THE INDIANA SRN “SPORTSPAGE” TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2024

Apr 23, 2024 | SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES, THE INDIANA SRN SPORTSPAGE | 0 comments

“THE SCOREBOARD”

CENTRAL INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

COWAN 23 SETON CATHOLIC 3

HAGERSTOWN 19 RANDOLPH SOUTHERN 4

SOUTH DECATUR 14 SOUTHWESTERN 0

DELTA 16 MUNCIE CENTRAL 1

TERRE HAUTE NORTH 11 PARKE HERITAGE 3

OLDENBURG ACADEMY 11 N. DECATUR 10

JAY COUNTY 13 MONROE CENTRAL 2

BISHOP CHATARD 16 GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN 6

CLOVERDALE 9 S. PUTNAM 8

YORKTOWN 5 WAPAHANI 4

BLUE RIVER 15 TRI 1

WES DEL 10 ELWOOD 0

WINCHESTER 8 CAMBRIDGE CITY LINCOLN 3

IRVINGTON PREP 15 INDIANAPOLIS WASHINGTON 4

LAWRENCE CENTRAL 18 CRISPUS ATTUCKS 2

FRANKLIN COUNTY 17 S. DEARBORN 1

BETHESDA CHRISTIAN 16 HERRON 1

PARK TUDOR 12 SPEEDWAY 1

TINDLEY 10 PROVIDENCE CRISTO REY 6

GUERIN CATHOLIC 3 HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 0

INDIAN CREEK 6 GREENWOOD 4

NORTHEASTERN 13 UNION COUNTY 3

WALDRON 7 PURDUE BROAD RIPPLE 5

GREENCASTLE 22 SOUTHMONT 6

BATESVILLE 5 GREENSBURG 4

ANDERSON PREP 11 MUNCIE BURRIS 4

MOORESVILLE 5 TERRE HAUTE SOUTH 3

HOMESTEAD 4 HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 0

NOBLESVILLE 10 HAMILTON HEIGHTS 1

BROWNSBURG 10 TRI-WEST 4

FRANKLIN CENTRAL 13 SHELBYVILLE 7

MOUNT VERNON 8 ANDERSON 4

CENTER GROVE 12 WESTFIELD 11

AVON 7 CARMEL 6

EAST CENTRAL 16 RUSHVILLE 3

NEW CASTLE 9 CENTERVILLE 8

CONNERSVILLE 5 LAWRENCEBURG 3

STATE SCOREBOARD: HTTPS://WWW.MAXPREPS.COM/IN/BASEBALL/SCORES/?DATE=4/22/2024

INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL RANKINGS

4A

  1. CENTER GROVE
  2. CARMEL
  3. NOBLESVILLE
  4. FLOYD CENTRAL
  5. MCCUTCHEON
  6. MOORESVILLE
  7. COLUMBUS NORTH
  8. EVANSVILLE NORTH
  9. WESTFIELD
  10. VALPARAISO

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: SOUTH BEND ADAMS, PENN, LAKE CENTRAL, LAWRENCE NORTH, CASTLE, SEYMOUR, FISHERS, RONCALLI

3A

  1. ANDREAN
  2. GUERIN CATHOLIC
  3. NEW PRAIRIE
  4. BISHOP CHATARD
  5. PRINCETON
  6. HANOVER CENTRAL
  7. SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH
  8. LAWRENCEBURG
  9. WESTERN
  10. BREBEUF

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: SILVER CREEK, JASPER, FAIRFIELD, HERITAGE HILLS, CRAWFORDSVILLE, TWIN LAKES, VINCENNES LINCOLN

2A

  1. HAGERSTOWN
  2. FOREST PARK
  3. ILLIANA CHRISTIAN
  4. NORTH POSEY
  5. TRITON CENTRAL
  6. MITCHELL
  7. PARK TUDOR
  8. EVANSVILLE MATER DEI
  9. SEEGER
  10. CASCADE

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: SOUTHWESTERN HANOVER, LAPEL, WABASH, ALEXANDRIA, UNIVERSITY, NORTH NEWTON, EASTSIDE, NORTHEASTERN

1A

         1, LAFAYETTE CENTRAL CATHOLIC

         2, BARR REEVE

         3, NORTH DAVIES

         4, WES DEL, SHAKAMAK

         6, KOUTS

         7, NORTH DECATUR

         8, BORDEN

         9, FW BLACKHAWK

        10, TRI-COUNTY

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: BLOOMFIELD, MORGAN TWP., DALEVILLE, NORTHFIELD, CLAY CITY, LOOGOOTEE, SOUTH-CENTRAL, ROCK CREEK ACADEMY, JAC CEN DEL, WEST WASHINGTON, EVANSVILLE CHRISTIAN, GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN, UNION CITY, FOUNTAIN CENTRAL, CASTON, EDINBURGH

CENTRAL INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL

JAY COUNTY 9 WAPAHANI 4

CAMBRIDGE CITY LINCOLN 9 WINCHESTER 2

TERRE HAUTE SOUTH 1 W. VIGO 0

SHENANDOAH 4 TRI 2

BLUFFTON 8 UNION CITY 5

SOUTH PUTNAM 17 CLOVERDALE 2

HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 22 PIKE 12

BEN DAVIS 14 RITTER 4

CONNERSVILLE 3 FRANKLIN COUNTY 0

INDIANAPOLIS LUTHERAN 5 TRINITY LUTHERAN 2

PURDUE POLY 23 CRISPUS ATTUCKS 6

CATHEDRAL 10 LAWRENCE NORTH 0

DANVILLE 14 MONROVIA 2

GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN 15 LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 2

RONCALLI 7 CENTER GROVE 3

SHELBYVILLE 10 GREENSBURG 3

COVENANT CHRISTIAN 6 BISHOP CHATARD 3

GUERIN CATHOLIC 17 WARREN CENTRAL 6

HAGERSTOWN 10 UNION COUNTY 0

YORKTOWN 16 HAMILTON HEIGHTS 6

PENDLETON HEIGHTS 11 FRANKTON 2

GREENWOOD 10 SOUTHPORT 2

SPEEDWAY 9 N. PUTNAM 5

EASTERN HANCOCK 12 KNIGHTSTOWN 1

NEW PALESTINE 18 NOBLESVILLE 16

ANDERSON 16 MARION 6

HARRISON 11 ZIONSVILLE 3

BLOOMINGTON NORTH 10 WHITE RIVER VALLEY 1

MOUNT VERNON 16 DELTA 0

NORTH CENTRAL 8 LAPEL 7

STATE SCOREBOARD: HTTPS://WWW.MAXPREPS.COM/IN/SOFTBALL/SCORES/?DATE=4/22/2024

INDIANA BOYS LAX RANKINGS

2A

  1. CATHEDRAL
  2. CARMEL
  3. HAMILTON SE
  4. CULVER
  5. CENTER GROVE
  6. ZIONSVILLE
  7. WESTFIELD
  8. CROWN POINT
  9. BROWNSBURG
  10. GUERIN CATHOLIC
  11. NOBLESVILLE
  12. PENN

1A

  1. BREBEUF
  2. EVANSVILLE MEMORIAL
  3. EVANSVILLE NORTH
  4. FT. WAYNE DWENGER
  5. HERITAGE CHRISTIAN
  6. BISHOP CHATARD
  7. NORTHRIDGE
  8. EVANSVILLE MATER DEI
  9. EVANSVILLE REITZ
  10. CASTLE
  11. BLOOMINGTON NORTH
  12. RONCALLI

INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS TENNIS RANKINGS

1.SB ST. JOSEPH

2.FISHERS

3.CARMEL

4.JASPER

5.BREBEUF

6.COLUMBUS NORTH

7.NOBLESVILLE

8.FRANKLIN COMMUNITY

9.ZIONSVILLE

10.LAWRENCE NORTH

11.NORTH CENTRAL

12.PARK TUDOR

13.MOUNT VERNON (FORTVILLE)

14.GUERIN CATHOLIC

15.CENTER GROVE

16TCATHEDRAL

16TLAFAYETTE HARRISON

18.WESTFIELD

19.EVANSVILLE MEMORIAL

20.PENN

21.DELTA

22.FW CARROLL

23.SULLIVAN

24.CASTLE

25.HOMESTEAD

26.NORTHWOOD

27.WARSAW

28.AVON

29.PROVIDENCE

30.SOUTH KNOX

INDIANA GIRLS TENNIS SCORES

CONNERSVILLE 4 SOUTH DEARBORN 0

BREBEUF 5 HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 0

BEN DAVIS 4 TRI-WEST 1

FRANKTON 5 ANDERSON 0

INDIANA TRACK RESULTS: HTTPS://IN.MILESPLIT.COM/RESULTS

INDIANA BOYS GOLF SCORES

CONNERSVILLE 185 RICHMOND 195

TRI-WEST 162, LEBANON 178, CRAWFORDSVILLE 188

FRANKTON 161 ANDERSON 201

MT. VERNON 162 GREENFIELD CENTRAL 174

INDIANA BOYS VOLLEYBALL

CHRISTEL HOUSE 3 LAWRENCE CENTRAL 0

COLLEGE BASEBALL RANKINGS

D1 POLL

  1. TEXAS A&M
  2. ARKANSAS
  3. TENNESSEE
  4. KENTUCKY
  5. CLEMSON
  6. DUKE
  7. EAST CAROLINA
  8. WAKE FOREST
  9. OREGON STATE
  10. FLORIDA STATE
  11. VANDERBILT
  12. UC IRVINE
  13. COASTAL CAROLINA
  14. VIRGINIA
  15. NORTH CAROLINA
  16. ARIZONA
  17. LOUISIANA
  18. OKLAHOMA
  19. OKLAHOMA STATE
  20. GEORGIA
  21. NORTH CAROLINA STATE
  22. OREGON
  23. ALABAMA
  24. SOUTH CAROLINA
  25. INDIANA STATE

BASEBALL AMERICA

  1. TEXAS A&M
  2. ARKANSAS
  3. TENNESSEE
  4. CLEMSON
  5. DUKE
  6. FLORIDA STATE
  7. KENTUCKY
  8. EAST CAROLINA
  9. VANDERBILT
  10. WAKE FOREST
  11. VIRGINIA
  12. NORTH CAROLINA
  13. OREGON STATE
  14. UC IRVINE
  15. COASTAL CAROLINA
  16. OKLAHOMA
  17. NORTH CAROLINA STATE
  18. OREGON
  19. OKLAHOMA STATE
  20. ALABAMA
  21. WEST VIRGINIA
  22. SOUTH CAROLINA
  23. ARIZONA
  24. INDIANA STATE
  25. LOUISIANA

USA TODAY

  1. TEXAS A&M
  2. ARKANSAS
  3. TENNESSEE
  4. CLEMSON
  5. KENTUCKY
  6. DUKE
  7. EAST CAROLINA
  8. VANDERBILT
  9. FLORIDA STATE
  10. OREGON STATE
  11. WAKE FOREST
  12. VIRGINIA
  13. UC IRVINE
  14. NORTH CAROLINA
  15. COASTAL CAROLINA
  16. LOUISIANA
  17. GEORGIA
  18. OKLAHOMA
  19. ALABAMA
  20. ARIZONA
  21. SOUTH CAROLINA
  22. OKLAHOMA STATE
  23. NORTH CAROLINA STATE
  24. OREGON
  25. INDIANA STATE

NBA PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

ALL TIMES EASTERN STANDARD TIME

(1) BOSTON VS. (8) MIAMI

• GAME 1: CELTICS 114, HEAT 94
• GAME 2: HEAT VS. CELTICS; WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 (7 ET, TNT)
• GAME 3: CELTICS VS. HEAT; SATURDAY, APRIL 27 (6 ET, TNT)
• GAME 4: CELTICS VS. HEAT; MONDAY, APRIL 29 (TBD, TBD)
• GAME 5: HEAT VS. CELTICS; WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: CELTICS VS. HEAT; FRIDAY, MAY 3 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: HEAT VS. CELTICS; SUNDAY, MAY 5 (TBD, TBD)*
BOSTON LEADS SERIES 1-0

* = IF NECESSARY

(2) NEW YORK VS. (7) PHILADELPHIA

• GAME 1: KNICKS 111, 76ERS 104
• GAME 2: KNICKS 104, 76ERS 101
• GAME 3: KNICKS VS. 76ERS; THURSDAY, APRIL 25 (7:30 ET, TNT)
• GAME 4: KNICKS VS. 76ERS; SUNDAY, APRIL 28 (1 ET, ABC)
• GAME 5: 76ERS VS. KNICKS; TUESDAY, APRIL 30 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: KNICKS VS. 76ERS; THURSDAY, MAY 2 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: 76ERS VS. KNICKS; SATURDAY, MAY 4 (TBD, TNT)*
NEW YORK LEADS SERIES 2-0

* = IF NECESSARY

(3) MILWAUKEE VS. (6) INDIANA

• GAME 1: BUCKS 109, PACERS 94
• GAME 2: PACERS VS. BUCKS; TUESDAY, APRIL 23 (8:30 ET, NBA TV)
• GAME 3: BUCKS VS. PACERS; FRIDAY, APRIL 26 (5:30 ET, ESPN)
• GAME 4: BUCKS VS. PACERS; SUNDAY, APRIL 28 (7 ET, TNT)
• GAME 5: PACERS VS. BUCKS; TUESDAY, APRIL 30 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: BUCKS VS. PACERS; THURSDAY, MAY 2 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: PACERS VS. BUCKS; SATURDAY, MAY 4 (TBD, TNT)*
MILWAUKEE LEADS SERIES 1-0

* = IF NECESSARY

(4) CLEVELAND VS. (5) ORLANDO

• GAME 1: CAVALIERS 97, MAGIC 83
• GAME 2: CAVALIERS 96, MAGIC 86
• GAME 3: CAVALIERS VS. MAGIC; THURSDAY, APRIL 25 (7 ET, NBA TV)
• GAME 4: CAVALIERS VS. MAGIC; SATURDAY, APRIL 27 (1 ET, TNT)
• GAME 5: MAGIC VS. CAVALIERS; TUESDAY, APRIL 30 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: CAVALIERS VS. MAGIC; FRIDAY, MAY 3 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: MAGIC VS. CAVALIERS; SUNDAY, MAY 5 (TBD, TBD)*
CLEVELAND LEADS SERIES 2-0

* = IF NECESSARY

WESTERN CONFERENCE

ALL TIMES EASTERN STANDARD TIME

(1) OKLAHOMA CITY VS. (8) NEW ORLEANS

• GAME 1: THUNDER 94, PELICANS 92
• GAME 2: PELICANS VS. THUNDER; WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 (9:30 ET, TNT)
• GAME 3: THUNDER VS. PELICANS; SATURDAY, APRIL 27 (3:30 ET TNT)
• GAME 4: THUNDER VS. PELICANS; MONDAY, APRIL 29 (TBD, TBD)
• GAME 5: PELICANS VS. THUNDER; WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: THUNDER VS. PELICANS; FRIDAY, MAY 3 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: PELICANS VS. THUNDER; SUNDAY, MAY 5 (TBD, TBD)*
OKLAHOMA CITY LEADS SERIES 1-0

* = IF NECESSARY

(2) DENVER VS. (7) L.A. LAKERS

• GAME 1: NUGGETS 114, LAKERS 103
• GAME 2: NUGGETS 101, LAKERS 99
• GAME 3: NUGGETS VS. LAKERS; THURSDAY, APRIL 25 (10 ET, TNT)
• GAME 4: NUGGETS VS. LAKERS; SATURDAY, APRIL 27 (8:30 ET, ABC)
• GAME 5: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS; MONDAY, APRIL 29 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: NUGGETS VS. LAKERS; THURSDAY, MAY 2 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS; SATURDAY, MAY 4 (TBD, TNT)*
DENVER LEADS SERIES 2-0

* = IF NECESSARY

(3) MINNESOTA VS. (6) PHOENIX

• GAME 1: TIMBERWOLVES 120, SUNS 95
• GAME 2: SUNS VS. TIMBERWOLVES; TUESDAY, APRIL 23 (7:30 ET, TNT)
• GAME 3: TIMBERWOLVES VS. SUNS; FRIDAY, APRIL 26 (10:30 ET, ESPN)
• GAME 4: TIMBERWOLVES VS. SUNS; SUNDAY, APRIL 28 (9:30 ET, TNT)
• GAME 5: SUNS VS. TIMBERWOLVES; TUESDAY, APRIL 30 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: TIMBERWOLVES VS. SUNS; THURSDAY, MAY 2 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: SUNS VS. TIMBERWOLVES; SATURDAY, MAY 4 (TBD, TNT)*
MINNESOTA LEADS SERIES 1-0

* = IF NECESSARY

(4) LA CLIPPERS VS. (5) DALLAS

• GAME 1: CLIPPERS 109, MAVERICKS 97
• GAME 2: MAVERICKS VS. CLIPPERS; TUESDAY, APRIL 23 (10 ET, TNT)
• GAME 3: CLIPPERS VS. MAVERICKS; FRIDAY, APRIL 26 (8 ET, ESPN)
• GAME 4: CLIPPERS VS. MAVERICKS; SUNDAY, APRIL 28 (3:30 ET, ABC)
• GAME 5: MAVERICKS VS. CLIPPERS; WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 6: CLIPPERS VS. MAVERICKS; FRIDAY, MAY 3 (TBD, TBD)*
• GAME 7: MAVERICKS VS. CLIPPERS; SUNDAY, MAY 5 (TBD, TBD)*
LA LEADS SERIES 1-0

* = IF NECESSARY

NHL PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

FLORIDA PANTHERS (1A) VS. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (WC1)

FLORIDA LEADS SERIES 1-0

GAME 1: PANTHERS 3, LIGHTNING 2
GAME 2: LIGHTNING AT PANTHERS — APRIL 23, 7:30 P.M. ET (ESPN2, SN360, TVAS)
GAME 3: PANTHERS AT LIGHTNING — APRIL 25, 7 P.M. ET (TBS, MAX, SN, TVAS)
GAME 4: PANTHERS AT LIGHTNING — APRIL 27, 5 P.M. ET (TBS, TRUTV, MAX, TVAS, SNE, SNW, SNP)
GAME 5: LIGHTNING AT PANTHERS — APRIL 29, TBD
GAME 6: PANTHERS AT LIGHTNING — MAY 1, TBD
GAME 7: LIGHTNING AT PANTHERS — MAY 4, TBD

COMPLETE PANTHERS-LIGHTNING SERIES COVERAGE

BOSTON BRUINS (2A) VS. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (3A)

SERIES TIED 1-1

GAME 1: BRUINS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 1
GAME 2: MAPLE LEAFS 3, BRUINS 2
GAME 3: BRUINS AT MAPLE LEAFS — APRIL 24, 7 P.M. ET (ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC)
GAME 4: BRUINS AT MAPLE LEAFS — APRIL 27, 8 P.M. ET (TBS, TRUTV, MAX, SN, TVAS, CBC)
GAME 5: MAPLE LEAFS AT BRUINS — APRIL 30, TBD
GAME 6: BRUINS AT MAPLE LEAFS — MAY 2, TBD
GAME 7: MAPLE LEAFS AT BRUINS — MAY 4, TBD

COMPLETE BRUINS-MAPLE LEAFS SERIES COVERAGE

NEW YORK RANGERS (1M) VS. WASHINGTON CAPITALS (WC2)

NEW YORK LEADS SERIES 1-0

GAME 1: RANGERS 4, CAPITALS 1
GAME 2: CAPITALS AT RANGERS — APRIL 23, 7 P.M. ET (ESPN, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNW)
GAME 3: RANGERS AT CAPITALS — APRIL 26, 7 P.M. ET (TNT, TRUTV, MAX, SN360, TVAS)
GAME 4: RANGERS AT CAPITALS — APRIL 28, 8 P.M. ET (TBS, TRUTV, MAX, SN360, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNP)
GAME 5: CAPITALS AT RANGERS — MAY 1, TBD
GAME 6: RANGERS AT CAPITALS — MAY 3, TBD
GAME 7: CAPITALS AT RANGERS — MAY 5, TBD

COMPLETE RANGERS-CAPITALS SERIES COVERAGE

CAROLINA HURRICANES (2M) VS. NEW YORK ISLANDERS (3M)

CAROLINA LEADS SERIES 2-0

GAME 1: HURRICANES 3, ISLANDERS 1
GAME 2: HURRICANES 5, ISLANDERS 3
GAME 3: HURRICANES AT ISLANDERS — APRIL 25, 7:30 P.M. ET (ESPN2, SN360, TVAS)
GAME 4: HURRICANES AT ISLANDERS — APRIL 27, 2 P.M. ET (TBS, TRUTV, MAX, SN, TVAS)
GAME 5: ISLANDERS AT HURRICANES — APRIL 30, TBD
GAME 6: HURRICANES AT ISLANDERS — MAY 2, TBD
GAME 7: ISLANDERS AT HURRICANES — MAY 4, TBD

COMPLETE HURRICANES-ISLANDERS SERIES COVERAGE

WESTERN CONFERENCE

DALLAS STARS (1C) VS. VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (WC2)

VEGAS LEADS SERIES 1-0

GAME 1: GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, STARS 3
GAME 2: GOLDEN KNIGHTS AT STARS — APRIL 24, 9:30 P.M. ET (ESPN, SN360, TVAS)
GAME 3: STARS AT GOLDEN KNIGHTS — APRIL 27, 10:30 P.M. ET (TBS, TRUTV, MAX, SN, SN360, TVAS)
GAME 4: STARS AT GOLDEN KNIGHTS — APRIL 29, TBD
GAME 5: GOLDEN KNIGHTS AT STARS — MAY 1, TBD
GAME 6: STARS AT GOLDEN KNIGHTS — MAY 3, TBD
GAME 7: GOLDEN KNIGHTS AT STARS — MAY 5, TBD

COMPLETE STARS-GOLDEN KNIGHTS SERIES COVERAGE

WINNIPEG JETS (2C) VS. COLORADO AVALANCHE (3C)

WINNIPEG LEADS SERIES 1-0

GAME 1: JETS 7, AVALANCHE 6
GAME 2: AVALANCHE AT JETS — APRIL 23, 9:30 P.M. ET (ESPN, CBC, TVAS)
GAME 3: JETS AT AVALANCHE — APRIL 26, 10 P.M. ET (TNT, TRUTV, MAX, CBC, TVAS)
GAME 4: JETS AT AVALANCHE — APRIL 28, 2:30 P.M. ET (TNT, TRUTV, MAX, SN, TVAS)
GAME 5: AVALANCHE AT JETS — APRIL 30, TBD
GAME 6: JETS AT AVALANCHE — MAY 2, TBD
GAME 7: AVALANCHE AT JETS — MAY 4, TBD

COMPLETE JETS-AVALANCHE SERIES COVERAGE

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (1P) VS. NASHVILLE PREDATORS (WC1)

VANCOUVER LEADS SERIES 1-0

GAME 1: CANUCKS 4, PREDATORS 2
GAME 2: PREDATORS AT CANUCKS — APRIL 23, 10 P.M. ET ( ESPN2, SN, TVAS)
GAME 3: CANUCKS AT PREDATORS — APRIL 26, 7:30 P.M. ET (TBS, MAX, SN, TVAS)
GAME 4: CANUCKS AT PREDATORS — APRIL 28, 5 P.M. ET (TBS, TRUTV, MAX, SN, TVAS)
GAME 5: PREDATORS AT CANUCKS — APRIL 30, TBD
GAME 6: CANUCKS AT PREDATORS — MAY 3, TBD
GAME 7: PREDATORS AT CANUCKS — MAY 5, TBD

COMPLETE CANUCKS-PREDATORS SERIES COVERAGE

EDMONTON OILERS (2P) VS. LOS ANGELES KINGS (3P)

EDMONTON LEADS SERIES 1-0

GAME 1: OILERS 7, KINGS 4
GAME 2: KINGS AT OILERS — APRIL 24, 10 P.M. ET (TBS, MAX, SN, TVAS, CBC)
GAME 3: OILERS AT KINGS — APRIL 26, 10:30 P.M. ET (TBS, MAX, SN, TVAS)
GAME 4: OILERS AT KINGS — APRIL 28, 10:30 P.M. ET (TBS, TRUTV, MAX, SN, SN1, TVAS)
GAME 5: KINGS AT OILERS — MAY 1, TBD
GAME 6: OILERS AT KINGS — MAY 3, TBD
GAME 7: KINGS AT OILERS — MAY 5, TBD

COMPLETE OILERS-KINGS SERIES COVERAGE

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

OAKLAND 2 NY YANKEES 0

PHILADELPHIA 7 CINCINNATI 0

PITTSBURGH 4 MILWAUKEE 2

DETROIT 7 CINCINNATI 0

PITTSBURGH 4 MILWAUKEE 2

DETROIT 7 TAMPA BAY 1

ATLANTA 3 MIAMI 0

MINNESOTA 7 CHICAGO WHITE SOX 0

TORONTO 5 KANSAS CITY 3

ST. LOUIS 5 ARIZONA 3

SAN DIEGO 3 COLORADO 1

SAN FRANCISCO 5 NY METS 2

BALTIMORE 4 LA ANGELS 2

MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

NO GAMES SCHEDULED

UFL

NO GAME S SCHEDULED

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

NO GAMES SCHEDULED

2024 NFL DRAFT

1ST ROUND

NFL draft order

HERE IS THE CURRENT DRAFT ORDER FOR ROUND 1 OF THE 2024 NFL DRAFT (AS OF APRIL 22):

  1. CHICAGO BEARS (FROM CAROLINA)
  2. WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
  3. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
  4. ARIZONA CARDINALS
  5. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
  6. NEW YORK GIANTS
  7. TENNESSEE TITANS
  8. ATLANTA FALCONS
  9. CHICAGO BEARS
  10. NEW YORK JETS
  11. MINNESOTA VIKINGS
  12. DENVER BRONCOS
  13. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS
  14. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
  15. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
  16. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
  17. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
  18. CINCINNATI BENGALS
  19. LOS ANGELES RAMS
  20. PITTSBURGH STEELERS
  21. MIAMI DOLPHINS
  22. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
  23. MINNESOTA VIKINGS (FROM CLEVELAND THROUGH HOUSTON)
  24. DALLAS COWBOYS
  25. GREEN BAY PACKERS
  26. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
  27. ARIZONA CARDINALS (FROM HOUSTON)
  28. BUFFALO BILLS
  29. DETROIT LIONS
  30. BALTIMORE RAVENS
  31. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
  32. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

MONDAY’S TRANSACTIONS

BASEBALL

Major League Baseball

American League

MINNESOTA TWINS — Activated RF Max Kepler from the 10-day IL. Optioned C Jair Camargo and RHP Louie Varland to St. Paul (IL). Selected the contract of RHP Ronny Henriquez from St. Paul (IL). Transferred RHP Daniel Duarte from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

SEATTLE MARINERS — Optioned RHP Brett de Geus to Tacoma (PCL).

