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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what's going on around the area:
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Tanner Gordon is, for the moment, the wins leader this season with the Colorado Rockies. The 27-year-old right-hander and Champaign Central graduate improved his record to 5-5 on the season after he helped the Rockies win a 6-1 road game against the Astros on Tuesday night.
➜ 2. Gordon scattered six hits, with Jesus Sanchez driving in the Astros' only run via a solo home run in the bottom of the second, in throwing six innings for his second consecutive start. He walked three and struck out five in his 93-pitch outing.
➜ 3. Expect to see Gordon start again either on Sunday afternoon against the Cubs or on Monday afternoon against the Giants. Both games are at Coors Field in Denver, where Gordon is 4-2 this season.
Numbers game: 10
saves Illinois goalie Izzy Lee has made this season so far, producing three shutouts during the Illini's first three games. Lee, a redshirt junior from Western Springs, can add to her shutout streak at 4 p.m. Thursday when Illinois (3-0) plays at DePaul (2-2). Leisha Alcia has the most shutouts in a season at Illinois when she delivered 12 in 2003, while Alcia in 2004 and Steph Panozzo in 2012 hold the Illini single-season saves record with 111.
Crowd control
Three events I'm paying attention to
➜ 1. Western Illinois at Illinois football. Tickets are still available for Friday night's season opener, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. But Illinois announced on Wednesday its Sept. 13 home game against Western Michigan is sold out.
➜ 2. Illinois vs. South Dakota State volleyball. The Illini will have to feed off their own energy with this 1 p.m. first serve on Friday from the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. And they'll need to play good, too, to get a win. South Dakota State went 27-3 last season.
➜ 3. Springfield at Champaign Central football. The area high school football season starts on Thursday with this 6 p.m. kickoff at Tommy Stewart Field.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with St. Joseph-Ogden senior girls' basketball player Addie Brooks:
➜ 1. Three athletes I'd like to have dinner with are ... Caitlin Clark, Stephen Curry and Charles Barkley.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is ... "Criminal Minds."
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is ... people chomping on their food.