NEU » a milestone for our university. The gam

PITTSBURGH -- All Jimmy Paredes was thinking about was catching the ball. Same with Jake Elmore. Not that concentration helped. Russell Martins bases-loaded fly ball popped out Paredes glove when he ran into the second baseman with two outs in the ninth inning, and the second missed catch of the night by a Houston right fielder helped the Pittsburgh Pirates rally past the Astros 5-4 Friday. "Im anticipating the ball being hit to me, just like I do on every pitch," Paredes said. "All Im thinking about is catching the ball for the third out. Thats all I wanted to do. I was watching the ball and then I hit into him. Sometimes things like that happen in this game, and its frustrating to lose like this." Houston manager Bo Porter said Paredes, who was charged with an error, should have peeled off and let Elmore make the play. Paredes collided with second baseman Jose Altuve on Monday night while chasing a pop fly at Detroit. "Its not a lack of communication, because theres only one person that should be communicating," Porter said. "The infielder is not saying anything. If he gets underneath the ball, the outfielder is running in and hes looking at the infielder. And if the infielder is waving his hands and under the ball, you let him take the ball." That wasnt Houstons only fielding foible. Down 4-1, Pittsburgh started its comeback in the sixth when Chris Carter, usually a designated hitter, dropped Andrew McCutchens fly ball to right for a three-base error and Garrett Jones followed with a double. Pedro Alvarez hit a two-run homer in the eighth, a 462-foot drive that cleared the right-field stands and went into the Allegheny River on one hop. Starling Marte singled off Edgar Gonzalez (0-1) leading off the ninth, and Travis Snider hit into a forceout, with the Astros failing to turn a double play with a late relay throw to first by Elmore. McCutchens single put runners at the corners, and Gonzalez fielded Brandon Inges comebacker and dropped it for an error as he turned to throw to second, missing his chance to start an inning-ending double play. Neil Walker took a called third strike with a full count, and Martin lifted a full-count pitch to short right-centre field, where Elmore settled under the ball and Paredes slammed into him as the ball hit his glove and fell to the field. "In that situation, the crowd is so loud that you cant hear anybody calling for the ball," Elmore said. "We had already let one ball drop, and I didnt want to a second one to fall, too. I was waving my arms, hoping Jimmy would see me, but he had his eye on the ball the whole time." Justin Wilson (4-0) pitched a scoreless ninth as the Pirates (25-17) won for the seventh time in eight games to move a season-high eight games over .500. "This games crazy sometimes," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "The crowd helped us there on the error. They made it tough on the fielders and they created a break for us." McCutchen homered and had three hits for Pittsburgh. Houstons 11-31 start is its worst and matched Miami for the poorest record in the major leagues. Astros starter Jordan Lyles allowed two runs -- one earned -- and four hits in five innings and is 0-4 with a 6.75 ERA in six career starts against Pittsburgh. Pirates starter Jeanmar Gomez gave up four runs -- three earned -- and five hits in 4 2-3 innings. Houston built a 4-1 lead on Jason Castros sacrifice fly in the first and a three-run third that included Matt Dominguezs solo homer, Elmores run-scoring single and a throwing error by Walker at second. McCutchen homered in the first. "Our defence has been one of our strong suits pretty much the whole year," Porter said, "but tonight we did not play good defence and we put ourselves in position where it cost us the ballgame." NOTES: The Pirates placed RHP Jose Contreras on the bereavement list and recalled RHP Jared Hughes from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... Altuve missed his third straight game because of the death of his grandmother and will be activated from the bereavement list prior to Saturday nights game. Elmore likely will be optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma. ... Astros RHP Bud Norris will start Tuesday against Kansas City rather than Sunday against Pittsburgh. He left Mondays start because of lower back spasms while warming up for the sixth inning. RHP Lucas Harrell and LHP Dallas Keuchel both had their turns moved up a day. Harrell will face the Pirates on Sunday and Keuchel will pitch Monday against the Royals. ... LHP Philip Humber accepted an outright assignment to Oklahoma after Houston designated him for assignment last weekend. Humber was 0-8 with a 9.59 ERA in nine games, including seven starts, for the Astros. ... LHP Erik Bedard (0-2, 6.67) will start Saturday night for Houston against RHP A.J. Burnett (3-4, 2Devin Hester Youth Jersey . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. William Perry Womens Jersey . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. https://www.bearssportsgoods.com/Womens-Anthony-Miller-Inverted-Jersey/ . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. David Montgomery Womens Jersey . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. Walter Payton Womens Jersey . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- For No. 25 Miami, simply getting to Appalachian State is going to be a challenge.Winning may prove even tougher.The Hurricanes (2-0) will fly into a regional airport that cant accommodate a full-size jet, so Miami will take a smaller-than-usual plane. As such, some support staff got bumped from the charter for commercial flights. And then theres lodging issues; a long ride awaits the players from the airport to their hotel 20 minutes from Appalachian States campus in Boone, North Carolina, while school officials and cheerleaders will stay even farther away.Those are mere inconveniences.The real test comes Saturday at noon, when the Hurricanes face an upset-capable opponent and what will be a frenzied crowd.When Miamis rolling into town, its always a big game, wherever you go, Hurricanes quarterback Brad Kaaya said. No matter what the Hurricanes are ranked, its always a big game.Make no mistake, this is a very big game to App State (1-1), a team that won 11 games last year and nearly beat Tennessee to open this season.Adult tickets are usually $40 for Mountaineers home games; they were priced at $60 for this one, and theyre going for much more than that on the secondary markets. App State added a standing-room student section that will put some on field level, a premium seating area also at field level, along with another video board.A sellout is certain; every ticket App State had was gone about an hour after they went on sale. Extra planning was done in an effort to figure out how to minimize traffic problems oon game day.dddddddddddd Theres even going to be a pep rally on Friday night with two bands, food trucks and appearances by App State coach Scott Satterfield and some players.Fans have been excited for months. Now App State players can join in the fun.Throughout the offseason, everybodys like, `Man, you play Miami at home, Appalachian State quarterback Taylor Lamb said. And were like, `Yeah, weve got two games before that. ... Now all our focus goes to Miami.Its the first time App State has played host to an opponent from one of college footballs five power conferences, and is something that Satterfield called a milestone for our university. The game was scheduled last year when Miami needed to fill an opening, and the Hurricanes had to agree to head to Boone first to get what will become a home-and-home done.App State is a program that won three straight FCS national titles from 2005 through 2007 -- the last of those championship years starting with an unforgettable win at Michigan.Hurricanes coach Mark Richt said his team wont need any history lessons this week.How can you take this team lightly? How could anybody that knows football take this team lightly? Richt said. We dont even have to say that to our guys. They see the film. They watched them play against Tennessee. They know ... this is a really good football team, everybody knows it, and were geared up to try the best we can to play great that day. ' ' '