richards, Leddy, Horcoff and more. FREE MASON Steve Mason, making his first start of the playoffs, stopped 37 of 38 New York Rangers shots to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 win in Game Four, evening the series at two games apiece. It was the first postseason win in six career playoff appearances for Mason, who last started April 12 when he suffered an upper-body injury. The Flyers defence had some possession extremes. The pairing of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen were on for better than two-thirds of the 5-on-5 shot attempts, while the duo of Andrew MacDonald and Luke Schenn were at the other end of the spectrum. Rangers C Brad Richards had all kinds of opportunities, generating a playoff-high 14 shot attempts, but their only goal was scored by Dominic Moore early in the first period. Flyers D Nicklas Grossman was forced to leave early after suffering a lower-body injury. If hes not able to get back in the lineup for Game Five, then Erik Gustafsson or Hal Gill will be available to join the lineup. Now that the series is even, the goaltending battle between Mason and Henrik Lundqvist will be in the spotlight. That figures to be an advantage for the Rangers, but it wasnt in Game Four. CAPTAIN SERIOUS WITH THE WINNER After Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane pulled the trigger on the overtime winner in Game Four, Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews managed the feat, with a backhand deke on a breakaway to win the game in OT. Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa had a strong game, scoring his first goal of the series and registering a game-high seven shots on goal. Blues C David Backes, who missed the past two games with a concussion, returned to the St. Louis lineup and had a game-high eight hits in 21:35 of ice time. Blackhawks D Brent Seabrook, suspended three games for knocking out Backes, is due to return for Game Six. His replacement, Sheldon Brookbank, has chipped in a couple of assists in three games, but has struggled in terms of puck possession. Over the past two games, Blackhawks D Nick Leddy has been on for 41 shot attempts for and 12 against (77.4%) at 5-on-5. 61.8% for the series.dddddddddddd In a series that is so close that there is a five shot attempt difference between the teams at even strength, Leddys doing his part to win his matchups. Losing back-to-back overtime games is tough for the Blues, who now have to find a way to win back-to-back games, starting with Game Six in Chicago. DUCKS TAKE FLIGHT The Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks were engaged in a competitive game, with the Ducks holding a one-goal lead entering the third period, before the Ducks broke the game open with three goals in the first seven minutes of the third period, wrapping up a 6-2 in in Game Five. The big news for the Ducks was that C Ryan Getzlaf returned to the lineup, after missing Game Four, and recorded a goal and two assists to lead the way. Getzlafs linemate, Corey Perry, also contributed a goal and two assists. Ducks G Frederik Andersen, who was pulled from Game Four, responded with a strong effort, stopping 34 of 36 shots by the Stars. At the other end, Stars G Kari Lehtonen was pulled after surrendering five goals on 21 shots, giving way to Tim Thomas, who stopped one of the two shots he faced in the final 14:38 of the third period. Stars D Brenden Dillon appeared in his first game in two weeks and played 20:18, but he struggled at times, and finished with Dallas worst possession stats for the game. One positive to take from the game for Dallas is that LW Jamie Benn was a force, scoring a shorthanded goal and creating a bunch of chances. Also, C Tyler Seguin was firing shots as the Stars attempted to come back, finishing with 13 shot attempts, eight of which ended up on net. Through the first five games Benn, with five points, is tied with veteran C Shawn Horcoff for the Stars playoff scoring lead. For Anaheim, its Getzlaf, who has seven points in four games in this series. The Stars have lost some lopsided games in the series, but have solid enough possession stats to feel like they are still in this series. If they can hold serve at home in Game Six, that will set up an interesting winner-take-all matchup in Game Seven. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook.
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