National League

ATLANTA BRAVES — Optioned RHP Darius Vines to Gwinnet (IL). Recalled RHP Bryce Elder from Gwinnett (IL).

COLORADO ROCKIES — Optioned RHP Noah Davis to Albuquerque (PCL).

NEW YORK METS — Activated RHP Sean Reid-Foley from the 15-day IL. Designated RHP Michael Tonkin for assignment. Optioned RHP Grant Hartwig to Syracuse (IL). Recalled LHP Josh Walker from Syracuse (IL).

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — Placed RF Bryce Harper on the paternity list. Recalled 2B Kody Clemens from Lehigh Valley (IL).

FOOTBALL

National Football League

DENVER BRONCOS — Acquired QB Zach Wilson in a trade with the New York Jets. Agreed to terms with CB Levi Wallace on a contract.

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS — Released DL Shaka Toney.

BASKETBALL

Women’s National Basketball Association

MINNESOTA LYNX — Signed F Alissa Pili and G Kiki Jefferson to rookie scale contracts.

TOP NATIONAL SPORTS RELEASES AND NEWS REPORTS

NBA PLAYOFFS

NBA ROUNDUP: NUGGETS RALLY, SHOCK LAKERS AT BUZZER

Jamal Murray hit a step-back jumper as time expired and the host Denver Nuggets rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 101-99 on Monday night in Game 2 of a Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Murray, who struggled shooting all game, dribbled to the baseline and launched a 16-footer over the outstretched hand of Anthony Davis to give Denver a 2-0 series lead.

LeBron James had a steal and dunk to put Los Angeles up 95-92 and Michael Porter Jr.’s 3-pointer with 1:15 left tied it before Murray took over. He hit two free throws and a 20-footer to answer buckets by Los Angeles. James then missed a 3-pointer with 16.3 seconds left to set up Murray’s heroics.

Nikola Jokic had 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists for the Nuggets, who have beaten the Lakers in 10 straight meetings, regular season and postseason combined. Murray finished with 20 points on 9-for-24 shooting.

Davis had 32 points and 11 rebounds but scored just two points in the final 22 minutes. James supplied 26 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds.

Knicks 104, 76ers 101

Donte DiVincenzo hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 13.1 seconds left for host New York, which scored the final eight points in the last 28 seconds to stun Philadelphia and take a 2-0 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round series.

The 76ers overcame an eight-point deficit by mounting a 19-6 run that ended with Kyle Lowry splitting a pair of free throws with 47.3 seconds left for a 101-96 lead. New York’s Jalen Brunson, who missed his first five 3-point attempts, got a shooter’s roll on a corner 3-pointer with 27.4 seconds left.

Brunson finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists while Josh Hart had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Knicks. Tyrese Maxey logged 35 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds and Joel Embiid had 34 points and 10 boards in a losing cause.

Cavaliers 96, Magic 86

Donovan Mitchell recorded 23 points and eight rebounds and Jarrett Allen collected a personal-playoff-high 20 boards to pace Cleveland to a victory over visiting Orlando.

The Cavaliers, who never trailed, grabbed a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round playoff series as Evan Mobley scored 17 points and Allen had 16.

Paolo Banchero scored 21 points and Franz Wagner added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Magic, who committed 17 turnovers.

NBA NEWS

NBA BREAKS SEVERAL TIES IN 2024 DRAFT ORDER

Six random drawings were conducted Monday to help determine the selection order for the 2024 NBA Draft.

Four drawings sorted out playoff teams with the same regular-season records, while the others were held to separate lottery teams with identical records.

The Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers tied for the third-worst record in the NBA at 21-61, and the Hornets won their tiebreaker, giving them a 13.3 percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick. The Blazers are not much worse off at 13.2 percent. (The Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards have the best lottery odds at 14 percent.)

Similarly, the Sacramento Kings — who beat the Golden State Warriors in a 9-versus-10 play-in game this month — also won a draft tiebreaker over their rivals. Both teams went 46-36 in the regular season, but the Kings will have marginally better odds in the lottery (0.8 percent versus Golden State’s 0.7 percent).

While the lottery on May 12 will determine the order of the top 14 picks, Nos. 15-30 were finalized Monday.

The Philadelphia 76ers emerged from a four-way tie at 47-35 with the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers. The Sixers will pick No. 16, followed by Los Angeles, Orlando and Indiana.

The Milwaukee Bucks won the three-team tiebreaker at 49-33 with the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans. However, the Bucks’ 21st overall pick conveys to the Pelicans and the Pelicans’ 23rd pick goes to the Bucks as part of the 2020 Jrue Holiday trade.

The Dallas Mavericks officially received the 24th pick over the New York Knicks after both teams finished 50-32, but ironically, the Knicks own both picks anyway. New York receives Dallas’ 2024 first-rounder as a condition of the 2019 Kristaps Porzingis trade.

Finally, breaking the tie for the No. 28 pick, the Denver Nuggets won over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Utah Jazz control Oklahoma City’s No. 29 pick as a result of multiple trades.

The NBA draft is slated for June 26-27. Picks 15-30 are as follows:

15. Miami

16. Philadelphia

17. Los Angeles Lakers*

18. Orlando

19. Toronto (from Indiana)

20. Cleveland

21. New Orleans (from Milwaukee)

22. Phoenix

23. Milwaukee (from New Orleans)

24. New York (from Dallas)

25. New York

26. Washington (from Los Angeles Clippers via multiple teams)

27. Minnesota

28. Denver

29. Utah (from Oklahoma City via multiple teams)

30. Boston

*The New Orleans Pelicans may choose to take the Lakers’ first-round pick as a condition of the 2019 Anthony Davis trade.

NETS HIRE JORDI FERNANDEZ AS HEAD COACH

Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez was named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.

The 41-year-old replaces interim head coach Kevin Ollie, who was promoted in February when Jacque Vaughn was fired.

“We’re thrilled to announce Jordi Fernández as Brooklyn’s new head coach,” Nets GM Sean Marks said in a statement. “As we progressed through an extensive search over the past six weeks, it became increasingly clear that Jordi is the best coach to lead our team forward. Jordi brings a diverse set of experiences and basketball knowledge gained over the course of a coaching career that has taken him around the world. Each step of the way, Jordi has consistently demonstrated the ability to implement strong processes and creative systems designed to optimize each team’s specific roster. He’s proven the ability to build genuine relationships and garner the respect of players of all levels, and we’re confident that our players will benefit greatly from his expertise. We look forward to Jordi, Kelsey and their children joining the Nets family and calling Brooklyn home.”

The Nets went 32-50 in 2023-24 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Brooklyn was swept in the first round of the postseason in 2023 (Philadelphia 76ers) and 2022 (Boston Celtics).

Fernandez, who also serves as Canadian National Team head coach, has been an assistant coach with the Cavaliers and Nuggets. He was head coach of the Canton Charge (NBADL) from 2014-2016.

Fernandez was one of three finalists for the Nets’ vacancy. Former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer and Suns associate head coach Kevin Young were the others.

NHL PLAYOFFS

NHL ROUNDUP: HURRICANES STORM BACK, STUN ISLES

Sebastian Aho and Jordan Martinook scored the tying and go-ahead goals nine seconds apart with just over two minutes left as the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the New York Islanders 5-3 in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday in Game 2 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

With goalie Frederik Andersen pulled for the extra attacker, Aho tipped in Andrei Svechnikov’s shot to tie the game 3-3 with 2:15 to go. Martinook got the winner with 2:06 left when he jammed in a loose puck from the side of the net. Jake Guentzel added an empty-net goal with 56 seconds remaining.

Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists, Aho contributed two points, Andrei Svechnikov contributed two assists and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for Carolina. Andersen made nine saves.

Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri and Bo Horvat scored for New York, which led 3-0 midway through the second period. Semyon Varlamov stopped 34 shots in the loss.

Maple Leafs 3, Bruins 2

Auston Matthews scored with 7:54 left in regulation to cap a three-point night and lift Toronto over host Boston in Game 2 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Monday.

Matthews had one goal and two assists, Max Domi added a goal and an assist and John Tavares also scored for Toronto, which returns home with the best-of-seven series tied at 1-1. Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves, including 10 in the third period.

Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins, who led 2-1 after one period. Linus Ullmark stopped 30 shots as Boston continued the goalie-rotation plan it utilized in the regular season. Jeremy Swayman started and won Game 1.

Oilers 7, Kings 4

Zach Hyman collected his first career playoff hat trick in a four-point game and Connor McDavid posted a playoff-best five assists to lead host Edmonton past Los Angeles in Game 1 of a Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Adam Henrique and Leon Draisaitl both netted one goal and one assist, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Warren Foegele also scored and Evan Bouchard notched a career-best four assists for the Oilers, who snapped a seven-game skid in series openers. Stuart Skinner made 33 saves.

Adrian Kempe logged a goal and an assist and Mikey Anderson, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings. Cam Talbot stopped 38 shots.

Golden Knights 4, Stars 3

Logan Thompson made 27 saves in his NHL playoff debut as Vegas began its Stanley Cup title defense with a victory at Dallas in Game 1 of a Western Conference first-round series.

Brayden McNabb, Mark Stone, Jonathan Marchessault and Tomas Hertl scored and Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin each added two assists for the Golden Knights, who had never won Game 1 of a playoff series when playing on the road.

Mason Marchment, Jamie Benn and Jason Robertson had the goals for the Stars, who are the No. 1 seed in the West. Jake Oettinger finished with 11 saves and had an assist.

MLB NEWS

MLB ROUNDUP: CARDS PREVAIL ON NOLAN GORMAN’S WALK-OFF HR

Nolan Gorman hit a walk-off two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-3 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.

Lars Nootbaar drove in two runs and Paul Goldschmidt also went deep for the Cardinals, who snapped a four-game losing streak. St. Louis starting pitcher Lance Lynn allowed three runs on seven hits and three walks in five innings.

Ryan Helsley (2-2), the fourth arm out of the Cardinals’ bullpen on Monday, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the victory.

Eugenio Suarez went 3-for-4 with two RBIs for the Diamondbacks, who lost for the fourth time in six games. Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt allowed two runs on two hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. Reliever Ryan Thompson (0-1) took the loss, allowing one run on one hit in one-plus innings.

Athletics 2, Yankees 0

Zack Gelof hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning and visiting Oakland eked out a victory in a game that featured a bizarre early ejection of New York manager Aaron Boone.

Victor Gonzalez (1-1) slipped trying to field an infield single by Abraham Toro, then Gelof blasted a 2-2 sinker into the right-center field seats. Athletics closer Mason Miller blazed through the ninth by striking out the side for his fifth save. He reached 103 mph on a whiff of Juan Soto and ended it by fanning Aaron Judge on a 102 mph fastball.

Soon after Oakland leadoff man Esteury Ruiz was hit by a pitch to open the game, Boone was tossed by plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Boone came out and said he didn’t say anything, pointing to a fan who had made a comment. Wendelstedt countered by saying, “I don’t care who said it, you’re gone.”

Orioles 4, Angels 2

Albert Suarez didn’t allow a run in 5 2/3 innings, but Baltimore didn’t seal its victory against Los Angeles until Craig Kimbrel struck out Mike Trout with the bases loaded to end the series opener in Anaheim, Calif.

James McCann and Colton Cowser homered for the Orioles, who won their third game in a row and improved to 7-1 in their past eight games. Suarez (1-0), who fanned five, hasn’t allowed a run in 11 1/3 innings this season. Kimbrel got his sixth save.

Jo Adell homered, Logan O’Hoppe rapped three hits and Zach Neto had two hits for the Angels, but the team’s losing streak reached five games. Reid Detmers (3-1) gave up four runs on six hits in seven innings.

Twins 7, White Sox 0

Chris Paddack struck out 10 in seven innings and Minnesota cruised to a win over Chicago in Minneapolis.

Edouard Julien went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs to lead the Twins at the plate. Max Kepler went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs in the opener of a four-game series. Paddack (1-1) scattered six hits and walked none to earn his first victory of the season. He threw 64 of 96 pitches for strikes.

Nicky Lopez and Danny Mendick had two hits apiece to lead Chicago. The White Sox lost for the 19th time in 22 games to start the season. White Sox right-hander Jonathan Cannon (0-1) allowed six runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Padres 3, Rockies 1

Dylan Cease pitched seven dominant innings for his third straight win as the San Diego edged Colorado in Denver.

Cease (3-1) gave up just one hit and one run. He didn’t issue a walk and recorded eight strikeouts. Enyel De Los Santos worked a scoreless eighth, and Robert Suarez recorded the final three outs for his eighth save.

Tyler Wade hit the winning single off Nick Mears (0-2) in the eighth inning. Jurickson Profar and Jackson Merrill also knocked in runs for the Padres. Ryan McMahon drove in the Rockies’ lone run with a sacrifice fly.

Pirates 4, Brewers 2

Oneil Cruz went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs to help Pittsburgh snap its six-game losing streak with a win against visiting Milwaukee.

Pirates starter Jared Jones (2-2) allowed one run on four hits in six innings. He recorded seven strikeouts and two walks. Andrew McCutchen led off the bottom of the first with his second homer of the season to put Pittsburgh up 1-0.

Right-hander Joe Ross (1-2) gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits in 5 1/3 innings for the Brewers, whose four-game winning streak ended. Rhys Hoskins homered and drove in both Milwaukee runs.

Phillies 7, Reds 0

Ranger Suarez and two relievers combined on a two-hitter, Kody Clemens hit a three-run home run and visiting Philadelphia extended its winning streak to seven games with a victory over Cincinnati.

Suarez (4-0) allowed two hits, with one walk and five strikeouts over seven innings. Gregory Soto and Jeff Hoffman followed to seal the opener of the four-game series.

Alec Bohm, Nick Castellanos and Clemens each had two hits for Philadelphia, which has won 15 of its past 21 games to move a season-best seven games over .500. Red starter Hunter Greene (0-2) pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits.

Braves 3, Marlins 0

Travis d’Arnaud continued his power binge with another home run and Bryce Elder returned from the minor leagues to throw 6 2/3 scoreless innings and help Atlanta beat Miami.

d’Arnaud homered for the fifth time in his past three starts, with his two-run blast in the fourth opening the scoring. Elder (1-0), an All-Star last year who started this season with Triple-A Gwinnett, scattered eight hits, did not walk a batter and struck out four.

A.J. Minter pitched a perfect eighth and set an Atlanta record with his 108th hold (since the stat was tracked beginning in 1986). Raisel Iglesias worked a scoreless ninth to earn his seventh save. Miami starter Ryan Weathers (2-2) pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs.

Tigers 7, Rays 1

Detroit fireballer Tarik Skubal dazzled with six overpowering innings and the Tigers continued their six-game road trip with a resounding series-opening win over Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Skubal (3-0) allowed just three baserunners — all on singles — and faced only 20 Rays. He struck out nine in his 86-pitch stint. Mark Canha went 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs, two RBIs and was hit by a pitch for Detroit.

Tampa Bay’s Jose Caballero homered, while leadoff hitter Amed Rosario went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Starter Zack Littell (1-1) surrendered six runs (five earned) and nine hits over six innings.

Blue Jays 5, Royals 3

Bo Bichette’s three-run triple led Toronto past host Kansas City.

The Blue Jays took a 3-0 lead on Bichette’s triple in the third after a pair of walks and Cavan Biggio’s opposite-field double. Toronto scored more runs on Bichette’s swing than Kansas City starter Brady Singer (2-1) had allowed in any of his four previous starts this year.

Daulton Varsho, who leads the Jays with six homers, drove Singer’s 1-2 slider out to right for a two-run homer in the sixth, expanding the lead to 5-0. Starter Yusei Kikuchi (2-1) made quick work of the Royals through five scoreless innings, then allowed a two-run homer to Maikel Garcia.

Giants 5, Mets 2

Keaton Winn pitched four-hit ball over six-plus innings, Michael Conforto homered against his former team and San Francisco opened a three-game home series against New York with a victory.

Nick Ahmed and Matt Chapman contributed two-run hits, helping the Giants respond to a loss with a win for the sixth consecutive time. Winn (2-3), who lost his first three starts of the season, got into the seventh inning, though he didn’t retire a batter in that frame, while giving up four hits and one run with one walk. He struck out six, tying his season high.

Pete Alonso hit his seventh home run of the season in the fifth inning to account for the New York scoring until a Camilo Doval wild pitch allowed Brandon Nimmo to score in the ninth.

NFL NEWS

NFL TEAMS OFTEN MISFIRE ON DRAFTING QBS. BUT HOW OFTEN DO THEY FAIL? AND WHY?

The Minnesota Vikings need a quarterback in this draft. That much is easy to see. The hard part is picking the right one — and determining what it’s worth to them to get him.

With this top-flight class — featuring Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy — the Vikings are poised to set up their future with the 11th and 23rd overall picks that could be packaged together for a move into the top five.

But they realize, no matter how well set up they are for a rookie with a quarterback-friendly head coach in Kevin O’Connell and a superstar wide receiver in Justin Jefferson, there is no guarantee in this highly calculated yet no-better-than-a-coin-flip exercise of finding that franchise player in the NFL.

“I think our odds will be better than the margins. How good are those odds? Obviously, it’s still a pretty risky thing,” third-year general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “But just because something’s risky doesn’t mean you’re scared of it.”

Teams are using premium draft picks on quarterbacks at an increasingly high rate. This draft is slated to be the eighth in the past nine years with at least three QBs taken in the first round, which matches the number of times that happened in the first 38 years of the common draft era.

Quarterbacks could go with the top three picks for the fourth time ever with Chicago, Washington and New England all sorely in need of a passer who can turn the fortunes of a franchise. This draft could break a record with four quarterbacks possibly going in the top nine picks. The over-under for total QBs taken in the first round is set at 4½ by BetMGM Sportsbook with Michael Penix and Bo Nix also under consideration for other QB-needy teams outside the top 10 like Denver and Las Vegas.

But for every Patrick Mahomes, there is a Josh Rosen.

“I think it would be hard to point to the results and say we’ve made progress, as sad as that is,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. “The more you look at it, I think there’s more attention being paid now to maybe more so the environment than the actual quarterback, and knowing how to set the table for when you do take the quarterback, that he can be successful.”

Never mind whether the player is a rhythm pocket passer, adept at ad-libbing, or somewhere in between.

“Different styles, that’s not something to get carried away with. To me, it’s more a focus of, ‘Do we have the right play caller, the right offensive line to protect him, and do we have some guys he can get the ball to?’” Jeremiah said. “I think that seems to be what’s going to lead to these guys being a success or not.”

The Vikings are banking on that.

“When we talk about these players, it’s not just how good are they. It’s how do we get the best version of themselves if they come to the Minnesota Vikings? We set up plans before they walk in the building,” Adofo-Mensah said. “I think our odds will be better than the margins.”

Still, the league-wide hit rate remains largely a tossup.

From the start of the rookie wage scale era in the 2011 draft through 2022, 38 quarterbacks have been drafted in the first round. Those QBs have essentially played at slightly below league-average rates early in their careers with a passer rating 1.5 points below league average over their first three seasons.

Twenty of those QBs were allowed to leave their original teams without even reaching the relatively low bar of receiving a second contract, with 2021 second overall pick Zach Wilson the latest after being traded by the New York Jets to Denver on Monday.

Only five earned first- or second-team All-Pro honors. Only eight have led their teams to multiple playoff wins so far.

“I feel like it’s really hard to evaluate quarterbacks, but you just try to get better and try to understand what you did the last time that was really good and what you did last time that was really bad,” said Commanders first-year general manager Adam Peters, who is aiming for better success picking a QB at No. 2 this year than he had as assistant GM in San Francisco when the 49ers took Trey Lance third overall in 2021. “It’s constantly evolving, and I don’t think anybody has the magic pill to understand that one. If they do let me know, I’ll hire them.”

The majority of those busts provided two seasons or fewer as regular starters as teams quickly moved on from failures like Jake Locker, Johnny Manziel, Paxton Lynch and of course Rosen, who spent time with a whopping seven teams over five years after Arizona traded up five spots to take him 10th overall in 2018.

Several teams were quickly forced back on the quarterback draft carousel. There were eight instances of a team using another first-round pick on a quarterback in the ensuing four drafts, including the Cardinals, who traded away Rosen after one year and took Kyler Murray first overall in 2019.

Chicago and New England could add to that count at the top of this draft with the Bears widely expected to draft Williams at No. 1 overall after trading away 2021 first-round QB Justin Fields and New England possibly using the third pick on a replacement for 2021 first-rounder Mac Jones.

Getting a quarterback worthy of a second contract is no sign of success with many of those being no better than a mid-level performer like Daniel Jones, Ryan Tannehill, Blake Bortles and Carson Wentz.

“I think it’s probably the most, probably the toughest position of all professional sports to play,” said Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, whose franchise has enjoyed a more than 30-year uninterrupted run of top-flight QB play from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. “You never really know until you have that time to try to develop a guy, whether he’s going to be able to do it at a high level or not. So, it’s just a tough league to excel at that position, for sure.”

But the success stories are the reason why teams keep coming back with the hope of getting their franchise-lifting quarterback, like Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow.

Five of the seven teams with the best odds to win the Super Bowl, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, are led by a quarterback they selected in the first round. Nine of the last AP NFL MVPs are first-round quarterbacks with their original teams.

“I think there’s risk obviously,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “There’s no certainty or else we’d be fantastic with the draft.”

MICHAEL PENIX JR. TELLS GMS WHAT TO EXPECT OF HIM: PERSEVERANCE

Michael Penix Jr.’s injury history makes him a wild card in this week’s NFL Draft, and the quarterback took to The Players’ Tribune on Monday to try to sell general managers on selecting him.

“4 season-ending injuries in 4 years, Mike. How do I reconcile that?”

