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Dre’lon Miller, a four-star wide receiver, committed to Colorado on Sunday, adding to the Buffaloes’ rebound on the 2024 recruiting trail under coach Deion Sanders.

“Just the relationship [with Sanders],” Miller told ESPN about what stood out most. “And I felt the connection instantly. You know, I feel like that was God giving me the sign.”

Miller (No. 85 in the 2024 ESPN 300), who went on an official visit to Colorado last weekend, is the second ESPN 300 prospect to commit to the program since Thursday, when five-star offensive tackle Jordan Seaton (No. 19 overall in 2024) committed.

Seaton and Miller give Sanders and his staff a much-needed boost with the early signing period looming Dec. 20. Athlete Aaron Butler (No. 70 overall in 2024), wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. (No. 87 in 2025 ESPN 300, and quarterbacks Danny O’Neil (2024) and Antwann Hill Jr. (No. 46 in 2025 ESPN 300) all decommitted from the Buffaloes since early November.

The addition of Miller, who had initially committed to Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M on June 29 before eventually decommitting in mid-October, is important because it comes less than 24 hours after Butler decommitted after pledging in May to Sanders, his father, Robb-Davon’s, former teammate with the Baltimore Ravens.

Miller, at 6-foot and 205 pounds, had a solid senior season for Silsbee High School (Texas), catching 52 passes for 1,010 yards and 11 touchdowns in 13 games. That followed a junior campaign when he had 59 receptions for 1,399 yards and 21 scores in 14 games.

He’ll provide quarterback Shedeur Sanders another prominent target to go along with Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn.

“I feel like I’ll be a good part of their offense,” Miller said. “Just get the ball in my hands to make plays, open up other receivers like Travis and Jimmy and have an explosive offense with the best quarterback.”

Miller added that he spoke to quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son, on Sunday morning.

“He was just congratulating me and let me know to get ready. ‘This thing about to be fun,”’ Miller said of Shedeur Sanders’ message.

The season-opening road upset of TCU highlighted a 3-0 start for Deion Sanders’ tenure. But Colorado (4-8, 1-8 Pac-12) lost eight of its final nine games, and now heads back to the new look, highly competitive Big 12, a league the Buffaloes played in from 1948 (known then as the Big Eight) through 2010.

The Buffaloes’ offense finished 80th in the FBS and ninth in the Pac-12 with 363.6 yards per game while their offense ended the year 59th in the country at 28.2 points a game (eighth in the Pac-12).

After decommitting from Texas A&M, Miller visited LSU last month and took trips to Miami and USC in June. The Aggies replaced Fisher with former Duke coach Mike Elko last month.

“I had the feeling that the coach was going to change,” Miller said of his decision to alter course in October. “I love Jimbo to death and I love Coach Elko, too. But he wasn’t Jimbo Fisher for me.

“Honestly, [my visit to Boulder] gave me that feeling. I went to a lot of visits and a lot of places. I had the feeling, but this visit just gave me the feeling like in my heart that this was the one. Me and my family talked about it. They had the same feeling. They went on every visit with me and we just realized that this was the school for me and my family.”

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hit two homers in an 11-5 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, emphatically ending the three-time MVP’s longest homer drought since joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with his 24th homer, hammering Landen Roupp‘s fourth pitch 419 feet deep into the right-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 110.3 mph.

The slugger had been in a 10-game homer drought since June 2, going 10-for-40 in that stretch with no RBIs, although he still had an eight-game hitting streak during his power outage.

Ohtani led off the sixth with his 25th homer, sending Tristan Beck‘s breaking ball outside the strike zone into the bleachers in right. He also moved one homer behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the overall major league lead.

Dodgers fans brought him home with a standing ovation as Ohtani produced his third multihomer game of the season and the 22nd of his career.

Ohtani reached base four times and scored three runs in his first four at-bats, drawing two walks to go with his two homers.

Ohtani hadn’t played in 10 straight games without hitting a homer since 2023 in the final 10 games of his six-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani had slowed down a bit over the past two weeks after he was named the NL Player of the Month for May with a formidable performance, racking up 15 homers and 28 RBIs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dobbins’ second win over Yanks caps ‘fun’ week

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Dobbins' second win over Yanks caps 'fun' week

BOSTON — Hunter Dobbins had quite the week.

