“THE INDIANA SRN “SPORTSPAGE”
“THE SCOREBOARD”
CENTRAL INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
GREENSBURG 15 SOUTH RIPLEY 5
OWEN VALLEY 2 CLOVERDALE 1
GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN 15 EDINBURGH 5
WALDRON 17 TRI 7
GREENWOOD 17 PERRY MERIDIAN 7
TRITON CENTRAL 4 SCECINA 2
IRVINGTON PREP 3 MORRISTOWN 0
LAPEL 13 UNIVERSITY 4
CASCADE 14 BEECH GROVE 4
BROWNSTOWN CENTRAL 7 LANESVILLE 2
CENTER GROVE 13 NEW ALBANY 2
RUSHVILLE 7 S. DEARBORN 5
NEW PALESTINE 10 GREENFIELD CENTRAL 4
STATE SCOREBOARD: HTTPS://WWW.MAXPREPS.COM/IN/BASEBALL/SCORES/?DATE=4/23/2024
CENTRAL INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL
TRI 13 SOUTH DECATUR 0
NEW PALESTINE 15 NEW CASTLE 0
INDY LUTHERAN 11 SCECINA 1
MORRISTOWN 13 PROVIDENCE CRISTO REY 3
LAWRENCEBURG 11 UNION COUNTY 2
CASCADE 14 TRITON CENTRAL 4
MOORESVILLE 24 FRANKLIN 4
STATE SCOREBOARD: HTTPS://WWW.MAXPREPS.COM/IN/SOFTBALL/SCORES/?DATE=4/23/2024
INDIANA TRACK RESULTS: HTTPS://IN.MILESPLIT.COM/RESULTS
NBA PLAYOFFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ALL TIMES EASTERN STANDARD TIME
• 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
• GAME 1: BUCKS 109, PACERS 94
• GAME 2: PACERS 125, BUCKS 108
• 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)*
SERIES TIED AT 1-1
* = IF NECESSARY
• 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
• GAME 1: TIMBERWOLVES 120, SUNS 95
• GAME 2: TIMBERWOLVES 105, SUNS 93
• 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 2-0
* = IF NECESSARY
(4) LA CLIPPERS VS. (5) DALLAS
• GAME 1: CLIPPERS 109, MAVERICKS 97
• GAME 2: MAVERICKS 96, CLIPPERS 93
• 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)*
SERIES TIED AT 1-1
* = IF NECESSARY
NHL PLAYOFFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
FLORIDA PANTHERS (1A) VS. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (WC1)
FLORIDA LEADS SERIES 2-0
GAME 1: PANTHERS 3, LIGHTNING 2
GAME 2: PANTHERS 3, LIGHTNING 2 (OT)
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 2-0
GAME 1: RANGERS 4, CAPITALS 1
GAME 2: RANGERS 4, CAPITALS 3
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)
SERIES TIED 1-1
GAME 1: JETS 7, AVALANCHE 6
GAME 2: AVALANCHE 5, JETS 2
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)
SERIES TIED 1-1
GAME 1: CANUCKS 4, PREDATORS 2
GAME 2: PREDATORS 4, CANUCKS 1
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
CLEVELAND 4 BOSTON 1
CINCINNATI 8 PHILADELPHIA 1
PITTSBURGH 2 MILWAUKEE 1
LA DODGERS 4 WASHINGTON 1
DETROIT 4 TAMPA BAY 2
NY YANKEES 4 OAKLAND 3
ATLANTA 5 MIAMI 0
CHICAGO CUBS 7 HOUSTON 2
KANSAS CITY 3 TORONTO 2
MINNESOTA 6 CHICAGO WHITE SOX 5
ARIZONA 14 ST. LOUIS 1
SEATTLE 4 TEXAS 0
COLORADO 7 SAN DIEGO 4
LA ANGELS 7 BALTIMORE 4
SAN FRANCISCO 5 NY METS 1
MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
OMAHA 7 INDIANAPOLIS 4
QUAD CITIES 8 SOUTH BEND 4
GREAT LAKES AT FT. WAYNE PPD
COLLEGE BASEBALL SCORES
WRIGHT STATE 14 OHIO STATE 3
NORTHWESTERN 7 ILLINOIS STATE 6 (10)
MARYLAND 6 JAMES MADISON 4
RUTGERS 15 ST. JOHN’S 0
ILLINOIS 12 WESTERN ILLINOIS 1
IOWA 12 MILWAUKEE 6
KANSAS 9 NEBRASKA 4
MINNESOTA 7 ST. THOMAS 6 (11)
KENT STATE 13 YOUNGSTOWN STATE 8
MIAMI OHIO 11 XAVIER 1
OAKLAND 14 EASTERN MICHIGAN 11
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 10 VALPARAISO 9
OHIO 4 MOREHEAD STATE 2
SOUTHERN INDIANA 4 BELMONT 3 (11)
COLLEGE SOFTBALL SCORES
CENTRAL MICHIGAN AT NOTRE DAME CANCELED
SOUTHERN INDIANA AT BUTLER CANCELED
MICHIGAN 9 OAKLAND 4
ILLINOIS 7 DEPAUL 4
NEBRASKA 1 IOWA 0
NEBRASKA 7 IOWA 6
PENN STATE 3 ST. FRANCIS 2
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT WISCONSIN CANCELED
KENT STATE 10 CLEVELAND STATE 2
UFL
NO GAMES 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):
- CHICAGO BEARS (FROM CAROLINA)
- WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
- NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
- ARIZONA CARDINALS
- LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
- NEW YORK GIANTS
- TENNESSEE TITANS
- ATLANTA FALCONS
- CHICAGO BEARS
- NEW YORK JETS
- MINNESOTA VIKINGS
- DENVER BRONCOS
- LAS VEGAS RAIDERS
- NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
- INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
- SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
- JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
- CINCINNATI BENGALS
- LOS ANGELES RAMS
- PITTSBURGH STEELERS
- MIAMI DOLPHINS
- PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
- MINNESOTA VIKINGS (FROM CLEVELAND THROUGH HOUSTON)
- DALLAS COWBOYS
- GREEN BAY PACKERS
- TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
- ARIZONA CARDINALS (FROM HOUSTON)
- BUFFALO BILLS
- DETROIT LIONS
- BALTIMORE RAVENS
- SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
- KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
TOP NATIONAL SPORTS RELEASES AND NEWS REPORTS
NBA NEWS
76ERS PLAN TO FILE GRIEVANCE ABOUT OFFICIATING DURING FIRST TWO GAMES OF SERIES AGAINST KNICKS
NEW YORK (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers plan to file a grievance related to the officiating during their series against the New York Knicks, a team spokesman said early Tuesday.
The 76ers lost both games in New York, with the Knicks rallying in the final 30 seconds for a 104-101 victory on Monday night.
The Knicks got the go-ahead 3-pointer from Donte DiVincenzo with 13 seconds left, a possession that started when they stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey. Maxey was unable to cleanly catch the inbounds pass while swarmed by Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart and fell to the ground, with Hart then ripping the ball away from him.
Joel Embiid said Maxey was fouled, and also that coach Nick Nurse and some players had attempted to call timeout before the Knicks got the ball. The All-Star center used an expletive in saying the officiating had been unacceptable.
The Knicks protested their Feb. 12 loss in Houston after referees determined after the game that a foul on Brunson that set up the winning free throws shouldn’t have been called. The NBA denied the protest, saying a referee error was not grounds to overturn a result.
The Knicks began listing breakdowns of that night’s officials in their game notes during the playoffs, listing their record with the officials along with statistics detailing the frequency of violations they call and how often their calls are challenged.
REPORT: NBA LOOKING INTO ALLEGED ACTIONS OF NIKOLA JOKIC’S BROTHER
The NBA is investigating a brother of Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who was shown on video appearing to punch someone following the Nuggets’ win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night, The Athletic reported.
A video of Strahinja Jokic made the rounds after the Nuggets beat the Lakers 101-99 in Game 2 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series. It appears to show Strahinja and another Jokic brother, Nemanja, confront two men in the stands at Ball Arena, with Strahinja landing a punch with the right hand on the fan’s face.
The Nuggets have yet to issue a statement but reportedly are looking into the incident.
The elder Jokic brothers have been known to take exception to actions they consider disrespectful of their younger brother.
The brothers had a social media feud with NBA players Marcus and Markieff Morris, and in 2017, Strahinja had to be restrained from arena security to keep him from approaching a referee.
Strahinja has also faced trouble away from the basketball court. In 2019, he was arrested for allegedly choking and pushing a woman in an attempt to prevent her from leaving an apartment in Denver. Strahinja ultimately pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of obstruction and trespassing and received a deferred sentence.
In Game 2, Nikola had 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists to give Denver a 2-0 series lead. The Serbian is a two-time league Most Valuable Player and is a finalist for the award this year.
On the season, Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists. In 675 career games, all with the Nuggets, the 29-year-old has averages of 20.9 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.9 assists.
The series resumes Thursday in Los Angeles.
NBA PLAYOFFS
NBA ROUNDUP: MAVS GRAB ROAD WIN OVER CLIPPERS
Luka Doncic had 32 points and nine assists and Kyrie Irving added 23 points as the Dallas Mavericks got the best of the Los Angeles Clippers 96-93 in Game 2 on Tuesday to even their first-round playoff series.
P.J. Washington scored 18 points and Derrick Jones Jr. had 10 as the Mavericks recovered from a double-digit defeat in Game 1 on Sunday, when they trailed by as many as 29 points and scored just 30 in the first half.
Doncic and Irving combined to go 19 of 44 (43.2 percent) in the game after they struggled in the decisive first half of Game 1 when they combined to shoot 5 of 19 (26.3 percent). Irving made 3 of 4 free throws in the last 12 seconds to seal the win.
James Harden and Paul George each scored 22 points as the Clippers were unable to take advantage of Kawhi Leonard’s return. Leonard, who had not played since March 31 because of right knee inflammation, scored 15 points in 35 minutes.
Pacers 125, Bucks 108
Pascal Siakam recorded 37 points, 11 rebounds and six assists and Indiana evened its first-round Eastern Conference playoff series with an impressive victory over host Milwaukee in Game 2.
Myles Turner added 22 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots for the sixth-seeded Pacers, who snapped a 10-game postseason losing streak dating back to 2018.
Damian Lillard scored 34 points and Brook Lopez added 22 for the third-seeded Bucks. Each player made six 3-pointers. Milwaukee again was without star Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf).
Timberwolves 105, Suns 93
Jaden McDaniels scored 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting and Minnesota pulled away from Phoenix in Game 2 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series in Minneapolis.
Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert finished with 18 points apiece for Minnesota, which seized a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Timberwolves won by double digits despite a subpar night from Anthony Edwards, who shot 3 of 12 from the field and finished with 15 points.
Devin Booker led the Suns with 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting, though he was 1-for-6 from 3-point range. Kevin Durant finished with 18 points and Bradley Beal scored 14, but the pair combined to shoot 12 of 32 from the field.
SIXERS G TYRESE MAXEY IS NBA MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey is the NBA Most Improved Player, the league announced Tuesday evening.
A first-time All-Star selection this season, Maxey won the award over finalists Coby White of the Chicago Bulls and Alperen Sengun of the Houston Rockets. Maxey had 51 first-place votes (worth five points), 18 for second place (worth three) and 10 for third (worth one) for 319 total points. White (32 first-place votes) had 305 points, and Sengun (six) had 92.
Maxey, 23, improved his scoring average from 20.3 in 2022-23 to 25.9 this season, and also set career bests in average assists (6.2), rebounds (3.7), steals (1.0) and blocks (0.5) as well as minutes (37.5).
He ranked 11th in the league in scoring average and 20th in assists. He also made a career-best 212 3-pointers, up from 160 last season.
“The Most Improved Player award is a testament to your incredible work ethic, including countless early mornings in the gym perfecting your craft,” 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said in a statement. “Your journey to All-Star in just your fourth season is inspirational to everyone who watches you play. Your dedication to continuous improvement and excellence has you on the path from MIP to MVP.”
Philadelphia selected Maxey 21st overall in the 2020 NBA Draft out of Kentucky. He finished sixth in the MIP vote for the 2021-22 season.
This year, he averaged 1.7 turnovers, becoming with Dallas guard Kyrie Irving (also set in 2023-24) the only two players in NBA history to average at least 25.0 points and 5.0 assists with fewer than 2.0 turnovers for a full season.
“Tyrese is a tireless worker who has elevated his game to an All-Star level in a short period of time,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said in the statement. “In my years of coaching against him and our one year together so far, it is clear that he brings a special joy and energy to the game of basketball and his enthusiasm and work ethic will continue to lift his game for years to come.”
Maxey, who tied for the most 50-point games (three) in the league this season, became the second 76ers player to win the award, joining Dana Barros in 1994-95.
NHL PLAYOFFS
NHL ROUNDUP: PANTHERS TOP LIGHTNING IN OT FOR 2-0 SERIES LEAD
Carter Verhaeghe scored on a backhander 2:59 into overtime as the Florida Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday in Game 2 of a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at Sunrise, Fla.
Florida won its 11th consecutive playoff overtime game, eight of those since the start of the 2023 postseason. The Panthers lead the best-of-seven series 2-0.
Sam Bennett and Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves for the victory.
Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay, and Victor Hedman added two assists. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves.
Rangers 4, Capitals 3
Jack Roslovic and K’Andre Miller scored on special teams 4:26 apart in the second period and host New York hung on for a victory over Washington in Game 2 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
New York’s Vincent Trocheck and Mika Zibanejad netted goals in the first period. Alexis Lafreniere and Erik Gustafsson collected two assists apiece. Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves.
Tom Wilson finished with a goal and an assist while Connor McMichael and Dylan Strome also scored for the Capitals. Charlie Lindgren allowed four goals on 27 shots.
Avalanche 5, Jets 2
Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves and visiting Colorado beat Winnipeg in Game 2 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.
Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who rallied from a 2-1 deficit with three goals in the final 5:44 of the second period. Georgiev bounced back after allowing seven goals on 23 shots in a Game 1 loss.
David Gustafsson and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, and Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves.
Predators 4, Canucks 1
Anthony Beauvillier and Filip Forsberg each collected one goal and one assist to pace visiting Nashville to a victory over Vancouver, evening their Western Conference first-round playoff series at one win apiece.
Colton Sissons and Kiefer Sherwood also scored for the Predators. Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros made 17 saves, including a few highlight-reel efforts while the Canucks pushed frantically in the third period to try and draw even.
Nikita Zadorov had the Canucks’ lone goal. Casey DeSmith, who was in net with No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko out due to an injury, stopped 12 of the 15 shots he faced.
DEFENSEMEN INJURIES ARE ALREADY PILING UP EARLY IN THE NHL PLAYOFFS
Deep NHL playoff runs Jason Demers went on during his playing career usually ended the same way.
“The injuries just accumulated too much,” he said. “And then you’re just not playing at 100%.”
That attrition is already showing early in the first round this spring at Demers’ old position, as defenses have been depleted by existing and new injuries, from Tampa Bay’s Mikhail Sergachev and Colorado’s Samuel Girard being out long term to Carolina’s Brett Pesce going down Monday night and Washington being down to minor leaguers to fill its many voids.
There were 70 goals scored over the first 10 games in the first round, a product of not just hot offense sparked by some of the league’s top players but team-wide struggles to keep the puck out of the net.
Pesce’s injury is the latest potentially significant one to crop up, leaving Game 2 against the New York Islanders hobbled following a noncontact play. Coach Rod Brind’Amour said afterward the situation was “not looking good,” and it’s the first major test of depth for the slight Stanley Cup favorite Hurricanes.
Tony DeAngelo would be the next veteran defenseman up.
“We’re in kind of wait-and-see mode right now,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday, acknowledging there’s some extra time before his team goes for a 3-0 series lead Thursday night on Long Island. “Don’t want to really jump the gun yet.”
The Metropolitan Division-rival Capitals have been dealing with blue line losses for weeks now, finishing the regular season without injured Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen, as well as Ethan Bear, who’s in the player assistance program. Rookie Vincent Iorio was injured in their Game 1 defeat Sunday at the New York Rangers, pressing Lucas Johansen in for his NHL playoff debut.
