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| June 8, 2018 11:58 PM

WSU spring football game

moving back to Pullman

PULLMAN — After being held at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane the past eight years, the annual Crimson and Gray spring football game will move back to Martin Stadium in Pullman in 2019, WSU athletic director Patrick Chun announced.

In conjunction with the 2019 Crimson and Gray Game, Cougar Athletics and WSU Student Affairs will host “Gameday for Mental Health.” This initiative will help provide more information surrounding suicide prevention and mental health awareness.

Tyler Hilinski, a backup quarterback at WSU last year, committed suicide in January.

Initial Indians roster includes

six members of 2017 squad

SPOKANE — The Texas Rangers assigned 23 players to Spokane on Friday for the start of the Northwest League season, which opens Friday, June 15 when the Indians host the Boise Hawks at Avista Stadium.

Six players return from the Indians 2017 roster that won the second half NWL North Division Championship. The returners include pitcher Tai Tiedemann (4-4, 3.43 ERA), starting center fielder Miguel Aparicio (.293, 33 RBIs, 47 runs), NWL home run leader Curtis Terry (.258, 12 HR, 30 RBIs), starting shortstop Cristian Inoa (.213, 4 HR, 31 RBIs), plus infielder Jonah McReynolds and catcher Isaias Quiroz.

Former Gonzaga Bulldog Royce Bolinger returns to Spokane after six years in the Rangers organization. Bolinger is being converted from outfielder to pitcher, with his first step back in Spokane. In 2012, he hit .301 with 26 RBIs as an Indian.

Six players on the 2018 roster were selected by the Texas Rangers in the 2017 MLB Draft. That includes three notable young pitchers in left-hander Hans Crouse (2nd round), right-hander Ryan Dease (4th round), and left-hander Jake Latz (5th round). Crouse is currently rated the Rangers’ No. 4 prospect according to MLB.com. He struck out 30 batters in 20 innings last season in the Arizona League.

The Indians are expecting to receive players from this week’s 2018 MLB Draft, although their arrival time is still to be determined. Last season, Spokane received seven players from the 2017 draft, with only one of the seven coming from high school.

In this year’s draft, 27 of the Rangers’ 40 picks were pitchers, 23 of which were right-handers. With the remaining picks, Texas selected six shortstops, three catchers, three outfielders, and one third baseman.

The Rangers selected five high school players with their first five picks. Most notably, right-hander Cole Winn was picked by Texas in the first round pick (15th overall). Winn sports a 94 mph fastball and was named Colorado’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior in 2017. Some draft experts had Winn listed as a top-five prospect in the entire draft.

Twenty-five of the Rangers’ 40 picks were college players, including right-handers Sean Chandler (6th round) out of Iowa Western Community College and Tim Brennan (7th round) from Saint Joseph’s University. Their first collegiate position player was Arkansas shortstop Jax Biggers (8th round).