First Call: Bill Cowher gives a lot of helium to Payton Wilson; an odd Pirates trend

In our final “First Call” before the Fourth of July, Bill Cowher pumps the tires of a Pittsburgh Steelers rookie. We look at a funky Pirates stat that tells a significant story. Aaron Judge continues to set Major League Baseball on fire.

And the Duquesne Dukes know their draw for the Cayman Islands tournament.

What ‘The Jaw’ saw

Steelers rookie Payton Wilson is drawing high praise from a fellow North Carolina State linebacker.

It’s retired Steelers coach Bill Cowher.

Speaking to Steelers.com on Tuesday, Cowher gushed about Wilson’s potential.

“His athletic ability speaks for itself,” Cowher said of his fellow Wolfpack alum. “It’s off the charts. You see it in his play. Some people run fast, but they don’t play fast. Payton runs fast and he plays fast. He has great cover ability. It’s probably made more for today’s game than back even 10 or 15 years ago, because it’s a very wide-open game. It’s a game of speed, angles and understanding the concepts of football. He has all of that. He’s proven that the last couple of years with his productivity.”

Wilson dealt with his fair share of injuries at Raleigh. But Cowher isn’t projecting that as a problem in Pittsburgh.

“He kept coming back from that. He’s a very resilient young man, very passionate about playing football,” Cowher said. “It’s that combination and getting the opportunity, being in the right system, the right place, he has a great chance to be successful. He’s got to go out there and do that on a week in, week out basis.”

You can read the full interview here.

During minicamp and OTAs, Wilson worked as a subpackage contributor at the inside linebacker position. And, as we chronicled here at “Breakfast With Benz,” he could prove to be a good complement to Patrick Queen in nickel looks or may even be able to handle the dime duties all by himself because of that speed Cowher outlined.

Can that be right?

The Pirates’ 7-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday reset the clock on the team yet again in their elusive quest to win three games in a row.

The Bucs had been coming off a 4-2 win in Atlanta on Sunday. But, as has been the case quite a lot lately, the Pirates were unable to sustain any momentum. The Pirates haven’t won more than two games in a row since they won three in a row May 4-6 against the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels.

To be fair, the Pirates also haven’t lost more than three in a row since then either. Derek Shelton’s team had its longest win streak of the year to open the season at 5-0. Meanwhile, the club dropped six in a row from April 15-21.

On Wednesday, the Pirates will pitch Jared Jones against the Cards. Jones hasn’t thrown since June 22 against Tampa Bay, allowing just two earned runs in seven innings to improve his record to 5-6 with an ERA of 3.66. He had eight strikeouts in that game too.

Jared Jones, Mean 90mph Slider. pic.twitter.com/esOgnueM06

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 22, 2024

The Cardinals counter with Miles Mikolas. The last time he faced the Pirates, Mikolas was locked in a pitchers’ duel with Paul Skenes. He gave up just one hit over seven innings in what would prove to be a 2-1 Pittsburgh win.

But Mikolas was shelled by Cincinnati in his most recent start. The Reds popped him for nine earned runs on 12 hits in 4⅓ innings. That raised Mikolas’ ERA to 5.32 on the season. That was Mikolas’ only loss in June.

More sports

• U mad, bro?: Pre-Fourth fireworks on state of the Penguins, insufficient Pirates, Mike Tomlin's recent fade
• Penguins' 2024-25 schedule released
• Concussion symptoms pause Pirates catcher Henry Davis' rehab assignment

Here comes the Judge

In New York, Aaron Judge is continuing his Triple Crown pace.

The Yankees star slugger went 3 for 4 with a home run and a RBI on Tuesday en route to a 5-4 loss against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Captain crushed that one #AllRise pic.twitter.com/zfgcxXAQKt

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 3, 2024

That means Judge is currently leading the American League in all three Triple Crown categories with 32 homers, 83 RBIs and a .321 batting average. In fact, he is leading all of Major League Baseball in all three categories.

The last person to accomplish the Triple Crown feat was Miguel Cabrera for the Detroit Tigers in 2012 (.330/44/139). In 2022, Judge led the AL with 62 homers and 131 RBIs and was second in batting average at .311.

Luis Arráez of Minnesota won the batting title that year at .316.

Countdown to the Cayman’s

We’ve known for a while that Duquesne is heading to the Cayman Islands for a basketball tournament this fall. The Dukes are taking part in the Cayman Islands Classic from Nov. 24-26 with the likes of Boston College, Boise State, South Dakota State, Missouri State, Old Dominion, Hampton and High Point.

The bracket for the tournament was released Tuesday. Duquesne starts off against South Dakota State at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 24.

The Cayman Islands Classic bracket has been revealed.

Duquesne will open the event against South Dakota State on 11/24 at 1:30 p.m. pic.twitter.com/TMYHh3sRkW

— George Michalowski (@MichalowskiCBB) July 2, 2024

The Jack Rabbits were in the same Omaha pod with Duquesne during last year’s NCAA Tournament. The Dukes won their first-round game in an upset of Boise State while SDSU fell to Iowa State.

Should Dru Joyce’s team win, they’d hook up with the winner of Hampton and Boise State at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 25. The championship game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26.

Boise State also was an NCAA Tournament team a year ago. Boston College was in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and High Point made it to the finals of the CBI.