Johansen joined fellow American Hockey League call-up Dylan McIlrath in Washington’s lineup. If nothing else, the team is accustomed to drawing from AHL Hershey.
“The same way we have with other injuries, departures that we’ve had all year: It’s going to be opportunity for other players to step up and then also not putting that on one person’s shoulders,” coach Spencer Carbery said recently. “The group — D corps, forwards — doing a little bit more to help alleviate (the absences).”
Tampa Bay has been dealing with life without Sergachev since the 25-year-old broke his left leg in early February. He has been ruled out for the first round against Florida, but has been skating and could return if the Lightning beat the defending Eastern Conference champions and advance to face Boston or Toronto.
To do so, coach Jon Cooper said Max Crozier, summoned from the minors on Monday, “might have to play” because Nick Perbix is banged up. The Lightning got eliminated in the first round last year only after experienced D-man Erik Cernak was concussed.
Girard, who was sidelined for much of the Avalanche’s 2022 Cup run that finished by beating Tampa Bay because of a broken sternum, has been out and in of concussion protocol since injuring his head April 13 against Winnipeg. Colorado lost its playoff opener to the Jets 7-6 on Sunday night, the third time in six games the Avs have allowed seven goals.
Coach Jared Bednar said Girard is skating and “progressing,” positive news that he could return when the series shifts to Denver later this week.
BASEBALL NEWS
MLB ROUNDUP: JULIO RODRIGUEZ HOMERS AS M’S DROP RANGERS
Julio Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season and Logan Gilbert pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings as the Seattle Mariners moved into first place in the American League West with a 4-0 victory against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas.
Cal Raleigh hit his sixth homer for Seattle, which won for the sixth time in its past seven games to nudge a half-game ahead of the defending World Series champion Rangers. The Mariners also won at Globe Life Field for the first time since 2022 after going winless in six games there last season.
Gilbert (2-0) allowed just two hits, a two-out double to right field by Josh Smith in the fourth inning and a leadoff double by Nathaniel Lowe in the seventh. Gilbert, a right-hander, walked four and struck out six.
Rangers right-hander Dane Dunning (2-2) took the loss. He gave up four runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings, with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Angels 7, Orioles 4
Mike Trout hit a leadoff home run and Los Angeles ended a five-game losing streak by beating visiting Baltimore.
The bottom four hitters in the Los Angeles lineup — Logan O’Hoppe, Jo Adell, Luis Rengifo and Zach Neto — combined to go 8-for-14 with five runs and five RBIs. Starter Griffin Canning (1-3) allowed three runs and five hits in five innings; he struck out four and walked two.
Gunnar Henderson hit a solo homer and drove in two runs, and Adley Rutschman had three hits and a run scored for Baltimore, which had won three straight and seven of eight. Grayson Rodriguez (3-1) allowed seven runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings; he struck out seven and walked one.
Twins 6, White Sox 5
Byron Buxton tied the game with a ninth-inning leadoff homer and Alex Kirilloff delivered a game-ending RBI single with two outs as host Minnesota handed Chicago a fifth straight loss.
Buxton, who had three hits, led off the ninth with a game-tying home run against Steven Wilson (1-2). Wilson recovered to get the next out before walking Carlos Santana and giving up a double to Ryan Jeffers to set the stage for Kirilloff.
Eloy Jimenez had two hits, including a three-run home run, for Chicago. Erick Fedde gave up one run on three hits in six innings, striking out a career-best 11 while issuing zero walks.
Braves 5, Marlins 0
Max Fried threw a shutout and earned his fifth straight win against Miami, as Atlanta rolled over the visiting Marlins for its eighth win in nine games.
Fried (2-0) needed only 92 pitches and allowed three hits and no walks and struck out six in beating Miami for the second time this season. Adam Duvall hit a two-run homer and Travis D’Arnaud finished 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Miami starter Trevor Rogers (0-3) continued to struggle against the Braves. He pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk, striking out four. He dropped to 0-7 in his career against the Braves.
Dodgers 4, Nationals 1
Pinch hitter James Outman doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Shohei Ohtani homered to lead off the ninth as Los Angeles used late offense to defeat host Washington.
Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas each had two hits as the Dodgers played their first game of a nine-game road trip. Ohtani has six home runs this season as he homered in back-to-back games for the second time this season.
CJ Abrams had three of the seven hits for the Nationals, who were trying to get back to .500.
Guardians 4, Red Sox 1
Ben Lively allowed one run over 6 1/3 strong innings and Will Brennan’s double sparked a two-run rally in the seventh as Cleveland won its fifth straight game, beating visiting Boston.
Lively yielded Wilyer Abreu’s homer in the seventh, four other hits and struck out seven without issuing a walk. In the seventh, Brennan led off with a double into the right-center-field gap for his second hit and scored on Tyler Freeman’s single to tie things at 1-1.
Brayan Rocchio then drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly, and the Guardians tacked on two more runs in the eighth. Red Sox starter Tanner Houck (3-2) took the loss after allowing two runs on five hits in six-plus innings.
Pirates 2, Brewers 1
Andrew McCutchen hit a leadoff homer in the first inning, Bailey Falter threw seven-plus effective frames and host Pittsburgh edged Milwaukee.
Falter (2-1) was working on a shutout before Gary Sanchez homered to lead off the eighth inning. Falter allowed one run on three hits and two walks. He tied a career high with eight strikeouts for the Pirates, who have won consecutive games after a six-game losing streak.
The Brewers’ Tobias Myers (0-1) gave up one run on four hits in five innings during his major league debut. He walked one and recorded four strikeouts. Milwaukee has lost two in a row to open the four-game series after winning four straight.
Reds 8, Phillies 1
Elly De La Cruz belted a two-run homer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand had three hits and drove in two runs to lead Cincinnati past visiting Philadelphia.
Reliever Fernando Cruz (1-1) earned his first win of the season by working his way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth, retiring the two batters he faced. Alec Bohm doubled twice and drove in a run for the Phillies.
It was a rare off night for Philadelphia starting pitching, as lefty Cristopher Sanchez (1-3) was victimized by poor fielding. The Phillies committed three errors behind Sanchez, who was charged with five runs (one earned) and four hits over a season-low three innings.
Cubs 7, Astros 2
Mike Tauchman hit two home runs and drove in four runs, Cody Bellinger added a two-run homer and Chicago opened a three-game series against visiting Houston with a win.
Bellinger and Tauchman each homered against Astros starter J.P. France (0-3) during a five-run first inning for Chicago, which has won seven of its past 10 games.
Jordan Wicks (1-2) allowed two runs on five hits in a season-high six innings for the Cubs. France pitched five innings, allowing five runs on five hits.
Yankees 4, A’s 3
Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run, first-inning double and Anthony Rizzo added a two-run homer in the frame as host New York edged Oakland.
Marcus Stroman (2-1) gave up three runs while striking out a season-high nine over 5 1/3 innings for the Yankees, who have won four of six. Clay Holmes earned his ninth save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Shea Langeliers and Lawrence Butler homered for the Athletics, who have lost six of eight. Paul Blackburn (2-1) yielded four runs in the first but no more in his six-inning outing.
Tigers 4, Rays 2
Riley Greene and Mark Canha homered in a three-run eighth inning to help Detroit rally past Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Greene also hit a solo shot for his first career multi-homer game and Canha added a double for the Tigers, who are 4-1 in their past five games.
The Rays’ Isaac Paredes homered and had two hits, while Harold Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Starter Ryan Pepiot yielded just one run on three hits over six innings, striking out four and walking two.
Royals 3, Blue Jays 2
Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in two runs as host Kansas City rallied past Toronto.
Witt finished with three hits and Garcia had two for the Royals, who snapped a franchise-record seven-game losing streak against Toronto. Kansas City had last downed the Blue Jays on April 3, 2023.
George Springer had three singles and Turner had two of Toronto’s nine hits. The Blue Jays stranded 10 runners.
Diamondbacks 14, Cardinals 1
Pavin Smith drove in a career-high six runs with a grand slam and a two-run double as visiting Arizona rolled over St. Louis.
Christian Walker added a three-run homer, Kevin Newman hit a two-run shot and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs for the Diamondbacks, who scored 12 or more runs for the fourth time this season.
Cardinals starting pitcher Steven Matz (1-2) allowed seven runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. He issued three walks and fanned four. Zack Thompson gave up seven runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings as St. Louis lost for the fifth time in six games.
Rockies 7, Padres 4
Brendan Rodgers hit the first grand slam of his career in a five-run fourth inning and struggling Colorado beat San Diego in Denver.
Elehuris Montero had three hits and Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle had two hits each for the Rockies, who snapped a six-game losing streak to San Diego dating back to last August. The Rockies won for just the second time in the past 10 games and improved to 4-7 at home.
Jake Cronenworth had three hits while Ha-Seong Kim, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill had two hits apiece for the Padres, who didn’t score after the third inning.
Giants 5, Mets 1
Logan Webb outdueled Luis Severino with eight shutout innings, Mike Yastrzemski capped a three-run fifth with a two-run single and San Francisco made it two in a row over visiting New York.
Michael Conforto had two hits against his former team for the Giants, including a single leading off the fifth that ended Severino’s perfect-game bid after he had retired the first 12 batters.
Starling Marte (double and two singles), Pete Alonso (double and a single) and Jeff McNeil (two singles) accounted for seven of the nine New York hits as the Mets, after taking two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers, fell to 2-3 on their California swing.
NFL NEWS
BEARS GM RYAN POLES FEIGNS SUSPENSE AROUND NO. 1 PICK: ‘TUNE IN THURSDAY’
Bears general manager Ryan Poles knows the identity of the No. 1 overall pick, but two days before the 2024 NFL Draft, he’s not quite ready to share.
“We know what we’re going to do,” Poles said Tuesday at a pre-draft press conference. “Everyone’s gotta tune in on Thursday to watch.”
The Bears hold the No. 1 pick via a trade with the Carolina Panthers and draft night in Detroit will bring Poles’ two-year plan to fruition when quarterback Caleb Williams, the Heisman Trophy winner in 2022, likely becomes the third player drafted first overall in Chicago’s storied history.
Beyond the ever-present smoke around the Bears and Williams, there are other reasons the majority opinion holds merit. Chicago has only two quarterbacks on the current depth chart — undrafted Tyson Bagent and journeyman backup Brett Rypien — making the position a massive need.
“We’re proud of where we’ve come from,” Poles said. “It’s going to be hard to make this team now.”
When Poles traded the No. 1 pick to the Panthers weeks before the 2023 draft and received a 2024 first-rounder as part of the return package, he said the prevailing thought was to be in position to draft a quarterback should 2021 first-rounder Justin Fields not prove he’s worthy of the QB1 role.
Leadership changes in personnel and top coaching spots often drive decisions to move on from quarterbacks drafted by previous regimes.
Fields, drafted 11th overall when then-GM Ryan Pace and the Bears moved up from No. 20 in a deal with the New York Giants, was traded to the Steelers last month to be the backup to Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh.
The new brass has tracked Williams incessantly.
Poles, head coach Matt Eberflus, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and other members of the organization have spent countless hours to reach this point. The Bears met with Williams at the NFL Scouting Combine — where Eberflus offers prospects the option of playing darts or putt-putt before the more intensive interview begins — before his pro day workout (where new Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen made an appearance) and were the only team to host Williams at team headquarters for a “top 30” visit.
“The journey to collect all the information is different for everyone,” Poles said. “There’s guys on our board that are high that didn’t come in for a 30-visit that we’ve had other touchpoints. Our networks in the building know the player inside and out that we really, really trust.”
Poles called reports the Bears are shopping the No. 9 overall pick speculation and said he doesn’t feel the need to make a trade to add picks despite holding an NFL-low four selections over seven rounds.
“I feel really good with where we’re at,” Poles said.
FROM RICE TO HARRISON, BLOODLINES RUN DEEP IN 2024 NFL DRAFT
As payback for an elbow to the Adam’s apple in a game that season, John Lynch nearly threw hands with Terrell Owens poolside in Hawaii before a Pro Bowl more than two decades ago.
Lynch was held back by his wife that day, but the current GM of the San Francisco 49ers might need to be restrained from jumping headlong into a draft class with depth in the gene pool.
Owens’ son is part of the cluster of former pro progeny eager to be selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The best-known sons of former NFL stars on the draft hopeful list this week are Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt. They’re projected to be drafted early in the first round. Harrison is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison, perhaps best known as the primary pass-catcher for Peyton Manning with the Indianapolis Colts. Alt was a high school tight end but moved to offensive tackle after training and film study with his dad, John, who happened to be an expert in the field of OT play from his days with the Kansas City Chiefs (1984-96).
Harrison Jr. said he is still fighting to overcome perceptions from peers and opponents that he’s being given something he doesn’t deserve because of his dad. On the flip side, he credits the 2016 Hall of Fame inductee and three-time All-Pro for setting “pure perfection” as the standard to achieve from a very young age.
“The work ethic definitely comes from him,” Harrison said. “To always push myself to be the best player that I can be.”
Lynch, a Hall of Fame safety drafted in 1993, has publicly endorsed the idea of coveting the Jr.’s this week.
Lynch maintains the value of a player’s lineage can be critical in a final draft grade and scouting report.
“I believe in bloodlines,” Lynch said. “I really do. I mean, I think there’s evidence that you should. Then you have to step away from that and you have to evaluate it. And that’s sometimes difficult to do and that’s why (you need) a lot of different eyes, a lot of different perspectives.
“There’s some inherent pressure on who their dad is, but there’s also some good genes and I think that matters. And so, it’s exciting that you have all these great — we’re talking Hall of Fame players and great players and brothers of players and it’s really fun. T.O. was out here at the local pro day and his son Terique performed really well and that was pretty cool. I saw him running at me and I played against T.O. a lot and there was something in that stride that was very familiar. It was something about the gait. And it’s crazy how those things translate. Is that just gene pool? Is that modeling the way they watch their dad run? It’s interesting to me but it’s a fun element to this year’s draft that I think is going to be interesting to watch to see how it unfolds.”
Michigan defensive lineman Kris Jenkins, the son of former Panthers and Jets defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, is another potential first-round pick. The elder Jenkins was a second-round pick in 2001 and a two-time All-Pro. Scouts circled his name after the Maryland product ran a 5.18 40-yard dash and bench-pressed 225 pounds 33 times at the Scouting Combine at 6-4, 320 pounds.
Clemson linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is the son of former Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, a four-time Pro Bowl selection who played in the Super Bowl for Andy Reid in Philadelphia and also had a tour with Washington before returning to Philly. Trotter Sr. was more of a straight-ahead thumper, a run-stuffer from a bygone era, whereas his son was a two-time second-team All-American with the Tigers. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin met with Trotter Jr. at the combine and chatted with him again at Clemson’s on-campus pro day.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman didn’t identify Trotter Jr. by name but said he’ll be fighting emotions not to lean toward “guys with Philly ties, who know what it’s like to play here.”
“I’m biased towards our hometown players. I’m biased towards the people who have legacy with this franchise. So I think that’s hard,” Roseman said.
Beyond Lynch and Owens, there are plenty of 49ers connections in the draft.
Running back Christian McCaffrey’s brother, Luke, is the son of former Broncos receiver Ed McCaffrey. A wide receiver from Rice, Luke McCaffrey is projected as a mid-round pick.
Brenden Rice entered the draft early following two seasons at Colorado and last season at Southern California, embracing that “pressure” to live up to his father Jerry Rice’s legacy as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Rice caught 20 total touchdown passes in three years of college football and attended the Senior Bowl in January. He said he’s excited for any opportunity to prove he’s “the total package.”
Southern Miss running back Frank Gore Jr. was the Most Valuable Player at the Shrine Bowl. Gore Sr. is third all-time in the NFL with exactly 16,000 career rushing yards, ranking ahead of Barry Sanders and behind Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith.
“It’s a blessing,” Gore Jr. said of following in his dad’s footsteps. “I have the responsibility to take it further.”
REPORT: PATRIOTS OPEN TO TRADING NO. 3 PICK
The New England Patriots would move the third overall pick for the right price, though they haven’t received a suitable offer yet, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo report.