First, he said last weekend that he would rather retire than pitch for the Yankees because his father was drafted by New York twice before being traded.

Then, he went out and beat the Yankees.

A few days after his comments about never wanting to pitch for New York, he had to defend his dad’s story about being drafted by the Yankees in response to a New York Post article that cited multiple official databases and the Yankees’ own records that couldn’t confirm Lance Dobbins ever played with the organization.

On Saturday night, Dobbins (4-1) followed up by going six shutout innings in Boston’s 4-3 victory over New York, his second win over the Yankees in less than a week.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m more worried about just the win column, whether it’s against them or anybody. My job is to try and help this team win as many ballgames as we can, and pitch in meaningful playoff baseball games. That’s what I’m more focused on.”

But he realizes what it means to the fan base in this longtime rivalry, with the Red Sox fans heard chanting about the Yankees outside the park before he spoke in an interview room.

“Yeah, I love being able to perform and get those wins for the fans here,” he said. “They deserve it. It’s a great city, passionate fan base, so being able to get those wins — especially twice in one week — means a lot and looking forward to trying to build on that going forward.”

In his victory over New York last Sunday, Dobbins held the Yankees to three runs over five innings, two on a first-inning homer by Aaron Judge.

On Saturday night, Judge went 0-for-3 against him, striking out twice on curveballs.

“It was just kind of scouting,” Dobbins said of his game plan against New York’s slugger after Garrett Crochet struck him out three times in the series opener Friday.

“Crochet has an electric fastball. I can throw it hard, but the shape isn’t quite as elite,” he said. “So we knew we had better weapons to go at him with, so I felt like we did a good job of kind of keeping a balanced attack throughout the order.”

Dobbins struck out five and gave up only two singles Saturday.

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

ATLANTA — Kyle Farmer just shrugged when asked about being part of a Colorado Rockies team that has the fewest wins through 70 games since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

“We don’t care,” Farmer said after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves left Colorado with a 13-57 record.

The Rockies have the fourth-fewest wins by any team through their first 70 decisions in a season in MLB history, and the fewest since the 1899 Spiders won 12 of their first 70 decisions. Colorado (.186 win percentage) is currently on pace to go 30-132 this season.

“I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Farmer said. “It is what it is. We’ve just got to show up tomorrow and play. There’s nothing you can really say about it except that if it happens, it happens.”

The Rockies made more inglorious history by setting a franchise nine-inning record with 19 strikeouts. That’s a lot of futility for one team to absorb in one day.

The 19 strikeouts by Braves pitchers also set an Atlanta record for a nine-inning game. Spencer Strider recorded 13 strikeouts in six innings, followed by relievers Rafael Montero and Dylan Lee, who combined for six more whiffs.

The only bright spot for the Rockies was the encouraging start by rookie right-hander Chase Dollander, a native of Evans, Georgia, who allowed four runs, three earned, in six innings.

The Rockies have 10 fewer wins than the Chicago White Sox, who have the second-worst record in the majors at 23-48.

Dollander said “just having a neutral mindset” is the key to remaining positive through a season already filled with low points for the team.

“Don’t ride the roller coaster,” Dollander said. “You know, there’s going to be lots of ups and downs in this game. This game is really hard. So it’s just, you know, staying neutral and we just keep going.”

Dollander was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 summer draft. Among other top young players on the team are catcher Hunter Goodman, who might return to Atlanta for the All-Star Game on July 15, and outfielders Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle.

“You know we’re going to have our time,” Dollander said. “I mean, it’s just one of those things that you kind of learn as you go. I’ve been very fortunate to be here for a little bit now, and I can help us going forward.”

The 34-year-old Farmer said one of his jobs is to help the younger players endure the losses.

“For sure, keeping guys accountable and teaching them the right way to do stuff,” said Farmer, the first baseman whose double off Strider was one of only four hits for the Rockies.

“Keeping their heads up and they’ve got to show up each day and play, no matter our record. It’s your job and you worked your whole life to get here. Enjoy it. This is a great opportunity for a young guy to show what they can do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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