NBA PLAYOFFS
PHILADELPHIA 116 BOSTON 115 OT
PHOENIX 129 DENVER 124
NHL PLAYOFFS
NEW JERSEY 8 CAROLINA 4
FLORIDA 3 TORONTO 2 OT
SEATTLE 7 DALLAS 2
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
ATLANTA 3 BALTIMORE 2 (12)
PHILADELPHIA 6 BOSTON 1
TORONTO 10 PITTSBURGH 1
ST. LOUIS 12 DETROIT 6
CHICAGO WHITE SOX 17 CINCINNATI 4
CLEVELAND 2 MINNESOTA 0
TAMPA BAY 8 NY YANKEES 7 (10)
KANSAS CITY 5 OAKLAND 1
TEXAS 16 LA ANGELS 8
SEATTLE 3 HOUSTON 1
COLORADO 13 NY METS 6
MIAMI 5 CHICAGO CUBS 4 (14)
MILWAUKEE 7 SAN FRANCISCO 3
WASHINGTON 9 ARIZONA 8
LA DODGERS 5 SAN DIEGO 2 (10)
MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INDIANAPOLIS 9 TOLEDO 5
FORT WAYNE 6 LAKE COUNTY 3
CEDAR RAPIDS 6 SOUTH BEND 1
COLLEGE BASEBALL
BUTLER 20 GEORGETOWN 7
INDIANA 11 NORTHWESTERN 9
PURDUE 3 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 2
YOUNGSTOWN STATE 14 PURDUE FORT WAYNE 10
INDIANA STATE 8 BRADLEY 3
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 10 VALPARAISO 6
ILLINOIS STATE 7 EVANSVILLE 2
SOUTHERN INDIANA 3 LITTLE ROCK 0
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
INDIANA 3 MICHIGAN STATE 1
PERDUE 2 PENN STATE 1
BUTLER 7 SETON HALL 2
USFL
NEW ORLEANS 20 NEW JERSEY 17
MEMPHIS 29 MICHIGAN 10
TOP NATIONAL HEADLINES
NBA PLAYOFFS/NEWS
NICK GILBERT, SON OF CAVALIERS OWNER, DIES AT 26
CLEVELAND (AP) Nicolas “Nick” Gilbert, the son of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert who became the team’s good luck charm at NBA draft lotteries, has died. He was 26.
A funeral announcement posted by the Ira Kaufman Chapel said Gilbert died Saturday “peacefully at home surrounded by family.”
Gilbert was diagnosed as a child with neurofibromatosis (NF1), a genetic condition that causes non-cancerous tumors to grow on the brain, spinal cord and skin. There is no cure.
Wearing a signature bow tie and dark-rimmed glasses, Gilbert became a sensation when he represented the team at the 2011 draft lottery.
One season after LeBron James left as a free agent, Cleveland wound up with the No. 1 overall pick and used it to select Kyrie Irving, who became an All-Star and later paired with James to win the championship in 2016.
Then a 14-year-old, Nick Gilbert quipped “What’s not to like?” after his father had praised his efforts and called him his hero.
Gilbert represented the Cavs at several more lotteries. Cleveland also had the No. 1 pick in 2013 and 2014. He often attended the team’s games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse with his dad and mom, Jennifer.
The Cavaliers dedicated their 2022-23 season to the younger Gilbert. The team wore bowtie emblems on their warmups to honor him and raise awareness for the disease. Nick Gilbert was first diagnosed with NF1 as a toddler.
While he was attending Michigan State in 2018, Gilbert underwent an eight-hour operation on his brain.
Gilbert’s funeral will be held Tuesday at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
BOOKER, DURANT BOTH SCORE 36, SUNS EVEN SERIES WITH NUGGETS
PHOENIX (AP) The Denver Nuggets – understandably – were putting a huge share of their defensive pressure and attention on Phoenix’s high-scoring duo of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant in the fourth quarter of Game 4 on Sunday night.
“We were trying to make other guys beat us not named Booker, not named Durant,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone explained.
Landry Shamet obliged.
Shamet made four crucial 3-pointers in the final period, Booker and Durant both scored 36 points, and the Suns beat the Nuggets 129-124 to even their Western Conference semifinal playoff series at two games apiece.
Booker also finished with a playoff career-high 12 assists, including a few to Shamet, who finished with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. Shamet had scored 14 points the entire postseason before Sunday.
“Just making quick decisions, just trying to make the defense pay,” Booker said.
The series returns to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday.
HARDEN MAKES WINNING 3 IN OT, 76ERS TIE SERIES WITH CELTICS
PHILADELPHIA (AP) James Harden had a new friend he called his good-luck charm in the arena and the grit he needed to turn in a vintage effort – in the form of tying and winning shots -for the 76ers.
Looking down-and-out in the previous two games, Good Game James saved the 76ers in Game 4.
Harden hit the floater with 16 seconds left in regulation that tied the game, buried the go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining in overtime and scored 42 points to help the Sixers stave off a wild Boston Celtics comeback in a 116-115 victory on Sunday.
“I just want to win,” Harden said. “Today was do-or-die for us.”
The 76ers tied their playoff series at 2-2 with Game 5 set for Tuesday.
NHL PLAYOFFS/NEWS
DEVILS ANSWER IN GAME 3, ROUT CANES 8-4, DEFICIT NOW 2-1
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) With their season on the line once again, Jack Hughes stepped up for the New Jersey Devils and the budding superstar delivered with his stick, his skates and even a few totally unexpected punches.
Hughes scored two goals, set up two more and had a near fight with Carolina star Sebastian Aho as the Devils began the task of digging out of another hole with a 8-4 win over the Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Sunday.
Hughes set the tone early with an assist on Timo Meier’s goal with a pass from behind the net and ripping a second shot past Frederik Andersen five minutes later.
“I think we were just focused right from the get go,” said Hughes, who is nominated for this year’s Lady Byng award for sportsmanship. “Up and down the lineup, a lot of compete – a lot of guys winning their battles, a lot of skating. That’s our game.”
What wasn’t Hughes’ game was his second-period dust-up with Aho in front of the Carolina net. Hughes picked up the Finnish player and attempted to body slam him to the ice. A couple of punches were attempted with no damage inflicted.
Hughes, who has never had a fighting major, got two-minutes for roughing and Aho got four minutes, the extra two because of a cross-check.
“I think that kills his chance for the Lady Byng,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff quipped. “And really, what was he thinking?”
REINHART THE HERO, AS PANTHERS TOP LEAFS IN OT FOR 3-0 LEAD
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) Florida briefly limited ticket sales for their series against Toronto to fans with U.S. credit cards, a decision that some Maple Leafs fans thought was designed keep them from coming to Games 3 and 4.
The Panthers might be able to keep them from a Game 5 in Toronto, too.
Sam Reinhart scored 3:02 into overtime and the Panthers – who had to fight just to squeak into the playoffs, then stunned Boston in Round 1 – are on the brink of their first conference finals appearance since 1996. Florida topped Toronto 3-2 on Sunday night, taking a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“We’ve had a lot of guys stepping up at big moments,” Reinhart said.
None bigger than he did to win it. Reinhart dumped the puck off the boards behind the net to set up his game-winner, then headed behind the goal to take a pass back from Anton Lundell. Reinhart twirled his way to the front, tapped the puck home and just like that, Florida had its first series lead in 27 years.
“There’s a lot of things going our way,” said Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad, whose team has won six consecutive playoff games for the first time in franchise history. “We’re just trying to take it day by day … just doing the right things to make us successful.”
Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe scored for Florida. Sam Lafferty and Erik Gustafsson scored for Toronto, which had plenty of fans there – ticket sales for all opened 24 hours after the online purchasing window opened last week. They left disappointed; Florida’s left thrilled.
KRAKEN RIDE 2ND PERIOD OUTBURST, THUMP STARS 7-2 IN GAME 3
SEATTLE (AP) The demands of a seven-game series in the opening round and the immediate transition into the conference semifinals left the Seattle Kraken needing a breather.
An extra day off proved wonders for the playoff newcomers.
Jordan Eberle sparked a five-goal outburst in the second period with his fourth goal of the playoffs, Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves and the Kraken beat the Dallas Stars 7-2 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 series lead in their Western Conference semifinal.
“We’ve been going steady here every other day since the start of the playoffs,” Eberle said. “So you get a couple of days off, not just for your body but for your mind, too.”
Seven different Seattle players scored and 12 different players picked up a point as the rejuvenated Kraken took control of the series.
Eberle got it all started as the recipient of an unfortunate bounce, beating Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger at 2:10 of the second period after the puck hit Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen in the face and fell to Eberle’s stick.
That was just the start. Alex Wennberg doubled the lead 1:26 after Eberle’s goal; Carson Soucy became Seattle’s 16th different goal scorer this postseason, beating Oettinger five-hole at 6:30; and Matty Beniers made it 4-0 at 8:22.
Seattle’s first four shots of the period beat Oettinger, and the Kraken made it 5-1 when Eeli Tolvanen finished a rebound with 37 seconds left in the period.
“We wanted to get into it early. I think that’s why the physical play helped us and then after our first period, we kind of realized we’re fresh, we got some momentum and then we just took it and ran in the second,” Soucy said.
It was the second time in three games of the series that Oettinger had surrendered five goals after Dallas lost the opener 5-4 in overtime. Oettinger gave up four goals in the first period of Game 1 and Seattle became the first team this postseason to score five times in a single period.
Oettinger had 12 saves on 17 shots and was replaced for the third period by backup Scott Wedgewood. Wedgewood was greeted with a short-handed breakaway by Seattle and Yanni Gourde’s third goal of the playoffs on the Kraken’s first shot of the third period. Justin Schultz added a seventh for Seattle with 2:30 left on the power play.
Game 4 is Tuesday night.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
VIDA BLUE, LED OAKLAND TO 3 WORLD SERIES TITLES, DIES AT 73
(AP) — Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball’s biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash A’s to three straight World Series titles before his career was derailed by drug problems, died Saturday, according to the team. He was 73.
Oakland did not announce a cause of death. Blue had used a walking stick to assist his movement at a 50th anniversary of the 1973 Oakland Athletics’ championship team on April 16.
“He was engaging. He was personable. He was caring,” ex-teammate Reggie Jackson said during an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday. “He was uncomfortable with the crowd.”
Blue was voted the 1971 American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player after going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts with 24 complete games, eight of them shutouts. He was 22 at when he won MVP, the youngest to win the award. He remains among just 11 pitchers to win MVP and Cy Young in the same year.
Blue finished 209-161 with a 3.27 ERA, 2,175 strikeouts, 143 complete games and 37 shutouts over 17 seasons with Oakland (1969-77), San Francisco (1978-81, 85-86) and Kansas City (1982-83). He appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot four times, receiving his most support at 8.7% in 1993, far short of the 75% needed.
“That Hall of Fame thing, that’s something that I can honestly, openly say I wish I was a Hall of Famer,” Blue told The Washington Post in 2021. “And I know for a fact this drug thing impeded my road to the Hall of Fame – so far.”
A six-time All-Star and three-time 20-game winner, Blue helped pitch the Swingin’ A’s, as Charley Finley’s colorful, mustachioed team was known, to consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74. Since then, only the 1998-2000 New York Yankees have accomplished the feat.
“I remember watching a 19-year-old phenom dominate baseball, and at the same time alter my life,” Dave Stewart, a four-time 20-game winner for the A’s a generation later, wrote on Twitter. “There are no words for what you have meant to me and so many others.”
Jackson was shocked by how much weight Blue had lost when he saw him at the 50th reunion.
“I did not recognize him,” Jackson said. “I was shattered. I was shaken. That will stick with me the rest of my life.”
Selected by the then Kansas City Athletics on the second round of the 1967 amateur draft, Blue made his big league debut with Oakland on July 20, 1969, about a week shy of his 20th birthday. He made four starts and 12 relief appearances, then spent most of 1970 at Triple-A Iowa.
Called up when rosters expanded, he pitched a one-hit shutout at Kansas City in his second start. In his fourth start, Blue pitched a no-hitter against Minnesota on Sept. 21, at 21 years, 55 days that made him the youngest pitcher to throw a no-hitter since the live ball era started in 1920.
“There are few players with a more decorated career than Vida Blue,” the A’s said in a statement. “Vida will always be a franchise legend and a friend.”
He held out after his MVP season and signed a $50,000 one-year deal. Blue didn’t make his first start of 1972 until May 24 and went 6-10, mostly out of the bullpen. From 1973-76, he went 77-48 but his career World Series record was 0-3.
In 1975, he pitched the first five innings of a no-hitter against the California Angels, but was pulled early by manager Alvin Dark to rest him for the playoffs in a game finished by Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad, and Rollie Fingers.
Blue was among the players who assumed leadership roles on the A’s and clashed with Finley.
“We were very young kids,” Jackson said Sunday. “Vida was from Louisiana and Black, and me being Black, being Black in a white league and a white world, was very impactful as to how you handled yourself, how you acted, because you were always colored first.”
Finley attempted in June 1976 to trade Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million and Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million each. Kuhn vetoed the deals under the commissioner’s authority to act in the “best interest of baseball.” In December 1977, Kuhn stopped Finley from trading Blue to Cincinnati for $1.75 million and minor league first baseman Dave Revering.
Blue was traded to the Giants the following March in a deal that brought Oakland seven players, including outfielder Gary Thomasson and catcher Gary Alexander.
Blue was dealt to the Royals in March 1982 and released in August 1983. He was ordered that December to serve three months in federal prison and fined $5,000 for misdemeanor possession of approximately a tenth of an ounce of cocaine. Blue was sentenced to one year in prison but U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Milton Sullivant suspended the majority of the term.
After sitting out 1983 and 1984, Blue returned to baseball with the Giants for two seasons. Blue was among the players ordered by baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth in 1985 to be subject to random drug testing for the rest of their careers.
After his 2005 arrest in Arizona on suspicion of DUI for the third time in less than six years, Blue was sentenced to six months in jail after failing to complete his probation. But he was told he could avoid incarceration by spending time in a residential alcohol treatment program.
MLB ROUNDUP: DOWN 6, RAYS STUN GERRIT COLE, YANKS
Isaac Paredes hit an RBI single with one out in the 10th inning to lift the Tampa Bay Rays to an 8-7 comeback win against the New York Yankees in the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Paredes hit an opposite-field line drive to right off Albert Abreu (1-1) to score Brandon Lowe from second base.
Jose Siri and Christian Bethancourt homered for Tampa Bay, which came back from a 6-0 deficit against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who breezed through four innings before giving up two runs in the fifth and four in the sixth. Cole gave up six runs (five earned) and eight hits, striking out six and walking two in his five-plus innings.
Harrison Bader homered, tripled, singled and scored three runs for New York and Anthony Rizzo also went deep.