That’s how he started his first-person essay, letting GMs know that he knows a question they’d love to ask him.

He discussed his humble upbringing in Dade City, Fla., how “nothing is handed to you, you have to earn everything. If you fall — you get up. Simply put.”

Penix began his college career at Indiana, relaying in his writing how two weeks before he was scheduled to sign with a Southeastern Conference team, he was told the team had a change of heart and had yanked his scholarship offer.

He wound up at Indiana at the last minute.

“IU had 10 straight losing seasons when I got to Bloomington, one winning season since 1994. I knew what I was walking into, but I felt I could help turn the program around,” Penix said. “In 2020 we became the 7th-ranked team in the country, the highest ranking the program has had since 1967.”

But the experience wasn’t all smiles.

“Even with that success, I experienced a lot there. From lighting up practice to watching practice on crutches. From getting a shout out from LeBron (James) to being booed in my own stadium. From 4th quarter comebacks to entering the transfer portal waiting for somebody to call. Indiana taught me to never take this game for granted. It also taught me that if I fall, I wouldn’t bet against me getting up.”

And that was the point Penix, who turns 24 on May 8, was trying to make. He has gotten up over and over again, especially with injuries.

He wound up transferring to Washington, a 4-8 program when he signed before the 2022 season. He took the Huskies to the College Football Playoff national title game this year, which Washington lost to Michigan. His two seasons there: 11-2 and 14-1.

But before he arrived in Seattle, he had two season-ending shoulder injuries and two ACL tears.

“I hear it all the time. ‘He’s been injured, what happens if he gets injured again?’ Haven’t I shown you what that looks like? Haven’t I put almost 2,000 plays on tape since my last injury? …

“Truth is, I’d be more worried if I had never been injured. We don’t all come back the same. I can’t speak for those that have never gone through anything. But I can speak on me. I’ve seen how deep my foundation is. I know the storms I’m prepared to weather. For most people that’d be the end of their story. But there’s more to my story, and I own every page of it.”

The latest mock drafts project Penix could be selected as high as the No. 10 pick or as low as the No. 44 spot.

JETS TRADE QUARTERBACK ZACH WILSON TO THE BRONCOS, AP SOURCE SAYS

Zach Wilson was expected to be the face of the franchise for the New York Jets. Instead, he became a symbol of disappointment.

And now, the 2021 second overall draft pick will get the chance to rejuvenate his career with the Denver Broncos.

The Jets traded Wilson to the Broncos on Monday, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press. The Jets are sending Wilson and a seventh-round pick in this week’s NFL draft to the Broncos for a sixth-rounder, the person said.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the teams haven’t announced the deal. NFL Network first reported the trade.

The Jets are parting ways with Wilson after three disappointing seasons. ESPN reported New York and Denver are splitting Wilson’s $5.5 million salary for this season as part of the deal.

Wilson came to the Jets with massive expectations after he was selected out of BYU because of his exceptional athletic ability and knack for making throws on the run from various arm angles. But he struggled mightily in his first two seasons in New York before the Jets acquired Aaron Rodgers to be their starter last offseason.

When Rodgers went down for the season with a torn left Achilles tendon four snaps into his debut, Wilson took over as the starter again — and was unable to play with consistency or effectiveness while showing few signs of improvement from his first two years.

After being benched twice in his second season, Wilson was again sent to the sideline after 10 games. He sat out for two games while Tim Boyle was ineffective in two starts. The Jets turned back to Wilson, who found himself in the headlines when The Athletic reported he was reluctant to step back into his role as the starter because of potential injury concerns. Wilson denied that later in the week and said he was excited to start again.

He returned with perhaps the best performance of his career, going 27 of 36 for 301 yards — his third career game of 300 or more yards — and two touchdowns in New York’s 30-6 victory over Houston. Wilson was named the AFC offensive player of the week, but suffered a concussion the following week in the first half of the Jets’ 30-0 loss at Miami on Dec. 17.

And he didn’t play again.

“I thought he had a great OTAs, a great training camp,” coach Robert Saleh said late in the season. “I thought he battled. He fought. He’s a fighter, he really is. Obviously there’s things that he wishes he could have back and I know there’s a lot of things he improved on. Some things were out of his control.

“I’ve said it and I’ll say it again: I think he’s going to have a long career in this league.”

It won’t be with the Jets, though.

Rodgers is back this season, and the Jets signed veteran Tyrod Taylor last month to be his primary backup. The original plan last year was for Wilson to sit behind Rodgers and learn, and then perhaps take over again. But Rodgers’ injury changed all that.

“It’s just an unfortunate series of events that occurred,” Saleh said.

General manager Joe Douglas told reporters during the NFL combine in Indianapolis in February that the Jets had given Wilson and his agents permission to seek a trade. Douglas reiterated that last Friday, calling Wilson an “asset” while also saying New York was open to trading him.

And now, Wilson will look to restart his career in Denver.

He joins a quarterback room that also includes Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci after Russell Wilson was released last month after two seasons with the Broncos and signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Denver currently holds the 12th overall pick and could still be in the market for a quarterback.

The Broncos have a lot of other needs, however, and if they don’t select a quarterback, it will be Wilson and Stidham in a training camp tussle to see who gets the job. Stidham is a fifth-year pro who has a 1-3 record as a starter. He went 1-1 after the Broncos benched Russell Wilson for the final two games last season. DiNucci lost his only NFL start back in 2020 with Dallas.

Stidham was the 13th quarterback to start for Denver since Peyton Manning retired after the 2015 season. The Broncos haven’t been back to the playoffs since and have posted seven consecutive losing seasons, including last year’s 8-9 under first-year coach Sean Payton.

The Broncos, who are on the hook for $37.79 million of Russell Wilson’s $39 million salary in 2024 — which is in addition to $85 million in dead cap charges over the next two seasons — are unlikely to pick up the $22.4 million fifth-year option on Zach Wilson’s rookie contract, meaning he will likely be a free agent next offseason.

Wilson went 12-21 in 33 games as a starter, throwing for 6,293 yards and 23 touchdowns with 25 interceptions. He has a 57% career completion percentage and 73.2 passer rating, ranking among the NFL’s worst in both categories in all three of his seasons. Wilson also has five touchdown runs.

The move is reminiscent of how the Jets moved on from Sam Darnold in 2021, trading him to Carolina just a few weeks before New York drafted Wilson. Darnold was the third overall pick out of Southern California in 2018, but — like Wilson — failed to live up to the lofty expectations.

PACKERS HAVE 11 DRAFT PICKS TO MATCH NFL’S TOP TOTAL. GM BRIAN GUTEKUNST WOULDN’T MIND ADDING MORE

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst wouldn’t mind adding a few more picks to the league-leading total his team already is projected to have in this week’s draft.

The Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams currently have 11 selections each to lead all NFL teams in the draft that begins Thursday. That follows a 2023 draft in which the Packers selected 13 players.

“You never have enough ammunition to build your room, so there’s significant competition in every room,” Gutekunst said Monday during a pre-draft news conference. “I think that’s really important. We have 11 right now. I’d love to end up with 13, 14 or more.”

The Packers last season became the fourth-youngest team to reach the playoffs and the youngest to win a playoff game since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, according to the Elias Sports Bureau’s weighted age statistic. They went 10-9 and reached the NFC divisional playoffs while having the NFL’s youngest roster.

They achieved that in part because of a rookie class that featured four players who had more than 350 yards receiving (Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and tight ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave) and two more who recorded at least four sacks (Lukas Van Ness and Karl Brooks).

Green Bay benefited from having a jumbo-sized draft class that included an extra second-round pick because of the trade of four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets as well as nine third-day selections. This year, the Packers have five of the first 91 picks after landing an extra second-round selection in the Rodgers trade as well as a third-round pick from sending cornerback Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills at last year’s trade deadline.

Gutekunst said the Packers’ abundance of selections in the first few rounds puts them “in a pretty good space to move, or just sit and pick.” But he also noted the benefits of adding extra picks.

“More at-bats, right?” Gutekunst said. “You’ve got more chances for hits. There’s never enough. I don’t ever subscribe to the thought process: ‘Hey, we’ve got a pretty good team. These guys might not have a chance to make the team.’ I think I’ve talked a lot about competition in every room, and how much it accelerates the growth of your football team. I think that’s the best way for your team to move forward. So to me, there’s never enough.”

Gutekunst disputed the notion that the abundance of youth on Green Bay’s roster might make it tougher for the incoming rookies to earn roster spots.

“I don’t think it will be hard at all,” Gutekunst said. “It just depends. I really think the more competitive we can make it, the better. So we’ll see how it goes. But it’s one of I think the hallmarks of around here has always been that the best players play, regardless of where you were taken or how much you’re getting paid. The best players are going to play. That’s kind of how we want to approach it.”

FORMER MVP MATT RYAN RETIRES FROM NFL

Quarterback Matt Ryan announced his retirement from the NFL on Monday following a prolific 15 seasons in the league.

During a career that spanned 2008-22, Ryan spent most of his time with the Atlanta Falcons. He signed a one-day contract to retire as a member of the Falcons this week.

Atlanta drafted the Pennsylvania native with the third overall pick in the 2008 draft. The Boston College product established himself as the starting quarterback during his rookie season. He helped lead Atlanta to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth in his first season and was named Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Affectionately known as “Matty Ice,” Ryan was noted for his cool demeanor in the face of adversity.

Ryan’s most memorable campaign occurred during the 2016 season. He threw for a career-high 4,944 yards and 38 touchdowns to lead the Falcons to an 11-5 mark and a Super Bowl appearance. He was named the league’s MVP and Offensive Player of the Year that season. He also earned four Pro Bowl nods over the course of his career.

Following his 14th season in Atlanta, the Falcons traded Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in March 2022. He led the Colts to a 4-7-1 record in his final NFL season, missing a pair of games due to a shoulder injury before being benched.

Ryan is the Falcons’ all-time passing leader in most statical categories. He leaves the game having thrown for 62,792 yards, 381 touchdowns, and 183 interceptions with a 93.6 career passer rating.

He currently serves as an NFL analyst for CBS Sports.

BENGALS DE SAM HUBBARD REVEALS ANKLE RECONSTRUCTION SURGERY

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard underwent ankle reconstruction surgery in the offseason after playing through discomfort during the 2023 season.

Hubbard told reporters Monday that the ankle bothered him during 2023 training camp, but he missed just two games during the regular season. However, a fluoroscopy at the end of the season revealed “a lot of instability” that resulted in complete deltoid reconstruction and a TightRope procedure.

“There was a lot of instability (in the ankle) that we found out later,” Hubbard said. “Probably should have been fixed earlier, but you didn’t know until we went in there.”

Hubbard said he’ll be ready for training camp.

“I’m thankful that I made it out with no cartilage damage and stuff like that, but it’s all fixed,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard, 28, recorded six sacks and 58 tackles in those 15 starts, missing games in Weeks 10 and 11.

“This is actually the first surgery I’ve had in my long football career,” Hubbard said. “I’ve been very blessed. I just didn’t want to leave my guys without me with a playoff push in front of us. We got to a tough point with Joe (Burrow) going down. It was all hands on deck. I wanted to be a part of it.”

Hubbard has 36.5 sacks in 90 career games (74 starts) all with the Bengals, who selected him in the third round of the 2018 draft.

NHL NEWS

SABRES BRING BACK LINDY RUFF AS HEAD COACH

Lindy Ruff, the winningest coach in Buffalo Sabres history, is returning to his former post.

The Sabres announced Monday they have hired Ruff, who led the team from 1997 through early 2012, to serve a second stint in the position.

The Sabres needed to replace Don Granato, whom they fired last week at the end of another unsuccessful season. Buffalo missed the playoffs for the 13th straight year, matching the NFL’s New York Jets for the longest active playoff droughts in the big four North American leagues.

Ruff — the fifth-winningest coach in NHL history at 864 wins — was available after the New Jersey Devils dismissed him on March 4.

The Devils made the playoffs in 2022-23, Ruff’s third season on the job, but they took a step backward this past season. Ruff finished 128-125-28 as New Jersey’s bench boss.

In 14-plus seasons with Buffalo, though, Ruff took the Sabres to the postseason eight times, including a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 1999 where they lost to the Dallas Stars in six games. Ruff’s Sabres teams went 571-432-78 before he was dismissed early in the 2012-13 campaign. He would later coach the Stars for four seasons.

“This is a team ready to take the next step,” Ruff said in a statement. “I am both humbled and honored to be trusted to help this team win now. It is not a job that I take lightly. It is my goal to ensure that players believe in each other, play for each other and love being a Buffalo Sabre. There is no doubt that we all need to embrace the challenge ahead of us. The work starts today and I could not be more excited.”

“As I went through the hiring process, it quickly became clear Lindy was the person for the job,” Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said. “He has experience, a proven track record, familiarity with young players and so much more. I want to be clear, though, that this hire was not made with nostalgia in mind. Lindy is the right person for the job now and any history with our organization and community is simply an added bonus.”

COLLEGE BASKETBALL NEWS

EX-NEBRASKA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ASSISTANT COACH DENIES SEXUAL INVOLVEMENT WITH PLAYER WHO SUED

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Former Nebraska women’s basketball assistant coach Chuck Love denied ever having a sexual relationship with former Cornhuskers player Ashley Scoggin but acknowledged in a court document that he did meet with her late at night in a Lincoln parking lot.

Scoggin in February filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court describing how Love allegedly took a special interest in her and saying the relationship turned sexual and caused Scoggin to fear retaliation if she refused to engage in it.

The lawsuit named Love, the university’s Board of Regents, women’s head basketball coach Amy Williams and former athletic director Trev Alberts as defendants. Scoggin seeks a jury trial in Lincoln and unspecified damages for the alleged violation of her civil rights.

Williams and Alberts, now the athletic director at Texas A&M, are accused of not setting rules, training or policies prohibiting staff members from having sexual relationships with athletes.

Scoggin played two seasons for the Huskers. She was dismissed from the team on the same day Love was suspended with pay in February 2022. Love resigned three months later. Scoggin, who is from Dallas, Oregon, transferred to UNLV.

Love’s response, filed Friday, disputed most of the allegations by Scoggin, who was kicked off the team a few days after teammates discovered her, fully clothed, in Love’s room during a road trip.

Love denied Scoggin’s claims he sought sexual relationships with students, that he discussed inappropriate topics with her and that he invited her to go out for drinks.

Love acknowledged he met Scoggin at a parking lot, saying in court papers she was “emotionally distraught and urgently insisted that she needed to see (him) immediately, so they agreed to meet at a parking lot, a place where Scoggin felt she could speak without fear of being heard by others, in particular other players on the team.”

Love denied Scoggin’s allegation of a second late-night meeting at a Costco parking lot, where she said he kissed her and asked, “Have you ever done anything with a coach before?”

Scoggin was discovered in Love’s hotel room during a trip to Penn State in February 2022. Teammates engaged in a ruse to obtain a key to Love’s room. When they entered, they discovered Scoggin on the bed fully clothed. Love said Scoggin had been in his room at her request to discuss a personal problem.

The regents, Williams and Alberts said in their joint response to the civil lawsuit that they didn’t have “sufficient information and belief to either admit or deny the allegations” of a sexual relationship between Scoggin and Love.

They said Scoggin admitted during a meeting with administrators that she violated university rules and policies. The nature of those violations weren’t specified in the court document. Williams and executive athletic director Keith Zimmer then told her she was off the team. Alberts supported that decision during another meeting that included Scoggin’s parents. Scoggin, at that meeting, said there was nothing sexual between her and Love.

“Defendants admit Williams told Plaintiff and her parents that violation of the University’s rules and policies, and the dishonesty and distrust between Plaintiff and her teammates, warranted her removal as an active member of the Team,” the document said.

FORMER FAU STANDOUT ALIJAH MARTIN SIGNS WITH FLORIDA OVER ALABAMA, ARKANSAS, MICHIGAN AND OTHERS

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Atlantic standout Alijah Martin, who helped propel the Owls to the Final Four in 2023, is moving about 300 miles north to play at Florida.

The 6-foot-2 guard formally signed with the Gators on Monday and is expected to become an immediate starter for coach Todd Golden in Gainesville. He will replace Zyon Pullin, a first team, all-Southeastern Conference point guard who averaged 15.5 points, 4.9 assists and 3.9 rebounds after transferring from UC Riverside.

Martin, a graduate transfer, has one year of eligibility remaining. He chose Florida over Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi and USC.

“He’s been incredibly consistent as both a scorer and defender and will add even more explosiveness to our group,” Golden said. “He will step onto our campus as a college graduate and will provide experience and leadership for the program.”

Martin was an all-conference selection in each of the past three seasons, the first two in Conference USA and then this past season in the American Athletic Conference. He averaged 13.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals during FAU’s 2023-24 campaign, which ended with a first-round loss to Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament.

FAU coach Dusty May left for Michigan a few days later, and the Owls’ roster started to crumble. The Gators could end up being one of the beneficiaries.

Martin has made 37% of his shots from 3-point range and should dramatically improve Florida’s perimeter defense. Although starting guards Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard are going through the NBA draft process, both are expected to return to campus for another season.

Clayton, Richard, Martin and Denzel Aberdeen would give Golden a formidable backcourt to feature in his fast-paced offense. The Gators also have four-star shooting guard Isaiah Brown signed for next season.

Florida has big men Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Micah Handlogten returning, although Handlogten could miss the entire season after gruesomely breaking his left leg in the SEC Tournament.

Golden added Washington State center Rueben Chinyelu and Chattanooga forward Sam Alexis from the transfer portal last week. They will help fill holes in the post left by Tyrese Samuel’s graduation and Handlogten’s injury.

Chinyelu averaged 4.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks a game as a freshman last season with the Cougars. Alexis averaged 10.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks blocked shots a game as a sophomore at Chattanooga.

The Gators have two scholarships remaining after losing Pullin and Samuel to graduation, guard Riley Kugel to Kansas via the portal and the departures of EJ Jarvis, Aleks Szymczyk and Julian Rishwain.

Florida also has 7-foot-7, 300-pound Olivier Rioux headed to campus as a preferred walk-on. The Canadian is the world’s tallest teenager, according to Guinness World Records. He moved from Montreal to Florida to play at IMG Academy in 2021.

COLORADO FRESHMAN CODY WILLIAMS DECLARES FOR NBA DRAFT

Colorado freshman Cody Williams announced in an Instagram post Monday his intent to enter the NBA draft .

Williams, the younger brother of Oklahoma City Thunder standout Jalen Williams, played 24 games for Colorado (18 starts), averaging 11.9 points, three rebounds and 1.6 assists in 28.4 minutes per game.

He shot 55.2 percent from the field, including 41.5 percent from 3-point range.

ESPN listed Williams among its top 10 draft prospects and placed him as high as No. 2 in a February 2023 mock draft.

At 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, Williams became a defensive weapon and frequently was assigned to guard the opponent’s top player.

Williams missed portions of the season due to injuries for the Buffaloes, who lost to Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament title game before beating Boise State in a First Four matchup and winning their South Region first-round game against Florida.

Williams scored nine points against Florida and had 12 points and two blocked shots in Colorado’s 81-77 second-round loss to Marquette.

LUKE GOODE TO TRANSFER; ILLINOIS LEFT WITH THREE FROM ELITE EIGHT ROSTER

Perimeter threat Luke Goode plans to relocate after three seasons at Illinois, leaving the Fighting Illini with three players returning from their Elite Eight roster.

Goode, who received his business degree in three years, said he’s entering the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. Reports indicated he could be headed to rival Indiana.

“Three years, two championships and one degree,” Goode said in a statement posted to social media on Monday. “The University of Illinois has provided endless opportunities for myself and my family, and I am forever grateful.”

Goode shot 38.9 percent from 3-point range and made seven starts in 38 games for Illinois last season. He missed the first half of his sophomore season recovering from a preseason foot injury.

Illinois lost a pair of guards and assistant coach Chester Frazier to West Virginia, with lightning-fast defensive stopper Sencire Harris and Amani Hansberry joining him in Morgantown.

Big man Dain Dainja transferred to Memphis.

That leaves Ty Rodgers as the primary returnee for Illinois along with Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and backup point guard Nico Moretti, who was not consistently part of head coach Brad Underwood’s rotation.

The Fighting Illini won 29 games last season but bowed out of the NCAA Tournament in the regional semifinal in Boston against eventual national champion UConn.

Underwood’s incoming recruiting class has received high marks and includes Illinois Mr. Basketball Morez Johnson, a 6-10 forward. Illinois also secured commitments from multiple transfers, headlined by point guard Kylan Boswell (Arizona).

The possibility remains that two of Illinois’ starters could be back in 2024-25. All-Big Ten forward Marcus Domask petitioned the NCAA for a sixth season of eligibility under the medical hardship waiver and forward Coleman Hawkins has an additional year of eligibility remaining under the COVID hardship guidelines established by the NCAA.

JAMAL MASHBURN JR. TRANSFERS TO TEMPLE

Former New Mexico guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. will spend his final season at Temple, he announced Monday.

Last season with the Lobos, Mashburn averaged 14.1 points and 2.1 rebounds — both the lowest marks in his three years in Albuquerque.

In four college seasons, he has averages of 15.2 points and 2.4 rebounds with a 33.4 shooting percentage from 3-point territory.

“100% committed,” he wrote, followed by a heart emoji. “excited is an understatement.”

Mashburn’s first college season was in 2020-21 at Minnesota, and he followed coach Richard Pitino to New Mexico the following season. The 22-year-old has an extra year of eligibility because of the extension granted by the NCAA to players following the COVID-19 season.

Temple finished last season with a 16-20 (5-13 American Athletic Conference) record. In his first season, coach Adam Fisher led the Owls to their first AAC tournament championship game.

ISAIAH SWOPE FOLLOWS COACH, TEAMMATE TO SAINT LOUIS

Former Indiana State guard Isaiah Swope committed to Saint Louis on Monday, following in the footsteps of his coach and teammate.

The guard joins coach Josh Schertz and big man Robbie Avila on the Billikens for the 2024-25 season. The transfer marks Swope’s third school in three years. He previously played at Southern Indiana.

Swope and Saint Louis took to social media to announce his decision.

All five starters from Indiana State’s team that reached the NIT final entered the transfer portal in the wake of Schertz leaving for Saint Louis. Avila committed to the Billikens on Saturday.

Swope averaged 15.9 points and made 113 3-pointers this past season, tied for the fourth in the country.

The Sycamores missed the NCAA Tournament after losing to Drake in the Missouri Valley championship game, but they received a No. 1 seed in the NIT. They won four games before falling 79-77 to Seton Hall in the title game.

RODDY GAYLE JR. DEPARTS OHIO STATE FOR MICHIGAN

Adding intensity to the Big Ten rivalry, guard Roddy Gayle Jr. announced Monday he is transferring from Ohio State to Michigan.

As a sophomore in 2023-24, the 6-foot-4 Gayle started 35 of 36 games for the Buckeyes and averaged 13.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 30.9 minutes per game.

In two seasons in Columbus, the Niagara Falls, N.Y., native averaged 9.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists across 71 games (46 starts).

Gayle’s commitment marks a strong early recruiting victory for new Wolverines coach Dusty May, who left Florida Atlantic to replace Juwan Howard in Ann Arbor, Mich.

PROJECTED TOP PICK ZACCHARIE RISACHER ENTERS NBA DRAFT

European standout and projected No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher has entered the 2024 NBA Draft, he told ESPN on Monday.

The 6-foot-10 Spaniard is averaging 10.4 points and 3.4 rebounds and shooting 39 percent from 3-point range for the French league team JL Bourg.

“It’s always been my dream to get to the best league in the world,” Risacher told ESPN. “I’ve been putting the work in for this since I was a kid. JL Bourg has given me an incredible opportunity to showcase what I can do. It’s been the perfect place to start my young career. I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to play for this organization.”

Risacher, 19, is the son of former Olympian Stephane Risacher.

The draft is scheduled for June 26-27. The NBA Draft Lottery is scheduled for May 12.

COLLEGE BASEBALL NEWS

BASEBALL HONORS AWARDED TO ILLINOIS, IOWA, MICHIGAN AND PURDUE

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference has announced its baseball weekly awards for games played April 16-21.
 
