Busy Saturday for WSU alumni

Good morning Coug fans. As I write this, we're just 53 days from college football, and 55 days from Cougar football. This weekend, however, belongs to Cougar alumni on the basketball court and baseball diamond.

The biggest WSU story on Saturday was in Major League Baseball, where WSU alum Adam Conley was called up for a spot start with the Florida Marlins. So far this season, Conley has been tearing up Triple-A with the New Orleans Zephyrs, posting an 8-2 record with a 2.33 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. Those numbers earned Conley a start in the Pacific Coast League All-Star Game.

With little time to prepare, given the fact that Conley had to find his way from Round Rock, Texas to Miami, Conley showed pretty well. He went five innings, surrendering two earned runs on five hits, walking two and striking out two. He did get a lot of run support, but all in all, he performed quite admirably for somebody starting for the first time in the big leagues.

For Conley, and anybody else, the call-up was a pleasant surprise.

"This is a nice wrinkle in the plans," Conley said. "If something's going to get in the way of the All-Star Game this is what you want. I found out yesterday afternoon, booked me a flight as soon as they could. I was in Round Rock with Triple-A. Just found out and all you can do is prepare.

Here is some additional video with Conley's postgame thoughts. Congratulations, Adam. Hopefully it's just the first of many victories.

Over on the basketball court, Brock Motum began the final stage of summer basketball, as the Las Vegas Summer League opened play Saturday. Motum's Jazz took on the Miami Heat, losing 82-79. Motum came off the bench and logged nearly 20 minutes. He scored nine points on 4-6 shooting, grabbed five rebounds and had one assist. I'm not sure what the smarter basketball-types think of plus/minus, but if it's important, Brock could stand to improve. He had the worst plus/minus on the team Saturday (by far) at -17. The Jazz take the court again Monday against Minnesota.

Reggie Moore and his Grantland team had a pretty good debut in The Basketball Tournament Saturday, cruising to a 93-63 win. Reggie paced top-seeded Grantland with 26 points, hitting seven three-pointers along the way. The result undoubtedly made Grantland superfan Michael Rapaport happy. Reggie and his teammates face 7Outz (seriously, I love some of these team names) and St. Mary's alum Paul Marigney on Sunday.

Baseball

Spot start call-up a pleasant change to Adam Conley's plans | FOX Sports
Until receiving notification on Friday afternoon that he would be called up to pitch Saturday's game for the Miami Marlins, left-hander Adam Conley looked forward to his upcoming start for Triple-A New Orleans as well as the Pacific Coast League All-Star Game.

Football

WSU safety producing four-part series: The Grind | The Spokesman-Review
Washington State safety Taylor Taliulu is producing a four-part YouTube series called The Grind. The first edition is a highlight video, mostly from the Oregon, OSU and Utah games.

Beer

The 10 Best New Craft Beers of 2015 (So Far)
I can personally vouch for Grapefruit Sculpin IPA. It is tree-mendous. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on Nooner, since I haven't tried it. I'm not sure why, but I don't really gravitate toward Sierra Nevada products.

Non-Sports

Nicholas Winton, Rescuer of 669 Children From Holocaust, Dies at 106 - The New York Times
A London stockbroker in 1938, he rescued the youngsters from Czechoslovakia but then said nothing about his deeds for 50 years.