Marlins 5, Cubs 4 (14 innings)
Miami scored the tiebreaking run on a 14th-inning balk — overcoming Sandy Alcantara blowing a two-run lead in the ninth — to snap a five-game losing streak with a road win over Chicago.
Each team scored a run in the 10th and 13th innings. Then, with Garrett Hampson on third base in the 14th, Chicago’s Adbert Alzolay (1-2) was called for a balk by home-plate umpire Alan Porter to bring the eventual winning run home. Andrew Nardi kept the Cubs scoreless in the bottom of the 14th, and Miami won its first game in May to improve to 11-0 in one-run contests.
Chicago was down 2-0 entering the ninth against reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Alcantara, who was looking for his second complete game of the season. However, Ian Happ (two hits) singled with one out and scored on Cody Bellinger’s double into the left-field gap. Bellinger (two hits) then scored on Eric Hosmer’s RBI single off Alcantara, who exited after allowing nine hits while striking out nine without a walk on 113 pitches.
Braves 3, Orioles 2 (12 innings)
Michael Harris II lined a double to center field to drive in Ozzie Albies with the winning run in extra innings, lifting Atlanta to a win over visiting Baltimore.
Baltimore reliever Cionel Perez (1-1) struck out Kevin Pillar to open the 11th inning but intentionally walked Marcell Ozuna to set up a force play. Harris, who barely missed a three-run homer earlier in the game, jumped on the first pitch he saw and bounced it off the wall, allowing Albies to easily score from second base.
The winning pitcher was Michael Tonkin (3-1), who did not allow a hit over two scoreless innings. Matt Olson belted his 10th homer in the first for Atlanta. Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. went 0-for-5, which ended his 25-game streak of reaching base. Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle went 0-for-5 and saw his streak of reaching base end at 15 games.
Dodgers 5, Padres 2 (10 innings)
Los Angeles scored three runs in the top of the 10th on Michael Busch’s tiebreaking single and James Outman’s two-run homer to rally for a win over host San Diego in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Busch had struck out as a pinch hitter in the eighth with the tying run on second and no one out. But with two outs in the 10th, he lined a full-count pitch from Brent Honeywell to left to score automatic runner Freddie Freeman from third. Outman then pulled his eighth homer of the season into the seats down the line in right.
Caleb Ferguson (2-0) struck out two in a perfect ninth to earn the win. Evan Phillips worked a perfect 10th to earn his second save in as many days and his fifth of the season. Honeywell (2-1) took the loss. The Dodgers tied the game in the ninth on Mookie Betts’ two-out homer to left center off Padres closer Josh Hader, who suffered his first blown save after 11 successes. Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts each had an RBI for San Diego.
Cardinals 12, Tigers 5
Paul Goldschmidt hit three homers and drove in four runs as St. Louis snapped its eight-game losing streak with a victory over visiting Detroit.
Brendan Donovan hit a three-run homer for the Cardinals and Lars Nootbaar drove in two runs. Cardinals starting pitcher Steven Matz allowed one run on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out two without a walk. Reliever JoJo Romero (1-0) earned his first career victory.
Jake Rogers hit a grand slam and Spencer Torkelson also hit a home run for the Tigers, whose five-game winning streak came to a halt. Tigers reliever Mason Englert (1-2) took the loss, allowing five runs — though only one was earned — on three hits while recording just one out.
Guardians 2, Twins 0
Cal Quantrill shook off unusual home struggles this season and returned to form, flirting with a no-hitter and pitching Cleveland to a victory over visiting Minnesota.
The right-hander had a no-hitter into the seventh inning by inducing 11 ground-ball outs during that stretch, before Alex Kirilloff broke up the gem with two out in the seventh by rifling a single through the infield into right field. Quantrill walked the next hitter, Joey Gallo, but then struck out Jose Miranda to end his outing.
Cleveland opened this game with three straight singles off Minnesota right-hander Joe Ryan, who was leading the major leagues with a 0.77 WHIP entering the game. Jose Ramirez delivered the third of those hits, with his single to right scoring Steven Kwan, then Ramirez later came across to score for a 2-0 lead on Josh Bell’s RBI single.
Nationals 9, Diamondbacks 8
Joey Meneses hit a three-run home run in the top of the ninth to rally Washington to a victory over Arizona in Phoenix.
Luis Garcia doubled and had three hits, Stone Garrett had two hits and two runs and CJ Abrams also had two hits for Washington, which ended a two-game losing streak. Erasmo Ramirez (2-1) picked up the win in relief and Hunter Harvey pitched around a one-out walk to secure a scoreless ninth and pick up his first career save.
The Nationals trailed 8-6 entering the ninth but needed just four pitches by reliever Miguel Castro (1-1) to take the lead. Garcia hit the first pitch for a double and then went to third on a single by Keibert Ruiz. Meneses followed with his second homer of the season. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered twice, scored four runs and had four RBIs and Christian Walker also homered for Arizona, which had its win streak snapped at three.
Phillies 6, Red Sox 1
Kyle Schwarber broke out of a slump by collecting two hits to help Philadelphia end a six-game losing streak by beating visiting Boston.
Schwarber had a two-run home run and an RBI single for the Phillies, who ended Boston’s winning streak at eight games. His fourth-inning single ended an 0-for-21 drought and was Schwarber’s first hit since he homered against the Dodgers last Monday. Taijuan Walker (3-2) went six innings to earn the win.
Triston Casas hit his fourth home run of the season for the Red Sox, who scored at least five runs in each game during their eight-game winning streak. Boston’s Masataka Yoshida extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the first, before getting picked off. He had two of Boston’s five hits.
Mariners 3, Astros 1
Rookie right-hander Bryce Miller pitched six scoreless innings for his first major league victory and Julio Rodiguez hit a mammoth homer as host Seattle defeated Houston.
Miller (1-0), who retired the first 16 batters he faced in his big-league debut last week in Oakland, gave up two hits to the Astros, walked one and struck out five. Justin Topa pitched the ninth, converting his first career save opportunity as Seattle won for the sixth time in its past seven games.
Astros right-hander Brandon Bielak (0-1), making his first start since 2021, allowed three runs — two earned — on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings. Bielak walked two and didn’t strike out a batter but limited the damage by getting the Mariners to hit into three double plays. Kyle Tucker hit an RBI single for Houston, which has lost four of its last five.
Rangers 16, Angels 8
Adolis Garcia went 3-for-4 with a home run, Leody Taveras went 4-for-5 and drove in four runs and Texas closed out a road series win with a rout of Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif.
Texas fell behind early when Anthony Rendon sent Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani home with a three-run homer in the first inning off Rangers starter Martin Perez. Perez surrendered seven earned runs and eight hits in just 3 2/3 innings.
Starter Jose Suarez (1-2), who took the loss, lasted just 2 2/3 innings for Los Angeles. He gave up seven earned runs on six hits and walked three batters. Relievers Chase Silseth and Chris Devenski pitched 3 1/3 and two innings, allowing three earned runs each.
Rockies 13, Mets 6
Kris Bryant and Brenton Doyle each homered and finished with three RBIs for Colorado, which beat host New York in the rubber game of a three-game series. The Rockies have won six of seven, while the Mets have dropped 11 of 14.
Jeff McNeil had three hits and two RBIs while Brett Baty hit a two-run single in the opening inning for the Mets. Luis Guillorme (2-for-4) had a fifth-inning RBI single while Daniel Vogelbach hit a solo homer in the seventh.
Brent Suter (1-0), the second of six pitchers for the Rockies, earned the win after giving up one run on three hits and no walks with three strikeouts over 1 2/3 innings. Jimmy Yacabonis (2-1) took the loss after giving up five runs on three hits and two walks in just one-third of an inning in the fifth.
Blue Jays 10, Pirates 1
In a game delayed by 90 minutes because of rain, Whit Merrifield homered and drove in four runs as visiting Toronto completed a three-game series sweep with a blowout win over Pittsburgh.
Daulton Varsho and Kevin Kiermaier also had home runs, and Danny Jansen drove in two runs for the Blue Jays. Brandon Belt went 3-for-4 with two runs. Toronto starter Yusei Kikuchi (5-0) pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Carlos Santana had an RBI single for the Pirates, whose losing streak reached seven games. Pittsburgh starter Roansy Contreras (3-3) allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings, with four strikeouts and three walks.
Royals 5, Athletics 1
Salvador Perez homered and Ryan Yarbrough won a start for the first time since August 2021 as host Kansas City beat Oakland, salvaging the final game of the weekend series.
It was a painful victory for Yarbrough (1-4), who was struck on the left cheek by Ryan Noda’s line drive in the sixth inning on a ball with an exit velocity measured at 106 mph. Yarbrough was helped off the field and the Royals said he was “alert” and undergoing further testing.
Yarbrough allowed one run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings, his longest start since July last year with the Tampa Bay Rays. Kansas City snapped a three-game slide, winning for just the third time in 19 home games. Perez had three of Kansas City’s nine hits and scored three runs.
White Sox 17, Reds 4
Chicago scored 11 runs in the second inning and bludgeoned host Cincinnati.
Hanser Alberto homered for the second straight game, Gavin Sheets hit a three-run shot and Andrew Vaughn doubled, tripled and drove in four runs as the White Sox claimed the rubber match of the three-game series. Chicago has won five of its last seven games.
The Reds got solo home runs from Jonathan India, Spencer Steer, Tyler Stephenson and Wil Myers, but lost for the fifth time in seven games.
Brewers 7, Giants 3
William Contreras and Willy Adames belted two-run home runs as Milwaukee salvaged one win on its six-game Western swing with a victory over San Francisco.
Adames added a sacrifice fly and run-scoring single to complete a four-RBI day for the Brewers, who snapped a six-game losing streak. Adrian Houser came within one out of a potential win in his season debut, but the right-hander was lifted two outs into the fifth inning with a 5-2 lead.
Thairo Estrada homered, his sixth of the season, as part of a three-hit day for the Giants, who had won four in a row. Blake Sabol also had three hits for San Francisco, while LaMonte Wade Jr., Mitch Haniger and Wilmer Flores collected two apiece.
NFL NEWS
BEARS OC: FIELDS ‘LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF WHERE HE WAS’ LAST SEASON
It’s safe to say Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy is impressed with what he’s seen from quarterback Justin Fields so far this year.
“As we evaluated Justin from last year, I think the growth from where everybody viewed the guy and the way the team viewed the guy to where he was at this time last year, to where he is now, I think he’s just light years ahead of where he was, and I feel like he has a ton more to grow going forward,” Getsy recently said, according to Josh Schrock of NBC Sports.
“We’re excited to try to get the best out of him moving forward and keep working toward where we think he can go.”
After an unimpressive 2021 rookie campaign, Fields turned heads last year, rushing for 1,143 yards (7.1 per carry) and eight touchdowns. However, he didn’t do enough to prove himself as a passer, finishing 2022 with a 60.4% completion rate to go along with 2,242 yards and 17 touchdown passes against 11 interceptions in 15 games. He posted an 85.2 passer rating and was sacked a league-high 55 times.
Chicago strongly addressed its group of receivers and offensive line this offseason, acquiring star wideout D.J. Moore via trade with the Carolina Panthers and drafting offensive tackle Darnell Wright 10th overall. The Bears also signed right guard Nate Davis in free agency and selected speedy wide receiver Tyler Scott in the fourth round.
Getsy, who joined Chicago last year, said Fields got better in 2022 as the season progressed, and he hopes the third-year passer will keep improving as a passer now with a bolstered supporting cast around him.
“You’re just talking purely completions and purely yards, right?” Getsy said when asked why he believes Fields will improve as a passer. “The yards that he ran for, a third of those came off of pass plays where he scrambled that he decided to run. That’s an element that we’re fortunate to have with him in that position. Then it goes to everything, right? Getting the team around him better, and us all being together for another year and the continuity that we have and the communication that he and I have.”
Getsy continued: “We’re hoping to build off of all that stuff. I think any time you can be together with somebody and keep that consistency there’s going to be growth.”
The Bears – who went 3-14 last year and haven’t made the playoffs since 2020 – drafted Fields 11th overall in 2021.
PACKERS’ LAFLEUR PRAISES LOVE’S DEVELOPMENT, CREDITS QB COACH
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur already likes what he’s seeing from Jordan Love as the quarterback continues to develop ahead of his first season as the club’s starter.
“Just watching him last year. I think Jordan’s made some huge strides,” LaFleur said Saturday, according to Brenna White of NFL.com. “I really do, and I think a lot of it is a credit to Tom (Clement, quarterbacks coach), and just, he knows how to train these guys. He knows how to drill them, and he’s very, very consistent. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He just is matter of fact, and I think there’s no doubt.”
Clements is enjoying his second stint in Green Bay after working with the organization from 2006-16. He returned to the franchise last season following two years as an assistant with the Arizona Cardinals from 2019-20.
LaFleur said Clements’ return last campaign provided a huge boost to Love, who’s tasked with leading the offense after the Packers traded four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets last month.
“I asked Jordan after the season how he felt about him, and he said he loved Tom and thought he did a helluva job helping him, you know, develop over the course of the year,” LaFleur said.
Earlier this week, Love signed a one-year extension reportedly worth up to $22.5 million with $13.5 million fully guaranteed. The Utah State product has thrown for 606 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions in 10 games, including one start, through his first three NFL seasons.
Green Bay has tried to bolster the weapons around Love ahead of the 2023 season, drafting receivers Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Grant DuBose last month. The trio joins a wideout depth chart featuring Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs.
MEN’S GOLF
CLARK HOLDS OFF SCHAUFFELE FOR FIRST PGA WIN AT WELLS FARGO
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Wyndham Clark tried to pull his hat over his eyes with both hands as he struggled to hold back tears on the 18th green at Quail Hollow Club after winning his first PGA Tour event at the Wells Fargo Championship.
The long, agonizing wait that included days on tour where he wanted to “break some clubs” were over.
It was time to celebrate.
“I’m a little choked up,” Clark said on the green. “It’s been a long five years (on tour) to get to this point. I thought I would have won one earlier, but it is well worth the wait.”
Clark shot 68 on Sunday for a four-shot victory over Xander Schauffele.
He finished the tournament at 19-under 265, the second-lowest score in relation to par in tournament history behind only three-time champion Rory McIlroy’s 21-under 267 in 2015 when par for the course was 72.
Schauffele had accuracy issues with his driver on Sunday and shot 70, finishing at 15 under.
Tyrrell Hatton and Harry English finished tied for third at 12 under, one shot better than Tommy Fleetwood and Adam Scott. Defending champion Max Homa shot 70 on Sunday and tied for ninth at 9-under 275.
“There are so many times that I wanted to cry and break clubs – and I did break clubs at times – in this journey,” Clark said. “But to get to this point is so sweet. It is just amazing to finally do this.”
“To go and put that round of 63 together (on Saturday) and finish at 19 under is a fantastic effort,” Hatton said. “Yeah, he deserves to be holding that trophy.”