Player of the Week
Connor Milton, Illinois
Sr. – OF — Champaign, Ill. — Champaign Central

  • Went 9-for-12 at the plate with three home runs and eight RBI as first-place Illinois completed a weekend sweep of Northwestern
  • Compiled a slash of .750/.750/1.667 along with a 2.417 OPS
  • Amassed 20 total bases and three multiple-hit games for the Illini, who extended their win streak to seven games
  • The Big Ten Distinguished Scholar receives his first Big Ten Player Award
  • Last Illinois Player of the Week: Jacob Schroeder (April 15, 2024)
     

Co-Pitcher of the Week
Brody Brecht, Iowa
Jr. – S-RHP — Ankeny, Iowa — Ankeny

  • Tossed a one-hitter on 110 pitches in Iowa’s 5-1 win over Rutgers Sunday in Iowa City
  • Struck out 12 batters and allowed just one run (none earned) in holding the Scarlet Knights to a .042 batting average
  • Threw a career-high 7.1 innings in helping Iowa to a series sweep of Rutgers
  • The Golden Spikes Watch List recipient collects his first Big Ten Pitcher honor of the season and the third of his career
  • Last Iowa Pitcher of the Week: Cade Obermueller (March 11, 2024)
     

Co-Pitcher of the Week
Jacob Denner, Michigan
5th – R-LHP — Closter, N.J. — Bergen Catholic

  • Working out of the bullpen, collected two wins and a save in three appearances
  • Recorded a 0.67 WHIP, allowed two runs and six baserunners over 9.0 innings
  • Finished the week with 10 strikeouts and teamed with Kurt Barr to register a shutout in the series opener versus Ohio State in Ann Arbor, Mich.
  • The three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection receives his second conference weekly award of the season and the third of his career
  • Last Michigan Pitcher of the Week: Jacob Denner (April 1, 2024)
     

Freshman of the Week
Luke Gaffney, Purdue
Fr. – 1B — Danville, Ky. — Boyle County

  • Reached base in 9 of 18 plate appearances, stockpiling eight runs with eight RBI and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
  • Stroked three home runs, including a grand slam on Saturday to break the Purdue freshman RBI record (in his 38th game) that had stood since 2010
  • Played first base and made his debut at catcher, filling in for an injured starter, to finish with 24 putouts and an assist on the week
  • Captures the Big Ten Freshman award for the fifth time this season and the second-straight week
  • Last Purdue Freshman of the Week: Luke Gaffney (April 15, 2024)

MAC ANNOUNCES BASEBALL PLAYERS & PITCHERS OF THE WEEK

MAC Baseball Co-Players of the Week
Zach MacDonald, Miami, OF      
Junior, Portage, Michigan (Portage Central)       
Zach MacDonald went yard four times this weekend to lead Miami to a sweep over Toledo on the road and bring his season total to 15 home runs. Two of his homers came in game two to give the RedHawks the edge over the Rockets in a game that ended 4-3 in extras. During the weekend he totaled seven hits on 11 at bats, hitting .636 and slugging 1.727. Additionally, he came across seven times and accumulated 10 RBIs.
 
Nathan Archer, Bowling Green, Outfield              
Junior, Lagrange, Ohio (Keystone)           
Nathan Archer was outstanding at the plate for the Falcons over the last week, leading BGSU to a 3-1 record, including a 2-1 MAC standing. Archer’s best game came in BGSU’s 26-5 win over Ohio on Saturday (April 20). In the game, Archer blasted two home runs for the Falcons while logging six RBI and scoring five times. In part of the two home runs, he tallied three hits and drew a walk in the game. The pair of home runs marked a stretch of four home runs over three games for Archer. He hit one against Youngstown State on Tuesday (April 16) and another in the series opener on Friday (April 19). Against the Penguins, he scored twice with two hits, three RBI and a double. As for Friday, he scored three times with an RBI on three hits and another double.
 
MAC Baseball Co-Pitchers of the Week
Jared Schaeffer, Akron, RHP       
Sophomore, Katy, Texas (Taylor HS)       
Throwing his first collegiate complete game, Jared Schaeffer helped lead the Akron Zips to a 7-2 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday, April 20. The sophomore righty went the full nine innings where he allowed just two unearned runs, none earned, walking none, allowing nine hits while tying his season-high for strikeouts with six and set a new collegiate high for innings pitched.
 
Ben Vitas, Central Michigan, RHP            
Senior, Shorewood, Ill. (Providence Catholic)     
Vitas pitched first nine-inning complete-game shutout for CMU since 2016 MAC tournament in 2-0 victory over Central Florida in the series opener Friday. He scattered five hits, two walks through nine innings and finished the completed game with 133 pitches. Vitas forced UCF into its first shutout loss of the season.

HCAC 2024 BASEBALL NOTEBOOK, WEEK 10

CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) baseball teams competed in week ten of the 2024 season.
 
Around the League:
HCAC Baseball Schedule
 
Athletes of the Week:
Hitter of the Week:
Tyler Smitherman (Westfield, Ind.) Anderson University | First Base | Graduate – Tyler Smitherman went 7-for-16 with 2 homers, 1 double, 6 RBI and 5 runs as Anderson went 2-1 against Rose-Hulman. Smitherman finished the week with a slashline of .438/.471/.875.
Pitching Athlete of the Week:
John Girard (Richmond, Ky.) Hanover College | Pitcher | Sophomore – Girard led Hanover to a game two victory over MSJ as the starting pitcher claimed the 10-5 win. He pitched eight complete with eight strikeouts and allowed just two runs on five hits. 

Notable Performances:
Hitting Athletes:

  • Seth Altman (Hilliard, Ohio) Bluffton University | Outfield | Senior – Altman hit .500, going 3-of-6 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. He smashed a homer and double while slugging at a gargantuan 1.167 clip. Altman finished the week with a .625 on-base percentage
  • Gunner Gregg (Graytown, Ohio) Defiance College | Infield | Junior – Gunner Gregg was DC’s top hitter over six games last week that featured a pair of three-hit games to close the weekend. Going 7-for-13 with four RBIs and three extra-base hits in conference play against Transylvania (including a go-ahead, three-run homer on Sunday), Gregg went 9-for-24 (.375) with 8 RBIs. Among his nine hits were three doubles and one home run while scoring five times.
  • Max Fries (Cleves, Ohio) Earlham College | Pitcher/Utility | Graduate – Max Fries slashed .471/.474/.941 in five games this week. Fries recorded four extra base hits, including a grand slam to seal the final game of the weekend at Franklin 11-6. He scored four runs and drove in 10 RBI on the week.
  • Andrew Oesterling (Batesville, Ind.) Hanover College | Junior – Oesterling led Hanover as they claimed two games of a three game series with MSJ. The junior posted a .750 slugging percentage going 3-for-8 at the dish. He charted five RBI, including a home run.
  • Jackson Gutzwiller (Cincinnati, Ohio) Mount St. Joseph University | Catcher | Junior – Mount St. Joseph catcher Jackson Gutzwiller had an outstanding week at the plate. For the week the junior was 5-for-10 (.500) adding in a walk and two HBPs his OBP was .615 for the week. Among those five hits were a pair of doubles and he drove in four runs.
  • Dalton Busboom (Ludlow, Ill.) Rose-Hulman Insitute of Technology | First Base | Senior – Busboom dominated at the plate all week going 8-16 at the plate with two doubles and a home run. He also drove in seven RBIs and came up with five RBI hits in the three-game series with Anderson over the weekend. He finished the week with a slash line of .500 / .529 / .813 / 1.342.
  • Henry Mitcham (Lexington, Ky.) Transylvania University | Second Base | Junior – Finished the weekend series at Defiance 6-13 with 7 RBI’s.

Pitching Athletes:

  • Landen Southern (Lafayette, Ind.) Anderson University | Pitcher | Junior – Landen Southern earned the Game 1 win against Rose-Hulman, striking out 7, issuing 2 walks and allowing 6 runs on 8 hits in 7 and one third innings.
  • Wyatt Groves (Marengo, Ohio) Bluffton University | Pitcher | Junior – Groves tossed 4.1 innings of shutout ball at regional-power Wittenberg on Sunday. He allowed just two hits while limiting the Tigers to a .167 opponent batting average. He faced the minimum 13 batters to record the 13 outs thanks to an inning-ending triple play in the 7th!
  • Phoenix Guzzi (Rockwood, Mich.) Earlham College | Pitcher/Utility | Senior – Phoenix Guzzi earned the win in an 11-6 battle with Franklin College with two complete innings pitched in relief. The senior allowed just four scoreless hits and struck out one in the appearance. 
  • Matt Frye (Mt. Orab, Ohio) Mount St. Joseph University | Pitcher | Fifth Year – Lions relief pitcher Matt Frye, helped them avoid a sweep over the weekend at Hanover. In game three of the series he came on in the fifth inning against the Panthers and pitched the final 3-innings in the Lions 16-5 mercy-rule victory. In his three innings he did not allow a single hit while striking out 3, recording his second save of the season.
  • Ian Kline (Frederick, Mich.) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Pitcher | Senior – Kline picked up his fourth win of the season on Saturday as he outdueled Anderson in a 5-3 victory. He threw 7.2 innings and gave up just three runs while striking out five batters. It was the first time this season that the Ravens lost a game when allowing fewer than six runs on the season as they came in with a 15-0 record in those games.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

OHIO STATE, NORTHWESTERN, INDIANA AND MICHIGAN EARN BIG TEN SOFTBALL WEEKLY AWARDS

Player of the Week 

Kami Kortokrax, Ohio State 

Jr. – SS – Westerville, Ohio  – Bishop Hartley – Major: Communication 

  • Hit .500 with a 1.125 slugging percentage, two home runs, five RBI and four doubles as Ohio State went 6-0 last week with sweeps of Penn State and Maryland  
  • Left Saturday’s game vs. Maryland with an injury, returning to the lineup on Sunday and hit a two-run home run in her first at bat as Ohio State completed the weekend sweep of the Terrapins with a 3-2 win 
  • Went 2-for-3 in Friday’s game with a home run and a double 
  • Had a walk-off double in the seventh inning in a 2-1 win over Penn State to complete a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday 
  • Went 5-for-7 (.714) with three doubles, two RBI and a .750 on-base percentage in two games vs. Penn State on Tuesday  
  • Finished the week with at least one extra base in in four of six games 
  • Last Ohio State Player of the Week: Melina Wilkison (March 20, 2023)

Pitcher of the Week  

Ashley Miller, Northwestern 

Gr. – RHP – Leo, Ind. – Leo – Master’s: Management 

  • Went 3-0 and did not allow an earned run in 18.2 innings pitched, limiting opposing batters to a .148 batting average and striking out 22 batters while allowing just nine hits 
  •  Allowed just three hits (.083 opposing batting average) in 11.2 innings pitched throughout a weekend series at Purdue, striking out 12 batters  
  • Tossed a complete game, allowed just one unearned run and struck out 10 in a 4-1 victory over Illinois on Tuesday  
  • Threw just 65 pitches and allowed one two hits in a 5.0 inning complete game shutout over Purdue on Friday, her fifth shutout on the season  
  • Entered in relief and pitched 6.0 scoreless innings against Purdue on Sunday, allowing one hit and striking out six in a 7-3 extra-inning victory  
  • Last Northwestern Pitcher of the Week: Ashley Miller (April 15, 2024) 

Co-Freshman of the Week 

Alex Cooper, Indiana 

UTIL – Mooresville, Ind. – Mooresville High School  

  • Hit for a .353 average for the week with two home runs and six RBI along with 12 total bases and three walks 
  • In a win over Notre Dame, Cooper his two home runs, including the walk-off grand slam to give Indiana the 5-3 win 
  • Last Indiana Freshman of the Week: Taryn Kern (May 8, 2023) 

Co-Freshman of the Week 

Ella Stephenson, Michigan 

OF – Algonac, Mich. – Algonac – Major: Movement Science 

  • Led the Wolverines with a .462 batting average (6-for-13) with a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage 
  • Posted three extra-base hits and seven RBI 
  • Recorded two hits and two RBI in the midweek win over Michigan State and tallied a career-high three hits and five RBI in the series finale vs. Nebraska with two triples and the game-ending home run in the sixth inning  
  • First Wolverine player to record two triples in a game since 1998 
  • Earns second-straight Freshman of the Week honor and third of the season 
  • Last Michigan Freshman of the Week: Ella Stephenson (April 15, 2024) 

HCAC 2024 SOFTBALL NOTEBOOK, WEEK 10

CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) softball teams competed in week ten of the 2024 season.
 
Around the League:
HCAC Softball Schedule
 
Athletes of the Week:
Hitting Athlete of the Week:
Katelyn Sarvis (Deltona, Fla.) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Centerfield | Sophomore – Sarvis hit a big three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to help complete the sweep of Bluffton on Saturday. The sophomore finished the week with four hits and six RBIs including that crucial three-run home run.
Pitching Athlete of the Week:
Anika Craft (Radnor, Ohio) Defiance College | Pitcher/Outfield | Junior – Pitched two complete games this week and earned a 2-0 record that included a complete game shutout against Earlham while striking out nine. Pitched 7.2 innings in the Hanover DH and struck out a total of 13 giving her 22 strikeouts for the week while only allowing two earned runs in the 14.2 innings of work.

Notable Performances:
Hitting Athletes:

  • Molly Buck (Fortville, Ind.) Anderson University | Infield | Junior – Molly Buck went 2-for-10 with 3 walks and a homer as Anderson went 2-2 on the week.
  • Payton Mallett (Ennis, Mont.) Defiance College | Infield | First Year – Recorded at least one hit in all four games during the week and recorded at least one RBI in two of the games. Hit first career grand slam against Earlham.
  • Ashley Lewis (Martinsville, Ind.) Earlham College | First Year – Ashley Lewis led the Quakers at the plate this week with five hits, including a double, and three runs scored with a .385 batting average. She did not strikeout once in her 13 at bats.
  • Carson Kruse (Fort Branch, Ind.) Hanover College | Junior – Kruse helped lead the Panthers to a split with Defiance. The junior posted a 1.143 slugging percentage with three extra base hits, including a home run. She added two RBI finishing the series 3-for-7 at the dish.
  • Sabrina Leonard (Fillmore, Ind.) Manchester University | Pitcher/Utility | Sophomore – In two doubleheaders this past weekend, Sabrina Leonard hit a .454 BA while also driving in two runs in that time. Leonard scored in both games against Olivet and had a hit in all four games this past weekend.
  • Sydney Hughbanks (New Palestine, Ind.) Mount St. Joseph University | First Base | First Year – MSJ freshman Sydney Hughbanks led the Lions to a sweep of Anderson on Saturday. For the weekend she was 5-for-7 (.714), with two runs scored and two RBI. 
  • Dakota Burke (Shelbyville, Ky.) Transylvania University | Catcher/Outfield | First Year – Finished the weekend with 7 hits and 7 RBI’s.

Pitching Athletes:

  • Morgan Cooksey (Williamsport, Ind.) Earlham College | Pitcher | First Year – Morgan Coooksey led the Quakers in the circle with 11 strikeouts through 13 innings of work this week. The freshman posted a 1.38 WHIP with a 5.92 ERA in three appearances.
  • Lauren Beaman (Indianapolis, Ind.) Hanover College | Pitcher | Junior – Beaman led Hanover as they split with the Yellow Jackets of Defiance. The junior pitched game one throwing seven complete innings with seven strikeouts. She finished the week with a 2.00 ERA. 
  • Elizabeth Willis (Yorktown, Ind.) Manchester University | Pitcher | First Year – In the second game of an out of conference doubleheader between the Manchester Spartans and the Olivet Comets, Willis pitched all seven innings only allowing one earned run, while also striking out seven of the Comets. Willis picked up her third win of the year as Manchester swept the Olivet Comets. 
  • Casey Kemp (Blanchester, Ohio) Mount St. Joseph University | Pitcher | Senior – MSJ pitcher Casey Kemp was dominant in the Lions sweep of Anderson on Saturday. Starting game one in the circle, she threw a complete game allowing only four hits, and a single run while striking out eight getting the win. She then returned to close game two, pitching a perfect inning striking out a pair and earning her first save of the season. Full week numbers were 8.0 innings pitched, 1 earned run (0.88 ERA) and 10 strikeouts. 
  • Aubrey Smith (Lebanon, Ohio) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Pitcher/Third Base | Junior – Smith picked up a win as she threw a complete game one-hitter on Saturday in an 8-1 victory over Bluffton. She allowed just one unearned run in the game while striking out three.
  • Carlee Jeter (Lexington, Ky.) Transylvania University | Pitcher | Senior – Jeter went 2-0 this weekend with a shutout win over Manchester . Allowed just 2 runs over the weekend.

GOLF NEWS

NELLY KORDA WITHDRAWS FROM JM EAGLE LA CHAMPIONSHIP DUE TO FATIGUE

Nelly Korda’s pursuit of a sixth straight victory will have to wait.

The world’s No. 1 player has withdrawn from this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship due to fatigue.

“After the unbelievable week at the Chevron and grinding through the mental and physical challenges of four events in the past five weeks, I am definitely feeling exhausted,” Korda wrote in a statement Monday. “With so much still to come throughout 2024, I feel I need to listen to my body and get some rest, so I can be ready for the remainder of the season.”

Korda claimed the Chevron Championship on Sunday to match an LPGA record with her fifth straight victory. Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) are the only others to accomplish the feat.

The 25-year-old’s unbelievable run began in January when she won the LPGA Drive On Championship. Korda followed that up with a pair of victories in March at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship and Ford Championship.

Before winning the first major of the season, Korda beat Leona Maguire at the T-Mobile Match Play final.

Korda has 13 career LPGA victories under her belt.

TOP INDIANA SPORTS RELEASES AND NEWS REPORTS

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

RONCALLI LOOKING FOR A NEW COACH

The revolving door continues for Roncalli football. Eric Quintana has resigned citing “philosophical differences” in the program. The Royals went 4-7 last season after going 12-2 in 2022. Quintana was named the Marion County coach of the year in 2022. In a text explaining his resignation Quintana said “The administration and I had philosophical differences and they asked for my resignation,” he said. “I’m extremely proud of my time and players at Roncalli. I love the game of football for all it offers and look forward to my next chapter.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

BILL ZYCH RESIGNS AT SOUTHPORT

Southport Boys basketball coach Bill Zych has decided to step down after just one season at the school. “After much consideration, I have decided to step down from my position of head boys basketball coach at Southport High School,” Zych said. “I would like to thank the past and present administration for giving me the opportunity to develop a first class program at Southport. Building and maintaining a K-12 basketball program is an enormous responsibility. I feel that the administration should find a person who is driven for years to come.”

The Cardinals finished 9-14 last season and Zych went 478-375 in 37 seasons. He has no plans to coach again.

INDIANA PACERS

GAME PREVIEW: PACERS AT BUCKS (GAME 2)

In Game 2, the Indiana Pacers plan to use the lessons learned from their playoff opener to get their postseason plans back on track.

After a 109-94 loss to the third-seeded Milwaukee Bucks (1-0) on Sunday at Fiserv Forum, Pacers players and coaches vowed Tuesday’s matchup would look different from their Game 1 defeat.

Sixth-seeded Indiana (0-1) fell behind by 30 points early in their Game 1 loss, as the Blue & Gold gave up 35 points to All-Star guard Damian Lillard in the first half and missed their first 13 attempts from 3-point range to trail by 27 points at intermission.

While the Pacers were able to narrow their deficit to 12 heading into the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bucks 29-14 in the third frame, Milwaukee never allowed their visitors to make it a single-digit game down the final stretch.

If you include the regular season, the 94-point outing was the fewest for the Pacers for 2023-2024 and just the second time the team has scored under 100 points in a game. The Pacers — the highest scoring team in the NBA — shot just 39.6 percent overall.

Two significant changes shifted the momentum in the second half of Game 1.

After shooting 35.6 percent in the first half, the Pacers bumped their clip to 42.3 in the second half (including making five of their eight total 3-pointers). Additionally, Lillard didn’t score in the second half despite playing almost 19 minutes.

Two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokunmpo didn’t suit up for the Bucks on Sunday, as he continues to deal with a calf injury. Antetokunmpo’s status for Tuesday’s game is unknown, and 6-11 big man Bobby Portis, who was named a Sixth Man of the Year finalist on Sunday, would likely start again in his stead.

Milwaukee, which has multiple players still on its roster from its 2021 championship team, saw its vets step up on Sunday night, which included a 15-point, 11-rebound performance from Portis and 23 points from veteran sharpshooter Khris Middleton.

For Indiana, the player with the most postseason experience also shined, but his offense was the only one rolling from start to finish.

Pascal Siakam, who has played in 54 playoff games, and won a championship in 2019, scored a playoff career-best 36 points while pulling down 13 rebounds on Sunday. Just Jermaine O’Neal (2006) and Paul George (2017) have recorded playoff games with at least 36 points and 13 rebounds in Pacers NBA Playoffs history.

“They won Game 1,” Siakam said. “We’ve got to move on, go back, learn from it, watch film, adjust, and come back and lay it all out on the floor. At the end of the day, no matter what the score was, it’s still one game.”

Myles Turner, the longest tenured Pacers player, put it on himself on his fellow vets to make sure the is ready from the start in Game 2. Turner finished with 17 points in Game 1.

“We have a young group that really hasn’t experienced this level,” Turner said. ” A lot of this is on our leaders – the guys who have been here before. When you’re in the playoffs on the road, you have to come out with a certain intensity, a certain attention to detail. It lacked a little bit in that first half. I’m still very confident with our group.”

Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton was also one of those several Indiana players who said he’s expecting more from himself in Game 2.

Haliburton, who averaged 20.1 points and 10.9 assists per game in the regular season, logged nine points, eight assists, and seven rebounds in the loss. He only took seven shots in the game — well below his 15.2 field goal attempts per game during the regular season – and said he “has to be better” on Tuesday.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle had 11 players take the floor on Sunday, but he said that rotation could be tightened or changed moving forward depending on the situation. He did reiterate, however, the second unit was the highest-scoring in the league this past season, and that depth has led to success for this team.

After Tuesday’s road game, the Pacers will host Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference seven-game series on Friday and Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Projected Starters

Pacers: G – Tyrese Haliburton, G – Andrew Nembhard, F – Aaron Nesmith, F – Pascal Siakam, C – Myles Turner

Bucks: G – Patrick Beverley, G – Damian Lillard, F – Bobby Portis Jr., F – Khris Middleton, C – Brook Lopez

Injury Report

Pacers: Bennedict Mathurin – out (right shoulder labral tear)

Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo – doubtful (left soleus strain)

Last Meeting

April 21, 2024: The Milwaukee Bucks led by 27 points at halftime, thanks to a 35-point first-half performance by Damian Lillard, and never faltered in a 109-94 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Pacers shot just 39.6 percent overall, including going 8-for-38 from 3-point, in the loss. Milwaukee shot 51 percent in the first half and 47.1 percent on the night, making 14 of 37 3-pointers overall.

Lillard led the Bucks with 35 points, Khris Middleton scored 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Bobby Portis – starting in place of an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) – collected 15 points and 11 boards.

Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 36 points and 13 rebounds, Myles Turner scored 17, and Tyrese Haliburton finished with nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

Indiana won the rebounding margin 50-47 and points in the paint differential 40-34.

Last Meeting

The Pacers have lost 10 straight playoff games dating back to the 2017-2018 season. Their last playoff win was Game 6 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.

This is the third time the Pacers and Bucks have met in the postseason. Indiana won both series during the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 seasons.

TV: NBA TV – Gus Johnson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (analyst), Dennis Scott (analyst)

Bally Sports Indiana – Chris Denari (play-by-play), Quinn Buckner (analyst), Jeremiah Johnson (sideline reporter/host)

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan – Mark Boyle (play-by-play), Eddie Gill (analyst), Pat Boylan (sideline reporter/host)

Tickets

The Pacers will host the Bucks in Game 3 on Friday, April 26 at 5:30 PM ET, the first playoff game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse since 2019.

