REGIONAL BRIEFS: Meet the Sox scheduled for Monday night

Bristol Herald Courier Staff Reports
Published: June 16, 2008

Bristol Herald Courier
The annual “Meet the Sox” night is set for tonight at DeVault Stadium, giving fans the chance to meet members of the Bristol White Sox.
The meet-and-greet event is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and an autograph and photo session will be held as fans can interact with the players and coaches who comprise the rookie-league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
A blood drive, sponsored by Marsh and the BriSox, will be held from 4-6:30 p.m. on Monday. Free t-shirts will be distributed to anyone who donates blood during the drive.
Bristol went 25-43 last season and finished fourth in the Appy League’s West Division. Bobby Thigpen returns for his second season as BriSox manager.
The team opens the season on Tuesday at home against the Johnson City Cardinals.

Belcher keeps streak
Virginia High graduate Tyler Belcher extended his hitting streak to seven games on Sunday for the Low-Class A Greensboro (N.C.) Grasshoppers in their 1-6 loss to the West Virginia Power.
Belcher went 1-for-5 with a single and also scored a run. He is hitting .241 for Greensboro, a Florida Marlins farm team.

WRESTLING
Schwab qualifies
Former Virginia Tech assistant wrestling coach Doug Schwab is headed to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

The 30-year-old Schwab qualified for the Olympic freestyle team at 145 ½ pounds during Saturday’s U.S. Olympic wrestling trials in Las Vegas.
Schwab posted two wins over Bill Zadick on Saturda, rallying for a win in the third period of the second match to clinch his Olympic bid.

Schwab spent time in Blacksburg as Tech’s assistant coach from 2005-2006 and is currently an assistant at the University of Iowa, his alma mater. A native of Osage, Iowa, Schwab was a NCAA champion in 1999 and later earned most outstanding wrestling honors during the only season of Real Pro Wrestling.

FOOTBALL
Walls boots field goal
Alex Walls, a former star at Virginia High and the University of Tennessee, booted a field goal on Saturday night for the Stockton Lightning in their 51-29 loss to the Central Valley Coyotes in an Arena Football League2 contest.

Walls connected on a 36-yard field goal with 10:44 left to give Stockton a 3-0 lead. Walls was 2-of-4 on extra points in the loss.

In 11 games for Stockton (2-9) this season, Walls is 4-of-9 on the field goal attempts and 37-of-46 on extra points. AFL2 is the developmental league for the Arena Football League.