Florida State had more than 20 players depart from its roster to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal throughout the offseason. The majority of those former Seminoles found homes across the FBS level.

Following two years in Tallahassee, AJ Duffy was among the players to move on from the program in December. Less than two weeks after hitting the portal, Duffy announced he was transferring to San Diego State to continue his college career. The Aztecs hired former Colorado offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Sean Lewis, to lead the program after Brady Hoke retired following last season.

READ MORE: Robert Griffin III Fired By ESPN Days After Defending Florida State

Duffy was one of two quarterbacks to sign with San Diego State as members of the 2024 class. The other was three-star prospect Danny O’Neil, who previously committed to Lewis while he was with the Buffaloes and was the Aztecs’ highest-rated high school signee.

The pair have been among the players competing for the starting job at San Diego State throughout the spring and fall. It appears that Lewis has come to a decision and Duffy will begin the year as a backup. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, O’Neil has been named the starting quarterback for the program’s upcoming opener against Texas A&M Commerce on August 31.

A major reason Duffy left Florida State was to have a chance at more playing time. He’ll have to stay ready for his shot at San Diego State. The California native certainly has the talent as he was a four-star prospect in the 2022 class who was selected to the Elite 11 Finals and Under Armour All-America Game.

Duffy spent his two years in garnet and gold backing up Jordan Travis, Tate Rodemaker, and Brock Glenn. He saw action in three games in 2022, completing 2/7 for 26 yards with one touchdown while rushing one time for five yards. Duffy was a Seminole Scholar and ACC Honor Roll member.

Nine members of the 2022 class (Duffy, Sam McCall, Bishop Thomas, Antavious Woody, Rodney Hill, Daughry Richardson, Qae’Shon Sapp, Ayobami Tifase, Kanaya Charlton) are no longer with the program less than three years after signing. Over half of the high school prospects from #Tribe22 have moved on from Florida State.

READ MORE: Former FSU Football Star, Super Bowl Champion Signs With Houston Texans

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DENVER — Hitless with a double play and a strikeout in five plate appearances on Friday, Manny Machado was clearly not happy with his first day at Coors Field this series.

He knew exactly what to fix: The approach.

“I had some terrible at-bats,” Machado said after doubling and reaching base five times in Saturday’s 8-3 win over the Rockies. “Not really feeling myself and just really bad at-bats (on Friday). So … coming in here trying to make an adjustment on just putting the ball in play, playing to the field and playing to how this guy (Kyle Freeland) was going to pitch. I’ve faced him for a little bit, so I know how he likes to pitch. I know his strengths and his weaknesses too. Just trying to have good at-bats and be better than I was (Friday).”

And he clearly was.

Friday’s 0-for-5 extended a mini-slump to 2-for-19 but Saturday represented Machado’s third four-hit game of the season and the continuation of his second-half surge that’s matched the Padres’ push up the standings.

While Machado had pushed his OPS to a respectable .742 heading into the All-Star game, he’s hitting .286/.333/.520 for an .854 OPS since the break. Five of his 18 home runs have come in the last 24 games, but the key to getting back on track on Saturday was simply putting the ball in play instead of looking to take advantage of Coors Field’s thin air.

“This guy, in this environment clearly has easy power and can hit the ball out of here, and that can happen, too,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “But he didn’t get caught up in the environment and just took what the game gave him and showed the way for his teammates about the kind of at-bats he wanted to have.

“And man, he just had tremendous at-bats, really professional, winning at-bats.”

A day after serving as the DH, Machado is back in the lineup at third base as the Padres roll out a relative full-strength lineup in search of a franchise record ninth straight series win.

Rubber match in the Rockies 😎 pic.twitter.com/qT3KRP3ip1

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 18, 2024

That means, Jackson Merrill is back in center field after a day off. Luis Arrez is also back after a day off as the first baseman and leadoff hitter, David Peralta remains the right fielder of choice against righties while Fernando Tatis Jr. is on the injured list and Kyle Higashioka will catch Joe Musgrove’s second start off the injured list.

The current stretch of eight straight series wins ties a record set from May to June in 2007, when Rockies manager Bud Black was in his first year as the Padres’ skipper

Sunday’s first pitch is at 12:10 p.m.

The Padres begin the day in sole possession of the NL’s top wild-card spot after the Diamondbacks lost a second straight game.

Here is how Rockies will line up for the series finale:

Today’s #Rockies lineup: pic.twitter.com/tu0hJsbocA

— Jeff Sanders (@sdutSanders) August 18, 2024

Sunday’s pitching matchup

Padres RHP Joe Musgrove (3-4, 5.20 ERA)

He threw 63 pitches over 4⅓ shutout innings on Monday in his first start off the injured list. Musgrove struck out a batter, walked one, hit one and scattered two hits. Musgrove has not faced the Rockies since 2022 (15⅔ IP, 11 ER). He has a 4.50 ERA in 18 career innings at Coors Field.

Here is how he’s fared against current Rockies:

Rockies RHP Bradley Blalock (0-0, 4.05 ERA)

The 23-year-old rookie debuted this year with Brewers — against the Padres (1 IP, BB) — and was traded to the Rockies in July for Nick Mears. He allowed three runs in 5⅔ innings in a start last week in his Rockies debut. Blalock struck out four, did not walk a batter and allowed six hits.