COLTS FOOTBALL

COLTS 2024 NFL MOCK DRAFT MONDAY: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Selection (No. 15 overall): Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo

Expert: Tyler Sullivan, CBS Sports

Date of mock draft: April 20 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 9 overall, trade up with Chicago Bears): Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia
Selection (No. 82 overall): Jarrian Jones, CB, Florida State

Expert: Chad Reuter, NFL.com

Date of mock draft: April 19 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Cooper DeJean, CB, Iowa
Selection (No. 46 overall): Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE, Texas
Selection (No. 82 overall): Blake Corum, RB, Michigan

Expert: Josh Edwards, CBS Sports

Date of mock draft: April 19 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama

Expert: Carmen Vitali, Fox Sports

Date of mock draft: April 18 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama

Expert: Jonathan Jones, CBS Sports

Date of mock draft: April 18 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama

Expert: Dan Parr, NFL.com

Date of mock draft: April 18 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Cooper DeJean, CB, Iowa

Expert: Connor Rogers, NBC Sports

Date of mock draft: April 17 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 12 overall, trade up with Denver Broncos): Dallas Turner, DE, Alabama

Expert: Chris Traposso, CBS Sports

Date of mock draft: April 17 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo
Selection (No. 46 overall): Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas
Selection (No. 82 overall): Brandon Dorlus, DE, Oregon

Expert: Vinnie Iyer, The Sporting News

Date of mock draft: April 17 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo
Selection (No. 46 overall): Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida
Selection (No. 82 overall): Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, S, Texas Tech

Expert: Dane Brugler, The Athletic

Date of mock draft: April 17 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo

Expert: Nathan Jahnke, Pro Football Focus

Date of mock draft: April 17 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Nate Wiggins, CB, Clemson

Expert: Rob Maadi, Associated Press

Date of mock draft: April 17 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 15 overall): Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia

Expert: Will Brinson, CBS Sports

Date of mock draft: April 17 (link)

——————

Selection (No. 9 overall, trade up with Chicago Bears): Malik Nabers, WR, LSU

Expert: Peter Schrager, NFL Network

Date of mock draft: April 16 (link)

INDY FUEL HOCKEY

FUEL FACE WHEELING IN FIRST ROAD PLAYOFF GAME

INDIANAPOLIS- The Fuel will play game three of the playoffs against the Wheeling Nailers on Monday night in an attempt to take a 2-1 series after splitting the first weekend with them.

LAST TIME OUT

The last time these two teams met was Saturday night in Indy when the Nailers defeated the Fuel 7-1. Cam Hausinger had the Fuel’s only goal in that game, on a late power play. While Zach Driscoll started in net, Mitchell Weeks finished the game for the Fuel in the third period. Jaxon Castor has played every minute so far in this series for Wheeling.

ON THE ROAD

While the Fuel had an 8-2-1-0 record against Wheeling in the regular season, when they played the Nailers in Wheeling, they kept it a close 3-2-0-0, including one win where Indy made a third period six-goal comeback. With three games as the away team ahead, the Fuel will need to gain momentum early.

INDIANA BASEBALL

BASEBALL CENTRAL: BALL STATE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –  After winning a third-straight Big Ten series, the Indiana Baseball team (22-18, 7-5 B1G) returns to the home state for four games. It begins with a trip to Victory Field, home of the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, against Ball State.

The Hoosiers will meet Rutgers this weekend at Bart Kaufman Field, a series with massive season implications on the line. IU received an eight-RBI performance from freshman second baseman Jasen Oliver on Sunday afternoon to secure the series victory. He is the second freshman in the past week to break the record after Joey Brenczewski drove in seven last Sunday against Penn State.

Sophomore Ethan Phillips will start Tuesday’s contest. With an outstanding day from sixth-year senior Ty Bothwell on Saturday, IU was able to make it through the weekend without using Phillips, junior Brandon Keyster and freshman Seth Benes, among others. Sophomore Aydan Decker-Petty and juniors Julian Tonghini and Ryan Kraft are among the arms that threw fewer than 30 pitches in Minneapolis.

IU’s first matchup against Ball State, scheduled for Bloomington two weeks ago, was canceled due to the rain. This will be the only time the two teams play this year. IU will be the designated road team, wearing grey, with a first pitch scheduled for 6:00 PM in Indianapolis.

Gameday Info

vs. Ball State (Tuesday, April 23rd – 6:00 PM)

Live Video: No Stream

Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio

Live Stats: t.ly/XMGOV

Probable Starters

Indiana vs. Ball State

• Tuesday – Ethan Phillips, RHP (IU) vs. Jacob Hartlaub, RHP (BSU)

Player and Stat Trends

Closing in on 200

• Josh Pyne (199) is closing on 200 hits through his time in Bloomington. He just needs one more to join the club. 23 players in program history, which dates back to the 1890’s, have recorded 200-career hits. Only nine players have ever reached 200 hits in their first three years on campus.

• He had six hits over the weekend and will have the chance to reach an exclusive club in one of four games this week in his home state. A guy that’s embraced being a leader and representative for Indiana, will have a chance to etch his name in all the record books when it’s all said in done in Bloomington.

Notable

Raise the Jolly Roger

• Jasen Oliver, commonly known as Jolly in the clubhouse, provided one of the best games by a freshman in program history on Sunday at Minnesota. He came into the day struggling and was moved to the nine hole to turn the lineup over.

• Needing a win, Oliver provided a 3-5 day with a freshman single-game record eight RBIs. The record was set by Joey Brenczewski just last week with seven but Oliver made quick work of it with a two-run single, a three-run home run and a three-run double in the 18-8, series-clinching win.

Bothwell Delivers

• After a disappointing outing last week against Penn State, Ty Bothwell righted the ship with a seven inning, 13-strikeout effort against Minnesota. His 13 strikeouts were a career high as he helped IU to a 7-1 victory in the series opener.

• In his career against Minnesota, he has an 8-1 strikeout to hit (!) ratio with 32 punchies and just four hits allowed. He also passed the 200-strikeout threshold and moved into 8th in program history with 205 career punchouts.

Keeping Pace in the Big Ten Race

• The Big Ten race is as open as it has been in the last five years. The top six teams are separated by three-or-fewer games with Illinois (10-2) pacing the leaderboard. IU (7-5) has won three-straight series to remain in contention. Illinois faces a tough backstretch with Maryland, Ohio State, Iowa and Purdue on the docket.

• The Hoosiers still have to face Rutgers (H), Purdue (A), Nebraska (A) and Michigan (H). Three of those teams are above IU in the standings, giving Jeff Mercer’s squad some opportunities to rise up the leaderboard.

Pyne Close to 200

• Josh Pyne inched closer to the 200-career hit threshold this past weekend with six hits in three games at Minnesota. He sits at 199 for his outstanding IU career, which has potentially another year left in it. With four games this week, Pyne will have the chance to become the 24th member of the 200-hit club at IU in front of friends and family in his home state.

Massive Weekend in the Big Ten

• As mentioned before, the final four weeks in the Big Ten are expected to be wild as seven teams chase the Big Ten title. The final weekend in April could be the deciding factor in the race with a trio of massive series.

• IU (7-5) will host a Rutgers team (3-9) in desperate search of some wins to make the Big Ten Tourney. The Hoosiers will be hoping to keep pace with the leaders and win a fourth series in the month of April.

• Big Ten leaders Illinois (10-2) head to Maryland (6-9), another team looking to stay alive for a trip to Omaha in late-May. Iowa (9-6), who swept Rutgers last weekend, goes to Nebraska (8-4) who is sandwiched in the thick of the title race. Michigan (10-5) plays its non-conference weekend against Long Beach State and will have a better understanding of where it stands this week.

INDIANA SOFTBALL

ALEX COOPER NAMED BIG TEN CO-FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– Indiana freshman Alex Cooper was named the Big Ten’s Co-Freshman of the Week by the conference office Monday afternoon.

Cooper earned the honor for her outstanding play throughout the week of April 15-21 when the Hoosiers went 5-1 against Notre Dame, Purdue and Iowa.

She was named co-freshman of the week along with Michigan’s Ella Stephenson.

For the week, Cooper hit .353 at the plate with two home runs and six RBI while scoring five runs of her own.

Cooper had a career day against Notre Dame last Tuesday (April 16) when the Hoosiers won 5-3.

She went 2-for-3 in the game with two home runs and five RBI. Her second home run was a walk-off grand slam to secure the win.

INDIANA WOMEN’S TENNIS

INDIANA WOMEN’S TENNIS EARNS NO. 14 SEED IN BIG TEN TOURNAMENT

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana women’s tennis (6-19, 0-11 B1G) earned the No. 14 seed in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, hosted by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The Hoosiers will face No. 11 seed Nebraska (12-10, 3-8 B1G) in the second match of the first round of the tournament on Wednesday, April 24th at the Varsity Tennis Center.

TOURNAMENT INFO
• The tournament matches will be live streamed and can be followed via livestats. All info can be found at the tournament central link HERE.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Cornhuskers hold a 6-3 advantage in the all-time series and have won the last three match-ups dating back to 2021.
• IU defeated Nebraska 5-2 in the 2019 season.
• This will be the first time that the teams have met in the postseason.

SCHEDULE
Wednesday, April 24 (First Round) 
Match 1 (#12 Rutgers vs. #13 Michigan State) – Noon ET  
Match 2 (#11 Nebraska vs. #14 Indiana) – Noon ET 

Thursday, April 25 (Second Round) 
Match 3 (#8 Purdue vs. #9 Minnesota) – 10 a.m. ET 
Match 4 (#5 Illinois vs. Match 1 winner) – 10 a.m. ET  
Match 5 (#7 Iowa vs. #10 Penn State) – 2 p.m. ET 
Match 6 (#6 Maryland vs. Match 2 winner) – 2 p.m. ET  

Friday, April 26 (Quarterfinals) 
Match 7 (#1 Michigan vs. Match 3 winner) – 10 a.m. ET  
Match 8 (#4 Wisconsin vs. Match 4 winner) – 10 a.m. ET  
Match 9 (#2 Ohio State vs. Match 5 winner) – 2 p.m. ET  
Match 10 (#3 Northwestern vs. Match 6 winner) – 2 p.m. ET  

Saturday, April 27 (Semifinals) 
Match 11 (Match 7 vs. Match 8 winner) – Noon ET  
Match 12 (Match 9 vs. Match 10 winner) – Noon ET  

Sunday, April 28 (Championship) 
Match 13 (Match 11 vs. Match 12 winner) – Noon ET  

PURDUE MEN’S BASKETBALL

PURDUE TRANSFER MASON GILLIS JOINS DUKE

Purdue transfer Mason Gillis, the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year, joined Duke after helping the Boilermakers reach the national title game earlier this month.

Gillis made the announcement via Instagram on Monday.

Gillis gives head coach Jon Scheyer and Duke an addition to the roster after seven players entered the transfer portal following the NCAA Tournament.

The 6-foot-6 forward was previously a starter before coming off the bench for Matt Painter in all 39 games in 2023-24. Gillis shot 46.8 percent from 3-point range, averaging 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

With 132 career games at Purdue, Gillis is considered a graduate student with one year of eligibility remaining.

NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S TENNIS

IRISH FALL TO VIRGINIA AT THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS

CARY, N.C. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team dropped its quarterfinal contest to the fourth-ranked Virginia Cavaliers last weekend. The Fighting Irish close the regular season at 17-9.

The doubles point went the way of the Cavaliers as Virginia got wins at No. 1 and No. 3, both by a 6-2 margin.

Notre Dame couldn’t find its footing in the singles portion, dropping three matches as UVA took the 4-0 victory. Bojana Pozder, and Yashna Yellayi dropped their matches in straight sets, and Nibi Ghosh’s match at No. 4 was the clincher, as she fell in three sets.

#4 Virginia 4, #28 Notre Dame 0

Singles competition

#61 Annabelle Xu (VA) vs. #26 Julia Andreach (ND) 2-6, 6-2, 2-2, unfinished

#23 Hibah Shaikh (VA) vs. Page Freeman (ND) 7-6 (7-5), 5-5, unfinished

Natasha Subhash (VA) def. Bojana Pozder (ND) 6-0, 6-2

#86 Sara Ziodato (VA) def. Nibi Ghosh (ND) 3-6, 6-0, 6-1

#99 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. Yashna Yellayi (ND) 6-2, 6-1

Melodie Collard (VA) vs. Akari Matsuno (ND) 6-4, 2-6, 3-2, unfinished

Doubles competition

#8 Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. #42 Julia Andreach/Page Freeman (ND) 6-2

#38 Natasha Subhash/Hibah Shaikh (VA) vs. Carrie Beckman/Akari Matsuno (ND) 4-3, unfinished

Sara Ziodato/Meggie Navarro (VA) def. Yashna Yellayi/Nibi Ghosh (ND) 6-2

Match Notes:

Notre Dame 17-9, 7-6; National ranking #28 Virginia 22-3, 12-1; National ranking #4

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,3,4) 2024 ACC Women’s Tennis Championship: Quarterfinals, Match 3

NOTRE DAME SOFTBALL

IRISH TO HOST CENTRAL MICHIGAN AND UIC IN MIDWEEK GAMES

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame softball team is set to host its final two scheduled midweek games of the season this week. The Fighting Irish will take on the Central Michigan Chippewas and UIC Flames Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 5 p.m., respectively.

Notre Dame enters the games after a dramatic 6-5 walk-off victory over the #21/20 Clemson Tigers Sunday evening at Melissa Cook Stadium. Overall, the Irish were either tied or led going into the final inning of each game last week, but finished the week 1-3. In home midweek games this season, the Irish are 4-0, and dating back to 2019, are 18-0 in home midweek contests.

Central Michigan enters the contest after going 1-2 at home against Miami University (Ohio). Prior to last weekend, the Chippewas had won five-consecutive games, their longest winning streak of the season.

UIC comes in being swept by the UNI Panthers in Cedar Falls last weekend. In midweek contests this season, UIC is 0-1 against non-conference opponents and 2-1 overall. The Flames took a pair of midweek games against Valparaiso two weeks ago and dropped a midweek at Northwestern a month ago.

Each game will be live streamed on the ACC Network Extra with live stats available via the Notre Dame softball schedule page.

NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S LAX

ACC TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team embarks on a new season this week as they open postseason play in the ACC Tournament. After finishing second in the ACC standings and clinching the No. 2 seed last week at Louisville, the Irish will face Clemson in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament this Wednesday, April 24.

Notre Dame and Clemson will rematch after a tightly contested regular season matchup between the two squads saw a double-overtime game, the only overtime contest of the season for the Irish.

The No. 2-ranked Irish squad will look to advance to their fourth consecutive semifinals and berth in the ACC Championship game for the first time in program history.

GAME DETAILS
Location: Charlotte, N.C. | ACC Quarterfinals vs. Clemson
Schedule: April 24, 2024 | 5 p.m.
TV: ACC Network
Live Stats: UND.com
Twitter Updates: @NDWomensLax
For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame

FOR STARTERS

The Irish kicked off their 2024 campaign with a five-game homestand in which they went 4-1 and had their best start to a season (4-0) since 2020.

Notre Dame closed out its regular season home slate when they hosted Duke for a 19-7 win on senior day.

The Irish head into their final game of the regular season when they face Louisville on the road this Thursday.

In their most recent road trip, the Irish recorded a pair of wins in Virginia and are now 7-0 on the road this season.

The Irish boast six 20+ goal performances this season and own one of the nation’s hottest offenses.

With five goals and a program-best six assists, Jackie Wolak set a career best with 11 points against Pitt to close out the month of March.

Kelly Denes registered 16 draw controls in that contest, tying a program record and helping the Ieish ro 26 total draw wins – good for a program best at home.

For her performance at the draw circle against Pitt, Denes was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week.

Doherty’s hat trick goal at Brown came with 36.5 seconds to play in regulation of a deadlocked 15-15 contest to snap the tie and give the Irish the win. She followed it up with a career night four goals at then No. 2 Boston College, including the final dagger with just 15 ticks left on the clock to hand the Irish their first win at BC since 2003. To ensure the victory, Doherty won the following draw control to give the Irish possession and run out the clock. Following the road trip, Doherty racked up numerous awards for her full field performance, including USA Lacrosse, IWLCA and ACC honors.

Last season the Irish boasted four regular season road wins, including defeats of Duke, Butler, Pitt and Robert Morris. They have since surpassed that number this year, owning a 5-0 record on the road with three contests remaining away from home.

Notre Dame opened their season with a 21-6 win over Eastern Michigan.

Lilly Callahan, who has started every game this season, boasts all 15 decisions for the Irish in a 13-2 start to their season.

Callahan was announced as ACC Defensive Player of the Week Tuesday, March 5, following her performance at UNC.

After an eight point weekend, including four goals and two assists against Northwestern, Jackie Wolak was named the USA Lacrosse Magazine, ILWomen and ACC Offensive Player of the Week after boasting four goals and two assists in the team’s win over then-top ranked Northwestern.

Freshmen Angie Conley, Kathryn Morrissey, Kate Timarky and Meghan O’Hare all scored their first collegiate goals and were joined by veterans Ciara Mazzone and Maeve Dwyer in the accomplishment in the opening weekend of the season.

Live stats will be available for the contest as well as a the game being aired on the ACC Network.

IN THE POLLS

Notre Dame was ranked No. 2 in the latest ILWomen/IWLCA poll of the season while sitting atop the USA Lacrosse Magazine rankings for the first time in program history.

The ACC coaches tabbed the Irish to finish fourth in the preseason rankings.

With their win at Louisville to cap off the regular season, the Irish clinched the No. 2-seed in the ACC tournament with a 7-2 conference record and own a 14-2 record overall.

BALANCED ATTACK

The Irish returned an NCAA best 91-percent of their scoring from a season ago including their six top scorers in Jackie Wolak (105 pts.), Kasey Choma (88 pts.), Madison Ahern (84 pts.), MK Doherty (38 pts.), Kristen Shanahan (29 pts.) and Kelly Denes (25 pts.).

The trio of Ahern, Wolak and Choma combined for 26 points in the team’s opening weekend to kick off 2024, led by Wolak with a team-best 12 points and 7 goals.

Arden Tierney, a draw specialist who joined the Irish ahead of the 2024 season, registered 10 draw controls in week 1, including eight in the team’s 22-3 win over Central Michigan. Kelly Denes, who led the team in the category a year ago boasts 91 draw controls thus far in 2024 and leads the team in the category again.

Denes led the team with eight draw controls against Northwestern, tying that of the visitors’ total at the circle as the Irish dominated draws by a 20-8 margin. She now boasts 109 draw controls this season and averages 7.27 controls per game, good for second in the ACC and 14th in the country.

In addition to being one of the team’s top contributors offensively, Denes led the team at the draw circle last season, boasting 135 draw controls while MK Doherty’s 111 controls gave the Irish their first season in program history with two individuals eclipsing triple digits.

Through 16 games played, nine Irish individuals boast double digit points, led by Wolak with a team-best 82. The graduate also leads the team in goals (48) and assists (34).

With 105 points in 2023, Wolak ranked fourth nationally and second in the ACC. With her performance against Florida to reach the 100+ point mark, she became just the third woman in program history to hit 100 points in a single season.

With a scoring margin of 8.69, the Irish rank third in the nation while also leading the country in shots per game (37.75) and shots on goal at 27.69.

With an average scoring offense of 17.00 goals per game, the Irish attack ranks fourth in the nation and is second in the ACC.

LEADERSHIP GROUP

The team named a trio of captains, as voted on by their peers, ahead of the 2024 season. This year’s captains will be Madison Ahern, Kasey Choma and Aine Maseker.

BUTLER WOMEN’S LAX

SOPHIA KNOBLOCK RECEIVES BIG EAST FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONORS

Freshman attack Sophia Knoblock received BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors announced by the conference on Monday afternoon. This is Knoblock’s first collegiate honor at Butler.

In the Bulldog’s fall to UConn in their final BIG EAST matchup of the season, Knoblock recorded her own career-high of four goals within a single game. Knoblock completed all four shot attempts to help put up four points on the board for the Bulldogs in Saturday’s matchup.

This was the second Bulldog to be recognized this season after Emily Eckert earned Freshman of the Week honors on Feb. 12.

The Bulldogs will be back home to take on Detroit Mercy on Saturday, April 27 at Varsity Field in Indianapolis, Ind. The first draw is set for 12 p.m.

BUTLER WOMEN’S GOLF

BULLDOGS CLIMB INTO TIE FOR FOURTH AS BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP CONCLUDES

The Bulldogs climbed a spot on the leaderboard in Monday’s final round to finish in a tie for fourth at the 2024 BIG EAST Women’s Golf Championship.

The championship was contested at the Callawassie Golf Club in Okatie, S.C., with 54 holes being played over the last three days.

The Bulldogs entered the final round in fifth, but both Butler and St. John’s jumped Creighton Monday. Those two teams tied for fourth at 925 (+61). Butler shot 310 Monday after earlier rounds of 299 and 316. There were a total of six teams in the field. 

Sophomore Kelli Scheck had a strong Monday with an even-par 72 in the final round. She and Georgetown’s Morgan Smith were the only two players among the 30-player field to shoot par Monday. Her 18 included four birdies on the back nine. She finished the tournament at nine-over 225. Scheck entered the final round tied for 16th, but was able to move into a tie for 10th after her Monday performance.

Freshman Ashley Freitas shot six-over 78 Monday and finished in a tie for 13th at 228 (+12). Her best round of the event was an opening-round, one-under 71.

Xavier’s Emma Welch followed up her Sunday six-under 66 with a final-round 76 to claim the BIG EAST title at 213 (-3). Welch bested runner-up Georgetown Morgan Smith by two shots. 

Xavier led Georgetown by two shots entering the final round and kept that same margin in capturing the team’s fifth consecutive BIG EAST title. Both Xavier and Georgetown shot 301 Monday with the Musketeers finishing at 17-over 881. Georgetown had a runner-up total of 883 (+19)

Seton Hall finished the tournament in third (906; +42).

The BIG EAST Championship served as the final event of the 2023-24 for the Bulldogs.

Team Standings – 54 Holes

1. Xavier, 292-288-301–881 (+17)

2. Georgetown, 297-285-301–883 (+19)

3. Seton Hall, 300-297-309–906 (+42)

T4. Butler, 299-316-310–925 (+61)

T4. St. John’s, 318-300-307–925 (+61)

6. Creighton, 308-304-325–937 (+73)

Individual Standings – 54 Holes

1. Emma Welch, Xavier, 71-66-76—213 (-3)

2. Morgan Smith, Georgetown, 73-70-72—215 (-1)

T3. Megan Gormley, Georgetown, 70-70-76–216 (E)

T3. Georgia Ruffolo, Georgetown, 74-69-73—216 (E)

5. Kara Carter, Xavier, 72-73-74—219 (+3)

The Bulldogs:

T10. Kelli Scheck, 77-76-72–225 (+9)

T13. Ashley Freitas, 71-79-78–228 (+12)

22. Cybil Stillson, 75-82-81–238 (+22)

23. Alaina Bowie, 76-84-79–239 (+23)

T26. Katie Steinman, 83-79-84–246 (+30)

BUTLER SOFTBALL

BUTLER SOFTBALL’S ALEXANDER EARNS BIG EAST FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONOR

Butler infielder Makena Alexander has been selected as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week as announced on Monday by the conference. She was chosen for her performance in last weekend’s BIG EAST series with Creighton.

In Butler’s series-opening one-run victory over the Bluejays, Alexander singled to left field in the sixth inning, sending home what would ultimately be the game-winning run.

Alexander joins fellow freshman Katie Petran (Pitcher of the Week, 3/4) and redshirt-freshman Hailey Conger (Freshman of the Week, 2/19) who also have received a weekly individual award from the conference this season.

The Bulldogs return to action this week, hosting Indiana on Wednesday, April 24.

BUTLER BASEBALL

BUTLER BEGINS WEEK WITH ROAD GAME AT EASTERN ILLINOIS

INDIANAPOLIS — Butler and Eastern Illinois were scheduled to play each other on April 2, but weather washed out the contest. The two teams will now get a game in on Tuesday with the Panthers hosting the Bulldogs at 4 PM.

Scouting Eastern Illinois

The Panthers are 13-23 overall with a 7-8 record against OVC opponents. The team most recently went 1-2 at Little Rock. EIU won the opener 9-4, but took an 8-6 loss on Saturday and were edged on Sunday 5-4.

Six of their 13 wins this year have been recorded on their home diamond. The Panthers use sacrifice bunts to move runners over and sac flies to score runs. They rank second in the OVC in each statistical category. The BU scouting report on EIU will certainly include Lucas Loos and Dylan Drumke. Loos leads the team, the conference and ranks 19th in the nation in doubles with 16. He owns a .362 batting average and has 95 total bases. Drumke ranks third in the OVC in 11 home runs and RBIs per game (1.1). This duo also ranks 3-4 in the OVC in slugging percentage (.688/.648).

