Feb 14, 2019 3 min read

Wild Things sign OF

The Wild Things signed outfielder Alexis Rivera for the 2019 season.

Rivera is no stranger to the Frontier League after playing the past two seasons with the Traverse City Beach Bums.

In two seasons as a Beach Bum, Rivera drove in 92 RBI and posted a .247 batting average. His best season came in 2017, when he hit .287 with 10 home runs and a team-leading 59 runs batted in.

Before his time in Traverse City, Rivera played five seasons between the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Angels. The career .273 hitter hit 24 home runs and totaled an impressive 159 RBI. Alexis was a heavily sought after free agent in 2017 after hitting .290 for the Angels’ affiliate in Burlington the summer prior. His extensive professional experience is something that Washington valued, expecting it to positively impact the team on and off the field.

“Rivera showed he can be a formidable hitter in this league when healthy. His 2017 campaign is a reflection of the type of player he is naturally”, said assistant GM Tony Buccilli. “Last season Alexis played through two debilitating injuries. He never was able to fully recover on the DL and his numbers suffered. With his health in order, we expect Rivera to return to an All-Star caliber hitter and a meaningful run producer.”

Daytona qualifiers

Parker Kligerman will be back on TV for the Daytona 500.

He’ll enjoy racing in “The Great American Race” more than he ever could analyzing a Cup race as a pit reporter.

The driver-turned-broadcaster is behind the wheel again, and the 28-year-old Kligerman claimed one of the transfer spots into the 40-car field for Sunday’s race. Kligerman got some late help from fellow Toyota driver Kyle Busch to finish 12th in the first of two Daytona 500 qualifying races Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway.

“I didn’t know how, I didn’t know if we could, but I intended to do it,” Kligerman said.

Kligerman made his only other career Daytona 500 start in 2014 but his career fell into a pattern of fits and starts and Sunday will mark only his 15th career Cup start. The affable Kligerman started working for NBC Sports and landed a gig hosting the car show “Proving Grounds.”

PAC swimming

Kaitlyn Pawcio placed third in the three-meter dives to highlight the performances by the Washington & Jefferson swimming & diving teams on the first day of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships, hosted by Grove City College.

The men’s team currently sits in fourth place with 96 team points while the women rank in fifth place after day one with 79 team points.

Pawcio finished with a score of 395.20 to rank third out of nine competing divers in the event. Elsewhere for the women, the Presidents finished in fifth place in both the 200 Free Relay (1:50.86) and 400 Medley Relay (4:46.94). Jazmin Uhler, Kaitlyn Ewing, Kimber Randolph and Kiera MacWhinnie comprised both relay groups.

On the men’s side, Dean Kralic finished in seventh place in the 500 Free, posting a time of 5:03.66.

Zach Lauer, Andrew Ivory and Colin Higinbotham joined Kralic in the 400 Medley Relay to place fourth with a time of 3:41.21.