Here are the Padres that Blalock faced earlier this year while with the Brewers:

• RF David Peralta (0-for-1)
• C Luis Campusano (0-for-1)
• SS Ha-Seong Kim (BB)
• INF Luis Arraez (0-for-1)

Originally Published: August 18, 2024 at 10:31 a.m.

Two researchers in an inflatable boat glided out onto Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad Thursday morning looking for eelgrass, an underwater plant that provides a nursery for fish, crabs, shrimp and other sealife.

The boaters, equipped with sonar and diving gear, also were looking for any sign of Caulerpa, an invasive seaweed that can spread rapidly and choke out the native eelgrass. Nicknamed “killer algae,” Caulerpa taxifolia turned up in Carlsbad’s nearby Agua Hedionda Lagoon in 2000 and was eliminated only after an intensive, multi-year, $7 million battle.

Since then, the invader, which may have been dumped from a home aquarium, has been absent along the North County coastline. However, last year, small amounts of a slightly different but equally destructive species, Caulerpa prolifica, were found in San Diego Bay and efforts are underway to eradicate it.

The one-day Carlsbad survey are part of the preparations for replacing the 80-year-old wooden railroad trestle that crosses the lagoon. Construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed in 2028 at a cost of about $165 million. State law requires construction to pause from April 15 to July 31 each year during the California least tern nesting season.

A survey in 2015 showed several dense beds of eelgrass spread between a few sparse areas in the lagoon, said Derek Langsford, an environmental compliance consultant working with the San Diego Association of Governments.

Eelgrass is considered one of nature’s superheroes. One of many species of seagrasses, its long, slippery blades offer shade and camouflage for young fish. Eelgrass anchors shorelines and provides food and habitat for a variety of marine life.

Growth of the perennial plant varies from year to year depending on the weather, rainfall and other factors.

“We’ve had two relatively wet winters,” Langsford said. “That brings more freshwater flowing through the channel of the lagoon. Eelgrass does not like freshwater.”

Storm runoff also brings silt and sediment, which cloud the water and prevent light from reaching the plant for the photosynthesis it needs to survive.

“These lagoons are very sensitive, and they support a bunch of endangered species,” said Sue Scatolini, a biologist at the California Department of Transportation, or CalTrans. “Salt marsh and lagoon habitats are very important.”

More than 200 species of birds have been seen at the lagoon, including the endangered California least tern and the western snowy plover. The shallow water is a breeding ground for biologically and commercially important ocean fish such as halibut and sculpin.

Other than eelgrass, there’s not a lot of vegetation in the lagoon, Scatoline said. Most of the bottom is shallow and sandy, much of it only knee deep at low tide. The deepest part is the channel under the bridge, where the bottom is scoured by the current.

Eelgrass is a flowering underwater plant, not seaweed, that grows in areas from the tidal zone down to about 20 feet deep.

Native Americans collected it for food, roofing, basket weaving, smoking deer meat and as a cure for diarrhea. Early California settlers used it to thatch their roofs, as well as for fuel, bedding and a soil conditioner.

Industries have used eelgrass to make paper, cigars, upholstery and packing materials. However, today state law prohibits its commercial or recreational harvest, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

SANDAG, which oversees the bridge replacement project, will be required to replace any eelgrass that the survey finds growing in the area affected by construction. Should any Caulerpa be discovered, construction could be delayed until the invasive plant is removed.

“We don’t think we will encounter any Caulerpa here,” said Tim Pesce, a senior environmental planner for SANDAG.

The old, single-track railroad bridge is being replaced with a double-track concrete bridge that brings numerous environmental and operational benefits.

The new bridge will be longer with less of a footprint in the water, which will improve tidal flows and water quality in the lagoon. Instead of standing on more than 100 closely spaced wooden posts or piers in the water, the new structure will be supported by concrete piers set 56 feet apart.

Another benefit will be the excavation of about 40,000 cubic yards of sand, Pesce said. The sand will be used to replenish nearby South Ponto Beach and to expand an eroding least tern nesting area near the mouth of the lagoon.

As for operational benefits, a second set of tracks improves the speed and efficiency of service by allowing trains to pass each other.

So far SANDAG has double-tracked about three quarters of the 60-mile corridor from downtown San Diego to the Orange County border. The Batiquitos bridge project will add more than half a mile of double-track, eliminating a bottleneck between Carlsbad and Encinitas.

The bridge project strengthens an important link in the 351-mile Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo, or LOSSAN, rail corridor.

The LOSSAN corridor is San Diego County’s only passenger and freight train connection with Los Angeles and the rest of the United States. It’s also part of the federal Strategic Rail Corridor Network connecting military bases across the country.

Locally, the corridor is used daily by North County Transit District’s Coaster commuter trains, Amtrak passenger service, and BNSF Freight.

Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner makes 13 daily round-trips between San Diego and Los Angles. The Coaster makes 15 daily round-trips between Oceanside and San Diego on Mondays through Thursdays, 16 on Fridays, 11 on Saturdays and nine on Sundays.

Originally Published: August 18, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.