The Patriots and Washington Commanders, the latter of whom own the No. 2 selection, have received phone calls for their selections, Rapoport and Garafolo add. However, the Commanders haven’t indicated they’re interested in trading out. The Las Vegas Raiders are among teams that have called Washington, according to Garafolo.
Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf said earlier this month that his team is “open for business” in all rounds of the 2024 draft.
New England has multiple needs across its roster with the most obvious area being quarterback. Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe headline its depth chart at the position following the trade of Mac Jones.
If the Patriots stay at No. 3, they’d be in a position to take a potential star at quarterback. USC star Caleb Williams is expected to go first overall, but there’s uncertainty about who goes second; signal-callers Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye are the two most speculated names.
The Patriots are entering their first draft under head coach Jerod Mayo.
NFL REINSTATES EAGLES’ ISAIAH RODGERS AFTER GAMBLING BAN
The NFL reinstated Philadelphia Eagles cornerback and kick returner Isaiah Rodgers on Tuesday after a one-year gambling suspension.
Rodgers, 26, has been cleared to participate in all team activities, effective immediately.
The Indianapolis Colts cut Rodgers following his suspension last June and he signed with the Eagles in August.
A sixth-round pick in 2020, Rodgers averaged 27.0 yards on 61 kickoff returns in 45 games with the Colts from 2020-22. He returned a kick 101 yards for a touchdown at Cleveland in Week 5 of 2020.
Following his suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy, Rodgers issued a statement acknowledging his mistakes.
“Addressing the current reports, I want to take full responsibility for my actions. I know I have made mistakes, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to repair the situation,” he posted on social media.
“The last thing I ever wanted to do was to be a distraction to the Colts organization, my coaches and my teammates. I’ve let people down that I care about. I made an error in judgment and I am going to work hard to make sure that those mistakes are rectified through this process. It’s an honor to play in the NFL and I have never taken that lightly. I am very sorry for all of this.”
NFL TAMPERING PROBE WON’T AFFECT 2024 DRAFT PICKS FOR EAGLES, FALCONS
The NFL’s investigation into potential tampering by the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles is ongoing and will not be completed this week, the league said Tuesday.
With the 2024 NFL Draft scheduled to begin Thursday, the league will not be docking either team draft picks — should it find one or both guilty of tampering — this year.
The league confirmed in March that it was looking into the possibility of tampering by the teams prior to the start of free agency. The reviews focus on quarterback Kirk Cousins agreeing to a four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons, and running back Saquon Barkley signing a three-year, $37.75 million deal with the Eagles.
The Falcons said in a statement at the time that “due to the NFL’s review, we are unable to provide information or have additional comment.”
The Eagles denied the claims.
TEXANS UNVEIL FIRST UNIFORM REDESIGN IN FRANCHISE HISTORY
The Houston Texans unveiled four variations of new uniforms, the team’s first redesign since the expansion franchise’s inception in 2000.
The Texans said 10,000 surveys and 30 focus groups were utilized to guide the new uniform design.
In addition to their traditional deep steel blue and white uniform, the Texans revealed a “Battle Red” helmet with a new logo that the team says is inspired by bullhorns with a bullhead logo on the back.
Houston also will feature a light blue helmet as part of its Color Rush look, complete with “H-Town” on the front of its uniforms.
The Texans also featured a light blue “H” that is outlined in red on a dark blue helmet.
“Today, for the first time since 2000, we are so proud to reveal our new uniforms. They are even more special because they are inspired by and for our fans,” Texans owner Cal McNair said in a statement. “Our fans asked us to be more H-Town and we delivered. They were with us every step of the way and there’s truly something for everyone over the four uniforms.”
BENGALS RE-SIGN QB JAKE BROWNING
The Cincinnati Bengals re-signed exclusive rights free agent quarterback Jake Browning to a two-year contract through the 2025 season, multiple media outlets reported on Tuesday.
Also, the Bengals signed unrestricted free agent quarterback Logan Woodside to a one-year deal for the 2024 season.
Undrafted out of Washington in 2019, Browning spent 2019-21 on the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad. He then spent time on Cincinnati’s practice squad before filling in for the injured Joe Burrow last season.
Browning, 28, completed 171 of 243 passes (70.4 percent) for 1,936 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in nine games (seven starts). He also rushed for 127 yards and three scores.
Woodside, 29, has completed 4 of 7 passes for 34 yards and an interception in 13 career games with the Tennessee Titans (2020-21) and Atlanta Falcons (2022-23). He was a seventh-round pick of the Bengals in the 2018 NFL Draft.
GOLF NEWS
PGA TOUR HAS A TEAM EVENT IN NEW ORLEANS. LIV GOLF RETURNS DOWN UNDER
PGA TOUR
ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS
Site: Avondale, Louisiana.
Course: TPC Louisiana. Yardage: 7,425. Par: 72.
Prize money: $8.9 million. Winner’s share: $1.286 million for each player.
Television: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS).
Defending champions: Davis Riley and Nick Hardy.
FedEx Cup leader: Scottie Scheffler.
Last week: Scottie Scheffler won the RBC Heritage.
Notes: This is the PGA Tour’s only team event, with two rounds of fourballs and two rounds of foursomes. … The winners do not get world ranking points or a Masters invitation. … Rory McIlroy is playing for the first time, partnering with Shane Lowry. Friends since their youth, they have played only one Ryder Cup match together. … The field includes three sets of brothers, two of them twins — Parker and Pierceson Coody, and Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard. The other set is Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick. … Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are the only team where both players are ranked in the top 10. They won the Zurich Classic two years ago. … Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald is playing with Francesco Molinari, one of his assistant captains in Rome. … Steve Stricker is making a rare appearance on the PGA Tour. Stricker won the Charles Schwab Cup last year on the PGA Tour Champions. He is playing with Matt Kuchar.
Next week: AT&T Byron Nelson.
Online: https://www.pgatour.com/
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LPGA TOUR
JM EAGLE LA CHAMPIONSHIP
Site: Los Angeles.
Course: Wilshire GC. Yardage: 6,258. Par: 71.
Prize money: $3.75 million. Winner’s share: $562,500.
Television: Thursday-Friday, 6:30-9:30 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 6-9 p.m. (Golf Channel).
Defending champion: Hannah Green.
Race to CME Globe leader: Nelly Korda.
Last week: Nelly Korda won The Chevron Championship.
Notes: Nelly Korda withdrew from the tournament coming off winning her second major and fifth win in a row. … The prize money was raised to $3.75 million and the sponsors are paying for players’ hotels. It still attracted only six of the top 10 in the world. … Among those not playing are Lydia Ko and Lilia Vu, who withdrew last week with injury. … Patty Tavatanakit and Alison Lee are among those who played college golf nearby at UCLA. … Paula Creamer is in the field based on being in the top 20 on the LPGA career money list. … This is the second LPGA event in the Los Angeles area in the last five weeks. Korda won the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship down the coast at Palos Verdes Estates. … Rose Zhang is coming off a missed cut in the first LPGA major of the year. … Lexi Thompson, who has not won in five years and is coming off a missed cut in the Chevron Championship, is not in the field.
Next tournament: Cognizant Founders Cup on May 9-12.
Online: https://www.lpga.com/
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LIV GOLF LEAGUE
LIV GOLF ADELAIDE
Site: Adelaide, Australia.
Course: The Grange GC. Yardage: 6,946. Par: 72.
Prize money: $20 million. Winner’s share: $4 million.
Television: Thursday-Saturday, 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. (CW app). Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (CW Network-tape delay).
Defending champion: Talor Gooch.
Points leader: Joaquin Niemann.
Last tournament: Dean Burmester won LIV Golf Miami.
Notes: LIV Golf’s tournament in Adelaide last year featured one of the largest galleries of the year. … LIV Golf Adelaide is where Talor Gooch won the first of his three titles last season. He is not in the field for any of the majors this year. … LIV Golf had three players finish among the top 10 in the Masters. Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau tied for sixth, and Tyrrell Hatton tied for ninth. … Jon Rahm has yet to win since joining LIV in December. Rahm’s last victory was the Masters a year ago. … Dustin Johnson, who won LIV Golf Las Vegas in early February, has missed the cut in his last two majors. Joaquin Niemann remains the points leader this year based on his two LIV titles. He made the cut in the Masters and already has received an exemption to play in the PGA Championship. … Peter Uihlein began his three-week swing by playing the Saudi Open last week. He shot 66-63 on the weekend to finish third.
Next week: LIV Golf Singapore.
Online: https://www.livgolf.com/
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EUROPEAN TOUR AND JAPAN GOLF TOUR
ISPS HANDA CHAMPIONSHIP
Site: Gotemba, Japan.
Course: Taiheiyo Club. Yardage: 7,262. Par: 70.
Prize money: $2.25 million. Winner’s share: $375,000.
Television: Wednesday-Thursday, 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 11 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. (Golf Channel).
Previous winner: Lucas Herbert.
Race to Dubai leader: Rory McIlroy.
Last tournament: Scottie Scheffler won the Masters.
Notes: This is the second year of a European tour co-sanctioned event with the Japan Golf Tour in Japan. … The tournament is the third of four events in the Asian Swing. The winner of this series gets a $200,000 bonus, and the top three get spots in the PGA Championship at Valhalla next month. … The field includes Matthieu Pavon of France and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa. Both played in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head last week. … Keita Nakajima makes his first start since winning the Hero Indian Open for his first European tour victory. … Kazuma Kobori received a sponsor exemption. The 22-year-old was born in Japan and plays under the New Zealand flag. He has three wins this year on the PGA Tour of Australasia. … The field includes most of the rising Japanese stars, such as Nakajima, Takumi Kanaya and Taiga Semikawa. … Lucas Herbert is not defending his title because he is with LIV Golf in Australia.
Next week: Volvo China Open.
Online: https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/ and https://www.jgto.org/en/
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PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CLASSIC
Site: Duluth, Georgia.
Course: TPC Sugarloaf. Yardage: 7,179. Par: 72.
Prize money: $2 million. Winner’s share: $300,000.
Television: Friday, noon to 3 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m. (Golf Channel).
Defending champion: Stephen Ames.
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steven Alker.
Last week: Paul Broadhurst won the Invited Celebrity Classic.
Notes: Paul Broadhurst became the seventh winner in the seven tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions this year. … Steven Alker returns to action after taking last week off. … Ricardo Gonzalez is the only first-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions this year. … Broadhurst (58) became the third player 58 or older to win this year. He joins Stephen Ames (Chubb Classic) and Joe Durant (Cologuard Classic), both of whom are 59. … The seven winners on the PGA Tour Champions come from seven countries — New Zealand, Canada, England, United States, Argentina, South Africa and Ireland. … Thomas Bjorn has been a runner-up and tied for third in his two starts on the PGA Tour Champions this year. … One week after Vijay Singh made his 20th cut at the Masters, the 61-year-old tied for sixth in the Invited Celebrity Classic. … The TPC Sugarloaf hosted a PGA Tour event until 2007.
Next week: Insperity Invitational.
Online: https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions
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KORN FERRY TOUR
VERITEX BANK CHAMPIONSHIP
Site: Arlington, Texas.
Course: Texas Rangers GC. Yardage: 7,010. Par: 71.
Prize money: $1 million. Winner’s share: $180,000.
Television: None.
Defending champion: Spencer Levin.
Points leader: Steven Fisk.
Last week: Tim Widing won the Lecom Suncoast Classic.
Next tournament: AdventHealth Championship on May 16-19.
Online: https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour
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OTHER TOURS
PGA of America: PGA Professional Championship, Fields Ranch at PGA (East and West), Frisco, Texas. Defending champion: Braden Shattuck. Television: Tuesday, 5-8 p.m. (Golf Channel); Wednesday, 4-7 p.m. (Golf Channel). Online: https://www.pga.com/
Epson Tour: IOA Championship, Morongo GC at Tukwet Canyon, Beaumont, California. Defending champion: Miranda Wang. Online: https://www.epsontour.com/
Challenge Tour: UAE Challenge, Saadiyat Beach GC, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Previous winner: Maximilian Rottluff. Online: https://www.europeantour.com/challenge-tour/
Ladies European Tour: Investec South African Women’s Open, Erinvale Country and Golf Estate, Somerset West, South Africa. Previous winner: Ashleigh Buhai. Online: https://ladieseuropeantour.com/
PGA Tour Americas: Diners Club Peru Open, Los Inkas GC, Lima, Peru. Previous winner: Marcos Montenegro. Online: https://www.pgatour.com/americas
Japan LPGA: Panasonic Open, Hamano GC, Chiba, Japan. Defending champion: Lala Anai. Online: https://www.lpga.or.jp/en/
Korea LPGA: KLPGA Championship, Lakewood CC, Yangju, South Korea. Defending champion: Dayeon Lee. Online: https://klpga.co.kr/
AUTO RACING NEWS
BRAD KESELOWSKI INCHES CLOSER TO VICTORY LANE
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There’s a good argument to be made that one of the hottest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series right now hasn’t even hoisted a trophy yet. But Brad Keselowski has been awfully close.
Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, he was in prime position to claim his first victory since 2021 — running second to fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell as the field came to the checkered flag. But a typically frantic Talladega finish instead left him runner-up by a fraction of a second to winner Tyler Reddick.
It wasn’t a victory, but it was the second consecutive second-place finish for the owner-driver of the RFK Racing team and fifth top-10 finish through the season’s first 10 races. Four of those have been top-five finishes, a run of success Keselowski takes to Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Wurth 400 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Keselowski has a victory at Dover in 2012 — the same season he captured the NASCAR Cup Series championship. He’s finished inside the top 10 in three of the last five races there.
And yet for all the recent positives to consider, Keselowski has not wavered in his stance.
“Good finishes are important, but we want wins,” Keselowski, 40, said after climbing out of his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang at Talladega. “We could really taste it today, but it just didn’t happen.”
This is not to say that Keselowski, whose last race win was at Talladega in 2021, is not proud of the effort or encouraged by the recent results. He just has high expectations. And good reason for them.
His work this year is a strong sign that the team has absolutely progressed on-track. Keselowski became a partner with NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Jack Roush only three years ago and has already infused exactly the kind of high-level expectation and championship thinking to help bring about a racing renaissance of sorts.
His four top-five finishes through 10 races this season is already half of the total he tallied in all of 2023. His five top-10 efforts are on-track to better the mark of 16 he had last year. He’s ranked 14th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, but only seven points behind 10th place Alex Bowman.
Keselowski’s RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher won three races last year and qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. And he’s got five top-10 finishes this season and is ranked 16th — only 16 points behind Bowman in 10th.
“I feel like the last two weeks especially, we’ve earned finishes we probably didn’t deserve,” said Keselowski, one of the most analytical drivers on the NASCAR Cup Series grid. “It kind of ebbs and flows as the season goes. But when you have cars that are capable of winning, in general, you need to make it count.”
Keselowski — a 35-race winner — closes out the Spring schedule with a good track record at promising venues. He’s scored victories at all four of the next four points-paying tracks (excluding the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, N.C.). He’s won at Dover and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and has two victories at both Kansas and Charlotte.
Combine that with his strong current run and Keselowski has plenty of reason to feel positive. He characterized his organization two weeks ago at Texas as being filled with that same “kind of never-give-up spirit” that Keselowski the driver has cultivated and flourished from. Certainly, things seem absolutely headed in the right direction.
SOCCER NEWS
US WOMEN’S SOCCER TO PLAY OLYMPIC SEND-OFF MATCH IN WASHINGTON IN JULY
CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. women’s soccer team will play a send-off match against Costa Rica in the nation’s capitol before departing for the Olympics.
The match announced Tuesday is set for July 16 at Audi Field in Washington. It will be the fourth friendly under new coach Emma Hayes as the team prepares for France. Hayes was named coach of the team late last year, but is finishing out the season with Chelsea before taking over.
Hayes is set to join the team for a match against South Korea on June 1 in Commerce City, Colorado, before a rematch on June 4 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The team will also play Mexico at Red Bull Stadium in New Jersey on July 13.
