Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
One of these 3 Democrats will replace Rep. Athena Salman at the Arizona Legislature
Democrats in the Tempe area on Tuesday night chose three possible replacements for former state Rep. Athena Salman.
Jevin Hodge, Deborah Nardozzi and Jacob Raiford were chosen by ranked-choice voting from a field of nine candidates during a virtual meeting of the Legislative District 8 Democrats.
The three names now go to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The board members will appoint one of them to fill out Salman’s term, which ends next January. It’s unclear how long it will take the board to make the appointment.
Salman resigned to run Arizona Campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly known as the National Abortion Rights Action League.
Hodge in 2022 was the Democratic nominee for Congressional District 1. He lost narrowly to incumbent U.S. Rep. David Schweikert. In 2020, Hodge also had a closely contested race for Maricopa County supervisor, but lost to Republican Jack Sellers.
He highlighted his background as the son of a single mother who understands the financial and social strains of everyday Arizonans. Hodge touted his endorsement, which included U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Phoenix City Councilwoman Kesha Hodge Washington.
Deborah Nardozzi previously served as chair of a legislative district that ran from central Phoenix eastward to the Salt River Pima Indian Community. Parts of that district were fashioned into the current LD 8 when district lines were redrawn in 2021.
“She wins campaigns,” said LD 8 chairman Steven Jackson, who nominated her. He singled out her work on helping elect Democrats in neighboring LD 9, where Democrats picked up three seats. Those seats are crucial to flipping the Legislature to Democratic control this year, Jackson said.
Nardozzi, citing her campaign and issues involvement, said she is ready to jump into a legislative session that is already underway if selected.
Jacob Raiford is the current first vice chairman of LD 8. He serves as the Arizona representative on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union and, locally, has been active in issues involving police-citizen interactions.
Precinct committee members used ranked-choice voting to narrow the field of nine candidates to three finalists. The process calls for the voters to list the candidates in their order of preference.
District officials did not detail the order in which the three candidates finished, instead displaying them as each having an equal share of the votes cast.
Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.
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In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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