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STARKVILLE, Ms. — Zach Arnett is a 36-year-old, first-time head coach replacing an icon at Mississippi State, but he’s already shown a willingness to change directions and make the program his own.

Arnett was Mike Leach’s defensive coordinator from 2020 to 2022. In December, he was promoted to head coach shortly after Leach passed away due to complications from a heart condition.

Leach, 61, was a pioneer in coaching. He helped to popularize the now ubiquitous Air Raid offense — a pass-happy style of play that spread the field with multiple receivers.

“Who’s going to duplicate Mike Leach?” Arnett told ESPN on Monday. “There’s no chance in hell.”

Arnett, like so many in the coaching profession, revered Leach for his football acumen, his willingness to push boundaries and his commitment to his craft.

Leach was 158-107 in his three head-coaching stops, including Washington State and Texas Tech. He won AFCA national coach of the year in 2018 at Washington State. He was 19-17 in three seasons at Mississippi State.

Arnett said to even try to imitate Leach would risk coming across as fake.

While pieces of Leach’s offense remain, the Air Raid as Mississippi State knew it is gone under Arnett, who is already 1-0 after leading the Bulldogs to a 19-10 win over Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 2.

The entire offensive staff has changed from a season ago, led by former Appalachian State and Central Michigan offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay, who features a more vertical passing game and more traditional run concepts.

“We’re not running the pure Air Raid that we ran then,” Arnett said. “And I don’t think [Leach] would necessarily have a problem with that because he would want me to run a program that’s in the vision that I see as best fit for its future.”

Bracky Brett, Mississippi State senior deputy athletics director, said the administration took a hands-off approach when they offered Arnett a four-year, $12 million deal in December.

Brett said Arnett was told there would be no interference and, “Total control of the program is on you.”

“And I think he knew he was going to have to make some changes,” Brett said. “He knew as a defensive coach and from being in the conference for three years that maybe [the Air Raid] wasn’t the best way for Mississippi State to do it.”

Helping Arnett and the offensive shift under Barbay is the return of starting quarterback Will Rogers.

A veteran with 33 career starts, Rogers already holds the SEC record for career completions (1,159) and the school record for career passing yards (10,689) and career passing touchdowns (82).

Mississippi State opens the season Sept. 2 at home against Southeastern Louisiana.

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Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

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Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

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Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

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Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

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Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

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Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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