Hayes is expected to announce her 18-player Olympic roster before the match against Mexico.
The United States has been playing under interim coach Twila Kilgore since Vlatko Andonovski parted ways with the team following a disappointing finish at last summer’s Women’s World Cup.
The United States opens the Olympics with a match against Zambia in Nice on July 25.
TOP INDIANA SPORTS RELEASES AND NEWS REPORTS
INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
BIDUNGA WINS MR. BASKETBALL AWARD
Kokomo senior Flory Bidunga has been named Indiana Mr. Basketball. Bidunga was named on 198 ballots to outdistance runner-up Jack Benter of Brownstown Central, who had 122. Mr. Basketball is voted on by high school coaches and media statewide and goes to the state’s top senior.
Bidunga is the third Mr. Basketball winner from Kokomo, joining Tom Schwartz (1945) and Jimmy Rayl (1959).
Bidunga averaged 19.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, 4.4 blocked shots and 3.2 assists per game as a senior, leading Kokomo to a 25-4 record.
Bidunga will play college basketball at Kansas.
INDIANA PACERS
SIAKAM SCORES PLAYOFF CAREER-HIGH 37 AS PACERS EVEN SERIES WITH BUCKS
MILWAUKEE (AP) — As a former champion on a team without much postseason experience, Pascal Siakam understands what it’s going to take for the Indiana Pacers to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Siakam’s certainly doing his part.
The former Toronto Raptors forward scored 37 points and the Pacers overcame another fantastic first-half performance from Damian Lillard to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 125-108 on Tuesday night and tie their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at a game apiece.
Game 3 is Friday in Indianapolis.
“We’ve got to be the hungry team,” Siakam said. “We’ve got to be the team that’s coming in and wanting to show something. That’s the attitude that we’ve got to have against those guys, because they’ve done it before.”
The Pacers had plenty of appetite Tuesday as they snapped a 10-game playoff losing streak that began with a Game 7 loss to Cleveland in a 2018 first-round series.
Indiana acquired Siakam in January in part because of his experience as a member of the 2019 Toronto Raptors championship team. He followed up his 36-point performance in Game 1 by shooting 16 of 23 from the floor and finishing with 11 rebounds and six assists on Tuesday.
“His experience in the playoffs is so valuable,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “He’s not a guy that’s going to get rattled by anything. Never has once since January, since we got him. He’s a guy that people confide in and look up to.”
The Pacers needed Siakam to step up because Lillard was once again coming up huge for the Bucks, at least in the first two periods.
Two nights after scoring all 35 of his points in the first half of the Bucks’ 109-94 Game 1 victory, Lillard had 26 by halftime Tuesday and finished with 34.
It wasn’t enough.
“I think both games we had a lot of success in the first two quarters mainly, and then in the second half we kind of get away from the things we had a lot of success doing,” Lillard said.
Lillard didn’t get enough help with the Bucks once again missing two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo due to a strained left calf. Antetokounmpo hasn’t played since he was hurt in an April 9 victory over the Boston Celtics.
Even after Lillard’s big early onslaught, the Bucks still trailed 60-55 at halftime. Indiana stayed ahead throughout the second half.
“We were more consistent, played with more force, played with more attitude,” Carlisle said. “There were some tough stretches in the game. I liked the way we kept our poise and our aggression. We kept attacking.”
The Pacers led the NBA with 123.3 points per game during the regular season but posted their lowest point total and field-goal percentage (.396) while shooting 8 of 38 on 3-pointers in Game 1. This time, Indiana looked more like the team that won four of five regular-season matchups with the Bucks while scoring at least 122 points in each.
“I thought we struggled execution-wise on the offensive end, and I thought that bled over to the defensive end,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought it was more our offense tonight.”
Myles Turner scored 22 points and Andrew Nembhard 20 for the Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton had 12 points and 12 assists.
Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez scored 22 points and shot 6 of 7 from 3-point range. Khris Middleton scored 15 points. Bobby Portis had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bucks cut Indiana’s lead to one late in the third quarter and got it down to four in the opening minutes of the fourth. The Pacers responded each time and pushed their lead to 23 in the fourth quarter by following Siakam’s advice.
“He’s established himself on a our team as a veteran leader, as somewhat of a mentor because he’s been there,” Carlisle said. “He’s constantly saying, ‘Keep your edge. Keep your edge. Keep your edge.’ He’s been through these things too many times.”
INDIANA FEVER
CAITLIN CLARK BECOMES FIRST 2-TIME SULLIVAN AWARD HONOREE
Caitlin Clark, who broke the NCAA women’s basketball single-season and career scoring records in a stellar senior season at Iowa, established another record on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old Iowa native became the first-ever two-time winner of the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, which annually honors the nation’s best amateur athlete.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has been handing out the Sullivan Award since 1930, when golfer Bobby Jones was the first honoree.
Last year, Clark became the first women’s basketball player to be the sole recipient of the Sullivan Award since Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw was recognized in 1998. Since then, four other women’s basketball players shared the prize: Georgia’s Coco Miller and Kelly Miller in 1999, UConn’s Breanna Stewart (along with Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds) in 2015 and Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu (along with Iowa wrestler Spencer Lee) in 2019.
The other Sullivan Award finalists this year were U.S. Paralympic swimmer Noah Jaffe, Team USA gymnast Frederick Richard, Texas volleyball player Madisen Skinner, Olympic speed skater Emery Lehman and Olympic wrestler David Taylor.
Clark said of receiving the award again, “The AAU Sullivan Award is an incredible honor. I have been inspired by so many athletes that came before me and I hope I can be that same inspiration for the next generation to follow their dreams. I want to congratulate the other finalists and thank all of those who voted for me.”
Clark shattered the NCAA mark with 1,234 points and 201 3-pointers in the just-concluded season, leading Iowa to the national title game for the second year in a row. She also set national career records with 3,951 points and 548 treys.
She also drew record attendance for Hawkeyes games home and away, and her presence was a key factor in the Women’s Final Four drawing record television ratings.
Clark was selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever on April 15, with her selection prompting record TV numbers.
Past Sullivan Award winners include Wilma Rudolph (1961), Bill Bradley (1965), Mark Spitz (1971), Bill Walton (1973), Carl Lewis (1981), Janet Evans (1989), Peyton Manning (1997), Michael Phelps (2003), Tim Tebow (2007) and Shawn Johnson (2008).
INDY FUEL HOCKEY
FUEL FALL TO WHEELING IN GAME 4
WHEELING – The Fuel continued the middle stretch of round 1 on the road in Wheeling for game 4. This game was all Wheeling as they shut out the Fuel 3-0.
1ST PERIOD
Special teams was the story of the first period. No scoring from the Fuel but a lot of pressure in their offensive zone. Both power plays were stopped by Fuel penalties.
With 10 seconds remaining on their first power play, the Nailers opened the scoring off the stick of Jordan Martel at 13:19, finding his third goal of the playoffs so far.
Two penalties were committed by each team and the shots fell in favor of Wheeling 7-5 with the Fuel not having a shot on goal in the final eight minutes of the period.
2ND PERIOD
The second frame was almost an exact duplicate of the first.
The Nailers posted the same amount of shots and Jordan Martel scored his second of the game at 14:21 on the power play.
Two penalties were committed by each side and the Fuel matched Wheeling with seven shots in the period.
3RD PERIOD
The game continued to be all Nailers as the Fuel struggled to find any action.
Nine shots for each side in this period and the final shot of the game was the nail in the coffin. David Jankowski scored on the empty net with 17 seconds left to make the final score 3-0.
The win gives Jaxon Castor his first playoff shutout.
INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS BASEBALL
LAMB GOES 3-FOR-3 IN INDIANS SERIES-OPENING LOSS
PAPILLION, Neb. – Jake Lamb went 3-for-3 and Nick Gonzales extended his league-leading on-base streak to 20 games as the Indianapolis Indians dropped Tuesday night’s series opener against the Omaha Storm Chasers at Werner Park, 7-4.
With the Indians leading 3-0 in the third inning, Omaha (13-9) recorded back-to-back three-run frames against Cam Alldred (L, 0-3) to take a lead it would not relinquish.
In the first contest of the season between the two clubs, Indianapolis (11-11) struck right away in the first inning, courtesy of a Jake Lamb RBI single to scored Ji Hwan Bae. The Indians added another in the third courtesy of a Yasmani Grandal RBI double to plate Bae for the second time. Gonzales then scored on a wild pitch from Omaha starter Daniel Lynch (W, 2-0), who tossed 5.0 four-run innings.
Nick Loftin put Omaha on the board in the third inning with an RBI single, and back-to-back run-scoring ground balls quickly tied the game. Three singles in the fourth inning turned the game in the Storm Chasers’ favor.
The Indians went hitless in the final two innings of the game, with Will Klein (S, 3) closing out the game in the ninth.
Lamb and Gonzales combined for five of Indianapolis’ 10 hits and now rank first and second, respectfully, among International League leaders in batting average. Lamb’s 3-for-3 performance raised his average to .400 (20-for-50) in 16 games this season, while Gonzales is hitting .390 (32-for-82).
The Indians and Storm Chasers will continue the six-game series on Wednesday at 12:05 PM ET. Toeing the rubber for Indianapolis in the MiLB.TV/MLB.TV Game of the Day will be MiLB’s No. 3 prospect (MLB Pipeline) RHP Paul Skenes (0-0, 0.00). Omaha hasn’t named a starter.
PURDUE MEN’S BASKETBALL
REPORT: PURDUE STAR ZACH EDEY DECLARES FOR NBA DRAFT
Purdue center Zach Edey, the two-time national player of the year, has officially entered the 2024 NBA Draft.
The 7-foot-4 behemoth, who posted a brief message to Instagram last week saying Purdue “changed his life,” told ESPN on Tuesday that he’s submitted the paperwork to enter the draft.
“I showed that I’m a physical presence on offense this season,” Edey told ESPN. “I also showed I can play defense. I can guard in space, even defend guards.”
Edey earned player of the year honors this past season after leading all of Division I in scoring at 25.2 points per game and ranking third in rebounding (12.2 per game). He also set career bests with 2.0 assists and 2.2 blocked shots per contest.
Edey fueled Purdue to its most successful season in decades. The Boilermakers made their first Final Four since 1980 and lost to UConn 75-60 in the national championship game despite Edey going for 37 points and 10 boards.
NBA mock drafts project Edey as a first-round pick who could go in the lottery (the top 14).
Most of Edey’s points came at the rim. He has attempted only two 3-pointers in his college career, making one.
“Shooting is going to be a big thing in my workouts during the pre-draft process,” the Canadian told ESPN. “Every day I’m getting the reps and my routine right to show off that part of my game.”
Edey finishes his Purdue career as the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder with 2,516 and 1,321, respectively. He averaged 18.2 points, 9.6 boards and 1.7 blocks over 138 career games (108 starts) since coming to Purdue as a freshman in 2020.
PURDUE BASEBALL
HOMESTAND FINALE MOVED TO WEDNESDAY AT 6 PM
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Baseball’s homestand finale vs. Evansville has been moved to Wednesday at 6 p.m. due to rain in the forecast for Tuesday.
Tickets can be used Wednesday or exchanged for general admission seats for upcoming home dates on May 1 vs. DePauw or May 16-18 vs. Illinois.
The same promotions remain in play for Wednesday’s date vs. Evansville – $3 deals on general admission tickets, hot dogs, beer, popcorn and nachos. Early-arriving fans can also pick up set 3 (of 3) of the Purdue Baseball trading cards.
Purdue’s postponed game vs. Valparaiso, originally scheduled for April 3, is unlikely to be rescheduled at the point. April 3 tickets are also eligible to be exchanged for the May 1 and 16-18 dates if they have not been used already.
NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S LAX
SIX IRISH NAMED ALL-ACC
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – With the dawn of the ACC Championship Tournament upon us, six members of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team have been named to All-ACC Teams, as announced by the conference Tuesday afternoon. The graduate trio and team’s leading point scorers of Madison Ahern, Kasey Choma and Jackie Wolak highlight the First Team honorees while a pair of senior midfielders in Kelly Denes and MK Doherty are featured on the Second Team. Meghan O’Hare made a quick impact at the Irish midfield this season as a rookie and has picked up her first conference honors as a member of the All-Freshman team. As one of the nation’s top offenses, while boasting one of the toughest defenses at the same time, the Irish have two attackers and four midfielders featured between the three teams.
A Cohasset, Massachusetts native, Ahern was a 2023 First Team honoree as well and boasts 66 points thus far in 2024, including 47 goals. Last week she reached the 300-career point milestone, becoming just the fourth woman in program to accomplish the feat, and second this season.
Choma, who currently boasts 67 points on the season behind 46 goals and 21 assists, received First time honors for the second consecutive year. A 2024 Tewaaraton nominee, the graduate midfielder most recently tallied nine points in the team’s win at Louisville to close out the regular season and was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week earlier today.
The team’s leading scorer, Wolak was recently also tabbed a Tewaaraton nominee and was also honored as an All-ACC First Team honoree a season ago. This year, the graduate attacker boasts 82 points and owns 313 career points with the Irish.
Denes recently eclipsed triple digit draw controls for the third consecutive season and is 10 shy of tying Andie Aldave’s program record as the team heads into ACC Tournament play. The senior draw specialist now owns 118 draw controls on the season and ranks among the nation’s best at the dot. Her 7.38 draw controls per game is 14th nationally and second in the ACC. The Second Team honor is her second in as many seasons.
Second on the team in draw controls and also one of the program’s top scorers this year, Doherty was named All-ACC for the first time in her collegiate career. The senior midfielder currently boasts 68 draw controls on the year and has 39 points off 25 goals and 14 assists. Most recently, the Summit, New Jersey native recorded two goals in 11 seconds at Louisville, while also winning the draw control in between. Her first goal of the sequence proved to be the eventual game-winner over Louisville and she now owns over a third of all game-winners this season (5).
A new face to the team this season, O’Hare picked up her first conference honor after being recognized on the All-ACC Freshman team. The rookie has nine goals on the season while owning 28 draw controls and six caused turnovers. O’Hare stepped into a pivotal role early in the season, having started most games in the early half of the season and receiving valuable minutes late in close games.
The Irish open ACC Tournament play tomorrow evening with a 5pm start against Clemson in the conference quarterfinals.
BUTLER SOFTBALL
BUTLER SOFTBALL HOSTS INDIANA FOR FINAL HOME GAME OF SEASON
The Butler softball team hosts Indiana on Wednesday for its final home game and final non-conference contest of the season. The Bulldogs (20-25, 9-12 BIG EAST) are coming off a series with Creighton in which they won game one but then lost the final two games, both in nine innings. The Hoosiers (34-13, 10-7 Big Ten) most recently swept Iowa in a weekend series.
Bulldog Bits
(as of 4-21-24)
Ella White is second in the BIG EAST with four sacrifice flies (34th nationally). Addition conference (national) rankings include: 38 RBI-3rd (98th), 12 doubles-3rd (88th), .631 slugging %-3rd, and 8 HR-6th.
Monique Hoosen leads the BIG EAST (73rd nationally) with 11 home runs.
Kieli Ryan leads the BIG EAST (15th nationally) with 12 base runners caught stealing.
Katie Petran is second in the BIG EAST (64th nationally) with 13 wins in the circle.
Cate Lehner leads the BIG EAST (46th nationally) with 0.20 sacrifice bunts per game and is third (46th) with 22 stolen bases.
Butler’s 2024 schedule includes four teams that qualified for the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs lost to Omaha, 4-1, in their season opener, went 1-2 in three games vs. Seton Hall (Mar. 28-30), and lost, 4-2, to Miami (OH) (Apr. 9). Butler still has Indiana on the schedule (Apr. 24).
vs. Creighton (Apr. 19-21)
In game two, Monique Hoosen had a 3-hit, 6-RBI performance. In the third inning, her three-run double put Butler up 5-2. Then, in the sixth, her three-run home run tied the game at eight.
Katie Petran pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout vs. Creighton in game one of the series. She had zero walks and struck out three.
Makena Alexander was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week for her performance in the series. In Butler’s game-one, 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.