Clark’s victory didn’t come easy – perhaps fitting for his career.
The world’s 80th ranked player opened the final round with a two-shot lead, surrendered it to Schauffele after seven holes and then stormed back to win after playing the final 11 holes in 4 under.
Despite never having won on tour before, there were signs that Clark was due. He’d finished in the top six in three of the last five tournaments he’d entered, including a third place finish at the Zurich Classic last month.
He showed the poise of a champion after a rough start.
Clark pulled his tee shot left on No. 1 over the cart path, leaving him a difficult approach shot leading to a bogey. Schauffele pulled into the lead with birdies at Nos. 3 and 7 and it looked like Clark, who was struggling just to make birdie over the first six holes, might collapse under the pressure of trying to win his first tournament.
“My caddie (John Ellis) kept preaching to me that it’s going to be challenging and get your mind wrapped around it,” Clark said.
The momentum changed on the eighth hole.
Clark chipped to within 4 feet and rolled in a short birdie putt to pull back into a tie and then took the lead for good at the turn when Schauffele’s par putt lipped out on No. 9.
Schauffele started struggling with his driver, missing four straight fairways. Clark kept the pressure on sinking birdie putts at No. 10 and 12 sandwiched in between a Schauffele bogey on No. 11, pushing the lead to four strokes with six holes left to play.
Clark matched Schauffele’s birdies at the 14th and 15th holes to maintain a four-shot edge heading into the difficult closing three holes known as the Green Mile. From there, the only real drama was whether he’d break McIlroy’s tournament record.
But Clark played the final three holes in 1 over, bogeying the 18th after finding a fairway bunker.
“I didn’t hit it as well and didn’t make as many putts as maybe I did the day before but mentally I was super strong,” Clark said. “I didn’t start out great. I was kind of shaky. I think in years past I might have folded. But this time I stayed patient and hung in there and caught fire on the back nine.”
Schauffele said he wished he could have put more pressure on Clark, but that he was just flat on Sunday.
“I started leaking oil,” Schauffele said.
Clark dedicated the win to his mother, who got him into golf and later died of breast cancer when he was 19 years old. He contemplated giving up the game after her death, but didn’t.
“I’m glad I stuck it out,” Clark said.
McIlroy, playing for the first time since missing the cut at the Masters, played the final three rounds in 3-over par, including a 72 on Sunday to finish even par for the tournament.
He had nine top 10 finishes in 11 starts including wins in 2010, 2015 and 2021 at Quail Hollow, but this was his worst outing since missing the cut in 12 years ago.
McIlroy declined to speak to reporters after his final round.
WOMEN’S GOLF
THAILAND WINS INTERNATIONAL CROWN LPGA MATCH PLAY EVENT
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Ariya Jutanugarn helped launch Thailand as an emerging power in women’s golf when she won the British Women’s Open in 2016.
The victory inspired younger golfers in Thailand and the results were evident during a dominating performance at the International Crown team match play event.
Ariya Jutanugarn won the MVP after teaming with her sister Moriya Jutanugarn to win all five matches and 20-year-old Atthaya Thitikul capped a perfect weekend with a birdie on the 16th hole that clinched the championship for Thailand over Australia on Sunday.
“I would say when I’m growing up, when I’m turning pro, I always want to inspire the kids back home, and right now I feel even better because not only me right now,” Ariya Jutanugarn said.
It was a total team effort.
Thitikul beat Stephanie Kyriacou 4 and 2 to improve to 5-0 on the week and earn the clinching point in the final. Patty Tavatanakit had already beaten Hannah Green 4 and 3 in the other singles match.
The Jutanugarns won their match over Minjee Lee and Sarah Kemp 4 and 3 when Ariya Jutanugarn holed out a chip shot from the edge of the green on the 15th hole as sixth-seeded Thailand finished the week winning 11 of 12 matches.
“Us winning this event is huge for golf in Thailand,” Tavatanakit said. “It is already growing, and I think this is going to inspire a lot of people, even more than what we feel inspired 10 years ago. I’m really excited to see the future of Thai golf.”
The United States beat Sweden in the consolation match to finish third.
The International Crown is a match-play tournament featuring teams of four players from eight countries split into two pools. The top two teams from each pool advanced to the semifinals, where the format was two singles matches and one alternate-shot match.
The players on the winning team all received $125,000 in prize money with the runners up getting $75,900.
It was a breakthrough weekend for Thailand, which had never finished better than fourth in the first three editions of this tournament.
But the Thai team was dominant at Harding Park as the only country to win every match in pool play and then delivering a dominating championship match after surviving a tight semifinal against the United States earlier in the day.
The top-seeded Americans split the two singles matches against Thailand with Lexi Thompson losing 3 and 2 to Thitikul and Lilia Vu fighting back from a two-hole deficit on the front nine to beat Tavatanakit 1 up.
That put the fate of the semifinal on a tight alternate-shot match between world No. 1 Nelly Korda and Danielle Kang against the Jutanugarn sisters.
Korda tied the match with an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th hole, generating chants of “U-S-A!” from the decent sized galleries.
But the Jutanugarn sisters weren’t flustered with Moriya Jutanugarn hitting her tee shot to within about 10 feet, setting up a birdie putt for Ariya Jutanugarn that put Thailand back ahead.
Moriya Jutanugarn then got her second shot on the par-5 18th hole on the green, and Thailand two-putted for birdie to tie the hole and win the match.
“Obviously it’s a little disappointing not being in the final, but I think we played well,” Korda said. “We wish some more putts would have dropped, but overall I think our performance has been pretty good.”
Australia, which had never finished better than sixth in this event, swept Sweden in the first semifinal with Kyriacou beating Anna Nordqvist and Hannah Green besting Caroline Hedwall in singles, while Minjee Lee and Sarah Kemp beat Madelene Sagstrom and Maya Stark in the alternate shot match.
But they fell short in the final.
“It’s obviously a little disappointing, but it’s still a big win for us,” Kemp said.
Thompson beat Sagstrom in singles in the consolation match and the U.S. won it when Kang and Korda beat Nordqvist and Hedwall 1 up.
This is the fourth time this tournament has been held after being canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spain won the inaugural tournament in 2014, followed by the United States in 2016 and South Korea in 2018.
This is the first professional women’s event to be played at TPC Harding Park, which has hosted several big events for the men, including the 2009 Presidents Cup and the 2020 PGA Championship.
“It’s been a spectacular venue for us, and I think it shows the women’s game is moving in the right direction,” Thompson said. “We’re getting to play some spectacular golf courses like this one. We’re getting more and more fans each and every day, which we wanted to see, and the course is in great shape for us.”
AUTO RACING
MCLAUGHLIN NABS INDYCAR WIN AT BARBER OVER GROSJEAN
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Scott McLaughlin was once again racing Romain Grosjean for a potential win.
That’s where the similarities to their last run-in ended.
McLaughlin got a late opening to surge past Grosjean, took advantage of it and was scarcely challenged the rest of the way Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, where the New Zealander picked up his fourth career IndyCar win.
It was the second time this season they’ve been in that position, but this time McLaughlin and Grosjean avoided getting tangled up.
Grosjean had been furious with McLaughlin when the two touched heading into a corner at the season-opener in St. Petersburg, Florida, both slamming into a tire barrier. McLaughlin drew an avoidable contact penalty and later apologized to Grosjean.
After winning Sunday, McLaughlin said “there’s no hard feelings” between the two. McLaughlin had hugged Grosjean after their race-ending crash at St. Pete.
“I knew if I hit him this time, it would be bad,” McLaughlin said. “I thought we were racing just like we normally do, very clean. It was hard. I knew it was going to be hard passing him. It was just a matter of me biding my time.”
Grosjean found himself with his fifth runner-up finish. And while there was a bit of contact – “We kissed each other a touch,” Grosjean said, laughing – he wasn’t worried about McLaughlin getting recklessly aggressive.
“Scott made a mistake in St. Pete, but I know he doesn’t race that way,” said Grosjean, who planned to fly himself home to Miami after the race. “It was all clean.”
McLaughlin wound up with Team Penske’s seventh win in 13 races at the permanent road course – and his first since breaking out with three victories last season. He’d had to catch Grosjean again after getting passed coming off of pit road.
“It’s probably the most complete race I’ve ever driven in IndyCar, from a strategy perspective, picking people off,” McLaughlin said. “It was getting pretty tough there in the middle when we were making passes.
“Ultimately, when Grosjean got me out of the pits, he caught me napping. It was a great move by him.”
In the end, McLaughlin had the fuel to push the pace more than Grosjean after a three-pit stop strategy. Grosjean pitted twice.
Grosjean started on the pole for the second time this year and led much of the way, but he went wide on Turn 5, leaving McLaughlin enough room to pass on the inside with 19 laps to go. Grosjean was surprised to find he didn’t have any push to pass time left to help him overcome the mistake in an otherwise strong weekend.
He wasn’t sure if that was a glitch or “a brain freeze.”
The Swiss-born Frenchman and former Formula One driver in search of his first IndyCar victory came close again with his second runner-up finish of the season. He wound up just trying to hold off Will Power, McLaughlin’s teammate, a two-time Barber winner who went from 11th to third.
Power and his team pivoted from a two-stop strategy early on, and it worked.
“It worked out well,” he said. “We had a very fast car. Any time we had clear air, we were pumping out some seriously fast times. That last sequence was where we gained a ton of track position.”
McLaughlin, meanwhile, picked up momentum as the series heads to Indianapolis for May, capped by the Indy 500. He moved up to fourth in the series points with four different winners in as many races.
Defending race winner Pato O’Ward finished fourth and spent the first part of the race warily keeping an eye on Scott Dixon, who had fumed after contact sent him nose first into a tire barrier at Long Beach.
Alex Palou, the 2021 winner at Barber was fifth. Three-time Barber winner Josef Newgarden never recovered from apparent suspension issues after early contact with Felix Rosenqvist.
IndyCar points leader Marcus Ericsson, last year’s Indy 500 winner, finished 10th in his first race since getting married right after Long Beach.
STAYING PUT
IndyCar is staying at Barber Motorsports Park at least through 2027.
The series and ZOOM Motorsports announced an extension to continue racing at the permanent road course a few hours ahead of the 13th running.
“I think this is probably our best road course that we go to,” McLaughlin said. “Especially now, it’s my favorite.”
The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix has been held at the track since 2010. Medical Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust, reached a five-year sponsorship agreement for the naming rights earlier this year and gifted them to the Birmingham children’s hospital.
“With its unique layout and dramatic features, this beautiful facility is a favorite with our fans and within our paddock,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles said.
UP NEXT
IndyCar returns to action May 13 on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Colton Herta is the defending race winner.
HAMLIN BUMPS LARSON FOR LEAD ON FINAL LAP TO WIN AT KANSAS
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Denny Hamlin had walked out of victory lane after winning a thrilling NASCAR Cup Series duel over Kyle Larson with a last-lap pass at Kansas Speedway on Sunday just in time to hear his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, make a bold proclamation.
“He’s the most talented race car driver in the world,” Gabehart was saying.
Awkward, because Gabehart wasn’t talking about his own driver.
“Tells you what he thinks about me,” Hamlin said with a wry grin.
Gabehart was talking about Larson, who was leading in the closing laps on a sizzling day in the heartland. But it was Hamlin who was better this time. He spent about 30 laps stalking Larson before making a couple of failed attempts at the lead in the closing laps. Finally, heading onto the backstretch on the final one, Hamlin pulled alongside Larson and made the slightest of contact, sending him bumping into the outside wall and giving Hamlin a clear path to the finish line.
The victory ended a 33-race winless drought for Hamlin dating to last year’s Coca-Cola 600. And along with giving Hamlin a record fourth win at Kansas, it gave Joe Gibbs Racing its 400th win overall in NASCAR’s top series.
“I was sideways. He was sideways. I knew it was going to be close whether he could clear me,” Hamlin said. “I was grinding his left side, trying to keep the side-draft as much as I could. It’s such a super-sensitive part and I hooked him at the end.”
Hamlin said he planned to speak with Larson about the finish at some point.
“I was really loose,” Larson said. “He was able to finally get my inside off two. It seemed he was side-drafting me aggressively. I don’t know if he finally got me turned sideways, but turned me into the outside wall and he got the win.”
So what does Gabehart think of his own driver?
“I’m so proud of Denny to work over – in my view – the most talented race car driver in the world,” he said.
Larson finished second and William Byron, who was two laps down for more than 50 laps during the middle portion of the race, rallied to join his Hendrick Motorsports teammate in the top three. Bubba Wallace, who won the fall race at Kansas, was fourth while Ross Chastain rounded out the top five before tempers flew on pit road.
Chastain, who has drawn the ire of many drivers this season with his aggressiveness on the track, found himself in another heated confrontation Sunday. He had gotten into Noah Gragson with about 60 laps to go and sent him for a spin, and Gragson walked up to the Trackhouse Racing driver afterward to make his displeasure known.
Gragson put his hands on Chastain, who responded with a sweeping right hook that appeared to connect. Gragson tried to return the punch, but he was pulled away by security and NASCAR officials.
“I’m sick and tired of it,” Gragson said of Chastain’s driving style. “The guy runs into everyone. When you have guys like Chase Elliott and other guys telling you to beat his ass, everyone is just sick of him.”
Chastain accepted some of the blame for the spin but didn’t have much to say about the punch.
“I got tight off four for sure,” Chastain said. “Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the race track. We train together, we prepare together, we know every little bit about each other. I definitely crowded him out of four.”
Kyle Busch had railed against Chastain over the radio before crashing out of the race on a restart. Afterward, Busch seemed to take aim at the performance of the Next Gen car, which he said made it too difficult to pass.
“Not racing like it once used to be,” he said after dropping an on-air expletive. “You’re faster than a guy, you run him down three-tenths a lap and you stall when you get there. Part of it’s the car. They can aero block you, pinch you, burn up your tires and do everything else to hold their position and then you get passed from behind. Very frustrating.”
STAGE WINNERS
Hamlin took the opening stage for his second of the season, and Martin Truex Jr. finished second after his win in last Monday’s rain-delayed race at Dover. The top four spots and six of the top seven in the stage belonged to Toyota.
The second stage ended in a mess when a caution flew and the leaders pit with eight laps to go. Joey Logano took the lead, tying the Kansas Speedway record with the 26th change in the race. And when the green flag dropped, Busch jammed behind a four-wide move and went for a spin, bringing out another caution and giving Logano the stage win.
PENALTY SITUATION
Tyler Reddick’s car failed inspection twice on Saturday, resulting in the ejection of car chief Michael Hobson, while Brennan Poole lost car chief Dave Jones when his car also failed twice. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started at the back after having to change his water pump gauge and Corey LaJoie joined him in the rear after making some pre-race adjustments.
