hee, Howard, Sr. RB - Tarik Cohen, North Carolina A&T, S

SAN DIEGO - Sometime soon, a baseball will be getting a prominent spot among the trophies on Justin Verlanders mantle. Its the ball he hit up the middle for a single in the second inning Saturday night, the one that will forever shut up his teammates. Verlander had the first two hits of his career and recovered from throwing 31 pitches in the first inning to pitch seven strong innings and lead the Detroit Tigers to a 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night. "It felt great. Its been a long time and I can finally get all these guys off my back ...," Verlander said. Verlander had been 0 for 26 with 15 strikeouts in his career when he stepped in against Ian Kennedy in the second inning and singled up the middle. When the ball came back to Kennedy, he tossed it to a ball boy near the Padres dugout. Home plate umpire Seth Buckminster motioned for the ball boy to throw it to the Tigers dugout. "I think the Padres and probably Ian didnt know that I had never had a hit," Verlander said. "Its been nine years in the big leagues now. They probably werent thinking about that but I sure as heck was. I was watching that ball like a hawk." The last time Verlander had a hit? "High school. Its been a long time," he said. "I guess I have no more leverage," catcher Alex Avila said. "Were all happy for him. It was fun to watch." Verlander cited a list of times when he came close to getting a hit. "I think its kind of been an anomaly that I havent had one yet," he said. "I feel like Ive probably hit five or six hard that have been caught." Verlander singled to right in the fourth, although he had to hustle to avoid being thrown out by Chris Denorfia. "I hit it pretty hard, too. It was a bang-bang play but I beat it out, thank goodness," said Verlander, who eventually scored on Torii Hunters two-run single. The sight of Verlander (1-1) on the mound at Petco Park was another reminder of how the Padres flubbed the top pick in the June 2004 amateur draft. Not wanting to pay a big signing bonus, the team passed on players such as Jered Weaver, Stephen Drew and Verlander in favour of local shortstop Matt Bush. Bush, who signed for $3 million, never reached the big leagues and had numerous off-field problems. In December 2012, he was sentenced to four years and three months in a Florida prison for a drunken driving hit-and-run crash. Verlander was taken by the Tigers with the second pick. He has thrown two no-hitters and came within two outs of a third, won the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in 2011, was voted AL Rookie of the Year in 2006 and is a six-time All-Star. Verlander allowed two runs and eight hits, struck out eight and walked one. He improved to 2-0 against the Padres, having also beaten them at Petco Park in 2008. "Hes a guy who obviously has that power arm when he needs to," San Diegos Yonder Alonso said. "He works his way into the game and if he feels like hes in trouble, hes going to attack. He made some good pitches but we just missed a lot of guys on base." The Tigers had plenty of offence one night after being held to one hit by Andrew Cashner in a 6-0 loss. Austin Jackson hit a two-run double one batter after Miguel Cabrera was intentionally walked to load the bases in the ninth; Hunter, who missed the previous two games with a bruised left knee, hit a two-run single; and Cabrera and Ian Kinsler each had an RBI double. Rajai Davis scored three runs. San Diego got its runs on Jedd Gyorkos sacrifice fly and Yasmani Grandals RBI single. Kennedy (1-2) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked one. NOTES: A candidate in the Padres in-season contest to find a new public address announcer committed a big flub in the first inning. As Cabrera, the two-time AL MVP, walked to the plate, he was announced as Austin Jackson. Cabrera turned and looked up at the booth. Frank Anthony, the Padres PA announcer since Petco Park opened in 2004, was fired in January so the team could hold open tryouts as part of the 10th anniversary of Petco Park. ... The series concludes Sunday when reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (0-0, 1.20 ERA) is scheduled to face Tyson Ross (0-2, 4.35). Wayne Gretzky Jersey . Canadas 5-1 loss to Finland in the semifinal ranks as the tournaments most-watched game with a record 2.7 million viewers, the largest ever for a World Juniors game played outside of North America, and winning Saturday as the most-watched program on Canadian television. Ryan OReilly Jersey . Richard Jefferson scored 17 points and Diante Garrett had a career-high 15 points as the Jazz had seven players with 10 points or more in Utahs largest margin of victory this season. http://www.cheapbluesjerseys.info/customized/. LOUIS -- Russell Martin wanted a better fate for his starting pitcher and helped deliver a happier ending. Brett Hull Jersey . The group of Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Fedorov, & Slava Kozlov were a dominant force for The Wings at one point in the 90s. Brian Sutter Jersey . Phoenix originally signed Barbosa to a 10-day contract on Jan. 8 after Eric Bledsoe injured his knee and then signed him to another 10-day deal.Norfolk, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - Morgan State and South Carolina State had two individual winners each as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football honors were awarded Saturday. Morgan States Lee Hull was named the MEACs coach of the year and Darren Pinnock was selected as the offensive lineman of the year. Tull is a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award which honors the FCS coach of the year. South Carolina State defensive tackle Javon Hargrave earned defensive player of the year honors, while teammate Darius Leonard, a linebacker, was the rookie of the year. The offensive player of the year award was split between Howard quarterback Greg McGhee and North Carolina A&T running back Tarik Cohen. 2014 ALL-MEAC FOOTBALL (As voted on by MEAC head football coaches and sports information directors) FIRST-TEAM OFFENSE QB - Greg McGhee, Howard, Sr. RB - Tarik Cohen, North Carolina A&T, So. RB - Herb Walker Jr., Morgan State, So. WR - Adrian Wilkins, North Carolina Central, R-Jr. WR - Twarn Mixon, HHampton, R-So.dddddddddddd TE - Tammarrick Hemmingway, South Carolina State, R-Jr. C - Ronald Canty, North Carolina A&T, R-Sr. OL - William Ray Robinson III, North Carolina A&T, R-Sr. OL - Darren Pinnock, Morgan State, Sr. OL - Devin Flowers, South Carolina State, Sr. OL - Clevonne Davis, North Carolina Central, Jr. FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE DL - Javon Hargrave, South Carolina State, Jr. DL - Deon King, Norfolk State, Jr. DL - George Riddick, Norfolk State, Sr. DL - LeBranden Richardson, Bethune-Cookman, Sr. LB - Lynden Trail, Norfolk State, R-Sr. LB - DVonte Grant, North Carolina A&T, Sr. LB - Cody Acker, Morgan State, Sr. LB - Ralph Williams, Bethune-Cookman, Sr. DB - Tony McRae, North Carolina A&T, Jr. DB - Donald Mattocks, North Carolina A&T, R-Sr. DB - Michael Jones, North Carolina Central, So. DB - Keenan Lambert, Norfolk State, R-So. P - Christian Kinney, Hampton, R-So. PK - Cody Jones, North Carolina A&T, So. RS - Michael Jones, North Carolina Central, So. ' ' '