SCOUTING INDIANA (34-13, 10-7 Big Ten)
Series- Indiana leads, 12-3-1
Indiana won the most recent game, 9-1, in Bloomington on 2023.
The teams played a doubleheader in Bloomington in 2018. Butler won the first, 4-1, and Indiana won the second, 7-2.
2024 B1G series results: Iowa (W-W-W), Purdue (W-L), Minnesota (W-W-W), Mich. State (W-W-W), Michigan (L-L-L), Penn St. (L-L-L)
Wins for the Hoosiers this season also include: No. 15 Oregon, Kansas, Louisville, Notre Dame, Drake, IUPUI, and Dayton
Losses include: No. 5 Clemson, No. 10 Florida, and No. 17 Arizona
Indiana vs. (opponents) Butler
runs: 301-168 190
hits: 396-286 327
RBI: 266-150 173
SB: 103-38 53
ERA: 2.89-5.72 5.12
Batting Leaders:
#3 Taylor Minnick (.380) 54H, 11-2B, 9HR, 47RBI
#16 Brianna Copeland (.340) 8-2B, 7HR, 28 RBI, 17 SB
#14 Sarah Stone (.338) 10-2B, 7HR, 39 RBI
#18 Avery Parker (.328) 7-2B, 12HR, 37 RBI
Pitching Leaders:
#16 Brianna Copeland (17-8) 2.46 ERA, 137K
#28 Sophie Kleiman (12-3) 2.58 ERA, 71K
BALL STATE WOMEN’S GOLF
WOMEN’S GOLF, GALLAGHER FINISH FOURTH AT MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROVE CITY, Ohio – – The Ball State women’s golf team put together its best round of the week Tuesday, shooting +16 (304) to climb two spots up the leaderboard and finish fourth among the 10-team field at the 2024 Mid-American Conference Championships at the Pinnacle Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio.
“I was very proud of the way we finished off the season today with a really solid round,” head coach Cameron Andry said. “Pinnacle was a great test this week and we navigated it much better today.”
The Cardinals finished with the second-lowest team round of the day, trailing only champion Kent State which finished at +13 (301). The effort helped Ball State climb from sixth to fourth in the final team standings with a final tally of +75 (939). The Golden Flashes finished the tournament at +45 (909).
Ball State’s effort was led by another spectacular performance from sophomore Sarah Gallagher who recorded the second-lowest individual total of the day by tying her opening-round score of +1 (73). With the effort, Gallagher finished fourth overall among the field of 50 golfers with a score of +9 (225).
“Sarah’s round today was really impressive,” Andry said. “She’s such a poised competitor with a great work ethic so this performance from her is no surprise to me.”
Gallagher’s round got off to a hot start with birdies on holes two and four, while she finished her first 12 holes of the day at -3. After a small rough patch when the weather started to turn cold and blustery, she closed the day with a birdie on 16 and back-to-back pars.
In addition to placing fourth, which earned her MAC All-Tournament Team honors, Gallagher would tie for the tournament lead with 10 birdies over the three days. She also tied for third in par 4 average, at 4.23 (+7), and tied for fifth in par 5 average, at 4.92 (-1).
Right behind Gallagher was sophomore Jasmine Driscoll who continued her climb up the leaderboard, rising six more spots with her best round of the tournament at +4 (75). Driscoll birdied three of her first five holes, including a chip-in from just off the green on the par 3, 145-yard second, to place 13th overall at +18 (234).
Senior Kiah Parrott closed her collegiate career with her best round of the championships, finishing the day at +5 (76). The effort helped her catapult 14 spots in the final standings into a tie for 17th at +21 (237). Parrott was -1 through her first 12 holes, including a string of three birdies over four holes in the middle of the round. Like Gallagher, she finished the tournament tied for fifth in par 5 average at 4.92 (-1).
“Kiah has had a great career in the Cardinal and White,” Andry added. “Her name is all over our record books and she leaves a great legacy.”
Rounding out Ball State’s top four on the day was junior Sabrina Langerak who tied her best round of the championships at +8 (80). Her round, which included her fourth birdie of the event, helped her hold steady in a tie for 34th at +27 (243).
Freshman JJ Gregston also battled hard in her MAC Championships debut, finishing in a tie for 42nd at +36 (252). Her final-round effort included a pair of birdies, with one being a chip-in of her own on the par 4, 391-yard 13th.
This week’s effort closes a very successful 2023-24 campaign for the Ball State women’s golf program which set numerous records over the course of the season, including team records for 18-hole scoring, 36-hole day scoring and 54-hole tournament scoring.
“I’m excited to see this core continue to work hard and build on our successes this year as we head into the summer and prepare for next fall,” Andry concluded.
BALL STATE INDIVIDUAL FINAL RESULTS
4 – Sarah Gallagher – +9 (225): 73-79-73
13 – Jasmine Driscoll – +18 (234): 80-79-75
T17- Kiah Parrott – +21 (237): 81-80-76
T34 – Sabrina Langerak – +27 (243): 83-80-80
T42 – JJ Gregston – +36 (252): 86-80-86
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. Kent State – +45 (909): 296-312-301
2. Toledo – +56 (920): 305-305-310
3. Northern Illinois – +73 (937): 310-311-316
4. Ball State – +75 (939): 317-318-304
5. Central Michigan – +83 (313): 315-319-313
6. Ohio – +87 (951): 321-316-314
7. Akron – +90 (954): 316-315-323
8. Bowling Green – +96 (960): 315-324-321
9. Western Michigan – +99 (963): 319-318-326
10. Eastern Michigan – +108 (972): 322-319-331
INDIANA STATE SOFTBALL
SYCAMORES TO HOST EVANSVILLE FOR SERIES FINALE
TERRE HAUTE, Ind.- Indiana State will host Evansville for the series finale, which is tied 1-1. Wednesday’s game will have live stats available and streamed on ESPN+.
The Sycamores (18-24, 6-11) are coming off a 1-2 weekend where they dropped their three-game series to Illinois State. Indiana State has a .268 batting average and a 3.95 ERA.
The Purple Aces (13-30, 8-12) are coming off a 2-1 weekend where they won their three-game series against Murray State. Evansville has a .251 batting average and a 5.75 ERA.
Indiana State defeated Evansville in a five inning run-rule in March, with a score of 9-0. The Purple Aces took game two of the series in extra innings with a score of 6-5. The series is tied 1-1 and Wednesday’s game will determine which team claims the series. Evansville currently leads the all time series 30-28, which dates back to 2003.
Sycamore Standouts:
Indiana State totaled a season high of 18 hits, 14 RBIs, 14 runs scored, and five doubles on Wednesday’s run rule victory over Butler. Nine Sycamores recorded hits over Butler and seven recorded RBIs.
Kennedy Shade was dominant this week offensively, in all four games, where she totaled seven hits, which consisted of three home runs, one double, 12 RBIs, and four runs scored. Shade leads the Sycamores with a .355 batting average, where she now has 15 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI games. Shade leads the MVC in RBIs, with 40.
Isabella Henning leads the conference with a 0.508 on base percentage and is ranked second in doubles, with 14.
Abi Chipps is second in the MVC in hits, with 48, and leads the Sycamores in stolen bases, with 11.
In the Circle:
Lauren Sackett picked up her eighth win of the season this weekend in a 2-1 victory over Illinois State. Sackett leads the Sycamores with 74 strikeouts this season.
Hailey Griffin (6-5) leads the Sycamores pitching staff with a 3.57 ERA in 22 game appearances and 95.2 innings of work. Griffin has been named player of the week two times this season.
Scouting Evansville:
Frossard leads the Purple Aces with a .314 batting average, which consists of 37 hits, six doubles, two triples, 11 RBIs, and 23 runs scored.
Hannah Hood picked up the game winning single to give Evansville a walk off win over Murray State on Friday, and Hood went a perfect 3-3 in the 5-2 win on Sunday to help the Purple Aces clinch the MVC series.
Weatherford (6-6) leads the Purple Aces pitching staff with a 2.83 ERA in 81.2 innings of work and picked up her sixth win of the season to clinch the series over Murray State last weekend.
Up Next:
Indiana State will host Southern Illinois at Price Field, beginning on Friday, April 26 at 3 p.m ET for a three-game MVC series. Game times are listed below.
Friday, April 26 @ 3 p.m ET
Saturday, April 27 @ 2 p.m ET
Sunday, April 28 @ 12 p.m ET (Senior Day)
PURDUE FT. WAYNE BASEBALL
‘DONS HOST TOLEDO ON WEDNESDAY
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Purdue Fort Wayne is set to host Toledo on Wednesday (April 24) in their penultimate midweek matchup of the 2024 season.
Game Day Information
When: Wednesday, April 24 | 3:00 p.m. ET
Where: Mastodon Field | Fort Wayne, Ind.
Live Stats:Link
Weather: High of 51/low of 33, 5% chance of rain
Series History: Purdue Fort Wayne is now 5-12 against Toledo after their 8-7 extra inning win last season. Colton Shirley scored the tying run in the ninth inning and knocked in the winning run in the 10th.
Scouting the Rockets: Toledo starts the week on a five-game losing streak that has put them below .500 on the season at 19-21. The Rockets have three hitters (Garret Pike, Luke Walton, and Brayden White) hitting over .300 this season.
‘Dons & Ends:
– Jacob Walker leads the team with 51 hits and 13 doubles.
– Carter Sabol (4.92) is one of only three pitchers in the Horizon League with an ERA under 5. Sabol is also one of seven pitchers in the league holding opposing hitters below a .300 average.
– Sabol and Kevin Fee are tied with two other pitchers for second place in the league with four wins.
– Jacob Walker and Nick Sutherlin are tied for the team lead with 16 multi-hit games.
– Nick Sutherlin is second on the team in doubles (11), only behind Jacob Walker (13).
– Ben Higgins has reached base in eight straight games.
– The ‘Dons are 50-of-58 in stolen base attempts this season.
– Seven Mastodons have thrown 20 or more innings this season.
Sunday Special: The Mastodons’ Sunday victory over Youngstown State was thanks to some solid pitching from Brody Fine and Kevin Fee. Fine got the win in 5.1 innings with four strikeouts. Fee allowed two hits, with one walk and two strikeouts over 3.2 innings for his fourth save of the season.
Nine Times: In last weekend’s series against Youngstown State, Ben Higgins reached base nine times in three games. In total, Higgins had five hits and four walks while driving in two runs and scoring three himself.
Last Time Out: The Mastodons took down Youngstown state 6-3 on Sunday afternoon behind a 3 RBI game from Cade Fitzpatrick.
EVANSVILLE SOFTBALL
ACES COMPLETE SERIES WITH SYCAMORES ON WEDNESDAY
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Another series will be decided on Wednesday when the University of Evansville softball team travels to Terre Haute to face Indiana State in a 3 p.m. CT game at Price Field. ESPN+ will have the live coverage of the game.
First Two Games
– The Purple Aces and Sycamores met in Evansville on March 12-13 with each team picking up a victory
– ISU opened with a 9-0 victory before the Aces rallied to take a 6-5 win in eight innings in the second contest
– Lacy Smith was the start of the victory, picking up the game-tying and game-winning hits in the come-from-behind win
Looking for 300
– Sunday’s win over Murray State marked the 299th for UE head coach Mat Mundell
– He won 117 games as the head coach at Illinois-Springfield and currently has 182 wins with the Purple Aces
Last Time Out
– UE earned a series win over Murray State over the weekend, taking two out of three games in Evansville
– Hannah Hood had the game-winning hit in the 8th inning of Friday’s 4-3 walk-off win
– Sunday’s game saw UE take a 5-2 victory to clinch the series as Hood was a perfect 3-for-3
– Sydney Weatherford earned both wins for the Aces, finishing with a 1.87 ERA in 15 innings of work
Finishing Strong
– Hannah Hood enjoyed a strong weekend against Murray State as she batted .500 with hits in each of the three games
– She picked up the game-winning hit in the 8th inning on Friday before going 1-3 in Saturday’s game
– Hood finished the weekend on a strong note, going a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI in Sunday’s 5-2 triumph
– Batting .500 on the weekend, Hood saw her average rise from .231 to .257
Back on Track
– Jess Willsey entered the Murray State series on an 0-for-10 skid at the plate but a strong weekend saw her go 5-for-9 while batting .556
– Following a 1-4 game on Friday, she went 2-3 on Saturday before a 2-for-2 game in Sunday’s win while adding two runs
– Willsey has recorded a hit in 12 of the last 17 games and is second on the team with a .283 average and 20 RBI
Evansville’s Ace
– Sydney Weatherford got back on track with two strong efforts against Murray State
– Weatherford went 2-0 while posting a 1.87 ERA in 15 innings of work
– Friday’s 8-inning win saw her go the entire distance allowing three runs on six hits; in Sunday’s win, she allowed two runs, just one being earned
– In 8 appearances between March 15 and April 6, she gave up just eight earned runs in 50 innings
EVANSVILLE BASEBALL
RAIN MOVES BASEBALL GAME AT PURDUE TO WEDNESDAY
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Due to the forecast for constant rain in the West Lafayette, Indiana area on Tuesday, the University of Evansville baseball game at Purdue has been moved to Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. central time. Now, the streaking Purple Aces will put its eight-game winning streak on the line on Wednesday against the Big Ten’s Purdue Boilermakers.
Evansville will enter Wednesday’s game with a 22-17 overall record after sweeping Bradley in a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series over the weekend. UE enters the week tied for the nation’s second-longest winning streak, as the Purple Aces have won eight-straight games, and 12 out of 13 games overall. It marks the fourth year in a row in which the Purple Aces have put together an eight-game winning streak during the course of the season, something that has never happened before in program history.
Pitching has helped power UE’s current eight-game winning streak, as over the last eight games, UE’s pitching staff has posted a 3.31 ERA. Freshman left-hander Kevin Reed (3-0, 7.50 ERA) will get the start in Wednesday’s contest. Reed is coming off of one of his best outings of the year last time out, as he allowed just three runs (two earned) over 5.0 innings of work at Indiana in the Purple Aces’ 5-4 win. Reed has been at his best this year against big-time competition, as he has posted a combined 1-0 record and 4.82 ERA in two starts against Indiana and Kentucky.
Offensively, Evansville continues to rank among the nation’s leaders in doubles, as UE currently ranks fifth in the country with 102 doubles. The Purple Aces are just five doubles shy of the national lead, and five different Purple Aces already have double-digit doubles totals on the year. Senior infielder/outfielder Kip Fougerousse and junior outfielder Harrison Taubert are currently tied for the team lead, and rank second in the Missouri Valley Conference with 14 doubles this season.
Purdue will enter Wednesday’s game at 25-15 overall. The Boilermakers boast one of the nation’s top freshman hitters in redshirt freshman Luke Gaffney. Gaffney will bring a .403 batting average into Wednesday’s game, and he has already set a new Purdue freshman record with 54 RBI this season. Gaffney provides the power in the Boilermaker lineup as well, as he has launched a team-leading 10 home runs, while also knocking 13 doubles and two triples. Overall, the Boilermakers are tied for second in the Big Ten in scoring at 8.4 runs per game.
All-time, Purdue holds a slim 20-19 edge in the series with Evansville, after the Purple Aces won three series meetings last year, including a 12-10 victory at Purdue’s Alexander Field. Wednesday’s game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and seen live on the Big Ten Network+ streaming service.
EVANSVILLE SOFTBALL
ACES COMPLETE SERIES WITH SYCAMORES ON WEDNESDAY
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Another series will be decided on Wednesday when the University of Evansville softball team travels to Terre Haute to face Indiana State in a 3 p.m. CT game at Price Field. ESPN+ will have the live coverage of the game.