UP NEXT
Next week is the “Throwback Weekend” at Darlington, and it’s increasingly become a family affair. Elliott’s No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports will look like his father Bill Elliott’s car from 2003; Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 will pay homage to father Dave Blaney’s old sprint car; and the No. 21 of Harrison Burton will look like father Jeff Burton’s old paint scheme.
BIG 10 SOFTBALL
ROSEMONT, Ill. (May 7, 2023) – The Big Ten Conference has announced the full 12-team, single-elimination bracket for the 24th Big Ten Softball Tournament that will take place May 10-13 at the University of Illinois’ Eichelberger Field in Urbana, Illinois.
Northwestern (35-11, 20-3 Big Ten) is the No. 1 seed for this year’s tournament after earning its ninth Big Ten Championship and second in a row. The Wildcats have won two Big Ten Tournament titles (1982, 2008) and will open this year’s tournament on Thursday with a quarterfinal contest at 4:30 p.m. (CT) live on the Big Ten Network against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round game between No. 8 seed Maryland and No. 9 seed Iowa.
Indiana (40-15, 18-5) is the No. 2 seed for this year’s Big Ten Tournament, the Hoosiers’ highest-ever seed for the tournament. It follows Indiana’s best conference finish since 2011, when it also finished second in the Big Ten standings, although there was no conference tournament held that year (nor in 1983, 1986 and 1994 when the Hoosiers won their three Big Ten titles). Indiana is seeking its first Big Ten Tournament championship and will begin its postseason schedule at 1:30 p.m. (CT) Thursday with a tournament quarterfinal game live on the Big Ten Network against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round matchup between No. 7 seed Penn State and 10th-seeded Michigan.
Minnesota (36-16, 17-6) earned the No. 3 seed for the Big Ten Tournament, the Golden Gophers’ eight top-three seed in the past nine tournaments. Winners of 11 in a row, Minnesota is in search of its sixth Big Ten Tournament title (second-most in tournament history) and will start this year’s quest for the crown at 11 a.m. (CT) Thursday live on the Big Ten Network with a quarterfinal game against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round contest between No. 6 seed Ohio State and 11th-seeded Rutgers.
Rounding out the top four seeds is defending Big Ten Tournament champion Nebraska (33-19, 13-10), which claimed the last of the tournament byes into the quarterfinal round. The Huskers captured their first Big Ten Tournament championship last year with a thrilling 3-1, eight-inning victory over Michigan in the final. Nebraska will open defense of its Big Ten Tournament title at 7 p.m. (CT) Thursday in the last quarterfinal, playing live on the Big Ten Network against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round matchup between fifth-seeded Wisconsin and No. 12 seed (and tournament host) Illinois.
All 11 games of this year’s Big Ten Tournament will not only be televised live to a national audience on the Big Ten Network, but will also be available on the FOX Sports app.
For more information on this year’s tournament, visit the Big Ten Tournament Central page at bigten.org/softball.
The 2023 Big Ten Softball Tournament schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, May 10 (First Round)
Game 1 (#6 Ohio State vs. #11 Rutgers) – 11 a.m. CT (BTN)
Game 2 (#7 Penn State vs. #10 Michigan) – 1:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 3 (#8 Maryland vs. #9 Iowa) – 4:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 4 (#5 Wisconsin vs. #12 Illinois) – 7 p.m. CT (BTN)
Thursday, May 11 (Quarterfinal)
Game 5 (#3 Minnesota vs. Game 1 winner) – 11 a.m. CT (BTN)
Game 6 (#2 Indiana vs. Game 2 winner) – 1:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 7 (#1 Northwestern vs. Game 3 winner) – 4:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 8 (#4 Nebraska vs. Game 4 winner) – 7 p.m. CT (BTN)
Friday, May 12 (Semifinals)
Game 9 (Game 5 vs. Game 6 winner) – 5 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 10 (Game 7 vs. Game 8 winner) – 7:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Saturday, May 13 (Championship)
Game 11 (Game 9 vs. Game 10 winner) – 3 p.m. CT (BTN)
TOP INDIANA RELEASES
INDIANS BASEBALL
TOLEDO, Ohio – A four-hit performance by Chris Owings and season-high tying seven extra-base hits by the Indianapolis Indians offense led to a 9-5 victory over the Toledo Mud Hens in the series finale at Fifth Third Field on Sunday afternoon.
With the contest tied at four apiece in the top of the fifth, Ryan Vilade and Aaron Shackelford belted back-to-back jacks to put the Indians ahead 6-4, breaking the tie for good in Sunday’s high-scoring affair. It was the second occasion this week where the Indians (15-17) have launched back-to-back home runs after Cal Mitchell and Aaron Shackelford went yard on consecutive pitches in Thursday night’s victory.
Toledo (18-14) plated two runs in its first at-bat, scoring first for the first time this series. The Indians responded quickly with Owings’ solo blast to dead-center field in the Indians following plate appearance. Indy then took its first lead of the game with three runs in the third inning. Chavez Young roped a leadoff double and Endy Rodríguez drew a walk before Josh Palacios singled to plate Young. Owings later sprayed a two-run single into left field.
The Mud Hens quickly tied the ballgame in the bottom half of the third inning before back-to-back homers by Vilade and Shackelford reclaimed Indy’s lead. First basemen Michael Papierski had a homer of his own in the bottom half of the frame, it was Toledo’s last run scored and put the game within one run.
Indianapolis tacked on three additional insurance runs to its lead with one in the sixth inning and two in the seventh. Nick Gonzales doubled before scoring on a throwing error by Mud Hens reliever Brendan White (L, 3-1) on a Palacios single. Shackelford walked and Owings doubled for his fourth and final knock of the day to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Josh Bissonette sent them both home and tcapped the scoring with a two-run double into the right-center gap.
Owings finished the day 4-for-5 with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI, it was his first four-hit performance since Sept. 8, 2022 with Scranton Wilkes-Barre at Durham. Palacios went 3-for-5 and extended his International League-leading hitting streak to 12 games. Shackelford finished the day 2-for-3, including his third homer of the season, and is hitting .529 (9-for-17) in his last six games.
Eli Villalobos (W, 1-0) earned his first win of the season after tossing a scoreless fourth inning. After J.C. Flowers allowed a run in the fifth, he combined with Colin Selby and Daniel Zamora to hold the Mud Hens scoreless in the final four frames with 11 combined strikeouts. Indianapolis’ pitching staff finished with 16 strikeouts; it was the 18th time in 32 games that its recorded double-digit strikeouts.
Indianapolis will continue their road trip on Tuesday night at 7:37 PM ET, as they head to CHS Field for a six-game series with the St. Paul Saints. Both teams have yet to name a starter.
INDIANA BASEBALL
EVANSTON, Ill. – For the third time in three tries, the Indiana baseball program came away from a road conference series with a series win, this time a sweep of Northwestern after an 11-9 victory on Sunday (May 7) at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park.
Indiana (34-14, 12-6 B1G) started the scoring with five runs in the top of the first inning, before Northwestern (8-34, 3-15 B1G) got three back in its half of the first. A single Wildcat run in the third was followed by a four-run fourth inning from the Hoosiers. After NU got two back in the bottom of the fourth and the two teams exchanged two-run frames in the seventh. Northwestern scored the final run of the game on a solo home run in the ninth inning.
The sweep gives Indiana three road series wins in the Big Ten for the eighth time since the Big Ten went to eight conference weekends in 2022. The only season with four away weekend wins came in 2014.
Senior Phillip Glasser posted his 25th multi-hit game of the season with a 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. A three-RBI day from senior Peter Serruto lead all hitters, as he went 2-for-3 with a double and one run scored. Sophomore Josh Pyne was on base four times in the game with a double and three walks. He scored twice and drove in one RBI.
Senior Ben Seiler (1-3) picked up his first win in a Hoosier uniform after three innings of work with three hits and two runs – one earned – allowed. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out two. Freshman Brayden Risedorph (4) picked up the save for the second straight game with two innings of work to close things out. He allowed one run on one hit, walked one and struck out one.
For Northwestern, Luke Benneche (0-7) took the loss with nine runs allowed over three innings of work. The nine runs came on nine hits and three walks to go along with two strikeouts. Alex Calarco had two hits – a double and home run – with two runs scored and two RBIS.
Scoring Recap
Top First
Nine batters came to the plate and five came around to score. Phillip Glasser singled to start the inning, Bobby Whalen walked, and Devin Taylor singled to load the bases. Brock Tibbitts pushed the first run across with a fielder’s choice and Carter Mathison scored the second run with a sacrifice fly. Josh Pyne’s fielder’s choice accounted for the third run. After Hunter Jessee walked, Peter Serruto brought two more in with a double down the left field line.
Indiana 5, at Northwestern 0
Bottom First
Eight Wildcats came to the plate and three of them doubled, as Tony Livermore started the frame with a double and worked around to score on a Stephen Hrustich groundout. After an Alex Calarco double, Bennett Markinson singled to bring a run across, and Griffin Arnone followed with an RBI double.
Indiana 5, at Northwestern 3
Bottom Third
Arnone doubled to start the inning and Owen McElfatrick smacked a two-out double to score the runner from second.
Indiana 5, at Northwestern 4
Top Fourth
The first five batters reached base, as Serruto singled and came all the way around on a Tyler Cerny triple to right-center field. Glasser followed with an RBI double, moved to third on a Whalen single and scored on a Taylor base hit. Tibbitts’ sacrifice fly brought in the fourth run of the inning.
Indiana 9, at Northwestern 4
Bottom Fourth
With one out, Hrustich was hit-by-pitch and Calarco hit a two-run home run.
Indiana 9, at Northwestern 6
Top Seventh
Tibbitts doubled to start the inning and, with one out, Pyne and Morgan Colopy walked to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed the first run to score and Serruto added the second run with a sacrifice fly.
Indiana 11, at Northwestern 6
Bottom Seventh
Markinson and Foard singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Evan Minarovic reached on an error by the third baseman to score the first run of the inning and a sacrifice fly two batters later plated the second run of the inning.
Indiana 11, at Northwestern 8
Bottom Ninth
Minarovic hit a solo home run.
Indiana 11, at Northwestern 8
Up Next
Indiana will hit the road for a midweek tilt against Xavier in Cincinnati. First pitch will be 3 p.m. and the game can be heard on the Indiana Sports Radio Network.
INDIANA SOFTBALL
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Hoosiers (40-15, 18-5 B1G) earned their 40th win of the season in the series sweep over Michigan State (14-32, 4-19 B1G) at Andy Mohr Field on Sunday afternoon.
INDIANA 3, MICHIGAN STATE 1
KEY MOMENTS
• Freshman Taryn Kern put the Hoosiers in scoring position with a double to deep left center in the bottom of the third.
• Senior pinch runner Tatum Hayes took the base for Kern as she scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Sarah Stone to put the Hoosiers up, 1-0.
• Freshman Cassidy Kettleman reached base with a bunt to beat out the throw before Kinsey Mitchell slapped one into left field.
• Junior Brooke Benson advanced the runners on a sac bunt as Kettleman scored on a wild pitch, 2-0.
• In the fifth, Kern capitalized on another wild pitch from the Spartans to score a run, 3-0.
• MSU adds a run in the top of the sixth with an RBI triple.
• The Indiana defense sealed the win with a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh.
NOTABLES
• The Hoosiers earned their 40th win on the season and their sixth conference sweep over MSU.
• Sophomore pitcher Heather Johnson improved to 14-6 with the win against the Spartans.
• Kettleman went two-for-three at the plate with
• Kern hit her 12th double on the season. Her extra base hit also broke the program record for most doubles by any team in a single season (96).
UP NEXT
The Hoosiers will head to Illinois for the Big Ten Tournament from May 10-13.
PURDUE SOFTBALL
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Boilermakers put an exclamation point on both Senior Day and the season finale with a 2-1 walk-off victory vs. Penn State at Bittinger Stadium. After entering the bottom of the seventh scoreless, fifth year Alex Echazarreta blasted a home run on a full count, before sophomore pinch hitter Olivia McFadden notched the game-winning RBI single.
Senior Alexa Pinarski (2-4) captured the win after a complete-game one-hitter performance, which included four strikeouts, a season-high and career-high-tying mark. The senior closed the book on her collegiate career with the best performance to date in the circle, as it was her first one-hitter over seven innings and her first complete game during Big Ten play this year. Pinarski did not allow any walks.
Echazarreta’s home run to tie the game marked the third consecutive game the Reston, Virginia product has record a homer and the seventh in the last 10 games. It was her 12th shot of the year, becoming one of just eight Big Ten players to post as many homers this year.
Following Echazarreta’s game-tying run, and just one out needed by Penn State to push the game to extras, senior first baseman Emilee Cox earned the walk, putting the game-winning run on-base. Sophomore Kyndall Bailey pinch ran for Cox, scoring the game-winner. Bailey was put in scoring position thanks to pinch hitter Bella Bacon’s single to left field despite two outs on the board.
McFadden’s game-winning at-bat marked the second time the sophomore has produced a walk-off victory for Purdue (last: 12th inning vs. Rutgers, 2022).
Purdue closes out the 2023 campaign with a 23-20, 6-17 Big Ten record.
PURDUE BASEBALL
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After being limited to one hit through eight innings, Purdue baseball’s top of the lineup delivered four consecutive hits to help the Boilermakers rally for a 3-2 walk-off win vs. South Dakota State on Sunday at Alexander Field.
Purdue (23-23) rallied to win after trailing entering the ninth inning for the first time since the nightcap of the March 20 doubleheader with Illinois State last season. The Boilermakers won in walk-off fashion for the third time this season and ninth time since the start of the 2022 campaign.
Connor Caskenette’s game-tying RBI double in the ninth inning extended his hit streak to 17 consecutive games. Jake Parr followed with a high chopper over the third baseman’s head for the game-winning single, recording his second walk-off RBI of the season. He joined Cam Thompson and Evan Albrecht as active Boilermakers with multiple walk-off RBI.
Consecutive singles from Mike Bolton Jr. and Couper Cornblum ignited the ninth-inning rallies. They registered their hits against SDSU reliever Eli Sundquist, who had allowed only nine hits in 24 1/3 innings this season entering the frame.
NOTABLE STREAKS EXTENDED SUNDAY
• Connor Caskenette (RBI Double) – 24-game on-base streak; 17-game hit streak; 16-game hit streak at Alexander
• Jake Parr (RBI Single, 2 BB) – 20-game on-base streak; 14-game on-base streak at Alexander; 6-game hit streak; 6-game RBI streak
• Couper Cornblum (1-for-4, RBI, R) – 13-game hit streak, 10-game hit streak at Alexander
Kyle Iwinski pitched another gem at Alexander Field, working 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball. The only runs he allowed came on a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh inning. Iwinski has a 1.59 ERA and .200 batting average against in 28 1/3 innings pitched at home this season. He’s pitched into the seventh inning in all four starts and into the eighth inning twice. Sunday’s game marked the fourth time this season Iwinski had at least six scoreless innings in an outing.
After Iwinski’s lone walk of the day, 9-hole hitter Matthew Werk connected for a home run into the bullpen beyond the left field wall. It was the freshman’s first collegiate homer. He was not in the original SDSU (19-22) starting lineup but was inserted late after second baseman and 5-hole hitter Cade Stuff was scratched.
Jake Goble did his part to make Sunday a pitcher’s duel at Alexander. The sophomore limited Purdue to just one hit and an unearned run through seven innings, striking out five.
Jackson Dannelley struck out four of the six batters he faced over an inning and two-thirds of one-hit relief.
Evan Albrecht scored the game’s first run of the day in the sixth inning as Purdue broke the scoreless stalemate without the luxury of a hit. Albrecht reached on an inning-opening error, moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt from Bolton, stole third base and scored on an RBI ground out from Cornblum.
The four-game series concludes Monday at 11:30 a.m. ET. The Boilermakers will go for their third four-game series victory of the season and fifth since the start of 2022. Purdue has not played a home game on a Monday since May 2010.
PURDUE WOMEN’S GOLF
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The quest to the NCAA Championships begins for Purdue Women’s Golf, as the Boilermakers travel to North Carolina to battle 11 other teams in the NCAA Raleigh Regional (May 8-10). Following 54 holes of stroke play at Lonnie Poole Golf Course, the top five teams advance to the national championship in Scottsdale, Arizona (May 19-24).
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Monday, May 8: Round 1 (Tee Times starting at 8 a.m. ET)
Tuesday, May 9: Round 2 (Tee Times starting at 8 a.m. ET)
Wednesday, May 10: Round 3 (Tee Times starting at 8 a.m. ET)
THE LINEUP
Momo Sugiyama – So. (9:39 a.m. ET off No. 1)
Ranked No. 77 in Golfstat’s national rankings
Second Team All-Big Ten
Leads the team in stroke average (73.2), team-low round (14), rounds in the 60s (6) and pars (373)
Her six rounds in the 60s is a single-season school record, shared with five other Boilermakers
Has recorded three Top-5 performances this season, including at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic where she beat 13 golfers ranked in Golfstat’s Top 100
Her 142 (73-69) at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic was the second-best 36-hole total in school history
Has led Purdue in six tournaments as a Boilermaker, including a fourth-place finish (75-74-69—218) at the Windy City Collegiate Classic
Making her 12th appearance as a Boilermaker but playing in her 23rd collegiate tournament
Transferred to Purdue after earning First Team All-Big West accolades as a freshman at Hawaii
Set new Hawaii single-season records for stroke average (73.40), rounds of par-or-better (13), birdies (85) and 54-hole score (211)
Ashley Kozlowski – Jr. (9:28 a.m. ET off No. 1)
Ranked No. 194 in Golfstat’s national rankings
Playing in her 28th tournament as a Boilermaker, including her 11th of the season
Holds a 74.0 stroke average this season, ranking second on the team
Has made a team-best four eagles this season
Paced Purdue at the Lady Buckeye Invitational, tying for ninth on the individual leaderboard
Named B1G Women’s Golfer of the Week (Feb. 15), becoming the first Boilermaker to earn the honor since 2019
Led the Boilermakers to a win at the Tulane Classic, placing runner-up for the best finish of her career
2021-22 Academic All-Big Ten
Kan Bunnabodee – Sr. (9:17 a.m. ET off No. 1)
Appearing in her 27th tournament as a Boilermaker
Made 14 birdies to lead the 87-player field at the Lady Buckeye Invitational on her way to tying for 14th with a season-best 217 (+1)
Has cracked the Top 20 in three of seven tournaments this spring,
Missed the entire fall due to injury
Earned First Team All-Big Ten accolades last season, becoming the first Boilermaker to earn first team honors since 2018
Ranked in the Top 100 of Golfstat’s national rankings throughout the 2021-22 season
2021-22 Academic All-Big Ten
Jocelyn Bruch – R-So. (9:06 a.m. ET off No. 1)
Making her 20th appearance as a Boilermaker, including the ninth of the season
Placed 18th at the Lady Buckeye Invitational for her first career Top-20 finish, carding two rounds of par-or-better
Fired a career-best 70 (-2) in the second round of the Illini Invitational before leading the Boilermakers in the final round with a 1-over 73
Holds a 75.3 stroke average after recording a 76.5 stroke average last season
Tied for ninth at the 2022 Michigan PGA Women’s Open over the summer, competing against professionals; her performance featured a hole-in-one during the opening round
2021-22 Academic All-Big Ten
Danielle du Toit– Sr. (8:55 a.m. ET off No. 1)
Ranked No. 218 in Golfstat’s national rankings
Has played in 45 tournaments as a Boilermaker, the most on the team, totaling 124 rounds
Leads the team in birdies (88)
Paced the Boilermakers to a third-place finish at The Bruzzy, tying for seventh on the individual leaderboard for the sixth Top-10 performance of her career
Has carded four rounds in the 60s this season
Placed a career-best third to help Purdue win the Tulane Classic to start the spring
Her 67 (-5) in the second round of the Illini Invitational matched a career low and is the best round of the season by a Boilermaker; it was also her 100th round at Purdue
Led Purdue at last season’s NCAA Stanford Regional, tying for 14th to help the Boilermakers advance to the NCAA Championships
Won a men’s tournament over the summer, capturing the IGA Challenge Tour’s Road to #5 at Akasia Golf Club in her home country of South Africa
B1G Sportsmanship Award honoree
THE FIELD
1. #2 Wake Forest
2. #11 Arizona State
3. #14 Florida State
4. #21 Florida
5. Arizona
6. North Texas
7. TCU
8. NC State
9. Purdue
10. Nebraska
11. Campbell
12. Richmond
THE COURSE
Lonnie Poole Golf Course is a par 72 that will measure 6,324 yards for the NCAA Regional.
The NC State course, named after the former chairman of Waste Industries, was designed by the legendary Arnold Palmer.
POSTSEASON HISTORY
The Boilermakers have reached an NCAA Regional for the 25th time out of the 26 renditions of the NCAA Championships.
Purdue advanced to the championship stage 18 of those times, including last season as a No. 8 seed after beating Northwestern in a sudden-death playoff at Stanford.
In 2010, the Boilermakers captured the national championship with the second-lowest four-round team score in NCAA Championships history.
PLAYOFF GOLF
These Boilermakers are used to playing the role of underdog. Last season, Purdue entered the NCAA Stanford Regional as the No. 8 seed before cracking the Top 4 to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Following 54 holes of stroke play, Purdue was tied for fourth alongside Big Ten foe Northwestern, forcing a full team playoff.
All five golfers from each team played the par-4 10th with the combined team score determining the winner. The Boilermakers’ team score of 1-over par bested the Wildcats’ total of 3-over on the hole to clinch Purdue’s 18th trip to the national championship stage.
Three Boilermakers in this week’s lineup helped Purdue advance to the 2022 NCAA Championships: Kan Bunnabodee, Danielle du Toit and Ashley Kozlowski.
PURDUE WORLDWIDE
Boilermakers come from all over the world. For the NCAA Raleigh Regional, the Purdue lineup consists of golfers from four different countries: Australia (Momo Sugiyama), South Africa (Danielle du Toit), Thailand (Kan Bunnabodee) and the United States (Jocelyn Bruch, Ashley Kozlowski).
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
The Boilermakers earned their eighth straight NCAA Regional berth in the first season under head coach Zack Byrd, producing four Top 5 finishes throughout the 2022-23 campaign.
Purdue’s spring was highlighted by capturing the team title at the Tulane Classic, the first tournament victory since 2018.
The Boilermakers have had consistency in the lineup for most of the season. Momo Sugiyama and Danielle du Toit have played in all 11 tournaments, while Ashley Kozlowski has made 10 appearances. Jocelyn Bruch has cracked the lineup nine times, while Kan Bunnabodee has competed in all seven spring tournaments after missing the fall due to injury.
In her first season as a Boilermaker after transferring from Hawaii, Momo Sugiyama earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors.
ALL-BIG TEN BOILERMAKER
Ahead of NCAA postseason play, sophomore Momo Sugiyama earned Second Team All-Big Ten accolades in her first season as a Boilermaker.
Sugiyama, the first recruit under new head coach Zack Byrd, has led Purdue throughout the 2022-23 season. The Australian has already tied a single-season school record with six rounds in the 60s this year, a mark shared by five other Boilermakers throughout program history.
Ranked No. 77 by Golfstat, Sugiyama paces Purdue in stroke average (73.2), low rounds (14) and pars (373). In six of 11 tournaments, Sugiyama has produced Purdue’s lowest individual tournament total.
Her sophomore campaign has featured three Top-5 performances, including at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic (March 24-25) where she beat 13 golfers ranked in Golfstat’s Top 100. She finished that tournament with a two-round total of 142 (73-69), the second-best 36-hole total in school history.
Sugiyama is no stranger to earning all-conference honors. Before transferring to Purdue, she collected First Team All-Big West accolades as a freshman at Hawaii, setting single-season school records for stroke average (73.40), rounds of par-or-better (13), birdies (85) and 54-hole score (211)
ADDING TO THE RECORD BOOK
With six rounds in the 60s, Momo Sugiyama has tied Purdue’s single-season record with five Boilermakers: Maria Hernandez (2007-08), Maude-Aimee Leblanc (2009-10), Paula Reto (2012-13), Ida Ayu Indira Melati Putri (2018-19) and Micaela Farah (2018-19).
As a team, Purdue added a pair of Top-5 performances to their record book while competing at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic (March 24-25).
Sugiyama’s 142 (73-69) was the second-best 36-hole total in Purdue Women’s Golf history.
As a team, Purdue’s two-day total of 583 (298-285) marked the fourth-lowest 36-hole performance by a Boilermaker squad.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite a wind chill in the 30s, Purdue played its best round of the Big Ten Championship to conclude the tournament. The Boilermakers fired a 295 (+11) to finish strong, moving four spots up the leaderboard and placing eighth.
Purdue (+46) nearly jumped six spots, finishing just one shot back of both Michigan and Michigan State who tied for sixth at 45-over.
The Boilermakers played the par 3s better than any other team, leading the field in scoring on the short holes (+13).
Momo Sugiyama paced the Boilermakers, tying for 13th on the individual leaderboard at 8-over 69-81-71—221).
TULANE CLASSIC CHAMPIONS
Purdue began the spring season on the right note, defeating 17 teams to win the Tulane Classic at English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans (Feb. 12-14).
In just the fifth tournament under first-year head coach Zack Byrd, the Boilermakers captured their first team title since winning the 2018 Illini Women’s Invitational.
The Boilermakers (+33) used Top 5 individual performances from Ashley Kozlowski (second), Danielle du Toit (third) and Momo Sugiyama (fifth) to secure a four-shot victory.
The Boilermakers recorded 37 birdies throughout the 54-hole tournament, the most by any team. Purdue also paced the field in par-3 scoring (E) and par-5 scoring (+1) on the difficult par 72 course.
For leading Purdue to victory, Kozlowski was named B1G Golfer of the Week following the tournament.
YEAR OF THE BYRD
Following the retirement of legendary coach Devon Brouse, Zack Byrd was named the new head coach of Purdue Women’s Golf prior to the start of the 2022-23 campaign.
One of the top recruiters in the country, Byrd made the move to West Lafayette after spending four seasons at Ole Miss.
Byrd helped the Rebels capture the 2021 NCAA National Championship, the first women’s team national championship in Ole Miss history.
Prior to beginning his coaching career, Byrd spent 10 years as a professional golfer; his career featured an appearance in the 2011 U.S. Open and qualifying for the final stage of PGA Tour Q School.
Byrd hired Lauren Guiao as assistant coach; Guiao made the move to coaching and returned to the program after playing in 20 tournaments over her Purdue career (2017-21).
BUTLER SOFTBALL
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Butler softball team used first-inning homeruns from Paige Dorsett and Teagan O’Rilley to jump to and early lead and never trailed a 7-2 win over Seton Hall in the final game of the regular season for both teams. Monique Hoosen and Cate Lehner each had three hits for the Bulldogs (18-33, 12-9 BIG EAST) who finished fourth in the final BIG EAST standings. The Pirates (38-16, 18-6 BIG EAST) finished in a tie for the second spot with Villanova, just behind first-place UConn. All four teams will be joined by St. John’s and DePaul in the six-team BIG EAST Tournament.
How It Happened
Butler struck early, with a solo home run from Paige Dorsett in the top of the first. Monique Hoosen followed that up with a double, and then Teagan O’Rilley cleared the bases with a two-run bomb. After one complete inning, the Bulldogs held a 3-0 lead.
In the third, Butler loaded the bases with only one out. O’Rilley and Ella White each drew a walk to push the lead to 5-0, but two pop outs quickly ended the threat. Seton Hall also loaded the bases in the bottom half. The Pirates scored one by drawing a walk, but an infield double play shut down the rally. After three complete, the Bulldogs were up, 5-1.
In the top of the sixth, Butler once again loaded the bases with one out. Dorsett hit a deep foul ball toward right field. Kaylee Gross was able to cross on the sacrifice. One batter later, Hoosen hit an infield single and pushed the lead to 7-1. Seton Hall plated one in the bottom half, making the score 7-2 entering the final frame.
Rylyn Dyer (2.1 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB) started for Butler in the circle and lasted into the third inning. She was replaced by Mackenzie Griman (9-15) who was credited with the win. In 4.2 innings, Griman allowed one run on three hits and two walks.
Bulldog Bits
Paige Dorsett’s home run was her eighth of the season and the ninth of her career.
Teagan O’Rilley’s home run was her fourth of the season and the eighth of her career.
Monique Hoosen’s double was her eighth of the season and 14th of her career. Her stolen base was her second of the season and ninth of her career.
With three stolen bases, Cate Lehner now has 17 for the season.
Kaylee Gross’ stolen base was her 15th of the season and the 17th of her career.
Sydney Carter’s stolen base was her fourth of the season and sixth of her career.
Mackenzie Griman picked up her ninth win of the season and the 17th of her career.
Butler’s six stolen bases in the game are the most as a team this season. The previous high was four vs. Portland State back on Feb. 11.
This was the eighth game this season in which the Bulldogs have produced two or more home runs.
Up Next
Butler heads to Storrs, Conn., to prepare for the BIG EAST Tournament. The Bulldogs are the No. 4 seed in the six-team affair which takes place from Wednesday, May 10 through Saturday, May 13.
BUTLER BASEBALL
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Butler scored 11 runs in the top of the fifth inning to cruise to a 20-7 victory over Georgetown on Sunday afternoon. The win allowed BU to win the weekend series and take some momentum into the final two weeks of the regular season.
