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PITTSBURGH -- The Chicago Cubs will attempt to salvage a game against the charging Pittsburgh Pirates when they meet for the final time before the All-Star break at PNC Park on Sunday afternoon.Chicago (52-35) dropped the series first two games and has lost five straight entering Sunday. Pittsburgh (46-42) is heading in the opposite direction with nine wins in its past 10 games.Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is attempting to keep his teams success in perspective.I think we keep things in the right place, Hurdle said. We werent walking away with our head down and feeling sorry for ourselves after getting beat through June. Were not going to do backflips now. Were going to keep playing. The goal is to meet the demands of the game and play baseball at a very high level. Just take care of things one day at a time.If the Cubs hope to settle themselves before the break, it will have to be against left-handed pitcher Jonathan Niese, who is coming off his best start in about a month, a 4-2 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Independence Day. He had lost his previous four starts and allowed at least four earned runs in each since pitching seven shutout innings in a 6-2 win against the New York Mets on June 7.Despite the improved performance in his last outing, Niese still has work to do in one area. He would do well to go further into Sundays game than he has since that June outing against New York, since hes failed to go more than six innings in each of his past five starts.The Pirates have surged in recent weeks thanks in large part to their resurgent bullpen, which has been taxed by short outings from the starters. Hurdle realizes that and would like to alleviate some of that pressure with solid, lengthy starts.The upcoming All-Star break should also help the bullpen, but Niese could provide it a bit of extra rest with a strong outing against Chicago.Each teams pitching depth will be tested Sunday after heavily exercising their bullpens Saturday. Pirates right-hander Chad Kuhl went just 2 1/3 innings in his third major league start Saturday and Cubs veteran left-hander Jon Lester didnt manage to go much longer, lasting three complete innings.Chicago will counter Niese with left-handed pitcher John Lackey, who has struggled lately, just as the rest of the Cubs have. He allowed six runs, five earned, in a 9-5 loss, his fourth straight, in his last start against the Cincinnati Reds on July 5.Lackey, who has yet to face Pittsburgh this season, went 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA in three starts against the Pirates last season.Cubs manager Joe Maddon is hoping Lackey can propel Chicago to a win before the break for the sake of confidence.Itd be nice, Maddon said. Unfortunately, Ive been part of this before. We lost seven in a row before the All-Star break (with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008) and went to the World Series. Ive lived it. Its never any fun. I get it. Itd be wonderful to do that. Every game, every day is the most important game of the year. Cheap Yeezy 350 Wholesale . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Yeezy 350 Nz . 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ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech moved quickly to land a new athletic director, appointing former Yellow Jackets football player Todd Stansbury on Thursday to take over a program that has struggled to make its mark in the crowded Atlanta market.Stansbury served for the past year as Oregon States athletic director, and he previously ran programs at Central Florida and East Tennessee State.But Georgia Tech is where hes always wanted to be. Some two decades after he left the school where he played linebacker in the early 1980s, graduated with a degree in industrial management and served for seven years as an assistant AD under Homer Rice, Stansbury finally fulfilled that dream.The 55-year-old replaces Mike Bobinski, who was appointed Purdues athletic director last month. Paul Griffin will continue to serve as interim AD until Stansbury arrives in late November or early December, and also will assist with the transition.This is home, said Stansbury, a native of Oakville, Canada. This is where I found who I was.He takes over an athletic program that has faced budget and attendance issues; has a new mens basketball coach, Josh Pastner; and is coming off a dismal 3-9 year in football, though the Yellow Jackets did win their first three games this season heading into Thursday nights contest showdown with No. 5 Clemson.One of Stansburys most pressing concerns will be an increasingly competitive landscape when it comes to athletic facilities. Clemson recently opened a lavish new football training facility, while Georgia is building a state-of-the-art indoor practice structure.They happen to be two of Georgia Techs biggest rivals.Its important that your facilities are in sync with facilities at your competitors, but its also important that youre true to yourself and who you are, Stansbury said. Whats important is understanding who you are, what fits for you and make sure youre providing the best facilities for your coaches and student-athletes to be successful. That doesnt necessarily mean you need a waterfall in your locker room.He said his experience at Oregon State and Central Florida, both overshadowed in their own states by better-funded athletic programs, would help him deal with the challenges of competing with not only other college teams but the abundance of professional sports options in Atlanta.ddddddddddddStansbury said he will also work to enhance the Total Sports Program that Rice developed at Georgia Tech with the goal of ensuring that student-athletes were prepared for life beyond the field or court. The new AD came up with the Everyday Champions initiative in his previous jobs, though he quipped that I have a feeling its going to revert back to the Total Person Program.Stansbury said he will work to set up corporate partnerships that not only bring in much-needed revenue to the athletic program but allow executives to work with student-athletes, teaching them the skills theyll need for the business world and identifying those who might be worthy of bringing on board after they graduate.I think that will work well in Atlanta, just looking at the skyline, Stansbury said. I think there will be partners who are interested in the talent were producing.His ties to Georgia Tech actually go back to when he was 10 years old. On a vacation trip to Florida, Stansburys parents stopped by the school and let their son watch football practice. Even though he was Canadian largely focused on hockey, he knew right away thats what he wanted to do.When reports surfaced that Bobinski was leaving for Purdue, having served less than 3 1/2 years as Georgia Techs athletic director, Stansbury began getting early morning calls on the West Coast.Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson made it clear that Stansbury was the top candidate all along.I believe that this is one of those rare golden moments in life where opportunity meets ambition, Peterson said. We welcome Todd Stansbury home.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .---AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '