Report: Spokane to be affiliated with Dodgers as High-A team

SPOKANE — The Spokane Indians are reportedly going to become a High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as part of broad changes coming to minor league baseball, according to the Orange County Register newspaper in Southern California.

The Indians neither confirmed nor denied the report, and others have said the report is incorrect.

An official announcement was expected on or around Dec. 1, the paper reported.

The Indians have been wildly popular short-season class A affiliate since 1983.

For 14 seasons (1958-71), Spokane was a Triple-A affiliate of the Dodgers. In 1970, an Indians team led by Bill Buckner, Steve Garvey, Bobby Valentine and Davey Lopes went 94-52 in the regular season, winning the Northern Division by 26 games, then sweeping the Hawaii Islanders in four games to capture the Pacific Coast League title.

The Indians released this statement Thursday afternoon:

“To our knowledge, nothing is confirmed and this is the first we’ve heard of this news. If anything becomes finalized, we will share that information. Either way, we are excited about the future of baseball in Spokane.”

Dramatic changes to the minor league system in baseball, including a drastic reduction in teams, have been rumored for quite awhile, for financial reasons.

Zags to be on ESPN channels at least nine times in WCC play

SAN MATEO, Calif. — The West Coast Conference has announced that at least 16 men's basketball conference games involving WCC schools — including at least nine involving the Gonzaga Bulldogs — will air nationally on ESPN Networks this season.

In all, 16 conference games will be showcased on Thursdays and Saturdays on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU during the 2020-21 conference campaign.

There will be five live telecasts of the WCC tournament from Las Vegas: two quarterfinal games (Saturday, March 6, ESPN2), the WCC semifinals (Monday, March 8, ESPN or ESPN2) and the championship game on Tuesday, March 9 (ESPN).

Game times and additional non-conference games televised on ESPN Networks will be released at a later date.

Gonzaga's games scheduled for the ESPN Networks are as follows:

Jan. 2 – San Francisco at Gonzaga

Jan. 14 – Pepperdine at Gonzaga

Jan. 16 – Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s

Jan. 30 – Gonzaga at Pepperdine

Feb. 6 – BYU at Gonzaga

Feb. 13 – Gonzaga at San Francisco

Feb. 18 – Saint Mary’s at Gonzaga

Feb. 20 – San Diego at Gonzaga

Feb. 27 – Gonzaga at BYU

Gonzaga women ranked 20th in USA Today/WBCA coaches poll

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team debuted at No. 20 in the first USA Today/WBCA coaches poll of the 2020-21 season, which was released Thursday.

It’s the third time in program history that the Zags have been ranked in the season debut of the poll; it’s also the second straight season. GU opened the 2019-20 season ranked No. 23 in the same poll.

South Carolina, which the Zags are slated to play Nov. 30 as part of the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls, S.D., grabbed the top spot in the poll with 799 points and 31 first-place votes. Stanford earned the final first-place vote and was ranked second with 740 points, while UConn earned a No. 3 ranking with 732 points, Baylor at No. 4 with 702 points and Louisville at No. 5 with 663 points.

Gonzaga officially opens the 2020-21 season Nov. 28 against Oklahoma at 3 p.m. PST in the first game of the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.