Common Opponents

Dayton and Bradley each appeared on Eastern Illinois and Butler’s schedule this spring. BU went 2-2 vs. Dayton and EIU went 1-2. The Flyers were the road team in each series. BU played a three-game series against Bradley in Florida and went 1-2 against the Braves. EIU hosted Bradley in a single game and won 14-9.

Last Week

Butler went 2-3 last week with a midweek win at Eastern Michigan and a Sunday victory at St. John’s. Jack Moroknek hit three home runs to lift BU to victory in Ypsilanti. He became just the fourth Bulldog in program history to homer three times in one game. Butler’s 8-4 at St. John’s was also significant because it was just the fifth time the Bulldogs have topped the Red Storm since the teams became conference rivals.

As a team, BU hit .315 over that five-game stretch. They recorded 58 hits, resulting in 36 runs. Six players hit over .300 and every member of that group delivered an extra base hit. Billy Wurch held a .500 average last week with a homer and a double, Ethan Vecrumba hit .429 and Moroknek batted .391.

On the mound, wins went to Grant Brooks and Nick Miketinac. Cole Graverson and Andrew Crumbley led the way with five strikeouts each and Crumbley was also credited with his first save of the season. Tyler Banks had the longest outing of any player, covering 5.2 innings in a Friday start in Queens. Nate Rosser and Ben Whiteside also threw five innings last week.

BIG EAST Standings

UConn 7-2, 20-18

St. John’s 6-3, 25-9-1

Georgetown 8-4, 26-13

Xavier 5-4, 20-19

Creighton 4-5, 28-9

Villanova 5-7, 14-23

Seton Hall 2-7, 19-20

Butler 2-7, 15-23

Bulldog Bits

– Kade Lewis and Carter Dorighi rank third and fourth in the league in batting average

– Butler ranks fourth in the BIG EAST in batting average (.281) and scoring (7.1)

– Dorighi leads the BIG EAST and ranks 13th in the nation in hits (64)

– Lewis leads the league with his .690 slugging percentage and 98 total bases

– Jack Moroknek has the second-most home runs in the BIG EAST (11)

– The Bulldogs rank third in the BIG EAST in home runs (48) and sac flies (18)

– Joey Urban is the league leader in sac flies with four

– Cole Graverson ranks second among all BIG EAST arms with five saves

– Lewis is on a 10-game hitting streak

– Urban has reached base safely in 14-straight games

– The Bulldogs have hit 13 doubles over their last six games

– BU has hit a double in 14-straight games

– Butler is 10-12 in road games this year and 6-0 when holding their opponent to five runs or less

– Ryan Drumm had a double, a homer, and three RBIs at St. John’s on Saturday

– Evan Parks has seven hits and four RBIs over his last five games

– Nate Rosser matched his season-high strikeout total with four vs. STJ on Saturday

Up Next

Butler will play seven-straight home games upon returning from Charleston. The home stand starts with a three-game series against Seton Hall. The lone midweek matchup will fall on Tuesday of next week when the ‘Dawgs play Saint Louis at 4 PM. BU stays in Indy that weekend to host Xavier.

IUPUI MEN’S GOLF

FRESHMEN FUEL MEN’S GOLF TEAM ON FINAL DAY OF HORIZON LEAGUE GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – A pair of freshmen paced the IUPUI men’s golf team in its final round of the Horizon League Championships on Monday (Apr. 22) as the Jaguars put up a 3-over 291 on El Campeon at Mission Inn Resort. Both Titus Boswell and Brady Schier shot 1-under 71 to lead the way while Morgan Tournemire shot 2-over 74.

IUPUI finished sixth of 10 teams at 895 (305-299-291) while Wright State earned the team title. WSU’s Timmy Hollenbeck and Andrew Flynn finished tied atop the leaderboard at 6-under 210.

Boswell finished tied for tenth overall at 5-over 221 (75-75-71) while senior Taylor Gardner closed at 225 (78-72-75).

“Man, we were really good for most of the day today,” head coach Jamie Broce said. “Titus played really well but just didn’t get it to the finish. Brady was really, really solid and the other guys were pretty solid today too. We didn’t quite get today’s round to the finish line, but it was much better.

“I’m proud of these guys. Those two seniors – Taylor and Kevin – have had really good careers for us. They’ve continued to work and grind and improve on their games and been fun to coach. I think the freshmen have come a lot ways in a short amount of time and have big time futures. They’re going to be fun because they just want to show up and get better and better.”

Boswell was on fire for much of his round, making eagle on No. 14 to get him to 3-under through five holes. He got as low as 6-under after 15 holes, but closed going double bogey-double bogey-bogey to finish at 1-under. Schier was much the opposite, making three birdies on his first five holes to get to 2-under. He was back to 1-over late in the round before closing with back-to-back birdies to also finish at 1-under.

Tournemire made three birdies as part of his round while Gardner and Tillery had two each.

IUPUI WOMEN’S GOLF

BUSKER EARNS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM HONORS AS JAGS FINISH FOURTH

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – The IUPUI women’s golf team posted a final round 328 at the Horizon League Championships on Monday (Apr. 22), closing in fourth-place at 967 (322-317-328). Senior Shelby Busker earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team, tying for third at 233 (77-76-80). It marked Busker’s third career All-Tournament Team finish in her four-year career as she also earned the achievement as a freshman and sophomore.

“Really proud of Shelby and all the young ladies,” head coach Jamie Broce said. “As a team, it just wasn’t our week and that’s part of it. We had some stretches where we played well and we had some good shots. That’s all you can ask for. With this group, it’s never for a lack of effort.

“I’m going to miss coaching this group. They’re great players but even better young ladies. They’re honestly a joy to coach every day.”

Busker led the Jaguars with a final round 80 on Monday while fellow senior Annaliese Fox posted a round of 82 to earn a top-10 finish. Fox ended the event at 238 (80-76-82) in tenth-place.

Both Madeleine Pape and Yanah Rolston registered rounds of 83 and freshman Sydni Zebrauskas shot 84. Rolston had two of the team’s three birdies on Monday as scoring was at a premium for the Jaguars. Busker had the team’s only other birdie, doing so on the par-3 No. 12.

The Jaguars managed the front nine fairly well with the highest score being Fox and Zebrauskas at 4-over. Busker, Pape and Rolston all were at 3-over at the turn. However, IUPUI was unable to right the ship on the back nine as the team’s eight double bogeys outweighed the two birdies.

Busker finished the tournament tied for second among the field with eight birdies while Fox and Rolston were second on the team with four apiece. Fox had a team-high 31 pars for the week.

Oakland ran away with the team title at 930, defeating second-place Youngstown State by 24 shots. OU’s Bridget Boczar earned medalist honors at 8-over 227.

Broce’s team graduates five seniors of this year’s roster, including Busker, Pape and Fox.

BALL STATE SOFTBALL

SOFTBALL CLOSES NON-CONFERENCE PLAY WEDNESDAY AT PURDUE

THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team plays its final non-conference game of the regular season Wednesday when it travels to Purdue for a 5:30 p.m. first pitch at Bittinger Stadium.

» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters Wednesday’s game with a 1170-1166-4 (.501) overall record dating back to 1975 … The Cardinals have tallied 30-or-more wins in 16 seasons, most recently a 37-18 mark in 2021 … Of the 16 seasons with 30-or-more wins, 11 have come in the past 16 years.

» A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Led by first-year head coach Helen Peña, the Cardinals own a 22-24 overall record … Ball State maintains a .269 team batting average, led by redshirt junior utility player McKayla Timmons at .390 … Timmons ranks third both in the MAC and nationally with 21 home runs, while ranking third in the league and 21st among all NCAA Division I players with 50 RBIs … Sophomore Ashlee Lovett and graduate third baseman Haley Wynn are tied for second on the squad with .306 averages … Wynn is also second in runs scored (34) and third in both home runs (7) and RBI (22) … In the circle, the Cardinals own a 3.93 ERA led by senior Francys King who boasts an 11-10 record and a 3.38 ERA over 128.1 innings of work … King has also tallied three complete game shutouts this season and 63 strikeouts … Sophomore Bridie Murphy has a .266 average against over 112.0 innings, to go along with an 8-9 record, one save and a team-high 65 strikeouts.

» CARDINALS VERSUS THE BOILERMAKERS: Purdue holds a 20-10 lead in the all-time series versus the Cardinals, including a 10-9 win in the latest meeting played April 1, 2015 … Ball State held a 9-6 advantage heading into the bottom of the fourth, but Purdue rallied for four runs over its final four innings and won the game on a two-run error … Overall, the Cardinals are 3-9 all-time in road games in the series, with its last road win coming by a score of 6-5 on April 9, 2014.

» SCOUTING PURDUE: Another team led by a first-year coach in Magali Frezzotti, the Boilermakers enter Wednesday’s game with a 22-22 overall record, including a 9-8 mark in Big Ten play … Last weekend, Purdue went 1-2 at No. 21 Northwestern, earning a 2-1 victory Saturday … Northwestern picked up a 9-0 (5) win Friday and a 7-3 (9) victory Sunday … Khloe Banks leads the Boilermakers with a .361 average and has scored a team-high 33 runs … Moriah Polar and Tyrina Jones are tied for team-high honors with 22 RBIs each, with Jones having a team-high four home runs … Purdue, which has a .263 team batting average, has only hit 11 homers as a team this season, 10 fewer than Ball State’s McKayla Timmons … Purdue’s pitching staff owns a 3.98 ERA, led by Kendall Klochack’s mark of 3.28 over 74/2 innings of work … Julia Gossett leads the squad with nine wins and 61 strikeouts, while boasting a 3.86 ERA over 101.2 innings of work.

BALL STATE NEWS & NOTES:

» MAC PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS: Ball State was picked to finish fourth among 11 teams in the Mid-American Conference’s annual preseason poll … The Cardinals, who finished fourth in the league last season with a 17-12 MAC record, are looking for a second consecutive  MAC Softball Championship berth, with the league’s top six teams advancing to Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, for the three-day event which runs May 8-11.

» THE WYNN FACTOR: Graduate third baseman Haley Wynn has taken advantage of her extra year of eligibility, ranking second on the team with 48 hits so far this season … That raises her career total to 229 which is sixth in program history … Wynn has registered at least one hit in 32 of BSU’s first 46 games of the season, including seven home runs to up her career long ball total to 26 which is tied for eighth in program history.

» MORE ON WYNN: Haley Wynn is one of the most prolific batters in program history ranking 20th on Ball State’s career charts with a .329 career average … She is also 13th all-time in slugging percentage (.534) and 16th in on base percentage (.404) … In addition, her 166 career runs scored are third in program history and 35th among all active NCAA Division I players … She also ranks 24th among active DI players with 45 career doubles which is seventh in program history, while her 10 career triples are 41st among active DI players and tied for 11th at BSU.

» TIMMONS CLIMBING THE CHARTS TOO: After leading the Ball State offense with a .390 batting average, a .904 slugging percentage and a .506 on base percentage through the first 46 games of the season, McKayla Timmons continues her climb up BSU’s career charts … She currently ranks second in program history in slugging percentage (.725), second in on base percentage (.466) and fifth in batting average (.360) … Timmons has blasted a team-leading 21 home runs so far this season, including her first collegiate grand slam at Georgia State (Feb. 24), is also one of the program’s top home run hitters with her 37 career long balls ranking fifth on BSU’s all-time list.

» RBI LEADER: McKayla Timmons enters the week ranked 21st nationally with her 50 RBIs this season … The effort included seven RBIs in the 9-5 (9) win over Georgia State (Feb. 24) and six in the 13-9 victory at Marshall (March 7) … The program record for RBIs in a single game is eight by Stacy Payton versus Oakland on May 4, 2019.

» SHINING BEHIND THE PLATE TOO: In addition to pacing the offense, McKayla Timmons has proven to be one of the nation’s top threats behind the plate and was recently named one of the nation’s best catchers by Softball America, ranking sixth on the April position list … The effort is aided by Timmons throwing out eight of the 28 runners attempting to steal a base on her so far this season.

» BALL STATE’S BEST THIEF: Senior outfielder Remington Ross enters the week as the greatest base thief in program history with a .966 (56-for-58) career stolen base percentage at Ball State … Last season, she went a perfect 23-for-23 in stolen base attempts and ranked second in the MAC and 54th nationally with a 0.47 steals-per-game average … Ross, who is seventh in program history with 56 career stolen bases, had been successful in her previous 36 stolen base attempts before being caught stealing for just the second time in her Ball State career at Georgia State (Feb. 24) … She has stolen seven straight bases since.

» SPEAKING OF STOLEN BASES: Ball State enters the Purdue game ranked second in the league and 15th nationally with 84 stolen bases this season … Haley Wynn and McKayla Timmons lead the squad with 14 apiece, while senior outfielder Kaitlyn Mathews has 12 and Remington Ross has 11 … Overall, 11 different Cardinals have stolen at least one base this season … Ball State’s 84 stolen bases in 2024 are the eighth-most in a season in program history … The program record is 151 set by the 2008 squad.

» A SLAMMING FIRST HIT: Redshirt sophomore Jessica Hoffman had just two career at bats when she stepped up to the plate with bases loaded in the 10-8 win over Fordham (Feb. 11) … She proceeded to blast her first career hit over the fence in right center field for her first career home run and Ball State’s first grand slam since April 6, 2022 … A regular in the lineup since, Hoffman has 34 career hits and is fourth on the team with a .281 average this season … Of her 34 hits, 16 have driven in at least one RBI and she currently ranks second on the squad with 30 RBIs.

» SPEAKING OF SLAMS: Kaitlyn Mathews blasted her first career grand slam in the 13-9 (8) victory at Buffalo (April 6), taking a two-out, 3-2 pitch over the fence in center field … It was Mathews’ first home run of the season and Ball State’s fourth grand slam on the campaign … She would add two more home runs in the Akron series, including a three-run blast to drive in what proved to be the winning run in Sunday’s 7-6 victory … She now has seven career home runs.

» KING OF THE PEN: Senior Francys King leads the Ball State pitching staff with a 3.38 ERA over 128.1 innings of work … She has earned the victory in 11 of BSU’s 22 wins, including three of the team’s five complete game shutouts … King has 20 career collegiate pitching victories, with 14 coming at Ball State and six coming in her two seasons at Tennessee State (2021-22).

» TRIPLING UP: The Ball State defense owns one of the nation’s seven triple plays this season, turning what was a squeeze bunt attempt into a triple killing in the fifth inning of the 5-4 win over Jacksonville State on Feb. 17 … The bunt was fielded by Haley Wynn at third base, who threw to McKayla Timmons to get the out at first … The play then went to catcher Jazmyne Armendariz to get the runner out trying to advance home, who in turn threw to shortstop Maia Pietrzak to get the final out … It was just the second recorded triple play in program history, with the first coming in 1985.

BALL STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S BASKETBALL ADDS FIRST TEAM ALL-OVC GUARD JEREMIAH HERNANDEZ

The Ball State men’s basketball team has signed USI transfer guard Jeremiah Hernandez for the 2024-25 season.

Hernandez was named First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference in 2023-24 after averaging 17.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in his second season at Southern Indiana.

The Chicago native finished fifth in the league in scoring, ninth in free throw percentage (81.0) and fourth in steals per game (1.5). Hernandez made 38 more free throws (200 total) last season than any other OVC player to rank No. 13 nationally.

The 6-foot-4 guard has one season of eligibility remaining after playing two years at Kent State before transferring to USI. Hernandez joins Payton Sparks (Indiana) and Joey Hart (Kentucky) as recent transfer signees to the team. Jai Anthoni Bearden (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Jermahri “Fatt” Hill (South Plains JC) signed with the program in November.

BALL STATE BASEBALL

CARDINALS TAKING ON IU ON TUESDAY NIGHT AT VICTORY FIELD

The Ball State baseball team is set to play Indiana at Victory Field in Indianapolis on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

Links to a single-camera broadcast, live stats and tickets can be found above and on the schedule page. Ball State will be the designated home team at the home of the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Cardinals (25-15, 12-9 Mid-American Conference) and Hoosiers (22-18, 7-5 Big Ten) were originally scheduled to meet back on April 9 in Bloomington, but the game was canceled due to projected inclement weather.

Ball State won its fourth series in a row over the weekend at Western Michigan to improve to 13-3 since March 24, including 10-2 against MAC opponents. The Cardinals boast a 4-2 record against in-state opponents so far this year while going 2-2 vs Big Ten teams.

Indiana took 2 of 3 games at Minnesota over the weekend, winning Saturday’s game 7-1 before getting run-ruled 13-2 in seven innings for the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader. The Hoosiers bounced back with an 18-8 win in the nightcap.

The Ball State bats had success last year against Indiana’s pitching staff to the tune of scoring 21 total runs in two games. Blake Bevis, Hunter Dobbins and Decker Scheffler each hit home runs during the April 11 battle in Bloomington, with Scheffler’s being a grand slam. Bevis tacked on another big fly in the April 25 meeting in Muncie to finish the season series with five RBI, while Scheffler totaled six RBI for the two games.

Ball State’s pitching staff leads the MAC with 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings (No. 34 nationally) and a 5.88 ERA. The Cardinal bats are second in doubles (69) and third in homers (62, No. 42), runs (280) and slugging percentage (.489).

Senior transfer Michael Hallquist paces the MAC with 114 total bases (No. 31 in NCAA Division I) while ranking second in hits (58) and slugging (.713), third in home runs (14), fourth in RBI (43) and fifth in batting average (.363). Junior left-handed pitcher Merritt Beeker paces the league and ranks tenth nationally in total strikeouts (82) and strikeouts per nine (14.7).

SCOUTING INDIANA: The Hoosiers went 43-20 (16-8 Big Ten) last year in head coach Jeff Mercer’s fifth in charge of the program. Indiana lost to Kentucky in the championship game of the NCAA Regional in Lexington to end its season.

Indiana’s offense leads the Big Ten in doubles (94, No. 16 nationally), runs (336, No. 22) and sacrifice flies (29, No. 4) while ranking second in hits (420, No. 19). Its pitchers are second in the conference and No. 18 in NCAA Division I with 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

Sophomore Tyler Cerny ranks third in the Big Ten in doubles (15), fifth in RBI (45) and seventh in hits (56), while junior Carter Mathison is third in walks (33) and junior Nick Mitchell is second in runs (45). Mitchell’s .362 batting average paces the group while Mathison’s nine homers are tops on the team.

Up Next

The Cardinals take a break from MAC play for a road series at NC State beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday in Raleigh.

INDIANA STATE BASEBALL

HAYDEN BECOMES FOURTH ISU PITCHER TO EARN MISSOURI VALLEY PITCHER OF THE WEEK HONORS

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Indiana State right-handed pitcher Luke Hayden was named the Missouri Valley Baseball Pitcher of the Week as announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon.

Hayden becomes the fourth Indiana State pitcher to claim the conference’s weekly honor joining Jacob Pruitt (Feb. 19), Brennyn Cutts (Mar. 11 & Apr. 15), and Cam Edmonson (Mar. 25) to receive the award presented by the conference office.

The Bloomington, Ind. native delivered his best performance of the season when it mattered most on Sunday afternoon with a complete-game effort in ISU’s 11-1 over Illinois State. The win secured Indiana State’s 15th consecutive MVC series win dating back to the end of the 2022 season.

Hayden scattered six hits and allowed just an unearned run on a dropped fly ball in left field in his first complete game in the Sycamore Blue & White. He posted a season-high 11 strikeouts while walking one batter and allowed just one runner in scoring position after the third inning in the win.

Hayden pitched to contact when needed forcing the Redbirds to hit into a pair of double plays and needed just 97 pitches to secure the Sunday win.

He currently ranks fourth in the Valley in ERA (2.84), seventh in opponent batting average (.238), second in strikeouts (59), second in strikeouts looking (19), and tied for second in wins (5) overall this season.

Indiana State continues the seven-game road trip next weekend as the Sycamores travel to Carbondale, Ill. to take on Southern Illinois over April 26-28. First pitch in Friday’s contest at Itchy Jones Stadium is set for 7 p.m. ET. All three games will be broadcast on 105.5 The Legend, with Friday and Saturday also being streamed on ESPN+. Sunday’s contest will be carried on ESPNU with a 7 p.m. ET first pitch.

SYCAMORES RANKED IN FIVE DIVISION I BASEBALL TOP-25 POLLS, REMAIN NO. 10 IN RPI THROUGH APRIL 22

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State baseball was ranked in all five national Division I polls as announced by the various organizations on Monday as the Sycamores continue to garner national recognition midway through the Missouri Valley Conference slate.

The Sycamores entered the D1Baseball poll for the first time in 2024 at No. 25, while also making their first appearance in the Baseball America poll at No. 24. Indiana State remained in the Perfect Game poll for the fourth consecutive week clocking in at No. 14, while sitting No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the NCBWA poll.

It marks the first time Indiana State was recognized in all five polls since May 29, 2023, when ISU was No. 23 in D1Baseball, No. 25 in Baseball America, No. 20 in USA Taoday, No. 23 in NCBWA, and No. 18 in Perfect Game.

Indiana State (29-8) enters the week after taking two of three this past weekend at Illinois State. The Sycamores rallied back from a Friday night 4-3 defeat to take the final two games of the series by scores of 10-1 and 11-1 to secure their 15th consecutive MVC series win. ISU outscored the Redbirds 24-6 over the series hitting seven home runs while posting a 1.85 ERA over the three-game series at Duffy Bass Field.

The Sycamores also remained inside the top-10 in the NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) standings sitting at No. 10 overall boasting the No. 29 non-conference strength of schedule and No. 65 overall strength of schedule through 37 games. The Sycamores boast an 18-7 record in road or neutral site games with their 18 wins away from Terre Haute tying with Northeastern (18-8) for the most in the NCAA Division I through April 22.

Indiana State continues the seven-game road trip next weekend as the Sycamores travel to Carbondale, Ill. to take on Southern Illinois over April 26-28. First pitch in Friday’s contest at Itchy Jones Stadium is set for 7 p.m. ET. All three games will be broadcast on 105.5 The Legend, with Friday and Saturday also being streamed on ESPN+. Sunday’s contest will be carried on ESPNU with a 7 p.m. ET first pitch.

PURDUE FT. WAYNE WOMEN’S GOLF

HUNAR MITTAL TAKES SEVENTH AT HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – Purdue Fort Wayne freshman Hunar Mittal finished seventh at the Horizon League Women’s Golf Championship on Monday (April 22).

Mittal earned the second-highest finish a Mastodon has ever recorded at a league championship and the best in 10 years. The Mastodons finished sixth as a team, matching the program’s best finish at a league championship in its history.

Mittal finished with a score of 75-79-81-235. Her 81 in the final round featured a birdie on the 477-yard 14th. This was in the middle of a five-hole stretch in which she was bogey-free.

Adrienne Rohwedder finished in a tie for 16th with an 80-82-84-246. She started the day with a birdie on hole 10 and then had five pars over the next six holes. She finished with a 2-over 39 on the back nine.

Natalie Papa shot 87-82-87-256 to take 31st. She opened with a par, then parred every other hole in the next nine-hole stretch. This included a birdie on hole one, a 467-yard par-5.

Anna Olafsdottir finished her storied Mastodon career with a 32nd-place finish with scores of 89-83-86-258. She birdied the first hole on the front nine and parred six others.

Lillie Cone played as the alternate on Monday, shooting 89. She birdied hole seven and parred five other holes in her league championship debut.

The Mastodons’ team score of 986 was good for sixth. Oakland took the league championship with a 930. Golden Grizzly Bridget Boczar won with a 227.

The Mastodons wrap up the season with the best season scoring average in program history of 310.1.

EVANSVILLE MEN’S GOLF

SUNRISE BEACH, Mo. – Posting a 2-over 74 on Monday, Carson Parker led the University of Evansville men’s golf team in the second round of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship at The Golf Club at Porta Cima.

Round Two Results

Parker’s round led the Purple Aces as the team jumped to 8th place in the team standings.  Combined with his opening-round 75, Parker is tied for 22nd with a 149 entering Tuesday’s final round.  Daniil Romashkin continues to led the way for UE.  After carding a 1-under 71 to open play, Romashkin wrapped up Monday’s round with a 77.  His 148 is tied for 18th.  Caleb Wassmer is third for Evansville with a 152.  He lowered his score by two strokes to a 75 on Monday and is tied for 30th with a 152.
 