Six Bulldogs had a multi-hit game against Georgetown and all six of those student-athletes had multiple RBI’s in the outcome. Joey Urban was 4-for-6 as the leadoff man with three RBI and a run scored. Ryan O’Halloran homered in the seventh to end the game 2-for-4 from the dish with a team-best four RBI.
Every Bulldog in the lineup scored at least one run. Scott Jones led the way in that category with four. Xavier Carter, Garret Gray and O’Halloran all scored three times on Sunday.
Gray, Jake DeFries and Urban all generated runs early with extra base hits in the second inning. Kollyn All also doubled in the sixth to score a pair.
The game was tied at 4-4 after the third inning, but DeFries would push BU back on top with a two-RBI single to center in the fourth. The fifth inning was the difference maker as BU scored 11 runs off six hits to go up 17-4.
The win went to Ben Whiteside and the loss fell to Jordan Yoder. The Bulldogs started Lukas Galdoni and also sent Cade Thune and Jon Vore to the hill in relief. As a unit, BU struck out eight and only walked three.
The Bulldogs will play at Northern Kentucky and Dayton during the week and resume with conference competition over the weekend at UConn. The final home series of the 2023 campaign will follow against St. John’s from May 18-20.
IUPUI WOMEN’S TRACK
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The IUPUI women’s track and field team finished off the 2023 #HLTF Outdoor Championships on Sunday (May 7), placing eighth among the 10 teams competing with 37 points. Freshman Modupe Awosanya collected her Alfreeda Goff Athlete of the Year Award and was voted the Fielding Freshman of the Year after winning the long jump earlier in the meet.
However, fatigue took over the women’s team on the final day of the meet as individuals competing in two and three events did well to provide points to the team total.
Junior Ellie Cates placed third in the 1,500m event with a time of 4:38.62 amongst a tight three-person pack at the finish line.
Awosanya, who qualified for the finals in both the 100 and 200m events, placed eighth in the 100 (12.16) and fifth in the 200 (24.36). Sophomore Katie Moore, coming off a fifth-place finish in the heptathlon, was sixth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.09 against a largely fresh field. Freshman Kyla Kante made the finals of the 100m hurdles in her rookie campaign and placed eighth at 14.70 seconds.
Freshman Reese McCuan just missed scoring in the triple jump with a best mark of 11.16m on Sunday.
NOTRE DAME SOFTBALL
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame softball program is set to participate in the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championship Tournament this week in South Bend. The Fighting Irish will be hosting the ACC Tournament for the first time in program history. The program has hosted five BIG EAST Conference Tournaments previously, in addition to two NCAA Regionals.
With a 29-16-1 overall record, and an 11-12-1 ACC record, the Irish earned the 7-seed in the upcoming tournament. The Irish will take on the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets in the first round on Wednesday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The Irish and Yellowjackets did not meet in 2023, but had one of the more memorable series in 2022, as the Irish took two of three games by scores of 8-9, 13-12 (9 innings) and 15-13 (8 innings).
Florida State is the 2023 ACC Regular Season Champion, finishing the regular season with a 22-2 record in conference play, and going 47-8 overall. Duke, winners nine-straight entering the tournament are the second seed, going 19-5.
Clemson (45-8, 18-6) will matchup with North Carolina (24-26, 13-10) in the first round on Thursday in the 3 vs. 6 seeding. Louisville (33-17, 16-7) and Virginia Tech (36-17, 14-10) rounds out the field in the 4 vs. 5 matchup.
INDIANA STATE SOFTBALL
VALPARAISO, Ind. – Indiana State softball shutout Valpo, 11-0, blanking the Beacons for the second time over the weekend to complete a series sweep and close out the regular season on Sunday afternoon.
The Sycamores (29-24, 17-10) won their 29th game of the season, the most since the 1989 season behind a strong effort from the offense and defense. Valpo (8-40, 4-23) managed just two hits in Sunday’s series finale.
The Action
After a pair of walks from Olivia Patton and Danielle Henning to begin the first inning, Annie Tokarek would open up the scoring with a sacrifice fly RBI to score Patton. Patton’s run made it 1-0. The Beacons put their first two hitters on base in the bottom of the first but Abi Chipps and Kennedy Shade turned a double play to erase the runners. ISU starter Lexi Benko got a foul out for the final out of the frame.
The Sycamore offense kept their scoring effort going in the second as TeAnn Bringle singled to right and Kaylee Barrett doubled to left with one out in the second. Abi Chipps hit home Bringle with a RBI groundout to shortstop to make it 2-0 Indiana State. Benko would pick up her first strikeout along the way to a scoreless bottom of the second.
With one out in the top of the third, Annie Tokarek put two more runs on the board, blasting a 2-run shot to left center to score Isabella Henning and put the Trees up 4-0. It was Tokarek’s fifth home run of the season. Getting two strikeouts in the bottom half of the frame, Lexi Benko recorded a 1-2-3 inning.
Both teams went scoreless in the fourth, with Lauren Sackett throwing the fourth inning for ISU, striking out a Valpo hitter in a 1-2-3 frame.
Isabella Henning extended the Sycamore lead in the top of the fifth, launching a solo shot to right center to make it 5-0. The home run was Henning’s ninth of the season, setting a new single season career-high. With two outs in the frame, Kennedy Shade and Maeve McDonough recorded back-to-back singles followed by a TeAnn Bringle hit by pitch to load the bases. Kaylee Barrett then doubled to center field, scoring Kennedy Shade and pinch-runner Hannah Welch to make it a 7-0 game. Sackett stranded a pair of runners in the bottom half.
In a scoreless sixth inning, Sackett picked up two more strikeouts to send the game to the seventh and final frame.
To lead off the top of the seventh, Isabella Henning homered again, a solo shot to center for her team-high tenth long fly of the season. Up 8-0, Kennedy Shade and Annie Tokarek followed Henning with singles. Hannah Welch was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Luci Kapelka came on to pinch-hit and singled to center field, scoring Kennedy Shade and Morgan Goodrich to put ISU up 10-0. Taylor Dugger put the the final run on the board, scoring Hannah Welch with a RBI groundout to make it an 11-0 game.
Cassi Newbanks came on for the seventh inning and worked a 1-2-3 inning, getting a pair of groundouts to close out the victory for the Sycamores. Lexi Benko started and allowed one hit in three innings, striking out three. Lauren Sackett, who got the win to improve to 8-8 on the year, also allowed just one hit in three innings and struck out three.
The Sycamores finished with 11 hits, getting a multi-hit output from four different players. Isabella Henning, Annie Tokarek, Kennedy Shade and Kaylee Barrett each had two hits while Luci Kapelka, TeAnn Bringle and Maeve McDonough had one apiece.
Indiana State clinched the No. 5 seed in next week’s MVC Tournament in Carbondale at SIU’s Charlotte West Stadium. The Sycamores will begin tournament action on Wednesday, May 10 at 2 p.m. ET against Valparaiso. This will be the third-straight season ISU and Valpo have faced off in the opening round of the tournament.
INDIANA STATE BASEBALL
PEORIA, Ill. – Josue Urdaneta drove in three runs and Randal Diaz and Seth Gergely both homered to power Indiana State past Bradley on Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park, 8-3.
The No. 15-ranked Sycamores (32-13, 19-2 MVC) closed out their second road conference sweep of 2023 with Sunday’s win as Indiana State took control of the game in the middle innings to close out the series. ISU scored three runs in the third, three in the fifth, one in the sixth, and one in the ninth to take their first sweep over Bradley since 2017 and first in Peoria since 2002.
Bradley (14-28, 5-16 MVC) scored first in the contest on Adam Brian’s RBI single in the bottom of the second and evened the game up at 3-3 in the bottom of the third on Jackson Chatterton’s two-run double. However, the ISU bullpen headlined by Cam Edmonson (1-0) shut down the Braves over the final six innings to secure the win.
Urdaneta was clutch throughout the day as the redshirt junior connected on a two-out, two-run single in the top of the third inning to give ISU their first lead. His go-ahead RBI single to left in the top of the fifth scored Adam Pottinger to give the Sycamores a lead they would not relinquish. Urdaneta finished the day 3-for-3 at the plate with a trio of RBIs, a walk, and a stolen base.
Diaz and Gergely provided the power bats for the Sycamores with a pair of home runs to give ISU 31 homers through 21 conference games. Parker Stinson and Mike Sears also doubled in the contest as the Sycamores connected on 10 hits in the win.
Lane Miller went the first 3.0-innings in just his second no decision of the season. The redshirt senior surrendered five hits and three runs (one earned) before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
Edmonson was effective in relief as the left-hander allowed just one runner on base, a Cal McGinnis two-out single in the fifth, while striking out three in 4.0 innings of work. Cameron Holycross closed out the contest with a pair of shutout innings.
McGinnis went 3-for-4 from the plate to lead Bradley’s offense on the day, while Chatterton and Mylott both doubled in the loss.
Bradley reliever Travis Lutz (1-3) took the loss after allowing three hits and four runs over 2.0-innings of work. Noah Edders worked the first four innings allowing four hits and three unearned runs, while Anthony Potthoff and Connor Langrell both saw time on the mound.
How They Scored
Bradley cracked the scoreboard first in the contest on Adam Brian’s RBI single scoring Michael Mylott in the bottom of the second inning to take the 1-0 lead.
The Sycamores put up three in the top of the third as Randal Diaz connected on a solo home run to left, while Josue Urdaneta drove in a pair with a run-scoring single to right field to put ISU ahead 3-1.
Bradley responded with Jackson Chatterton’s two-run double to right field in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game up at 3-3.
The Sycamores scored three more in the top of the fifth inning as Urdaneta connected on an RBI single to left scoring Adam Pottinger, while Mike Sears’ two-run double scored Urdaneta and Luis Hernandez to give ISU the 6-3 lead.
Seth Gergely added a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning with his shot clearing the wall in right to put the Sycamores ahead 7-3.
The final run of the ballgame came in the top of the ninth as a fielding miscue on Miguel Rivera’s grounder led to Pottinger crossing the plate to close out the 8-3 margin.
News & Notes
Indiana State improved to 19-2 in Missouri Valley play following Sunday’s win over Bradley. The Sycamores completed their fifth sweep in conference play in 2023 and second road sweep of the year.
The Sycamore sweep over Bradley marked the first time ISU had taken all three games from the Braves since 2017 and ISU’s first sweep in Peoria since 2002.
ISU improved to 40-38 all-time at Bradley following the three-game series.
With Missouri State’s loss to Murray State in game two of the weekend series, Indiana State (19-2) holds a three-game lead over the Bears (16-5) for the top spot in the MVC rankings.
The Sycamores have clinched at least one of the top two seeds at the MVC Championships with six games to play in the regular season.
Randal Diaz and Seth Gergely both homered on Sunday afternoon giving ISU eight homers over the last six games and 54 overall in the 2023 season.
Diaz’s ninth home run was his first since going deep on April 29 at Evansville.
Gergely’s fifth home run was his first since April 22 against Southern Illinois.
Josue Urdaneta posted his third three-hit game of 2023 on Sunday afternoon after a 3-for-3 performance at the plate. It marked his 52nd career multi-hit game, while his three RBIs tied his season-high set at Evansville on April 30.
Adam Pottinger extended his season-best on-base streak to 21 consecutive games following his first inning single. Pottinger finished the game 2-for-3 with three runs scored in the contest.
Pottinger (21), Mike Sears (23), and Luis Hernandez (26) are the first ISU teammates to have a 20-game on-base streak in the same season in the Mitch Hannahs coaching era.
Seth Gergely and Josue Urdaneta both extended their on-base streaks to 13 games on Sunday afternoon.
Three more Sycamores were hit by pitches on Sunday as Miguel Rivera, Luis Hernandez, and Adam Pottinger were all plunked. ISU continues to lead the MVC with 83 HBPs through 45 games.
Cam Edmonson picked up his first win of the season and fourth in his collegiate career after a season-best 4.0-inning relief stint. Edmonson’s last win came back on March 11, 2021, following a relief outing at Florida Atlantic in ISU’s 7-5 win.
Cameron Holycross lowered his team-best ERA to 1.26 following his 2.0-innings to close out the game. Holycross has posted seven multi-inning scoreless relief outings in 2023.
The Sycamore defense saw their six-game errorless streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon, but ISU’s fielding percentage continues to pace the NCAA at .985 on the year.
ISU allowed just two earned runs over the weekend series against Bradley to drop the pitching staff’s team ERA down to 3.95 on the year.
Up Next
Indiana State opens up its final home stand of the 2023 season on Tuesday evening as the Sycamores welcome Ball State to Bob Warn Field for a midweek matchup against the Cardinals. First pitch of the game is set for 5 p.m. ET and will be carried live on ESPN+ and 105.5 The Legend.
EVANSVILLE SOFTBALL
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Northern Iowa pitcher Kailyn Packard fanned nine batters and allowed just one hit in 4 2/3 innings of work to pace the Panthers to a 9-1 win over the University of Evansville softball team on Sunday at Robinson-Dresser Sports Complex.
Another quick start saw UNI grab a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Addison McElrath capped off the scoring with a 2-run double. Evansville cut into the deficit in the top of the second when Zoe Frossard singled to bring in Alexa Davis. Davis was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame before stealing second and scoring on Frossard’s 1-out hit.
In the bottom of the third, UNI put the game out of reach with six runs scoring, all with two outs. Following a walk and a single, Brooke Snider launched a 3-run shot to left center. Another RBI single, coupled with two bases loaded walks, extended the lead to 9-1.
That would be the final score after five innings. Megan Brenton made the start with all nine runs being charged to her. She threw 2 2/3 innings. Erin Kleffman tossed a scoreless 1 1/3 frames. UE picked up one hit on the day with Frossard picking up a single. Northern Iowa had seven hits in the game.
Evansville enters the Missouri Valley Conference Championship as the #9 seed and will face #8 Drake on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Carbondale, Ill.
EVANSVILLE BASEBALL
NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State outfielder J.T. Sokolove snapped a 2-2 tie with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the homestanding Redbirds added four insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings to salvage the series finale of a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series with a 7-2 win over the University of Evansville baseball team at Duffy Bass Field in Normal, Illinois. Evansville still won the weekend series, 2-1.
“We just didn’t go out and earn the win today,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “They made some defensive plays that could’ve changed the direction of the game.
“It is still great to get a series win on the road in the Valley though.”
Evansville and Illinois State traded two runs each in the first two innings, as fifth-year outfielder Danny Borgstrom delivered a two-run single in the second inning for UE. Evansville nearly took the lead in the fifth inning, as graduate third baseman Eric Roberts blasted a ball to deep right field which Sokolove skied high above the fence to rob Roberts of a home run.
An inning later, Sokolove sent the first pitch he saw from UE reliever Jakob Meyer (0-3) over the wall in left field to break the 2-2 tie and give Illinois State a lead it would never lose. For Meyer, it was a rare home run allowed, as it was just the second round-tripper allowed in his UE career, with the first coming in 2020 in his first collegiate inning on the mound.