First Two Games
– The Purple Aces and Sycamores met in Evansville on March 12-13 with each team picking up a victory
– ISU opened with a 9-0 victory before the Aces rallied to take a 6-5 win in eight innings in the second contest
– Lacy Smith was the start of the victory, picking up the game-tying and game-winning hits in the come-from-behind win
Looking for 300
– Sunday’s win over Murray State marked the 299th for UE head coach Mat Mundell
– He won 117 games as the head coach at Illinois-Springfield and currently has 182 wins with the Purple Aces
Last Time Out
– UE earned a series win over Murray State over the weekend, taking two out of three games in Evansville
– Hannah Hood had the game-winning hit in the 8th inning of Friday’s 4-3 walk-off win
– Sunday’s game saw UE take a 5-2 victory to clinch the series as Hood was a perfect 3-for-3
– Sydney Weatherford earned both wins for the Aces, finishing with a 1.87 ERA in 15 innings of work
Finishing Strong
– Hannah Hood enjoyed a strong weekend against Murray State as she batted .500 with hits in each of the three games
– She picked up the game-winning hit in the 8th inning on Friday before going 1-3 in Saturday’s game
– Hood finished the weekend on a strong note, going a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI in Sunday’s 5-2 triumph
– Batting .500 on the weekend, Hood saw her average rise from .231 to .257
Back on Track
– Jess Willsey entered the Murray State series on an 0-for-10 skid at the plate but a strong weekend saw her go 5-for-9 while batting .556
– Following a 1-4 game on Friday, she went 2-3 on Saturday before a 2-for-2 game in Sunday’s win while adding two runs
– Willsey has recorded a hit in 12 of the last 17 games and is second on the team with a .283 average and 20 RBI
Evansville’s Ace
– Sydney Weatherford got back on track with two strong efforts against Murray State
– Weatherford went 2-0 while posting a 1.87 ERA in 15 innings of work
– Friday’s 8-inning win saw her go the entire distance allowing three runs on six hits; in Sunday’s win, she allowed two runs, just one being earned
– In 8 appearances between March 15 and April 6, she gave up just eight earned runs in 50 innings
EVANSVILLE MEN’S GOLF
MEN’S GOLF TAKES 7TH AT MVC CHAMPIONSHIP
SUNRISE BEACH, Mo. – Nicholas Gushrowski and Isaac Rohleder posted rounds of 74 on Tuesday to help the University of Evansville men’s golf team come home in 7th place at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship at The Golf Club at Porta Cima.
Gushrowski and Rohleder finished the day at 2-over par to lead the Purple Aces. Completing the three rounds with a 233, Gushrowski tied for 38th while Rohleder was three behind with a 236. He tied for 43rd.
Carson Parker recorded the top finish for the Aces. Posting a 75 or lower in all three rounds, Parker scored a 224 on his way to a 26th place finish. He carded a 75 in Tuesday’s final round. Daniil Romashkin was two behind him with a 226. Romashkin finished round three with a 78 but had Evansville’s lowest round of the tournament with a 71 on Sunday.
Next up was Caleb Wassmer. His round of 78 on Tuesday gave him a 230, tying him for 34th. His low score was a 3-over 75 on Monday. Gushrowski tied for 38th with his 233 while Rohleder came home in a tie for 43rd with a 236.
As a team, Evansville improved in each of the three rounds before earning a 7th-place finish. UE’s 301 in the final round secured the finish with a final total of 905 strokes. The Aces edged Illinois State by two while coming in six shots ahead of Bradley.
Southern Illinois took top team and individual honors. The Salukis’ 856 finished eight in front of Missouri State and 12 on top of Valparaiso. Edouard Cereto of the Salukis was the medalist with a 209. His tally was two in front of Valpo’s Caleb VanArragon.
SOUTHERN INDIANA MEN’S GOLF
MEN’S GOLF BOWS OUT OF OVC CHAMPIONSHIP
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala.- University of Southern Indiana Men’s Golf finishes their season with a three-way tie for fifth place at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship at RTJ Golf Trail in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
The OVC Championship included all eleven OVC teams competing for the conference championship. The tournament is a culmination of the work done in the regular season in preparation for the high stake week. The tournament included three straight days of 18-holes in an effort to earn a top-four rank to advance to the match play tournament on Wednesday. After a slow first round, the Screaming Eagles battled back into contention but fell just short of the cut at fifth place (+37).
Day One:
The Eagles dug themselves in a hole after shooting a 309 on day one, sitting in sixth place. Junior Jason Bannister (Laguna Niguel, California) shot a team-low 74 (+2) for the round with sophomore Carter Goebel (Breese, Illinois) right behind him at 75 (+3). However, USI had a steep hill to climb as the University of Arkansas-Little Rock finished the round with a team score of 291 in first.
Day Two:
The Eagles saw massive improvements in round two cutting their score by 16 strokes to a 293. USI was unable to jump any other teams on the leaderboard finishing another day in sixth place, but they narrowed the gap significantly. Senior Jace Day (Bloomington, Indiana) and Bannister tied for the team best round with a score of 72 (E). Day had the largest improvement on the team between rounds cutting his score by nine strokes.
Day Three:
USI battled on day three to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place with Lindenwood University and Morehead State University. Junior Sam Vertanen (Ames, Iowa) shot his best round of the tournament with a 75 (+5). Bannister again led the Eagles shooting a team tournament-best 71 (-1). His consistent play earned a fourth place finish giving him three straight years finishing in the top five in the OVC Championships (2023 & 2024) and GLVC Championships (2022). Bannister was named All-Tournament again in another impressive performance on the biggest stage.
The Eagles had five seniors on the roster this year Tanner Walton (Jackson, Missouri), Peyton Short (Greenwood, Indiana), Trevor Laub (Edwardsville, Illinois), Bryce Kirchner (North Vernon, Indiana), and Day.
Day played all four seasons with the Screaming Eagles. Earlier this season Day broke the 54-hole individual record after shooting a 206 three-round score at the Buddy hosted by Murray State. He caught fire again at the World Golf Village Collegiate recording the best round in school history with 64. Day had another stellar performance at the Jewell hosted by Northern Kentucky putting up a three-round score of 211. Day was also named to the Academic All-GLVC teams in both 2021 and 2022 as well as the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll in 2023.
Kirchner transferred to USI after the 2022 season from Vincennes University and spent the last two seasons competing for the Eagles. Kirchner competed in two tournaments this season with an average score of 73.4 over five rounds. Kirchner was named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll in 2023.
Laub spent the last two seasons with the Screaming Eagles following a transfer from Heartland Community College after his 2022 season. Laub participated in six competitions this year posting an average score of 76.78.
Short is a four-year Screaming Eagle spending his entire college career at USI. Short participated in two competitions this season with an average score of 80.20. Short saw the best round of his career at the Music City Invitational during the 2022-23 season shooting 75 for his first round.
Walton spent the first two years of his career at John A Logan University before transferring to USI and spending two years as a Screaming Eagle. Walton competed in two events as a Screaming Eagle recording his best round of 221 (+5) at the Golfweek Fall Challenge. Walton was named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll in 2023.
USI made history resetting the record books in multiple categories as the future looks bright for years to come for the Eagles.
SOUTHERN INDIANA BASEBALL
USI MANUFACTURES EXTRA INNING WIN OVER BELMONT
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball manufactured an 11-inning, 4-3 win over Belmont University Tuesday afternoon at the USI Baseball Field. USI is 17-24, while Belmont goes to 20-21.
The Screaming Eagles had command early, scoring three times on three walks, a hit batter, and a pair of sacrifice flies in the first inning. The 3-0 lead would last until the seventh inning when Bruins cut the lead to 3-1 on a home run and tied the game 3-3 on a pair of runs in the eighth.
The score would remain tied until the bottom of the 11th when the Eagles loaded the bases on a base hit, a walk, and an intentional walk. USI sophomore shortstop Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana) would send the Eagles home winners by getting hit by a pitch to force in junior first baseman Thomas Emerich (Ava, Missouri) with the 4-3 game winner. Emerich led off the 11th with his team-high second base hit of the game.
The win on the mound went to junior right-hander Adam Weihe (Louisville, Kentucky), who pitched three innings of scoreless relief. Weihe (1-2), who was the eighth USI hurler of the game, faced 10 batters and allowed only one hit during the three frames.
Up Next for the Eagles:
The Eagles are on the road for the next four games, beginning with a visit to Eastern Illinois University Thursday and Friday. The USI-EIU series has been moved up to a Thursday doubleheader at noon and a single game Friday at 2 p.m. due to the heavy rains in the forecast in Charleston, Illinois.
The road swing concludes April 30 when the Eagles travel to Southern Illinois University for a 6 p.m. single game.
VALPO SOFTBALL
TUESDAY SOFTBALL DOUBLEHEADER POSTPONED TO WEDNESDAY
Due to rain in the forecast throughout the afternoon, the Valpo softball doubleheader versus Northern Illinois Tuesday afternoon has been postponed. The teams will attempt to play the twinbill on Wednesday afternoon at the Valpo Softball Complex, with game one starting at 1 p.m.
VALPO MEN’S GOLF
THREE BEACONS AMONG TOP 5 AT MVC CHAMPIONSHIP
Three members of the Valparaiso University men’s golf program were among the top-5 finishers as the Beacons completed the third and final round of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Tuesday at the par-72, 7060-yard Club at Porto Cima in Sunrise Beach, Mo. Junior Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield) climbed six spots on the leaderboard to finish third thanks to a stellar final round, while fifth-year senior Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) closed out a runner-up finish among 50 competitors in his final league tournament.
VanArragon was named the Missouri Valley Conference Golfer of the Year following Tuesday’s round, becoming the second straight Beacon to earn the league’s highest honor after Delisanti did so a year ago. In addition, VanArragon was named the MVC Elite 17 Award winner for the fourth consecutive year, capturing the award presented annually to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average among top finishers at the championship. Freshman Adam Melliere (Zionsville, Ind. / Zionsville), Delisanti and VanArragon were all named to the All-MVC Team. Delisanti earned all-conference accolades for the third consecutive season, while VanArragon did so for the fifth year in a row.
How It Happened
VanArragon stroked a 70 (-2) on the tournament’s final day with four birdies against two bogeys. He birdied three out of four holes during a stretch on the back nine. He boasted a 54-hole score of 211 (-5), two strokes behind individual medalist Edouard Cereto of Southern Illinois. VanArragon was just one stroke back with two holes remaining, but he had a par and bogey on the final two holes while Cereto had a birdie and bogey.
After winning the conference tournament each of the last two seasons, Delisanti delivered yet another top-3 showing, putting together the best Round-3 score in the tournament field with a 67 (-5) to jump six spots on the player leaderboard and finish third. Reminiscent of his medalist performance from his freshman year, Delisanti was a machine on the back nine, using just 29 strokes, a tournament low for any nine. He was seven strokes under par on the final nine holes, posting five birdies, three pars and an eagle on the par-5 13th hole.
Melliere was also part of the Top 5, finishing tied for fourth with a 213 (-3) in his first league tournament. He posted a 73 (+1) during Tuesday’s final round including four birdies.
Valpo’s final countable score in Round 3 was a 75 from Sam Booth (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel). The Beacons had their best round of the tournament on Tuesday and tied with Missouri State for the tournament’s best Round-3 score at 285. Valpo finished third of 10 at 868 (+4) over the 54 holes, behind team champion Southern Illinois (856, -8) and runner-up Missouri State (864, E).
Inside the Rounds
Valpo picked up its third straight top-3 finish at the MVC Championship and had a top-2 individual for the third consecutive season.
VanArragon picked up his 37th career top-10 finish, his 26th career top-5 finish and his 18th career top-2 finish.
Delisanti enjoyed his sixth top-10 finish this season and the 19th of his career.
Valpo accrued 48 birdies in the tournament, the third most in the field.
The team’s top birdie production came from Delisanti and Melliere with 13 apiece, followed closely by VanArragon with 12.
Delisanti ranked second in the field in par-3 scoring average at 2.92.
Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring
“We came into the tournament determined to win the championship. I felt the guys were well prepared and we had a terrific season getting us ready to bring home a championship. After finishing in second place the last two years, we certainly weren’t expecting to win, but we knew that we had a great opportunity. To come up short and finish in third place hurts and certainly is disappointing.”
“Our guys are super competitive and all they want to do is win. They never gave up, and kept battling through all three rounds to the very last hole. This was clearly evident during the final nine holes of the tournament. We played that stretch at eight under par, with 13 birdies and one eagle. That stretch was a great example of how we were capable of playing. We simply couldn’t find that spark or momentum anywhere during the first 45 holes of the tournament.”
“Another area that I was very proud of the guys was their perseverance and poise. The golf course was a terrific challenge for all of the teams and it demanded a lot of good shots all of the time. Despite some poor shots and poor scores on a given hole, they kept grinding. We just didn’t have quite the shot execution that we were looking for, especially in the first two rounds.”
“The team was recognized after the tournament for an awesome body of work during the entire season. To have our top three players in Caleb, Anthony and Adam finish in second, third and fourth place individually out of 50 players is really special. Their all-conference accolades were well-deserved. The team and I couldn’t be happier for Caleb and his Golfer of the Year Award. It is certainly an emotional time when you reflect on the seniors who are graduating and the opportunity for potential postseason competition. For the time being, we will enjoy celebrating a terrific season!”
Up Next
Stay tuned for information on postseason play. The NCAA Men’s Golf Selection Show is Wednesday, May 1 at 1 p.m. on The Golf Channel.
Major Awards
Team Champion: Southern Illinois
Medalist: Edouard Cereto, Southern Illinois
Golfer of the Year: Caleb VanArragon, Valparaiso
Newcomer of the Year: Edouard Cereto, Southern Illinois
Coach of the Year: Ray Kralis, Illinois State
Elite 17 Award: Caleb VanArragon, Valparaiso
All-Conference Team
Michael Senn, Belmont
Jack Schoenberger, Belmont
Valentin Peugnet, Illinois State
Alex McCulla, Illinois State
Hampus Wijkstrom, Missouri State
Edouard Cereto, Southern Illinois
Dain Richie, Southern Illinois
Caleb VanArragon, Valparaiso
Anthony Delisanti, Valparaiso
Adam Melliere, Valparaiso
VALPARAISO BASEBALL
NIU WALKS OFF WITH WIN IN HIGH-SCORING MIDWEEK MATCHUP
A low-scoring game early evolved into a slugfest in the late innings on a windy Tuesday afternoon in DeKalb, Ill. The Valparaiso University baseball team and Northern Illinois combined for 13 runs in the seventh and eighth innings alone in a game where the squads combined for 19 runs on 28 hits in total. On a day where it felt like the last at-bats may be significant, that proved to be the case as Northern Illinois won 10-9 on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth.
How It Happened
Neither team scored over the game’s first three innings with Bryce Konitzer (Mukwonago, Wis. / Mukwonago [Oakland]) putting together another strong start for the Beacons. He permitted just one hit over three scoreless frames while walking none and striking out four.
The Huskies greeted the Valpo bullpen with each of the first four official at-bats resulting in base hits including two for extra bases. That led to a three-run third.
Valpo got on the board in the top of the fifth when Liam Patton (Barrington, Ill. / Warsaw [Wabash]) crossed the plate with two down as Brady Renfro (Antigo, Wis. / Antigo) dumped a single into right.
NIU added one in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-1, but it could have been worse as Griffin McCluskey (Normal, Il. / Normal Community) prevented further damage by wiggling out of a bases-loaded, one-out spot.
Valpo rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead. Connor Giusti, Alex Thurston (Fowler, Ind. / Benton Central) and Kevin Denty (Tinley Park, Ill. / Marian Catholic) started the inning with a string of singles. Renfro walked to force in a run, then Kyle Schmack (Wanatah, Ind. / South Central) was nailed with a pitch to make it 4-3. A sac fly by Carson Husmann (Hanna, Ind. / South Central [Bradley]) tied the game, then an infield single by Alex Ryan (Lake Mills, Wis. / Lakeside Lutheran) gave Valpo its first lead of the game at 5-4.
NIU regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh on a three-run homer by Colin Summerhill.
The seesaw affair continued in the eighth when an RBI triple by Denty followed by a base knock by Renfro tied the game at seven, then Schmack unloaded a two-run jack to make it 9-7.
Northern Illinois tied the game with two in the eighth including a solo homer.
Cooper Cohn hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Inside the Game
Schmack’s home run was his 13th home run of the season and the 31st of his collegiate career. His 13 home runs mark the most by a Valpo player in a single season since Dan Schrum in 2002. He climbed into a tie for fourth in single-season program history, joining Mark Pedersen (2001) and Dan Schrum (2002).