Nicholas Gushrowski sits fourth for the Aces.  Totals of 77 and 82 have him tied for 44th with a 159.  Isaac Rohleder made the largest jump of the day for UE.  Following an opening-round 84, Rohleder posted a 78 in the second round and has a 162.
 
As a team, UE has a 604, putting them 8th in the current standings.  The Aces are three in front of Illinois State and just one behind Bradley.  Southern Illinois goes into the final 18 holes with a 14-stroke lead over Missouri State.  SIU as a 565 with the Bears checking in with a 579.  Edouard Cereto of SIU is the individual leader with a 136.  He posted a 5-under 67 in round two and leads the field by four.

SOUTHERN INDIANA MEN’S GOLF

BANNISTER ANNOUNCED TO THE ALL-OVC TEAM

EVANSVILLE, Ind.- University of Southern Indiana Men’s Golf junior Jason Bannister (Laguna Niguel, California) was named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference team at Sunday nights Championship Banquet. Bannister was one of ten OVC golfers to crack the list.

Bannister has been a model of consistency for the Screaming Eagles averaging 71.91 strokes per round this season. This surpassed his career low last season of 73.25 strokes per round.

Bannister also knows how play his best golf in the biggest moments. He earned the prestigious OVC Golfer of the Month in March where he finished fourth at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate hosted by Tennessee Tech University shooting five over (75, 69, 74). Bannister also helped the Eagles earn a match play victory over cross-town rival University of Evansville beating his opponent in 15 holes.

The junior’s best 18-hole score was a 65 at the Derek Dolenc Invitational which was second in the all-time USI record books only behind teammate senior Jace Day (Bloomington, Indiana). Bannister’s also ranks second all-time in the 54-hole record book with a score of 208 at the Derek Dolenc Invitational.

Bannister finished second individually among the high-competitive field in the OVC Championships last season as he aims to shoot low again this week.
 

VALPO SOFTBALL

SOFTBALL HOME FOR FIVE GAMES THIS WEEK

Valparaiso (8-32, 2-15 MVC)

April 23 – Northern Illinois (13-29, 6-14 MAC) – 1 p.m. DH

April 26 – Murray State (20-26, 8-13 MVC) – 3 p.m.

April 27 – Murray State – 2 p.m.

April 28 – Murray State – noon

Next Up in Valpo Softball: The penultimate week of regular season action brings five home games for the Valpo softball team. The Beacons step away from Valley action for the final time as they take on Northern Illinois in a Tuesday doubleheader before welcoming Murray State to campus for the first time for an MVC series this weekend.

Previously: Valpo dropped five games last week, falling in a midweek twinbill to OVC-leading Eastern Illinois before going 0-3 in an MVC series at Missouri State. In Sunday’s series finale, the Beacons were tied 4-4 with the Bears into the seventh inning before MSU walked it off in the bottom of the seventh.

Looking Ahead: The regular season wraps up next week with four MVC games, as Valpo concludes its series versus UIC with a single game in Chicago on Tuesday before closing things out with a three-game home set against UNI over the weekend.

Following Valpo Softball: All five games this week are scheduled to be broadcast live on ESPN+. All games will also have live stats available, linked at ValpoAthletics.com.

Interim Head Coach Laney Jones: In her second season on staff, Laney Jones took over as interim head coach of the Valpo softball program on April 1, 2024. Jones came to Valpo in October 2022 after spending the 2022 season working as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. Jones pitched two seasons apiece collegiately at Ashland University (2018-19) and Marshall University (2020-21).

Series Notes: Northern Illinois – NIU holds a 31-15 advantage in the all-time series. Former conference mates in the early ’90s in the North Star Conference and for a year in the Mid-Continent Conference, Valpo and NIU have met pretty regularly in nonconference action over the last two decades. Last season, the two teams played a twinbill in DeKalb – Valpo won game one 3-0 on a one-hitter by Easton Seib; NIU claimed game two by a 7-1 final.

Murray State – Valpo and Murray State had not met prior to the Racers joining the MVC last season. Last season, the Racers took all three games of the Valley series in Murray, Ky. by finals of 6-1, 8-0 and 6-0.

Scouting the Opposition: Northern Illinois – The Huskies enter Tuesday’s twinbill with a 13-29 overall record and a 6-14 mark in MAC play. Ellis Erickson leads NIU at the plate with a .393 batting average, seven home runs and 26 runs scored, while Danielle Stewart boasts a team-best 24 RBIs. Stewart – younger sister of former Valpo standout Sam – also leads the Huskies in the circle, owning an 8-8 record and a 2.49 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 104 innings of work.

Murray State – The Racers enter the week with a 20-26 overall record and in 10th place in the MVC standings, with an 8-13 mark in Valley play. Adison Hicks has scored a team-best 22 runs and stolen 18 bases, while Kayleigh White owns a team-high 19 RBIs. Jenna Veber has been Murray State’s workhorse in the circle and is 14-10 with a 1.33 ERA.

Who’s Back: Valpo returns 11 of 16 letterwinners from last year’s squad for the 2024 season. In all, 69.2% of Valpo’s plate appearances are back for this season and 43.1% of last season’s innings pitched return.

Who’s New: A group of nine newcomers joined the Beacons for the 2024 season. Kam Utendorf transferred in after playing her freshman season at Black Hawk College, joining eight true freshmen on this year’s team.

A Large Roster: The combination of 11 returnees and nine newcomers gives Valpo a 20-player roster for the 2024 campaign. That’s a four-player increase over last season’s group of 16 players, and it is the largest roster the softball program has had since fielding 21 players for the 2008 season.

Wrong End of the Walk-offs: For the third time in MVC play this year, the Beacons found themselves on the wrong side of a walk-off victory, as Missouri State got an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh Sunday for a 5-4 win. Notably, all three walk-off losses have come on Sundays, in the final game of each of Valpo’s three Valley road series.

A Whole New Lineup: Valpo used last Wednesday’s nonconference doubleheader as an opportunity to get its entire roster some work in the midst of a heavy stretch of games. Only Emily Crompton and Kayden Krug started both games, and neither of them played the same defensive position in the nightcap as in the opener. The Beacons started a whopping seven freshmen in the nightcap, including the entire infield and the battery. Lana Tellez made her first collegiate start, earning the nod as the starting DP, while four Valpo players made their first collegiate start at their defensive position — Kaiah Fenters in center field, Krug at third base, Natalie Bush at shortstop and Carson Kuhlmann at second base.

Hecker Heats Up: With her collegiate career nearing an end, senior outfielder Regi Hecker has been as locked in at the plate as she’s ever been recently. Last week, Hecker went 6-for-11 with two runs scored, four RBIs, two home runs and two walks. Her two round-trippers came in the Saturday and Sunday games against Missouri State, the latter a three-run shot in the fifth inning which erased what remained of the 4-0 deficit entering the inning. Going back to the start of the Illinois State series April 12, Hecker is 11-for-22 at the plate with seven RBIs. That stretch has raised her season batting average – which has stood above .300 since the second game of the season – from .330 to .363.

Bombs in Back-to-Back Games: Hecker’s homers against Missouri State were the fourth and fifth long balls of her career. She became the first Valpo player to go yard in consecutive games since April 2022, when Lauren Kehlenbrink hit home runs in all three games of a Valley series against Bradley.

See Ya: Beyond Hecker, a pair of Beacons hit their first home runs of the season last week. Junior Lauren Sena connected on a homer in the nightcap against Eastern Illinois on Wednesday for her first of the year and second of her career. On Sunday at Missouri State, freshman Natalie Bush opened the scoring for the Beacons with her first collegiate long ball.

Crompton Knocks It Around: Senior Emily Crompton has been strong at the plate since the start of MVC play. Crompton entered Valley action hitting just .158 on the season, but has swung the bat at a .306 clip against Valley opponents. She recently had a six-game hitting streak, snapped in the middle game of the Missouri State series, which was highlighted by a 3-for-4 effort in the Saturday game at Illinois State.

Seven Shutout Frames: Freshman Sydney McDermott got the start in the circle in the series opener against UIC April 9 and twirled a gem through seven innings, keeping the Flames off the board in regulation before they touched her for a run apiece in the eighth and ninth innings. It was the second time in conference play that McDermott has pitched at least seven shutout innings, as against Bradley, she opened the game allowing just two hits in nine shutout innings before surrendering three runs in the 10th. In that contest, McDermott became the first player in program history to pitch nine straight shutout innings within the same game.

Among the MVC’s Best: Entering this week’s action, senior Alexis Johnson ranks third in the Valley with 14 stolen bases, while Hecker ranks third in batting average (.363), ninth in hits (41) and ninth in on-base percentage (.442). In Valley-only play, Johnson has been errorless in the field on 74 chances – that is the eighth-highest number of chances for a player with a 1.000 fielding percentage in MVC play, with the top seven consisting entirely of catchers and first basemen.

Offensive Bests: This year’s team put together a number of strong offensive performances in preconference play:

– 13 runs Feb. 16 in win over Morehead State, the program’s largest scoring output since March 2019

– 13 hits Feb. 18 in win over Youngstown State, the program’s highest single-game hits total since Feb. 2022

– 6 runs March 2 at Indiana, the program’s largest scoring output against a Power Five team since March 2012

– 12-4 run-rule win over Bowling Green March 3, the program’s first run-rule win since closing the 2022 regular season with a 10-0 win over Evansville

McDermott Mows Them Down: Freshman Sydney McDermott came to Valpo after earning Ohio All-State honors each of her last three years of high school, and has showcased that form in a number of starts this season. McDermott became the first Valpo player to throw complete games in three straight starts and surrender three or fewer hits in all three since Andrea Zappia in 2008, throwing a three-hitter against Texas A&M-CC, a eight-inning two-hitter versus Georgetown and a three-hitter against Bowling Green – a game which featured her retiring 15 Falcons hitters in a row.

International Experience: Sophomore infielder Kim Rodas continued her international career playing for Mexico over the summer, as she earned a bronze medal at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games. Rodas previously medaled with Team Mexico at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games, where her squad claimed the silver.

UINDY MEN’S GOLF

HOUNDS ADVANCE TO GLVC SEMIS, EARN TOP SEED

SMITHVILLE, Mo.—With another solid day on the course, the UIndy men’s golf team easily secured a spot in the medal/match play semifinals at the GLVC Championships. Battling particularly windy conditions on Monday, the Greyhounds finished three rounds of stroke play at +4 as a team, 11 shots ahead of second-place UMSL.

The Championships are being held at the at Paradise Pointe Golf Complex in Smithville, Mo., for the second straight season. Just four teams advanced to Monday morning’s match play semifinals, with UMSL, Missouri S&T and McKendree also surviving to Tuesday. UIndy/McKendree pairings will tee off from hole No. 1 starting at 9 a.m. ET, with UMSL/S&T simultaneously starting from hole 10. The winners will face off in the afternoon finals with the GLVC trophy on the line.

MONDAY

The swirling winds helped to inflate the scores on Monday, but freshman Cameron Young did just enough to earn All-GLVC honors. The Salisbury, England native entered the day at -4 before shooting a final-round 76 to finish at even par and T-4. Just one player – Maryville’s Kai Chun Hsu (71) – shot under par on Tuesday.

Maverick Conaway and Ben Keil finished at +1 to share seventh place, while Simon Engman (T-9) finished at +3 to join them in the top 10. Alexander Nestun (+16) rounded out the team scoring at T-37.

ALL-GLVC*

1. Cyril Henault, Missouri-St. Louis (-3)

2. Hunter Jowers, Drury (-2)

3. Carl Miltun, Missouri S&T (-1)

T-4. Cameron Young, UIndy (E)

T-4. Bryson Oots, William Jewell (E)

T-4. Thomas Tollefsen, McKendree (E)

*Five more student-athletes will be added via coaches vote at a later date

SUNDAY

After a frost delay in the morning, the young Greyhound squad proceeded to hang a total of seven red numbers on the board over the course of two rounds, with all five Hounds carding at least one round under par. All five Greyhounds sit in the top 20, led by Cameron Young in third place. Additionally, all five Hounds shot even par or better in the second round, with their team score of 278 (-10) good for UIndy’s best single-round team score at the conference championships since 2009.

Young shot 71-69 on Sunday to sit at -4, two back of leaders Cyril Henault (UMSL) and Carl Miltun (Missouri S&T). Simon Engman (74-67) and Ben Keil (69-72) share fourth place at -3. Engman’s second-round 67 is the lowest stroke-play score by at Greyhound at the GLVC Championships since Graham McAree’s third-round 66 in 2018.

Maverick Conaway went 71-71 and is T-7 with three other golfers at -2, while Alexander Nestun sits at +3 and T-17.

UINDY SOFTBALL

UINDY LOCKS UP BOTH GLVC SOFTBALL WEEKLY ACCOLADES

INDIANAPOLIS – University of Indianapolis fifth year infielder Emily O’Connor and senior pitcher Kenzee Smith were named Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) weekly award winners in softball, it was announced by the league office Monday.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Emily O’Connor, #3 Indianapolis

5th | IF | New Palestine, Ind.

Major: Management

Team Results: 4-0 W, 4-0 W (9 inn.) at Cedarville (4/16) | 14-0 W (5), 9-1 W (5) at Upper Iowa (4/19) | 2-1 W, 11-7 W at Truman State (4/21)

Went 10-for-20 (.500) with a .583 on-base percentage in four Conference wins

Smacked two home runs and five doubles, collecting a 1.050 slugging percentage

Tied program record for single-season home runs (17)

Drove in 11 runs and scored six

Highlighted by 2-for-3 performance in second game against the Peacocks, notching one double, one home run, and four RBIs

Tallied multiple RBIs in four games and multiple hits in three contests

Earns seventh career Player of the Week award (4/22/24, 3/18/24, 3/11/24, 2/19/24, 4/3/23, 3/14/22, 3/29/21)

Last Greyhounds’ Player of the Week: Lexy Rees (4/1/24)

PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Kenzee Smith, #3 Indianapolis

Sr. | RHP | Indianapolis, Ill.

Major: Nursing

Team Results: 4-0 W, 4-0 W (9 inn.) at Cedarville (4/16) | 14-0 W (5), 9-1 W (5) at Upper Iowa (4/19) | 2-1 W, 11-7 W at Truman State (4/21)

Helped UIndy go 6-0 on the week and improve overall record to 44-3

Tossed 26.2 innings in five outings, allowing just one earned run

First earned run allowed since March 17, spanning 75 consecutive innings

Earned the win in all five appearances to improve her record to 26-1

Allowed 10 hits and one walk, while punching out 38 batters

Tied career high for single-game strikeouts (14)

Highlighted by seven-inning shutout in first game against Cedarville, allowing just one hit and striking out seven Yellow Jackets

Earns 13th career Pitcher of the Week Award (4/22/24, 4/15/24, 4/8/24, 3/18/24, 3/4/24, 2/26/24, 5/1/23, 4/10/23, 2/28/22, 2/21/22, 4/12/21, 3/29/21, 3/22/21)

Last Greyhounds’ Pitcher of the Week: Kenzee Smith (4/15/24)

UINDY MEN’S LAX

BRADDOCK, SULLIVAN SWEEP GLVC MEN’S LACROSSE WEEKLY AWARDS

INDIANAPOLIS – UIndy senior midfielder Owain Braddock and redshirt-junior midfielder Jack Sullivan have been named the GLVC Players of the Week in men’s lacrosse, it was announced by the league office Monday.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Owain Braddock, #11 UIndy

Sr. | MF | East Lansing, MI

Major: Environmental Science

Team Result: 15-10 W vs. #20 Lewis (4/20)

Recorded seven points on five goals and two assists in win over 20th-ranked Lewis

Took 12 shots with eight on goal for a .667 shots-on-goal percentage

Added one ground ball

Earns first career Offensive Player of the Week Award

Last Greyhounds’ Offensive Player of the Week: Justin Williams (3/25/24)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Jack Sullivan, #11 UIndy

R-Jr. | MF | Pittsburgh, PA

Major: Accounting

Team Result: 15-10 W vs. #20 Lewis (4/20)

Recorded 10 ground balls and three caused turnovers in win over 20th-ranked Lewis

Ground ball total was a single-game program record for a non-FOGO

Helped hold Lewis to six goals under its per-game average

Added one assist

Earns first career Defensive Player of the Week Award

Last Greyhounds’ Defensive Player of the Week: Caleb Parker (3/25/24)

UINDY WOMEN’S LAX

WOMEN’S LAX ENTERS POSTSEASON RANKED #14

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – The UIndy women’s lacrosse team dropped two spots in the latest IWLCA national poll, released Monday morning.

The Greyhounds just wrapped up their first regular season under new head coach Peyton Romig, going 12-5 and earning the No. 2 seed in the upcoming GLVC Championship Tournament.

UIndy split its pair of home games this past weekend, highlighted by a 21-5 victory over McKendree in the annual One Love Game. During the Hounds’ bout with sixth-ranked Maryville on Sunday, Megan Dunn became the fourth-ever Greyhound to reach 100 points in a single season.

Freshman netminder Ava Graham currently ranks third in program history with 92 saves this season.

The Greyhounds play third-seeded Missouri Western on Friday at 4 p.m. ET on the campus of Maryville University in St. Louis. UIndy seeks its fourth straight league crown and is the lone recipient of the GLVC trophy since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 2020.

The complete poll can be found below.

IWLCA DII Poll

RKSCHOOL (REC)PTS (FVP)PREV
1. Pace (14 – 0)498 (18)1
2. West Chester (13 – 0)480 (2)2
3. Adelphi (12 – 2)4553
4. Florida Southern (14 – 3)4414
5. Tampa (13 – 3)4165
6. Maryville (16 – 0)3976
7. Regis (CO) (14 – 1)3817
8. Grand Valley (13 – 1)3688
9. Flagler (15 – 2)3409
10. Kutztown (11 – 2)30010
11. East Stroudsburg (9 – 4)28111
12. Lynn (13 – 4)27213 
13. Saint Leo (12 – 5)26714 
14 UIndy (12 – 5)26012 
15. Embry-Riddle (12 – 6)20915
16. Wingate (12 – 4)19217 
17. Limestone (15 – 1)18916 
18. Bentley (8 – 5)14418
19. Rollins (11 – 6)12019
20. Assumption (8 – 6)10821 
21. Florida Tech (7 – 10)7920 
22. New Haven (8 – 4)74NR
23. Saint Anselm (9 – 5)6822 
24. Anderson (SC) (15 – 2)6523 
25. Mount Olive (14 – 3)5624 

MARIAN TRACK

ISAIAH TIPPING EARNS FOURTH CROSSROADS LEAGUE FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Jackson, Mich – For the sixth time in his career, Marian senior Isaiah Tipping has been named the Crossroads League Field Athlete of the Week. Tipping’s honor comes after a first place team finish at the 119th Little Indiana State Championships, and is the fourth time in 2023-2024 that he has been honored with the award.

Tipping dominated at the Little State as he hit PR’s in the Hammer and Shot Put, breaking the meet record and school record with his hammer throw distance. Tipping’s mark of 65.28m in the hammer is the fifth-best all-time in the NAIA, giving him the national lead. Tipping also broke the meet record in the shot put and hit the NAIA-A standard in those two events, as well as the discus.

Marian will be back in action next week May 2nd and 3rd to compete in the Crossroads League Outdoor Championships at Indiana Wesleyan.

MARIAN SOFTBALL

OLIVIA STUNKEL EARNS SECOND CROSSROADS LEAGUE PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Jackson, Mich. – For the eighth time in her career, Marian softball pitcher Olivia Stunkel has been named the Crossroads League Pitcher of the Week. This is Stunkel’s second honor this season with the first one being the week of March, 15th.

Stunkel did not yield a run in 19 innings of work, as she lifted No. 8 Marian to a trio of wins. In the circle, Stunkel went 3-0 in the three starts, allowing just eight hits and four walks to go with 20 strikeouts and the 0.00 earned-run average. She tossed two complete game shutouts against (RV) Spring Arbor and #17 Indiana Wesleyan, and averaged five base runners allowed in each game while striking out 7.5 batters per game. Stunkel’s week average was 7.37 K’s per 7 innings, 6.85 K’s per game, and 2.3 hits allowed per game.

Marian will be back in action today Monday 22nd on the road at Taylor with first pitch set for 4:00 p.m..

SMALL COLLEGE ATHLETICS

INDIANA WESLEYAN ATHLETICS: https://iwuwildcats.com/

EARLHAM ATHLETICS: https://goearlham.com/

WABASH ATHLETICS: https://sports.wabash.edu/

FRANKLIN ATHLETICS: https://franklingrizzlies.com/

ROSE-HULMAN ATHLETICS: https://athletics.rose-hulman.edu/

ANDERSON ATHLETICS: https://athletics.anderson.edu/landing/index

TRINE ATHLETICS: https://trinethunder.com/landing/index

BETHEL ATHLETICS: https://bupilots.com/

DEPAUW ATHLETICS: https://depauwtigers.com/

HANOVER ATHLETICS: https://athletics.hanover.edu/

MANCHESTER ATHLETICS: https://muspartans.com/

HUNTINGTON ATHLETICS: https://www.huathletics.com/

OAKLAND CITY ATHLETICS: https://gomightyoaks.com/index.aspx

ST. FRANCIS ATHLETICS: https://www.saintfranciscougars.com/landing/index

IU KOKOMO ATHLETICS: https://iukcougars.com/

IU EAST ATHLETICS: https://www.iueredwolves.com/

IU SOUTH BEND ATHLETICS: https://iusbtitans.com/

PURDUE NORTHWEST ATHLETICS: https://pnwathletics.com/

INDIANA TECH ATHLETICS: https://indianatechwarriors.com/index.aspx

GRACE COLLEGE ATHLETICS: https://gclancers.com/

ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ATHLETICS: https://smwcathletics.com/

GOSHEN COLLEGE ATHLETICS: https://goleafs.net/

HOY CROSS ATHLETICS: https://www.hcsaints.com/index.php

TAYLOR ATHLETICS: https://www.taylortrojans.com/

VINCENNES ATHLETICS: https://govutrailblazers.com/landing/index

“SPORTS EXTRA”

NUMBERS IN SPORTS

11 – 9 – 20 – 23 – 99 – 44 – 12 – 14 – 23 – 33

April 23, 1937 – Number 11, Carl Hubbell a ptcher for the New York Giants, finds victory in his first start of season, a 3-0 win over the Boston Bees. What makes this special is that if going back to the previous season, it was his 17th straight win. The streak would continue for league record 24 victories in a row for the fella they called Meal Ticket and others King Carl.

April 23, 1939 – Boston Red Sox legend, Ted Williams, Number 9 hit his first MLB Home Run. The shot was hit off of Phiadelphia Athletics ace Bud Thomas, Number 20 during the 1st inning with a man on base and 2 outs over the Right Field fence. Philadelphia would show some offensive fire power themselves as the A’s won 12-8.

April 23, 1946 – Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Number 23, Ed Head  blanks the Boston Braves in a 5-0 no-hit shutout.

April 23, 1997  – Number 99, Wayne Gretzky recorded a natural hat trick in a span of 6:23 during the second period of game four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Florida Panthers in a 3-2 win.

April 23, 1969 – Hall of Fame Guard Number 44, Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers scored 53 points as the LA edged Boston 120-118 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, a series won by the Celtics in seven games. The 53 points by West ranked as the highest-scoring game by a guard in NBA Finals history, before Chicago’s Number 23, Michael Jordan scored 55 points against Phoenix in Game 4 of the 1993 Finals, a 111-105 Bulls win over the Suns.

April 23, 1989 –  Lakers legend Number 33, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in the final game of his NBA-record 1,560-game career, as the Lakers downed Seattle 121-117. Abdul-Jabbar finished his career with an NBA record 38,387 points.

April 23, 1995 – After handing out eight assists in Utah’s 103-97 road win at Houston, John Stockton, Number 12 of the Jazz, captured his eighth straight NBA assist title — tying Celtic Number 14, Bob Cousy’s NBA record — after dishing off for 1,011 assists in 82 games for a 12.3 apg average. Stockton broke the tie by leading the NBA in assists for a record ninth straight season in 1995-96.