Illinois State would tack on a single run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly, before scoring three runs in the eighth inning on RBI singles by outfielder Daniel Pacella and catcher Nick Strong to grab a 7-2 lead. Illinois State closer Elijah Dale retired all six men he faced in the eighth and ninth innings to earn his fifth save of the year and make a winner out of ISU starter Derek Salata (4-5).
Senior outfielder Mark Shallenberger went 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead the UE offense. Borgstrom, junior shortstop Simon Scherry and junior second baseman Kip Fougerousse had UE’s other three hits on the afternoon.
With the victory, Illinois State improves to 18-26 overall and 7-14 in the MVC. Evansville, meanwhile, falls to 28-19 overall and 11-10 in the Valley. The Purple Aces remain in fourth place in the league standings after Sunday’s action, with the top four teams earning a first-day bye in the conference tournament in three weeks. Evansville will return home on Tuesday night to host Bellarmine in a non-conference game. First-pitch is set for 6 p.m. and Tuesday’s game can be seen live on ESPN+.
VALPO BASEBALL
The Valparaiso University baseball team banged out a dozen hits, but Southern Illinois compiled 16 as the Salukis prevailed 10-6 in Sunday’s rubber match at Emory G. Bauer Field. Valpo received big days from Alex Thurston (Fowler, Ind. / Benton Central) and Alex Ryan (Lake Mills, Wis. / Lakeside Lutheran), who notched four hits apiece.
How It Happened
Valpo struck first as Ryan Maka (Oak Forest, Ill. / Oak Forest) hit a fly ball to center that was lost in the sun in the bottom of the first, allowing Kyle Schmack (Wanatah, Ind. / South Central) to score on a double for Maka.
SIU jumped ahead on a two-run triple in the second, but then neither team scored again until the sixth.
The Salukis added four runs in the sixth and one in the seventh before Valpo got one back on a single by Ryan in the bottom of the seventh to make it 7-2.
SIU put up a three spot in the top of the eighth, but the Beacons responded with three of their own in the bottom of the inning. Jake Skrine (Longmont, Colo. / Mead [Indiana]) lifted a sacrifice fly, Thurston had a ground-rule double to drive in a run and Brady Nowicki (Big Bend, Wis. / Mukwonago [Indiana Hills]) picked up an RBI on a ground ball.
In the top of the ninth inning, Trent Turzenski (Burlington, Wis. / Burlington) made his season debut and saw his first action since April 1, 2022 after undergoing “Tommy John” surgery. He worked a scoreless frame and faced the minimum in a special moment as he returned to the mound.
Thurston singled in a run in the bottom of the ninth to make it 10-6, and Valpo needed one more batter to reach to get the tying run to the plate before the Salukis worked out of it.
Inside the Game
Valpo starter Bobby Nowak (Cedar Lake, Ind. / Hanover Central [Kankakee]) allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits in 5 1/3 innings to take the defeat.
It was a good day to be named Alex, as both Thurston and Ryan had career highs in the hit column.
Maka continued to rake, picking up three more hits to go along with a walk. He has had multiple hits in eight of his last 11 games. The trio of Ryan, Maka and Thurston accounted for 11 of the team’s 12 hits.
Up Next
Valpo (17-21, 8-13) will host Western Michigan for the final nonconference game of the season on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Emory G. Bauer Field. The game will air on ESPN+.
U OF I BASEBALL
INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Indianapolis baseball team celebrated senior day with a 11-5 win over the Lewis Flyers, taking the four-game series 3-1 and moving to 32-17 with a 17-15 conference record.
Prior to the contest, the Hounds celebrated a group of 13 seniors. The group included Isaac Bair, Aaron Blake, Jared Bujdos, Brandon DeWitt, Nick Foy, Cameron Ginter, Brian Keeney, Kase Lawson, Wyatt Phillips, Adam Rakestraw, Reid Rector, Denton Shepler and Brady Ware.
In the process of the 11-5 victory, Bair had a quality day going 2-3 with four RBIs and a walk. The Greyhounds bullpen was lights out as well with Diego Cardenas, Frankie Klemm, Phillips, Ginter and Foy all combining for three and two-thirds innings of one run baseball.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The contest was a tale of back-and-forth offensive punches, but it seemed every punch the Flyer’s threw, the Hounds answered back bigger. The first saw both squads put up zeros, but it was the second where a Chris McDevitt two-run homer put the Flyers up.
Refusing to be beaten on senior day, Bair got the Hounds two of their own, roping a ball into right for two RBIs. A DeWitt single into center and later a Drew Donaldson double off the wall in right center made it 5-2 after the second.
The Flyers continued to fight however, putting up two more in the top of the third to eat into the Hounds’ lead. But it was a no-fly-zone for the Hounds on a humid Sunday as Bujdos hit a lazer of a double down the left field line that scored Shepler and Ware. A Bair sac-fly to left and then a Easton Good tri9ple added on two more. Finally, Donaldson added another RBI, with a sacrifice fly to right.
The Hounds and Flyers would trade runs in the sixth as well, with Bair floating a ball into left field for his fourth RBI of the day. The Hounds would put in a plethora of seniors in the final innings, with Rector launching a ball into left center that was mere inches from being a home run, with Rector settling for a double instead. A combo of Ginter and Foy would close the contest, leaving the game 11-5 and the Hounds with a series victory.
HOUND BYTES
Al Ready on the team’s successful senior day…
“It was a great series for the Greyhounds, to cap it off with a win on senior day is the icing on the cake. We were able to get almost everybody in, the only senior I didn’t get in was Aaron Blake, he’s been outstanding for us with his schedule with nursing school and everything. I’m just so proud of the guys, all of them have worked so hard over the last four and five years, to be able to able to cap it off with a big GLVC series win against a tough Lewis team and to be able to ride that into the GLVC tournament, you can’t ask for anything more.”
Rector on his double in the last inning…
“Felt amazing, kind of a surreal moment, something that is picture perfect ideal, especially after graduating and this being my last year of baseball, it’s something precious in my eyes.”
UP NEXT
The Hounds await to find out who they will play in the GLVC conference tournament. Stay tuned to @UIndyAthletics on Twitter for more information.
U OF I SOFTBALL
EAST PEORIA, Ill.—The UIndy softball team’s conference title quest ended on Sunday afternoon, as the top-seeded Greyhounds fell to a hot Lewis Flyers club, 5-2, in the championship game of the GLVC Tournament.
The Greyhounds now await the release of the 2023 NCAA DII Championship field. The selection show will air on NCAA.com at 10 a.m. ET Monday morning. UIndy was ranked No. 1 in the Midwest in the previous set of regional rankings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UIndy got on the board first on an RBI single from Emily O’Connor in the top of the third. Shelby Cook and Jocelyn Calvin set the table with a single apiece and both came in on O’Connor’s base hit to left.
The Flyers got one back in the bottom half of the frame before hanging four runs on the board in a productive fifth inning. Lewis faced three UIndy pitchers in the latter inning, amassing two doubles and two singles.
Starter Jayden Casebolt (10-3) was tagged with the loss, pitching 4 1/3 innings and allowing five runs. Alexa Huth was charged with the final two runs, before Kaitlyn Brown came in to handle the last five outs.
Cook finished 2-for-3 at the plate, while each of the first four Greyhound batters had one hit each, including a double by Sydnee Perry.
U OF I WGOLF
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—The UIndy women’s golf team opens play at the NCAA Division II East Regional Monday morning. The Greyhounds earned the No. 2 seed for the at the 54-hole, 15-team event, scheduled for May 8-10 at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Ill
Making their 16th consecutive NCAA appearance, UIndy earned an at-large bid after taking runner-up at the GLVC Championship Tournament. Automatic qualifiers include top-seeded Findlay (G-MAC champ), seventh-seed Ferris State (GLIAC), No. 8 Illinois Springfield (GLVC), 12th-seed Gannon (PSAC) and No. 13-seed Franklin Pierce (NE10). Fourth-seeded Missouri-St Louis is the only other GLVC school to make the cut.
UIndy has enjoyed unprecedented success at the East Regional, winning eight of the 10 region titles since 2012. Last May, the Hounds took runner-up honors to secure their 10th straight trip to the NCAA DII Championships.
The East Region will send its top six finishers to Nationals this year, as well as the top two individuals not on an advancing team. Fifteen teams and 81 student-athletes will compete at the regional, with 54 holes of strokes play taking place over three days. The Greyhounds will begin teeing off from hole No. 1 starting at 9:30 a.m. ET. Live results will be available throughout the tournament.
UINDY LINEUP
1. Elyse Stasil
2. Katelyn Skinner
3. Ava Ray
4. Catharina Graf
5. Anci Dy
SPORTS EXTRA
MLB STANDINGS
| American League | |||||||||||
| East | |||||||||||
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB | Home | Road | East | Central | West | Last 10 | Streak |
| Tampa Bay | 28 | 7 | .800 | – | 19 – 3 | 9 – 4 | 7 – 3 | 9 – 1 | 4 – 2 | 8 – 2 | W 1 |
| Baltimore | 22 | 12 | .647 | 5.5 | 9 – 4 | 13 – 8 | 4 – 5 | 10 – 3 | 5 – 2 | 6 – 4 | L 2 |
| Toronto | 21 | 14 | .600 | 7 | 9 – 3 | 12 – 11 | 4 – 6 | 8 – 2 | 5 – 4 | 5 – 5 | W 3 |
| Boston | 21 | 15 | .583 | 7.5 | 13 – 7 | 8 – 8 | 7 – 7 | 7 – 2 | 3 – 1 | 8 – 2 | L 1 |
| NY Yankees | 18 | 17 | .514 | 10 | 11 – 8 | 7 – 9 | 4 – 5 | 7 – 6 | 3 – 4 | 4 – 6 | L 1 |
| Central | |||||||||||
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB | Home | Road | East | Central | West | Last 10 | Streak |
| Minnesota | 19 | 16 | .543 | – | 10 – 6 | 9 – 10 | 5 – 5 | 10 – 6 | 2 – 1 | 5 – 5 | L 2 |
| Cleveland | 16 | 18 | .471 | 2.5 | 6 – 9 | 10 – 9 | 3 – 6 | 3 – 3 | 6 – 4 | 5 – 5 | W 2 |
| Detroit | 15 | 18 | .455 | 3 | 8 – 7 | 7 – 11 | 2 – 14 | 2 – 1 | 2 – 1 | 6 – 4 | L 1 |
| Chi White Sox | 12 | 23 | .343 | 7 | 6 – 10 | 6 – 13 | 2 – 11 | 3 – 3 | 2 – 2 | 5 – 5 | W 1 |
| Kansas City | 9 | 26 | .257 | 10 | 3 – 16 | 6 – 10 | 2 – 5 | 1 – 6 | 3 – 9 | 3 – 7 | W 1 |
| West | |||||||||||
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB | Home | Road | East | Central | West | Last 10 | Streak |
| Texas | 20 | 13 | .606 | – | 12 – 6 | 8 – 7 | 4 – 3 | 5 – 1 | 6 – 3 | 6 – 4 | W 2 |
| LA Angels | 19 | 16 | .543 | 2 | 9 – 7 | 10 – 9 | 3 – 7 | 2 – 1 | 8 – 5 | 6 – 4 | L 2 |
| Houston | 17 | 17 | .500 | 3.5 | 8 – 11 | 9 – 6 | 4 – 2 | 4 – 6 | 2 – 4 | 4 – 6 | L 2 |
| Seattle | 17 | 17 | .500 | 3.5 | 9 – 10 | 8 – 7 | 1 – 2 | 3 – 4 | 6 – 3 | 6 – 4 | W 2 |
| Oakland | 8 | 27 | .229 | 13 | 3 – 15 | 5 – 12 | 1 – 6 | 3 – 3 | 3 – 10 | 3 – 7 | L 1 |
| National League | |||||||||||
| East | |||||||||||
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB | Home | Road | East | Central | West | Last 10 | Streak |
| Atlanta | 24 | 11 | .686 | – | 9 – 8 | 15 – 3 | 10 – 3 | 6 – 0 | 3 – 4 | 7 – 3 | W 2 |
| Miami | 17 | 18 | .486 | 7 | 10 – 9 | 7 – 9 | 5 – 12 | 4 – 2 | 4 – 2 | 5 – 5 | W 1 |
| NY Mets | 17 | 18 | .486 | 7 | 7 – 8 | 10 – 10 | 7 – 6 | 0 – 3 | 7 – 6 | 3 – 7 | L 2 |
| Philadelphia | 16 | 19 | .457 | 8 | 9 – 7 | 7 – 12 | 1 – 2 | 4 – 3 | 3 – 4 | 4 – 6 | W 1 |
| Washington | 14 | 20 | .412 | 9.5 | 6 – 12 | 8 – 8 | 3 – 3 | 4 – 3 | 3 – 4 | 5 – 5 | W 1 |
| Central | |||||||||||
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB | Home | Road | East | Central | West | Last 10 | Streak |
| Pittsburgh | 20 | 15 | .571 | – | 9 – 7 | 11 – 8 | 2 – 1 | 7 – 4 | 5 – 1 | 3 – 7 | L 7 |
| Milwaukee | 19 | 15 | .559 | 0.5 | 9 – 6 | 10 – 9 | 3 – 0 | 4 – 2 | 5 – 8 | 4 – 6 | W 1 |
| Chi Cubs | 17 | 17 | .500 | 2.5 | 10 – 9 | 7 – 8 | 3 – 7 | 2 – 3 | 5 – 5 | 3 – 7 | L 1 |
| Cincinnati | 14 | 20 | .412 | 5.5 | 10 – 8 | 4 – 12 | 3 – 7 | 3 – 6 | 1 – 2 | 5 – 5 | L 1 |
| St. Louis | 11 | 24 | .314 | 9 | 6 – 13 | 5 – 11 | 0 – 3 | 3 – 4 | 4 – 9 | 2 – 8 | W 1 |
| West | |||||||||||
| Team | W | L | Pct | GB | Home | Road | East | Central | West | Last 10 | Streak |
| LA Dodgers | 21 | 14 | .600 | – | 12 – 6 | 9 – 8 | 4 – 2 | 8 – 5 | 9 – 7 | 8 – 2 | W 2 |
| Arizona | 19 | 15 | .559 | 1.5 | 10 – 7 | 9 – 8 | 3 – 3 | 4 – 2 | 9 – 8 | 6 – 4 | L 1 |
| San Diego | 18 | 17 | .514 | 3 | 10 – 11 | 8 – 6 | 5 – 5 | 4 – 6 | 9 – 6 | 6 – 4 | L 2 |
| San Francisco | 15 | 18 | .455 | 5 | 9 – 8 | 6 – 10 | 3 – 4 | 5 – 2 | 1 – 4 | 5 – 5 | L 1 |
| Colorado | 14 | 21 | .400 | 7 | 7 – 9 | 7 – 12 | 5 – 6 | 4 – 5 | 3 – 6 | 6 – 4 | W 2 |
TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1878 Providence Gray outfielder Paul Hines becomes the first player to execute an unassisted triple play after making a shoestring catch in left-center field and stepping on third, retiring both runners who had passed the base. The runners were out due to the rules used at the time.