Denty and Guisti both made the most of their opportunities in the lineup, as each man had three hits. Denty was a home run shy of the cycle and had his first collegiate triple, the team’s fourth of the season.
Although NIU did get two late walks, the first four Valpo pitchers did not issue any free passes and control was a bright spot for most of the day.
To illustrate the back-and-forth nature of the game, seven different pitchers (four Northern Illinois, three Valpo) were at one point in line for either a win or a loss and all ended up with no decisions.
This was Valpo’s ninth one-run game of the year and they fell to 3-6 in such contests.
Valpo head coach Brian Schmack pitched collegiately at Northern Illinois from 1992-1995 before going on to a professional career that included time in the big leagues with the Detroit Tigers in 2003.
Valpo played a three-game set with NIU that was held at Chicago State in 2019, but this marked the team’s first visit to DeKalb since 2018.
Up Next
Valpo (12-26) will visit UIC for a three-game weekend series in Chicago starting on Friday at 6 p.m. The games this weekend will be broadcast on ESPN+.
UINDY SOFTBALL
GREYHOUNDS REACH SECOND IN RECENT COACHES POLL
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The UIndy softball team moved up to second in the newest National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II poll. It marked the highest ranking for the team in two years to the week, and also the first time it received first-place votes since April of 2021.
Currently on a 15-game win streak, the Hounds’ impressive performance against Upper Iowa and Truman was featured in the GLVC weekly awards. Kenzee Smith was named Pitcher of the Week for the third week in a row and Emily O’Connor grabbed Player of the Week.
UIndy will remain on the road to face Thomas More on Wednesday, April 24. The two Midwest Region teams met on Feb. 16 at the Music City Invitational, with the Hounds winning a close one, 4-3. The matchup will occur in Crestview Hills, Ky., with the first pitch slated for 3:30 p.m. ET.
NFCA DIVISION II POLL
| Rk | Team | Rec | Pts | Prev |
| 1. | West Texas A&M (7) | 43-5 | 388 | 1 |
| 2. | UIndy (6) | 44-3 | 385 | 3 |
| 3. | Tampa (3) | 38-6 | 379 | 2 |
| 4. | UT Tyler | 40-7 | 344 | 5 |
| 5. | Central Oklahoma | 40-8 | 326 | 6 |
| 6. | Colorado Christian | 45-4 | 305 | 7 |
| 7. | Wingate | 44-7 | 300 | 10 |
| 8. | North Georgia | 43-8 | 293 | 4 |
| 9. | Pittsburg State | 45-5 | 285 | 9 |
| 10. | Mississippi College | 39-6 | 249 | 12 |
| 11. | Charleston | 39-2 | 238 | 13 |
| 12. | Rogers State | 36-10 | 234 | 8 |
| 13. | Western Washington | 36-6 | 219 | 11 |
| 14. | Northwest Nazarene | 37-8 | 175 | 17 |
| 15. | East Stroudsburg | 36-12 | 170 | 14 |
| 16. | Auburn Montgomery | 33-11 | 163 | 15 |
| 17. | Concordia | 35-11 | 141 | 16 |
| 18. | Grand Valley State | 30-13 | 115 | 18 |
| 19. | Wilmington | 33-12 | 101 | 21 |
| 20. | Rollins | 32-11 | 87 | 20 |
| 21. | Francis Marion | 41-10 | 80 | 24 |
| 22. | Angelo State | 36-13 | 64 | 22 |
| 23. | Lenoir-Rhyne | 39-13 | 52 | 19 |
| 24. | Washburn | 36-12 | 49 | 23 |
| 25. | Colorado Mesa | 37-7 | 24 |
Others Receiving Votes: UAH (17), Oklahoma Baptist (12), Cal State Dominguez Hills (3), Trevecca Nazarene (2)
UINDY MEN’S GOLF
UINDY YOUNGSTERS CAPTURE GLVC MEN’S GOLF TITLE
SMITHVILLE, Mo.—The UIndy men’s golf team capped a memorable week with a title-clinching performance at the 2024 GLVC Championships on Tuesday. The Greyhounds’ all-freshman lineup showed maturity beyond its years, topping the stroke-pay leaderboard Monday before earning close victories in both the semifinals and finals Tuesday to capture the program’s league-best 17th conference title. The Championships were held at the Paradise Pointe Golf Complex in Smithville, Mo.
The Greyhounds have now won four GLVC trophies since the conference adopted its current format in 2012. They now await the announcement of the 2024 NCAA Division II Regional field, which is set for Friday, April 26. The regional itself is scheduled for May 9-11 in Edmund, Okla. The Greyhounds were ranked No. 4 in the most-recent Midwest rankings.
TUESDAY
The young but resilient Greyhounds fought their way to the finals only to face a more-seasoned Missouri S&T squad, one that edged them at their own tournament just two weeks ago.
The key moment came during the afternoon’s second pairing – S&T junior Jeppe Thybo, the medalist of the aforementioned tourney, versus fellow-Scandinavian Simon Engman, UIndy’s No. 1 most of the season.
Thybo earned a two-stroke lead through 10 holes, but Engman clawed backed with a par on 11 and a birdie on 16 to knot the score. Engman tipped the scales for the Hounds with a long birdie putt on 18 that clinched a crucial point for the Crimson & Grey.
Ben Keil (73) and Cameron Young (74) closed out the match with points in the final two pairings to seal the win.
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
2 – 32 – 27 – 13 – 14 – 6
April 24, 1917 – New York Yankees left-hander George Mogridge, tossed a no-hit win against the Boston Red Sox, for a narrow 2-1 victory at Fenway Park.
April 24, 1958 – Number 2, Lee Walls, smacked 3 Home Runs in a single day, as he and the Chicago Cubs bludgeoned the Los Angeles Dodgers 15-2 at the LA Coliseum. Walls would go on to hit 24 base clearing shots onthe 1958 season.
April 24, 1962 – Four seasons later the tables would be turned in the match-up of these two NL teams. LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, Number 32 tossed his 2nd career 18-strikeout game, in a 10-2 win over Cubs in Chicago
FOOTBALL HISTORY
Football History Headlines for April 24
April 24, 1974 – The city of Tampa, Florida gets good news as the NFL granted a franchise known as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
April 24, 1988 – In New York City at the 1988 NFL Draft, Auburn tight end Aundray Bruce became the first pick by the Atlanta Falcons. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame website, the players from this Draft class that have made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are wide receiver Tim Brown who was the sixth overall pick by the Raiders, Dallas number 11 selection of wide receiver Michael Irvin, Minnesota’ number 19 selection of Randall McDaniel. In the second round a few more future Gold Jacket wearers were chosen as Buffalo picked up the rights to running back Thurman Thomas and the Pittsburgh franchise turned in the name of center Dermonti Dawson.
April 24, 1994 – NFL Draft: Ohio State defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson first pick by Cincinnati Bengals. According to an NFL.com article there were only a handful of future hall of Famers selected in this draft as of this writing. Offensive lineman Larry Allan, a pick by the Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis 2nd overall selection of running back Marshall Faulk. Faulk had some injury bugs that prevented him from being what the Colts expected but years later as a member of the St Louis Rams the talented back stayed healthy and reached his expected trajectory of greatness. Isaac Bruce was the 33rd selection of the Rams and Seattle’s pick at number 36 of center Kevin Mawae also produced bronze busts in Canton, Ohio.
April 24, 2004 – At the 2004 NFL Draft the San Diego Chargers had the number one overall pick at their disposal and chose Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning. As a matter of fact our Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day says; “Giants Betting Future on Manning!” and that was the headline of the newspaper the Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The New York franchise truly did go “All In” on the Ole Miss QB as they traded their fourth pick (Philip Rivers), the 2004 third round pick, 2005 first rounder and a 2005 5th round selection to garner the rights of Peyton Manning’s younger brother. Then Giants General Manager, Ernie Accorsi made the statement, “We all had the unanimous opinion that this was a special quarterback and you don’t get a chance very many times, for decades, to select someone like him.” Accorsi knows about special QBs taken with the top pick too, after all he was the mastermind in taking John Elway and Bernie Kosar,”What I saw in Manning was a classic prospect. Size, Arm, tremendous athletic ability and feet, poise and class. Probably more important than the obvious physical attributes that you have to have is that he lifted his team. I always looked for that in a quarterback where he made the athletes around him better.”
If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania. , 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.
The Pro Football Reference website shares that there were some very significant players in this Draft class. Larry Fitzgerald the wide receiver from the University of Pittsburgh was chosen third overall by the Cardinals, QB Philip Rivers from NC State was locked up in the four hole by the San Diego Chargers and another signal caller, Ben Roethlisberger from Miami of Ohio was the 11th overall selection by the Steelers. Other big names were Sean Taylor, Roy Williams, DeAngelo Hall, Jonathan Vilma and Vince Wollfork. It will be interesting to see how many of these men will be enshrined in Canton in the next decade.
Some may claim that this is the greatest quarterback draft class in history as Rivers, Manning and Roethlisberger have each thrown for more than 57,000 career yards and each have over 360 TD tosses and four Lombardi Trophies! But I think the 1983 QB Draft class that included Darn Marino, John Elway, and Jim Kelly certainly gave them a run for their money. The 1983 class has more Super Bowl appearances with 10 than the 2004 classes 5, and more League MVPs 2 for the 1983 class and 0 for 2004, but the championship rings go to the ‘04 guys with 4 compared to 2 for 1983.
Birthdays of Hall of Fame Players for April 24
April 24, 1903 – Cleveland, Ohio – Mike Michalske the Penn State All-american guard was born. American Football League’s New York Yankees, and later in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers. He played pro ball with the In 1964 the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined Mike Michalske into their Canton, ohio museum of legends.
April 24, 1915 – New York City, New York – Fordham’s fine tackle of 1935 to 1937, Ed Franco arrived into this life. The Fordham Rams teams of the 1930’s era were a dominant force to be reckoned with. Most of their success stemmed from controlling the lines of scrimmage and Ed Franco was one of the reasons they continued to play at a high level. The National Football Foundation says that the group became known as the “Seven Blocks of Granite.” Ed Franco and Alex Wojciechowicz were two “granite blocks” that later became members of the College Football Hall of Fame, and another guy by the name of Vince Lombardi was another member of that famous line. Ed Franco received the great honor of being selected for inclusion into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980. After his graduation, he returned to Fordham as a line coach and later worked for Vince Lombardi as a scout for the Green Bay Packers.
April 24, 1921 – Nixon, Texas – Rice University’s great interior lineman Weldon Humble was born. The National Football Foundation states that Rice’s head coach Jess Neely considered Weldon Humble the finest interior lineman he had ever coached, calling him “an exceptional athlete, fine competitor and a genuine leader.” In 1946 Weldon anchored the line that gave his team a 9-2 record including an 8-0 blanking of Tennessee in the 1947 Orange Bowl earning Humble a consensus All- America honor. He did his duty in military service during World War II and then played one season at Southwestern Louisiana then entered active military duty. Weldon Humble’s collegiate football records are celebrated in the College Football Hall of Fame after his induction in 1961. Humble later played eight seasons with the Cleveland Browns.
April 24, 1948 – Wise, Virginia -Virginia Tech’s talented End from 1956 to 1959, Carroll Dale claimed his date of birth.The National Football Foundation claims that Carroll is very devout in his faith and has been quoted as saying, “The Bible is my number one Playbook.” As a gifted receiver at Virginia Tech and later in the National Football League, Carroll Dale had another playbook…an offensive one that enabled him to score touchdowns. Dale started in 39 consecutive games at VT…everyone except the first game of his freshman season. In all four seasons he led Virginia Tech in receiving. He finished with a career total of 67 receptions, 15 touchdowns and a high average of 17.8 yards per catch. The College Football Hall of Fame proudly placed a display in honor of Carroll Dale into their legendary museum in 1987. Following graduation Dale played five seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and what a start in the NFLhe had! Carroll scored on a 57-yard touchdown pass in his first NFL game. Later on in his pro career he also played with the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.
TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
April 24
1901 — Chicago defeated Cleveland 8-2 in the first American League game. Three other scheduled games were rained out. The game lasted 1 hour, 30 minutes in front of a reported crowd of 14,000 at the Chicago Cricket Club.
1911 — Battle Creek of the South Michigan League turned two triple plays in the first two innings against Grand Rapids.
1917 — George Mogridge of the New York Yankees pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox in Boston, winning 2-1.
1947 — Johnny Mize of the New York Giants hit three consecutive homers in a 14-5 loss in Boston. It was a major league-record fifth time in his career that Mize hit three home runs in one game.
1957 — The Chicago Cubs set a National League record by walking nine batters in the 5th inning of a 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Redlegs.
1962 — Sandy Koufax struck out 18 Chicago Cubs and pitched the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 10-2 victory at Wrigley Field.
1965 — Casey Stengel recorded his 3,000th victory as a manager as the Mets beat the San Francisco Giants 7-6.
1978 — Nolan Ryan of the California Angels strikes out 15 batters for the 20th time in his career.
1994 — Julio Franco and Robin Ventura twice hit back-to-back homers in Chicago’s 7-6 loss to Detroit.
1996 — Greg Myers and Paul Molitor each had five RBIs as the Minnesota Twins set a team record for runs and routed the Detroit Tigers 24-11. It was the highest run total against the Tigers in 84 years, matching the mark set in a 24-2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics on May 18, 1912.
1998 — Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza ties a major league record hitting his third grand slam of the month.
1998 — Moises Alou drove in five runs and Carl Everett homered from each side of the plate to lead Houston to an 8-4 win over Montreal.
2001 — The American League celebrates its 100th anniversary as a major league.
2007 — Oakland set a major league record in a 4-2 win over Baltimore, keeping the Orioles off the scoreboard in the first inning. It was the 20th straight game in which the A’s did not allow a first-inning run, a record for the start of the season.
2009 — Zack Greinke continues to dominate opposing hitters as he pitches a second straight complete game for the Kansas City Royals.
2012 — Chipper Jones homers on his 40th birthday as the Braves beat the Dodgers, 4-3. He becomes the fifth player in major league history to do this, following Bob Thurman, Joe Morgan, Wade Boggs and Tony Phillips.
2014 — P Michael Pineda of the Yankees is handed a ten-game suspension after being caught using pine tar on the mound in the previous day’s game.
2015 — Rumors emerge that the Rangers have reached a tentative deal with the Angels to acquire troubled OF Josh Hamilton. Hamilton left Texas after the 2012 season to sign a five-year deal worth $125 million, but has not been as productive a player since the deal and suffered a relapse of dependency problems. He has yet to play a game this season.
BASEBALL YEAR IN REVIEW: 1984 (BASEBALL ALMANAC)..
Off the field…
Republican President Ronald Reagan was reelected after defeating Democratic candidate Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro, who was the first female Vice Presidential candidate to represent a major party.
Doctor’s replaced the ailing heart of an infant girl known as “Baby Fae” with that of a baboon’s at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. Although she died twenty-one days later of organ failure, doctors discovered that she hadn’t rejected the heart as many had expected. That gave hope to the doctors and inspired continued research to find a cure for neonatal heart disease.
James Huberty gunned down twenty-one children and adults in a McDonalds restaurant in San Ysidro, California before being shot dead by the police at the scene. The incident was one of the worst mass murders in U.S. history.
In the American League…
On May 9th, Harold Baines hit a 420-foot homerun in the twenty-fifth inning to give the White Sox a 7-6 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers. The eight hour and six minute marathon set an all-time record for the most innings ever played in an American League game as well as the longest game ever in the Major Leagues.
Sparky Anderson’s Detroit Tigers echoed the glory days of Cobb as they dominated the American League with a 104-58 record and one-hundred eighty-seven home runs. Lance Parrish hit thirty-three home runs and ninety-eight RBIs while batting .237, Kirk Gibson added twenty-seven round-trippers and ninety-one RBIs plus a .282 average and Alan Trammell led the team with the top average of .314. Jack Morris anchored the Tigers’ pitching staff with a 19-11 record and Guillermo Hernandez tallies thirty-two saves in thirty-three opportunities.