FOOTBALL HISTORY

Football History Headlines for April 23

April 23, 1989 – This was a big day for the League with the start of the 1989 NFL Draft. The Dallas Cowboys had the opening pick and chose future Pro Football Hall of Fame player UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman. The players taken in this Draft class had many of them get their bronze busts in Canton Ohio including the third pick by the Detroit Lions, running back extraordinaire Barry Sanders, the fourth selection of linebacker Derrick Thomas by the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons pick of shutdown corner Deion Sanders with the fifth overall selection. That is 4 HOF’s in the first five picks! But wait there was one more Gold Jacket bearer forthcoming so far! Safety Steve Atwater was chosen by Denver at number 20 according to the Pro Football Reference website.

April 23, 2005 – The 2005 NFL Draft had the University of Utah quarterback Alex Smith as first overall pick by San Francisco 49ers per the Pro Football Reference. This Draft still has some significant players either still playing or too recently retired to have any Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinees but a future slam dunk player that will surely be in Canton some day is Aaron Rodgers. Who can forget that young QB out of Cal painfully waiting in the green room for a team to call his name. It was not until the 24th overall pick that the Green Bay Packers chose Rodgers but still people were all over them for doing so as they had Brett Favre under center still at that time.

Our Newspapers.com Football Headline of the day comes from the Desert Sun out of Palm Springs, California that posted “ Auburn shows its depth at draft” The article written by Associated Press writer John Zenor describes on on day one of the 2005 NFL Draft that the entire starting backfield of the Auburn Tigers wentin the first round of the League’s Draft. Tailback Ronnie Brown was the second overall pick by the Miami Dolphins, Carnell Williams went to another Florida team the Tampa Bay Bucs three picks later while Quarterback Jason Campbell was the 25th overall choice by Washington. It should be noted that Washington also selected another Auburn player with the ninth pick, cornerback Carlos Rogers.

If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like Palm Springs Desert Sun, you need to check out Newspapers.com. At Newspapers.com, you can get access to over 640 million pages’ worth of news from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and more dating back from 1798 to yesterday.  Get a free one week subscription to Newspapers.com by visiting SportsHistoryNetwork.com/newspapers. And with a paid subscription, you’ll also be helping to support the production of this and other Sports History Network shows.

April 23, 2020  The 2020 NFL Draft started off in a pandemic virtual session and LSU quarterback Joe Burrows first pick by Cincinnati Bengals per Pro-Football-Refeence.com. The rest of the top ten went like this according to the Pro Football Reference:

2    WAS    Chase Young    DE    Ohio St.

3    DET    Jeff Okudah    CB    Ohio St.

4    NYG    Andrew Thomas    T    Georgia

5    MIA    Tua Tagovailoa    QB    Alabama

6    LAC    Justin Herbert    QB    Oregon

7    CAR    Derrick Brown    DT    Auburn

8    ARI    Isaiah Simmons    LB    Clemson

9    JAX    C.J. Henderson    CB    Florida

10    CLE    Jedrick Wills Jr.    T    Alabama

TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

April 23

1903 — The New York Highlanders won their first game as a major league team, 7-2 over the Washington Senators.

1913 — New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson beat the Phillies 3-1, throwing just 67 pitches.

1939 — Rookie Ted Williams went 4-for-5, including his first major league home run, but the Red Sox lost to Philadelphia 12-8 at Fenway Park.

1946 — Ed Head of the Brooklyn Dodgers no-hit the Boston Braves 5-0 at Ebbets Field. Head was making his first start after a year’s military service.

1952 — Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and Bob Cain of the St. Louis Browns matched one-hitters. Cain wound up as the winner, 1-0.

1952 — Hoyt Wilhelm of the Giants hit a home run at the Polo Grounds in his first major league at-bat. He was the winner, too, and pitched 1,070 games in the majors — but never hit another homer.

1954 — Hank Aaron hit the first home run of his major league career. The drive came against Vic Raschi in the Milwaukee Braves’ 7-5 victory over St. Louis.

1962 — After an 0-9 start, the expansion New York Mets won their first game beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 behind Jay Hook.

1964 — Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s became the first pitcher to lose a nine-inning no-hitter when Pete Rose scored an unearned run to give the Cincinnati Reds a 1-0 victory.

1978 — Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds makes an error at second base, bringing his major league record of 91 consecutive errorless games to an end.

1989 — Nolan Ryan came within two outs of his sixth career no-hitter, losing it when Nelson Liriano tripled in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Ryan finished with his 10th lifetime one-hitter.

1990 — Steve Lyons of the Chicago White Sox plays all nine positions during an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs.

1999 — Fernando Tatis of St. Louis became the first in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning in a 12-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tatis also set the record with eight RBIs in one inning.

2008 — The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000th game, joining the Giants as the only franchise to reach that mark with a 7-6 10-inning victory at Colorado.

2009 — Ichiro Suzuki lined James Shields’ second pitch of the game for a home run, the only run of Seattle’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the 22nd time a leadoff homer was the deciding run in a game, and it was just the second time it happened for the Mariners.

2012 — Ivan Rodriguez, who has caught more games than anyone in big league history, announces his retirement after a 21-year career.

2013 — B.J. Upton and his brother Justin hit back-to-back homers for the first time, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Colorado Rockies 10-2 to complete a doubleheader sweep. It was the 27th time in major league history that brothers homered in the same game, but only the second time they went deep in consecutive at-bats. Lloyd and Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates also accomplished the feat on Sept. 15, 1938.

2022 — Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers becomes the 33rd member of the 3,000 hit club.

BASEBALL YEAR IN REVIEW: 1983 (BASEBALL ALMANAC)..

Off the field…

Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space (onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger) as a mission specialist on STS-7, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 18th.

Over two-hundred American soldiers, acting as Peace-keepers, were killed in Lebanon after a truck loaded with explosives crashed into the U.S. Marine compound at a Beirut Airport. The Marines, who had been in Beirut as part of a multi-national force to promote peace in Lebanon, had become the target of Syrian-supported extremists. The terrorist-style attack resulted in swift U.S. military retaliation and the withdrawal of all American forces from that region.

The U.S. military invaded Grenada in an effort to ensure the safety of 1,100 American citizens who were stuck on the island against the rule of General Hudson Austin and Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. Both were avowed Marxists who had placed Prime Minister Maurice Bishop under house arrest and threatened to turn the region into another Cuba. Under the guise of an invitation by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, U.S. troops intervened and took control of the island. Unfortunately, sixteen Americans were killed and seventy-seven were injured in the military action.

In the American League…

One of baseball’s most modern controversies occurred as the New York Yankees took on the Kansas City Royals in what would be penned as “The Great Pine Tar Incident”. As Goose Gossage was attempting to protect a 4-3 advantage, George Brett hit a two-run home run putting his team in the lead. That was until home plate umpire Tim McClelland called him out for having more than eighteen inches of pine tar from the end of his bat. The game was immediately protested by Royals skipper Dick Howser and was postponed until several weeks later when they went on to win anyway 5-4.

On July 10th, the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox played the longest nine-inning game in American League history at four hours and eleven minutes. Milwaukee prevailed 12-9 thanks to the arm of Jim Slaton.

The revolving door at the New York Yankees clubhouse continued to spin when Billy Martin was fired as the Bronx Bombers skipper and was replaced by fellow teammate Yogi Berra. Both were hired, fired and rehired repeatedly by George Steinbrenner several times each.

In the National League…

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Fernando Valenzuela set a major league record (off the field) as he became the first player ever to be awarded a $1 million dollar a year contract due to arbitration.

On April 5th, the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants went head-to-head at Candlestick Park in a 16-13 slugfest that set a new record for the highest scoring Opening Day game in over fifty years.

After twenty-one years and 5,923 innings, Walter Johnson set the all-time career strikeout record of 3,508 in 1927. Fifty-six years later, his record was surpassed twice in the same month. First, Nolan Ryan, of the Houston Astros, achieved the mark after sixteen years and 3,357 innings. Then Steve Carlton, of the Philadelphia Phillies, topped them both at 3,511.

Around the league…

Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle to end all associations with major league baseball after “The Mick” became involved in a sports promotion capacity with a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Willie Mays was also targeted with a similar action due to his associations with legalized gambling.

Major League Baseball sold its rights for one year to both ABC and NBC for a combined $1.2 billion dollars. Each team received $7 million dollars as a result of the deal in which ABC contributed $575 million for regular season prime time and Sunday afternoons and NBC paid $550 million for thirty Saturday afternoon games. Both networks agreed to continue rotating all post-season and All-Star Game coverages.

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was given a $50,000 fine and a one-week suspension after making derogatory remarks about Major League umpires. White Sox president Jerry Reinsdorf was also given a $500 fine after making remarks of his own about the outspoken owner at the All-Star Game.

Steve Howe, then on suspension with the Los Angeles Dodgers, continued to battle his drug addictions after being banned for an entire season by the Commissioners Office. Bowie Kuhn refused to allow the troubled pitcher to return to Major League Baseball until he was proven to be drug-free. Earlier in the season, after completing thirty days of rehabilitation, he was fined $53,867 in salary for missed games in what was the largest fine ever levied to date.

 HISTORY OF THE ATLANTA BRAVES

The Braves were one of eight founding teams in the National League when it began its franchise in 1876 as the Boston Red Stockings. From there, the team would be bought and sold several times, undergo new nicknames such as the Beaneaters, Doves, Rustlers, Braves, Bees and then finally back to the Braves.

1914 is perhaps one of the best comeback stories in baseball lore. Dubbed the “Miracle Braves”, the team found itself in last place on July 6th with a 27-40 record. The big come back began as the Braves tore off an impressive 68-19 mark in their last 87 games, 10.5 games better than the New York Giants as they leap frogged the teams ahead of them.

In that year of the miracle, the Boston Braves stormed into the World Series and swept the heavily favored Philadelphia A’s in stunning fashion, 4-0. Afterwards, Connie Mack disassembled the A’s, culling the older players, some of which jumped ship anyways to greener pastures. The Braves would not reach the World Series for the next 34 seasons.

The Braves had returned to being just standard within the division for the next 30 plus years, eventually returning to respectability with manager Billy Southworth, who had gained fame by steering the great St. Louis Cardinal teams of the 1940’s.

The National League Pennant was captured by the Braves in 1948, due to mostly the pitching of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. The often-heard mantra with Braves fans and the newspapers was, (Spahn and Sain and pray for rain). Which indicated the Braves were no good unless those two pitchers were on the mound.

In 1948, The Boston Braves locked up with the Cleveland Indians and lost in their second World Series to the tribe in 6 games.

For the next four years, the Braves began to lose more money, more fans and prompted owner Lou Perini to look about the country for a new place to move the Braves. Milwaukee seemed to be a good fit, away from Red Sox.

The move of the Braves to Milwaukee was the first shift of a major league franchise since 1903 and it closed the book on an 81-year history the team had cemented in Boston. In the final game as the Boston Braves, the Braves ended in a 5-5 tie with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field on Sept. 28th, 1952. They left Boston with 10 Pennants and 1 World Series Championship.

Milwaukee Braves

The Braves came to Milwaukee and gave the city that was hungry for baseball another baseball team to root for. Free of any other baseball teams in the city taking fans and money away from the franchise like the Red Sox had in Boston, the Braves settled in County Stadium to begin what was thought to be a life-long relationship with the fans and city.

While there, the Braves had developed into a National League powerhouse in the 1950’s with breakout stars such as Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews leading the charge with a supporting cast of Joe Adcock and Del Crandall. The pitching staff had Braves vet Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette and Bob Buhl. Aaron and Spahn would capture MVP and Cy Young in 1957 respectively.

On the first game at County Stadium, the Braves shutout the Reds 2-0 on April 13th, 1953 on Max Surkont’s 3-hit shutout. From there the Braves would play before 1,826,397 fans in that inaugural season in Milwaukee which, by the way, had set the National League attendance record for that time.

The team rolled in the 1950’s winning back to back National League Pennants in 1957 and again in 1958. Both trips to the World Series saw the Braves and Yankees take the series to seven games. The Braves, led by Lew Burdette’s 3 complete games in the World Series in 1957 captured the Braves second World Series title. The team and the city of Milwaukee were overjoyed.

However, in 1958, the Braves and Yankees met once again the following year. Another World Series that would go the distance to the seventh game as the Braves failed to repeat as champs.

Just like in Boston, the fans began to slow at the gates and didn’t fill the seats to watch the team that they loved and cheered during the 50’s play. Attendance began to fall sharply and the new management decided that they would uproot the Braves and move once again, maybe to a place that appreciated them more.

Wooed by the city of Atlanta, the Braves front office decided that the south would be their new home. City officials were trying to lure major league teams down to Atlanta for some time and saw that the Braves were interested in leaving Milwaukee. One selling point was that the Braves would have no other baseball teams around and the radio and television markets was theirs.

The Braves announced that they were leaving the city of Milwaukee which made fans cry, spit and shout words of venom towards the management for the deed. But it was a business move for the team. Atlanta wanted to be the “Gateway to the South” and wanted the Braves as their centerpiece. A major league team would give the city a major league feel and make tourists look at the city as if they were growing up.

Having to wait out their lease in 1965, the Braves finally moved from Milwaukee after the lawsuits, the injunctions and the public outcries to keep them there in Milwaukee. The Braves only drew just a little over half a million fans that year, although most of the fans did not go to the games out of protest. The poor attendance only made the case for the Braves ownership that the move to Atlanta was in the team’s best interest.

The last game the Braves played in County Stadium was on Sep. 22nd, 1965 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 7-6 loss. The crowd that watched the Braves for one last time in Milwaukee was recorded at 12, 577. For the ’65 campaign, the Braves were only able to draw 555,584 in the Lame Duck season.

Atlanta Braves

With the nation’s population shift heading to the south, Atlanta was poised to “grow-up” with having a major league baseball club and eventually other professional sports in the city. With no other baseball teams close to the Braves in the Southeast, they could turn a nice profit, build a huge following and secure t.v. and radio rights. It was a win-win for the owners, the front office and the fans and a chance for the city of Atlanta to become the “Gateway to the South”.

In the first game in the newly constructed Atlanta Stadium (Later to be named Fulton-County Stadium), the Braves hooked up with the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 13-inning game where the Braves lost, 3-2. The fans, all 50,671 of them, saw Tony Cloninger pitch 13 innings in his first start of the season and future New York Yankees manager Joe Torre smacked 2 homeruns in Braves debut in the Peach State.

The Atlanta Braves in the 1960’s had some ups and downs. The biggest up since the move from Milwaukee was the Braves winning the NL West Division, something new to baseball at the time in 1969. Their playoff rivals would be the New York Mets the “Amazin’ Mets” as they were called. The Braves fell to the Mets 3 games to 0.

The 1970’s Braves compiled a decade record of 725-883. The highlights of that decade were: Davey Johnson, Henry Aaron and Darrell Evans becoming the first trio in history at that point in time to hit 40 homeruns or more on the same team. Henry Aaron tied and surpassed the immortal Babe Ruth’s all-time homerun record on April 8th, 1974 and under the radar in the same game, Aaron scored a run, breaking Willie Mays all-time National League runs scored record at 2,063.

The 1970’s Atlanta Braves also saw Hall of Famer Phil Niekro have some of the best years of his career. He led the National League in wins twice (1974-20, 1979-21) and complete games (1974-18, 1977-20, 1978-22 and 1979-23) and even loses 3 times in (1977-20, 1978-18 and 1979-20). Phil Niekro has the distinction of leading the NL in wins and loses both in the same season (1979).

The 80’s saw future Braves stars Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Glen Hubbard emerge as Niekro began to closeout his career. The Braves in 1982 began their march to the playoffs that season by winning the first 13 games of the season and when the season was over, the Braves found themselves with another NL West Division crown, their 2nd since coming to Atlanta. But just like in 1969, they would be swept by the Cardinals 3-0. The Braves would never get back to the post season in the 80’s. In fact, their failure as a team would give them the dubious distinction of having lost the most games than any other franchise from 1966-1990.

Aside from the NL West crown in 1982, Braves immortal Dale Murphy captured 2 back to back MVP awards (1982, 1983) and was the first Brave since Henry Aaron back in 1957 to win the award.

The 1990’s saw the Braves turn a complete about-face in baseball. Going from worst to first in 1991, the Braves would roll the National League earning themselves a trip to the World Series 5 times (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999).

The Team of the 90’s, as several sportswriters and pundits called them, turned out six Cy Young Winners: Tom Glavine (1991, 1998), Greg Maddux (1993,1994, 1995), John Smoltz (1996).

Also, the Atlanta Braves of the 1990’s produced 2 MVP’s in Terry Pendleton (1991) and Chipper Jones (1999). Although they were the Team of the 1990’s, the Braves “only” walked away with one World Series championship (1995) — and a monstrous fourteen division titles in a row from 1991-2005.

After being sold to Liberty Media, the retirement of their Hall of Fame manager (Bobby Cox) and switch-hitting legend (Chipper Jones), the Braves began to rebuild during the new century. The results began to show in 2010, when they captured a Wild Card, then another in 2012. Solid pitching, superb hitting, and a new ballpark in 2017, all led to their return to dominance in the National League East, winning division titles in 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021! In addition to winning the NL East in 2021, the Braves won the 2021 World Series in former first baseman Freddie Freeman’s final season with the team.

BASEBALL GREATS

Luis Aparacio

Playing side by side with Nellie Fox during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Aparicio helped form the nucleus of one of the slickest-fielding infield combinations in baseball. His 506 stolen bases ranked him seventh all-time when he retired, and he holds the lifetime shortstop records for games, double plays, and assists and the AL records for putouts and total chances. He dominated on a season-to-season basis too; in the first thirteen years of his career, he led AL shortstops eight consecutive years in fielding, seven times in assists, four times in putouts, twice each in total chances per game and double plays, and only once in errors.

Aparicio succeded Chico Carrasquel, continuing the Venezuelan connection that gave the White Sox amazing depth at shortstop for years. Chicago was so confident in him as a rookie that they traded Carrasquel, a perennial fan favorite, to Cleveland for Larry Doby. Named Rookie of the Year in 1956, Aparicio lead the league in stolen bases for the first of nine straight years. White Sox manager Marty Marion advised Aparicio to shorten his stance and stride into the pitch. Then he was told to play deeper to gain more range. His cannonlike arm took care of the rest. Bill Veeck arrived on the scene in 1959 and was amazed. “He’s the best I’ve ever seen. He makes plays which I know can’t possibly be made, yet he makes them almost every day.”

Always a steady hitter, but never on of the great ones, Aparicio relied on his speed to make things happen in an era known for lead-footed sluggers. With Aparicio leading off followed by Fox in the lineup, Chicago had a deadly hit-and-run duo that helped catapult them to their first pennant in 40 years. Fittingly, it was Aparicio who fielded the ground ball off of Vic Power‘s bat that clinched it on September 22, 1959. In 1963, a new general manager decided a house-cleaning was in order, so Aparicio was sent to the Orioles. He established a since-broken AL shortstop record for fielding percentage that year (.983) and remained long enough to get into another World Series in 1966. He had lost some speed, but compensated by becoming a better hitter. Returning to Chicago in 1968, he enjoyed some of his finest years. He topped the .300 mark for the only time in his career in 1970, a year in which his team finished dead last in the standings with 106 losses.

Aparicio played his 2,219th game on September 25, 1970 in front of a mere 2,000 fans to break Luke Appling‘s record of games played at shortstop. Rumors abounded that he was to be the Sox manager at the start of the 1971 season, but instead the club traded him to Boston for Mike Andrews. Aparicio finished his career in 1973, and in 1984 he took his place in the Hall of Fame. Now residing in Venezuela, his son’s name is Nelson, after Luis’s long-time sidekick Nellie Fox.

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

April 23

1903 — The New York Highlanders, later renamed Yankees, win their first game as a major league team, 7-2 over the Washington Senators.

1939 — Boston Red Sox Ted Williams hits his 1st HR.

1946 — Ed Head of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitches a no-hitter against the Boston Braves 5-0 at Ebbets Field.

1950 — The Detroit Red Wings edge the New York Rangers 4-3 in Game 7 to win the Stanley Cup.

1950 — The Minneapolis Lakers become the first team to win back-to-back NBA championships by defeating the Syracuse Nationals 110-95 in Game 6 of the finals. George Mikan leads the Lakers with 40 points in a game marred by three fights, four Minneapolis players fouling out, and Nats coach Al Cervi being ejected for complaining too vociferously about a call.

1954 — The NBA adopts the 24-second shot clock.

1954 — Hank Aaron hits 1st of his 755 homers.

1969 — Jerry West scores 53 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers over Boston 120-118 in the opening game of the NBA finals.

1989 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scores 10 points in his last game as a Laker in a 121-117 win over Seattle SuperSonics at the LA Forum.

1989 — NFL Draft: #1 pick UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman by Dallas Cowboys.

1993 — The Dallas Mavericks avoid matching the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers as the worst team in NBA history, beating Minnesota 103-100 for their 10th triumph of the season.

1993 — Orlando’s Nick Anderson scores 50 points in the Magic’s 119-116 win over the New Jersey Nets at The Meadowlands. Anderson’s feat is overshadowed by Shaquille O’Neal, who rips down the backboard in the first quarter, delaying the game 45 minutes. 1999 — Fernando Tatis hits two grand slams in one inning to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 12-5 win over Los Angeles. Tatis becomes the first player in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning and set the record with eight RBIs in an inning.

2002 — Brent Johnson of the St. Louis Blues ties an NHL record with three straight shutouts in the playoffs. That had not happened in 57 years. Johnson reaches the milestone with a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

2005 — NFL Draft: University of Utah quarterback Alex Smith first pick by San Francisco 49ers.

2008 — The Chicago Cubs win their 10,000th game, joining the Giants as the only franchise to reach that mark with a 7-6 victory in 10 innings at Colorado.

2011 — The Portland Trail Blazers rally from 23 points down in the second half, including an 18-point deficit to start the fourth quarter to defeat Dallas 84-82 and tie the first-round series at 2-2. Portland’s Brandon Roy scores 18 in the fourth quarter, including a 4-point play and the go ahead jumper with 39 seconds left. Roy outscores Dallas 18-15 in the quarter.

2017 — Kenyan runner Mary Keitany breaks Paula Radcliffe’s women-only marathon world record with a third victory in London. Keitany completes the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 1 second to shave 41 seconds off Radcliffe’s 12-year-old mark.

2020 — NFL Draft: LSU quarterback Joe Burrow first pick by Cincinnati Bengals.

TV SPORTS TUESDAY

COLLEGE BASEBALL

7 p.m.

ESPNU — Clemson at Georgia

SECN — Houston at Texas A&M

9 p.m.

PAC-12N — UC Irvine at UCLA

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

5 p.m.

BTN — Iowa at Nebraska

7 p.m.

ACCN — Virginia at Virginia Tech

7:30 p.m.

BTN — Iowa at Nebraska

MLB BASEBALL

7:30 p.m.

TBS — Houston at Chicago Cubs

10:30 p.m.

MLBN — Regional Coverage: NY Mets at San Francisco (9:45 p.m.) OR Baltimore at LA Angels (9:35 p.m.)

NBA BASKETBALL

7:30 p.m.

TNT — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Phoenix at Minnesota, Game 2

TRUTV — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Phoenix at Minnesota, Game 2 (BetCast)

8:30 p.m.

NBATV — Eastern Conference First Round Playoff: Indiana at Milwaukee, Game 2

10 p.m.

TNT — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Dallas at LA Clippers, Game 2

TRUTV — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Dallas at LA Clippers, Game 2 (BetCast)

NHL HOCKEY

7 p.m.

ESPN — Eastern Conference First Round Playoff: Washington at NY Rangers, Game 2

7:30 p.m.

ESPN2 — Eastern Conference First Round Playoff: Tampa Bay at Florida, Game 2

9:30 p.m.

ESPN — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Colorado at Winnipeg, Game 2

10 p.m.

ESPN2 — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Nashville at Vancouver, Game 2

SOCCER (MEN’S)

3 p.m.

USA — Premier League: Chelsea at Arsenal

10 p.m.

FS1 — CONCACAF Champions Cup: CF Pachuca at Club América, Semifinal – Leg 1

TENNIS

5 a.m.

TENNIS — Madrid-WTA Early Rounds

6 a.m.

TENNIS — Madrid-WTA Early Rounds

5 a.m. (Wednesday)

TENNIS — Madrid-ATP/WTA Early Rounds

6 a.m. (Wednesday) TENNIS — Madrid-WTA Early Rounds

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