1906 At Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, A’s right-hander Chief Bender, coming off the bench, goes deep twice after being asked by his manager Connie Mack to replace an outfielder in the sixth inning of Philadelphia’s 11-4 victory over Boston. The Hall of Fame hurler’s home runs, a seventh-inning solo shot, and a three-run blast in the ninth are both inside-the-park round-trippers given up by Jesse Tannehill.
1926 A three-alarm blaze burns down Fenway’s grandstand roof and left-field bleachers. The Red Sox, desperately in need of cash, use most of the insurance proceeds to pay for operations, leaving a vacant lot where the bleachers once stood.
1929 Giants’ hurler Carl Hubbell becomes the first left-hander in 13 seasons to throw a no-hitter when he beats the Pirates, 11-0. The 26-year-old southpaw, in only his second season in the majors, will post an 18-6 record for the third-place club.
1930 At Forbes Field, future Hall of Fame infielder Freddie Lindstrom completes the cycle when he doubles in the seventh inning of the Giants’ 13-10 victory over the Pirates. The contest marks the 24-year-old third baseman’s second five-hit game of the young season, having also accomplished the feat in the campaign’s fifth game.
1935 Reds’ catcher Ernie Lombardi hits four consecutive doubles in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth innings off four different hurlers. The slow-footed catcher’s quartet of two-baggers helps Cincinnati rout Philadelphia at the Baker Bowl, 15-4.
1942 In the first of sixteen Army-Navy Twilight Relief Games involving every major league club, New York’s two National League teams raise nearly $60,000, with admission charged for everyone entering the park, including players, umpires, writers, ushers, and vendors. Dolph Camilli’s seventh-inning homer proves to be the difference in the exhibition contest when the Dodgers edge the Giants, 7-6, in front of one of the largest crowds in the history of Ebbets Field.
1948 The Senators snap a 36-inning scoreless streak, tallying a run in the final frame of their 6-1 loss to Cleveland at Griffith Stadium. Washington avoids being shut out for the fourth consecutive game when Tribe starter Gene Bearden issues four walks to force in a run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
1961 The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc. announces the New York National League franchise’s team nickname will be the Mets. Other names considered included the Avengers, Burros (a play on the word boroughs), Continentals, Islanders, Jets, Rebels, Skyliners, and owner Joan Payson’s first choice the Meadowlarks.
1961 The Yankees swap Ryne Duren, reliever Johnny James, and outfielder/first baseman Lee Thomas to the Angels for right-hander Tex Clevenger and outfielder Bob Cerv, joining the Bronx Bombers for the third time. During his two seasons with the Halos, the fire-balling Duren posts a disappointing 8-21 record and sets an AL record, striking out seven consecutive batters shortly after joining the team.
1966 Orioles’ outfielder Frank Robinson becomes the first (and only) player to hit a home run entirely out of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The 451-foot wind-assisted blast, which clears the fifty rows of the left-field seats near the foul pole before rolling to a stop 540 feet from home plate, comes off a fastball thrown by Indians’ starter Luis Tiant who hadn’t given up an earned run on the season.
1966 The last game is played at Busch Stadium, known for most of its existence as Sportsman’s Park. The 64-year-old ballpark, which served as the home field for the American League’s Browns until the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954, was also the home for the Cardinals from 1920 until today’s final contest, a 10-5 loss to San Francisco.
1968 Catfish Hunter hurls the first American League perfect game in forty-six years when the A’s defeat the usually heavy-hitting Twins, 4-0, in front of only 6,298 Oakland fans. White Sox right-hander Charlie Robertson was the last Junior Circuit hurler to retire 27 consecutive batters in a regular-season game, accomplishing the feat against Detroit in 1922.
1971 Willie Mays (634) and Hank Aaron (604) hit round-trippers in the Braves’ 5-2 victory over the Giants at Candlestick Park. The long flies mark the first time in baseball history two players with 600 career homers go deep in the same game.
1971 The A’s trade first baseman Don Mincher, who started his career in the nation’s capital in 1960, to Washington, making the 32-year-old first baseman one of a few major leaguers to have played for both the original and expansion Senators. The veteran infielder will become the only person to play for each franchise when both teams depart from the District of Columbia, 11 seasons apart, making him an original Minnesota Twin and an original Texas Ranger.
1973 Bob Gibson starts his 242nd straight game, breaking a major league established in 1947 by right-hander Red Ruffing pitching the Yankees and White Sox. The competitive Cardinals’ right-hander, who will extend the mark to 303 before appearing in relief in 1975, is tagged with the loss in the team’s 9-7 defeat to the Giants at Candlestick Park.
1973 Ralph Miller, the last nineteenth-century ballplayer, dies in Cincinnati at 100 years of age. The right-hander compiled a 5-17 record appearing in 29 National League games for the 1898 Bridegrooms and 1899 Orioles.
1973 On a rainy night at Shea Stadium, the seventh-inning line drive off the bat of Atlanta’s Marty Perez strikes Jon Matlack’s forehead so hard that the ball ricochets into the Mets dugout. Fortunately, the 23-year-old southpaw sustains only a hairline fracture of his skull and will return to the mound on May 19th to blank the Bucs for six innings at Pittsburgh.
1973 After the ejection of Whitey Lockman in the 11th inning of a Jack Murphy Stadium contest place, Ernie Banks fills in for the departed Cubs’ skipper in the team’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Padres. The Chicago coach technically becomes the first black to manage a major league team.
1979 Ranger right-hander Ed Farmer becomes a one-man wrecking crew when his fifth-inning pitch fractures Al Cowens’ jaw, causing the outfielder to miss 21 games. In the first inning of the Arlington Stadium contest, the Texas starter also hit the leadoff batter Frank White with a pitch that will keep the Kansas City second baseman on the shelf for 33 games with a broken wrist.
1984 Kirby Puckett collects four singles in his first major league game, helping Minnesota beat the Angels, 5-0. The 24-year-old Twins’ rookie, a future Hall of Famer, will finish his 12-year major league career with a lifetime .318 batting average.
1984 The White Sox and Brewers begin the lengthiest game in major league history, needing 8 hours and 6 minutes to complete the Comiskey Park contest. The 25-inning marathon, suspended after the 17th frame, ends tomorrow with the White Sox winning, 7-6, on a Harold Baines walk-off homer off Chuck Porter.
1992 “I started out slow and ended up slower. I was cussing (third-base coach) Tommy Spencer when he waved me home. I would have settled for a triple and two RBIs.”- BUTCH HENRY, Astros’ pitcher, commenting on his inside-the-park home run.
Astro southpaw Butch Henry becomes the first player to stroke an inside-the-park home run for his first hit in the major leagues when his sinking line drive gets past left fielder Barry Bonds. The historic three-run homer, which Doug Drabek of the Pirates gives up, will be the only round-tripper the Houston hurler will ever hit during his seven-year career.
1994 The Colorado Silver Bullets become the first women’s team to play a men’s professional team. The Northern League’s All-Stars beat the ladies, 19-0, with one-time Cubs slugger Leon Durham hitting two homers, and former Red Sox hurler Oil Can Boyd making a start for the All-Stars.
Amazon The Colorado Silver Bullets for the Love of the Game: Women Who Go Toe-To-Toe With the Men
1997 Twenty-year-old Ryan Jaroncyk, the Mets’ hard-working first-round draft pick in 1995, retires from baseball, citing he finds the game boring. The healthy, introspective athletic graduate of Orange Glen High School (Escondido, CA), who the team had hoped to be their future shortstop, leaves the franchise after receiving an $850,000 signing bonus, which the club will not ask their former player to return.
1998 Cardinal Mark McGwire reaches the 400th career home run mark. Big Red’s historic milestone comes in 4,727 at-bats (127 fewer than Babe Ruth), the least amount of plate appearances ever needed to reach the mark.
2000 Brothers Jason and Jeremy Giambi hit home runs in the A’s 9-8 loss to Anaheim at Edison Field. The siblings’ round-trippers mark the first of four times the Oakland teammates will accomplish the feat.
2000 John Rocker balks when the ball falls out of his glove, resulting in a 3-2 walk-off loss to the Marlins at Miami’s Pro Player Stadium. The Braves closer’s ninth-inning miscue, with two outs and a 2-2 count on Cliff Floyd, plates Danny Bautista from third with the winning run.
2001 With the deed not officially recognized as tying a record, at first, because the contest against the Reds goes extra innings, Diamondback southpaw fireballer Randy Johnson joins Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as the only pitchers to strike out 20 batters in nine innings. After being pulled in the ninth, the three-time Cy Young Award winner does not get an opportunity to break Tom Cheney’s major league mark of 21 strikeouts recorded by the 27-year-old Senator right-hander in a 16-inning contest on September 12, 1962, against the Orioles.
2004 The Rangers, trailing 14-4 in the middle of the hour-long fifth inning at the Ballpark in Arlington, rally to beat the Tigers in ten innings, 16-15. Texas overcomes the double-digit deficit when the team tallies ten times in the bottom of the fifth inning after allowing eight runs in the top of the frame.
2009 At Camden Yards, Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez makes his return to the lineup immediately felt, blasting a three-run home run on the first pitch he has seen this season. The third baseman’s Ruthian blast, which comes off a 98-mph fastball thrown by Baltimore’s right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, helps to snap the Yankees’ five-game losing streak when they beat the Orioles, 4-0.
2009 Stephen M. Ross, owner of the Dolphins’ football franchise and the stadium where the NFL team and Marlins play their games, and singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett announced a unique branding partnership that renames the ballpark Land Shark Stadium. The joint venture, bringing together Buffett’s Margaritaville and Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Land Shark Lager, is reportedly for only eight months, reverting to Dolphin Stadium unless another naming rights deal happens before Super Bowl XLIV and the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2010 Jody Gerut, who had four hits this season before the game, becomes the sixth Brewer to complete a cycle when he strokes a two-run ninth inning-double in Milwaukee’s 17-3 rout of the Diamondbacks. The 32-year-old outfielder, the first Brewer to accomplish the feat since Chad Moeller in 2004, hit a solo home run in the second inning, singled in the third, and added a triple in the fifth frame in the Chase Field contest.
2011 In all of the American League contests played today, one team in each of the seven games scores exactly five runs. The last time that such a statistical happenstance occurred was on August 10th, 1993, when seven NL teams score exactly two runs in each of the scheduled games.
2011 Mike Scioscia becomes the twenty-third manager in major league history to reach 1,000 victories with one team when the Angels beat Cleveland at the Big A, 6-5. The 52-year-old skipper, named the American League Manager of the Year twice, once in 2002, when the team won their only World Series, and in 2009, has led the team for a dozen years.
2012 Josh Hamilton becomes the 16th major leaguer to hit four home runs in one game when he blasts an 0-2 pitch over the Camden Yards centerfield fence in the eighth inning of the Rangers’ 10-3 victory over Baltimore. The Texas outfielder, who connected each time with a man on base, also hits a double to set the American League’s single-game record for total bases with 18, one shy of Shawn Green’s major league mark of 19 established in 2002 with the Dodgers.
2012 The New York State Senate congratulates Mr. Met with a voice-approved resolution, honoring the larger-than-life bobblehead for being named the best mascot in the U.S. in a fan survey conducted by the Marketing Arm. The Amazins’ spherical symbol of cheer, who defeated the popular Phillie Phanatic in the poll, is commended by the legislative body for having his legacy serve as “a sterling example for all mascots.”
2016 Bryce Harper reaches base seven times without recording an official at-bat due to being hit by a pitch and receiving six free passes. In the Nationals’ 4-3 extra-inning loss at Wrigley Field, Cub hurlers throw 27 pitches, 25 of which are out of the strike zone, to the 23-year-old reigning MVP.
2018 Mariner James Paxton, a native of Ladner, British Columbia, throws the sixth no-hitter in franchise history and the first not in Seattle, beating the Blue Jays, 5-0 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. The 29-year-old southpaw becomes the second Canadian to pitch a major league hitless game, a feat first accomplished by Torontonian Dick Fowler in 1945 for A’s.
2019 Ranger center fielder Joey Gallo becomes the fastest player to hit 100 homers in American League history when his 443-foot blast lands in the Allegheny River, a two-run homer in the team’s 9-6 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park. The milestone round-tripper comes in the 25-year-old’s 377th game, surpassing Mark McGwire, who needed 16 additional games to accomplish the feat.
(Ed. Note: Ryan Howard set the major league record in 2007, recording his 100th in his 325th game with the Phillies. – LP)
TV MONDAY
| MLB REGULAR SEASON GAMES | TIME ET | TV |
| Detroit at Cleveland | 6:10pm | Bally Sports |
| Tampa Bay at Baltimore | 6:35pm | Bally Sports MASN/2 |
| Colorado at Pittsburgh | 6:35pm | ATTSN-RM ATTSN-PIT |
| Oakland at NY Yankees | 7:05pm | NBCS-CA YES |
| Chi. White Sox at Kansas City | 7:40pm | NBCS-CHI Bally Sports |
| LA Dodgers at Milwaukee | 7:40pm | MLBN Spectrum Bally Sports |
| St. Louis at Chi. Cubs | 7:40pm | MLBN Root Sports MARQ |
| Houston at LA Angels | 9:38pm | ATTSN-SW Bally Sports |
| Miami at Arizona | 9:40pm | Bally Sports |
| Texas at Seattle | 9:40pm | Bally Sports Root Sports |
| Washington at San Francisco | 9:45pm | MASN/2 NBCS-BAY |
| NBA PLAYOFFS | TIME ET | TV |
| East Semifinals Game 4: New York at Miami | 7:30pm | TNT |
| West Semifinals Game 4: Golden State at LA Lakers | 10:00pm | TNT |
| NHL PLAYOFFS | TIME ET | TV |
| Game 3: Vegas at Edmonton | 8:30pm | ESPN |
| SOCCER | TIME ET | TV |
| English Premier League: Fulham vs Leicester City | 10:00am | USA |
| English Premier League: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Everton | 12:30pm | USA |
| Serie A: Udinese vs Sampdoria | 12:30pm | Paramount+ |
| Serie A: Empoli vs Salernitana | 12:30pm | Paramount+ |
| Serie A: Sassuolo vs Bologna | 2:45pm | Paramount+ |
| English Premier League: Nottingham Forest vs Southampton | 3:00pm | USA |
| Brasileirão: Corinthians vs Fortaleza | 7:00pm | Paramount+ |
| Argentina Primera División: Central Córdoba SdE vs Sarmiento | 8:30pm | Paramount+ |