On the 17th Anniversary of his first round-tripper, Reggie Jackson launched a Bud Black fastball into the right field stands for his five-hundredth career homer. He was the thirteenth player ever to reach that mark following Willie McCovey in 1978. Unfortunately, “Mr. October” and his Anaheim Angels fell 10-1 to the visiting Kansas City Royals.
In the National League…
Pete Rose, then with the Montreal Expos, played in his 3,309th Major League game on June 29th beating Carl Yastrzemski’s record as well as his former team the Cincinnati Reds (7-3).
At Fulton County Stadium, the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres erupted in a ten-minute brawl over a pitching duel that resulted in sixteen major ejections by the officials. Several Major League umpires stated that it was the worst disgrace ever witnessed on a baseball diamond and that it clearly set the game back fifty years in the minds of many fans.
The Chicago Cubs finally won their first title (of any kind) since 1945 after they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 for the National League East.
Around the league…
Due to a strike by the Major League umpires, the first game of the National League Championship Series was called by college replacement officials. The labor dispute was predominately over a pool of $340,000 that the regulars wanted distributed to all umps, including those that were not working the post-season.
“The Natural,” an instant classic based on the novel by Bernard Malamud, debuted on the big screen with Robert Redford starring as Roy Hobbs, an aging slugger with the New York Knights. The climatic finale is still considered one of the greatest scenes ever filmed on a baseball diamond.
Al Schacht, better known as “The Clown Prince of Baseball” died on July 14th at the age of ninety-one. The former Washington Senators pitcher turned top hat jester had entertained the crowd before twenty-five World Series and eighteen All-Star Games.
Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth warned the city of Chicago that he would move all future playoff games involving the Cubs to St. Louis unless outdoor lights were installed at Wrigley Field.
HISTORY OF THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX
If there are baseball gods, then the justice they mete out is both severe and long lasting — 88 years to be exact. Just ask the Chicago White Sox. Having fielded competitive teams in the first two decades of the 20th century, the 1919 team intentionally lost the World Series in the infamous “Black Sox” scandal.
Charles Comiskey was both father and midwife to the White Sox franchise. A former player and manager, Comiskey purchased the minor league team in Sioux City, Iowa, which he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1895. When the National League (the only major league at the time) contracted by four teams in 1899, Comiskey moved the Saints to the South Side in 1900 where they played a final minor league season in the Western League.
An agreement with the Chicago National League franchise forbid his team the use of several names, so the White Sox, a nickname similar (White Stockings) to the one used by the Cubs from 1876 through 1889, were born. Working actively with baseball executive Ban Johnson, they successfully established the rival American League in 1901.
The White Sox first game was an 8-2 win against Cleveland on April 24, 1901. They wound up with the junior circuit’s best record that first year at 83-53, but with the World Series not yet conceived, there was no postseason play.
The White Sox next reached the top in 1906 with a team dubbed the “Hitless Wonders” for their paltry batting average of .230. No regular hit higher than .279 and no one came close to shortstop George Davis’ team-leading 80 runs batted in. What carried the day was a wondrous pitching staff whose names may be forgotten by modern day fans, but were very familiar to hitters of their era. Frank Owen (22-13, 2.33), Nick Altrock (20-13, 2.06), Doc White (18-6, 1.52 to lead the league) and Ed Walsh (17-13, 1.88) combined for a team ERA of 2.13, led the Sox on a 19-game win streak in August (eight of the wins by shutout), and overall, won 29 one-run games.
The Sox won the pennant by three games and then upset their cross-town rival Cubs in the only all-Chicago World Series ever played. The Cubs had pillaged their way to 116 wins that year (a record that still stands) but averaged only 1.5 runs per game against Sox pitching.
After some lean years, Comiskey went on a spending spree that netted him two of the game’s top hitters — “Shoeless” Joe Jackson from Cleveland and Eddie Collins from Philadelphia — and one of the game’s best pitchers in Boston’s Eddie Cicotte. Blending with home grown talent, the Sox won 100 games in 1917 (the only Sox team to reach the century win mark) and dispatched the New York Giants in six games to win their second world title. No one at the time would have believed this would be their last championship in the 20th Century.
The players who formed the solid core of the 1917 champions also formed the rotten core for the 1919 Black Sox. They won the pennant by three games over Cleveland but lost to an underdog Cincinnati Reds team in the World Series. Suspicions about how the Sox played simmered during the Series, but the lid didn’t blow until the following August, when Eddie Cicotte admitted what the players had done, implicating himself, Jackson, fellow pitcher Lefty Williams, Chick Gandil, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, Oscar “Happy” Felsch and utility infielder Fred Mc Mullin. When these other players also confessed, they were immediately suspended by Comiskey, and the Sox team, in first place on August 31, collapsed to second place. It should be noted that the 1920 team still managed to win 96 games and had four 20 game winners in Williams, Cicotte, Red Faber and Dickie Kerr.
The Black Sox were tried in Chicago and acquitted of all charges in 1921. This was not good enough for newly appointed Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who despite the jury’s verdict used the players’ earlier confessions to ban them from major league baseball for life.
The pall of the Black Sox scandal hung over the franchise long after the participants departed. The Sox played dismal second division baseball during the next three decades, becoming Chicago’s second team behind the Cubs. The best they could offer was the chance to see Hall of Fame players such as Luke Appling, one of the great hitting shortstops of all time, and pitcher Ted Lyons.
Bill Veeck took the reins of ownership in 1959, transforming the Sox from the “no-no” team of 1919 to the “go-go” team of 1959. Using a dynamic running game (Luis Aparicio and MVP Nellie Fox were the instigators), stellar defense and a great pitching staff led by thirty-nine year-old Early Wynn (22-10, 3.16), the Sox ended a 40 year pennant drought, the longest in either league. They lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, the White Sox brought Chicago some entertaining, if not always successful teams. They finally added power, known in 1977 as “The South Side Hitmen”, to a lineup that for most of the century relied on contact hitters. The dearth of power and run producers in ChiSox history is evident in the fact that no White Sox outfielder in the 20th century was elected to the Hall of Fame — a unique distinction for the franchise.
It was a trio of heavy hitters: Greg Luzinski, Carlton Fisk and Ron Kittle, all of whom hit at least 25 homers, that helped manager Tony La Russa lead the Sox to the 1983 American League West title. The Sox also won back-to-back division titles in 1993-94 behind Frank Thomas, who smashed 79 home runs in those two years, and pitcher Jack McDowell.
The baseball gods seemed to be angry at the White Sox stained legacy of 1919. They denied the team a world championship for 88 years, the longest drought in the American League — then the year of redemption arrived. The drought was over. Echoing the sentiments in Boston during the previous season’s climax, generations of fans from all walks of life erupted in a jubilant celebration across the Windy City’s south side after a 2005 world championship. It was a win for the ages and the 19th four-game sweep in World Series history that gave the franchise its first World Championship title since 1917.
Colorful manager Ozzie Guillen kept the team hungry and in contention the remainder of the decade, winning the American League Central division championship in 2008.
Mark Buehrle tossed a perfect game for the White Sox against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 23, 2009. The perfect game was saved by center fielder Dewayne Wise, who made a leap catch in left-center field and held on to the ball as he fell on the warning track.
Chicago entered another round of lean years in the 2010s. One bright spot took place in April 2012 when Philip Humber pitched a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners. This was the third perfect game in franchise history.
The White Sox struggled to make the playoffs for 10 years from 2009 to 2019. In 2020, the White Sox reached the postseason for the first time in 12 years. After four years as Chicago’s manager, Rick Renteria was relieved of his duties following an early exit from the playoffs in 2020.
In an era of baseball filled with analytics, the White Sox went back in time to hire Tony La Russa in October 2020. This was La Russa’s second stint as the White Sox’s manager. He previously managed the White Sox from 1979 to 1986. In 2021, La Russa helped the White Sox reached the playoffs, but they were bounced out of the ALDS against the Houston Astros.
BASEBALL GREATS
Luke Appling
Voted the greatest living White Sox player in a 1969 fan poll, Appling was almost a member of the Chicago Cubs. After two years at Oglethorpe University, Appling signed with the Atlanta Crackers (Southern Association). He was sold to the Cubs late in the 1930 season, but thanks to the intervention of Milt Stock (Eddie Stanky‘s father-in-law), Appling joined the White Sox in a cash transaction that also involved little-known outfielder Doug Taitt. There was nothing remarkable about Appling’s first two seasons. His arm was powerful, but his throws were inaccurate, and sometimes wound up in the stands. Worse yet was his penchant for muffing the most routine ground ball.
The arrival of Jimmy Dykes as manager in 1934 had a positive effect on the young shortstop. Dykes cajoled, pleaded, and instilled confidence. When Appling finally realized that he wasn’t going to drive the ball out of spacious Comiskey Park, he adjusted his stance and became one of the most productive hitters of the decade. With a keen batting eye, the leadoff hitter would foul off pitch after pitch before selecting just the right one, or drawing one of his many bases on balls. Legend has it that on one occasion, Appling fouled off seventeen straight pitches before hitting a triple, and his 1,302 lifetime walks (with a high of 122 in 1935) ranks 25th all-time.
In his greatest year, 1936, Appling led the AL with a .388 average. It was the first batting title won by a White Sox player. He also had a club-record 27-game hitting streak and a seven-for-seven performance over three games. In 1943, at age 35, he won his second batting title. He hit .300 15 times.
Appling held down the shortstop position for nearly twenty years. In that time, he established ML shortstop records for games played and double plays and AL records for putouts and assists; all were later broken by Luis Aparicio. In spite of his everyday play, he acquired the epithet “Old Aches & Pains” through 20 years of complaining about his various physical ailments, the condition of the infield (“I swear, that park must have been built on a junkyard!” As it turned out, he was right), and salary disputes with General Manager Harry Grabiner. A $5,000 bonus promised him for winning the batting title in 1936 was later rescinded. In disgust he tore up his 1937 contract. Owner J. Lou Comiskey weathered the storm, and when Appling was ready to play, he was given a new contract. This time he signed on for another year, even thought it was $2,500 less than what he wanted. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1964, Appling worked as a batting instructor for the Atlanta Braves in the 1980s and rekindled memories with a home run off Warren Spahn in the first Cracker Jack Old-Timers’ Game.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
April 24
1945 — Albert B. “Happy” Chandler, junior Senator from Kentucky, is elected baseball commissioner by a unanimous vote of the major league club owners. Chandler is elected to a seven-year term and succeeds Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who died in November 1944.
1962 — LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax’s 2nd career 18-strikeout, in a 10-2 win over Cubs in Chicago.
1963 — Bob Cousy ends his 13-year career by scoring 18 points as the Boston Celtics win their fifth consecutive NBA championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 112-109 in Game 6.
1967 — The Philadelphia 76ers win the NBA championship in six games with 125-122 comeback victory over the San Francisco Warriors. Billy Cunningham scores 13 points in the final 12 minutes as the 76ers overcome a five-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.
1974 — Tampa, Fla. is awarded the NFL’s 27th franchise.
1978 — Angels Nolan Ryan strikes out 15 Mariners, 20th time he has 15 in game.
1981 — San Antonio blocks 20 Golden State shots to set NBA regular season game record.
1988 — NFL Draft: Auburn tight end Aundray Bruce first pick by Atlanta Falcons.
1993 — George Branham III becomes the first black bowler to win a PBA Triple Crown event when he beats Parker Bohn III 227-214 in the Tournament of Champions.
1994 — David Robinson scores 71 points to win the NBA scoring title as the San Antonio Spurs end the regular season with a 112-97 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Robinson, the fourth NBA player to score more than 70 points in a game, edges Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal for the scoring title.
1994 — NFL Draft: Ohio State defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson first pick by Cincinnati Bengals.
1996 — Petr Nedved scores a power-play goal with 44.6 seconds left in the fourth overtime, ending the longest NHL game in 60 years and giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.
2003 — Petr Sykora scores 48 seconds into the fifth overtime as Anaheim outlasts Dallas 4-3 to win the opener of the Western Conference semifinal series. The game is the fourth-longest in NHL history.
2004 — NFL Draft: Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning first pick by San Diego Chargers.
2010 — Jamaican Usain Bolt dazzles a capacity crowd with a lightning-fast final leg, overtaking USA Blue’s Ivory Williams to win the 4×100-meter relay at the Penn Relays. A quartet of Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson and Bolt finishes in 37.90 seconds for Jamaica Gold, setting a Penn Relays record. Trailing entering the final leg, Bolt takes the handoff and finishes the final 100 meters in an unofficial time of 8.79 seconds.
2016 — Klay Thompson scores 23 points and the Golden State Warriors set an NBA playoff record with 21 3-pointers to overcome another injury to Stephen Curry and beat the Houston Rockets 121-94 for a 3-1 series lead. The Warriors made eight 3s in the third quarter alone to set a franchise playoff record for 3-pointers in a period. Thompson led the way from long range, going 7 of 11, and Draymond Green made four.
TV SPORTS WEDNESDAY
AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL (MEN’S)
1 a.m. (Thursday)
FS2 — AFL: Collingwood at Essendon
5:30 a.m. (Thursday)
FS2 — AFL: Brisbane at Greater Western Sydney
BASKETBALL AFRICA LEAGUE
11 a.m.
NBATV — Al Ahly Ly vs. Bangui SC, Cairo
2 p.m.
NBATV — Al Ahly vs. City Oilers, Cairo
COLLEGE BEACH VOLLEYBALL
11:30 a.m.
PAC-12N — Pac-12 Tournament: Oregon vs. Utah, Match 1, Tempe, Ariz.
1:15 p.m.
PAC-12N — Pac-12 Tournament: Arizona vs. UCLA, Match 2, Tempe, Ariz.
3 p.m.
PAC-12N — Pac-12 Tournament: Arizona St. vs. Stanford, Match 3, Tempe, Ariz.
4:45 p.m.
PAC-12N — Pac-12 Tournament: Washington vs. California, Match 4, Tempe, Ariz.
6:30 p.m.
PAC-12N — Pac-12 Tournament: TBD vs. Southern Cal, Match 5, Tempe, Ariz.
8:15 p.m.
PAC-12N — Pac-12 Tournament: TBD, Match 6, Tempe, Ariz.
COLLEGE LACROSSE (WOMEN’S)
11 a.m.
ACCN — Atlantic Coast Tournament: Louisville vs. Syracuse, Quarterfinal, Charlotte, N.C.
2 p.m.
ACCN — Atlantic Coast Tournament: Virginia vs. North Carolina, Quarterfinal, Charlotte, N.C.
5 p.m.
ACCN — Atlantic Coast Tournament: Clemson vs. Notre Dame, Quarterfinal, Charlotte, N.C.
8 p.m.
ACCN — Atlantic Coast Tournament: Duke vs. Boston College, Quarterfinal, Charlotte, N.C.
GOLF
11 p.m.
GOLF — DP World Tour: The ISPS Handa Championship, First Round, Taiheiyo Club Minori Course, Omitama, Japan
MLB BASEBALL
1 p.m.
MLBN — Regional Coverage: Arizona at St. Louis OR NY Mets at San Francisco (3:45 p.m.)
4 p.m.
MLBN — Regional Coverage: Baltimore at LA Angels OR NY Mets at San Francisco (3:45 p.m.)
MLBN — Regional Coverage: Miami at Atlanta OR Oakland at NY Yankees
10:30 p.m.
MLBN — Regional Coverage: San Diego at Colorado (8:40 p.m.) OR Seattle at Texas (8:05 p.m.)
NBA BASKETBALL
7 p.m.
TNT — Eastern Conference First Round Playoff: Miami at Boston, Game 2
TRUTV — Eastern Conference First Round Playoff: Miami at Boston, Game 2 (BetCast)
9:30 p.m.
TNT — Western Conference First Round Playoff: New Orleans at Oklahoma City, Game 2
TRUTV — Western Conference First Round Playoff: New Orleans at Oklahoma City, Game 2 (BetCast)
NHL HOCKEY
7 p.m.
ESPN — Eastern Conference First Round Playoff: Boston at Toronto, Game 3
9:30 p.m.
ESPN — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Vegas at Dallas, Game 2
10 p.m.
TBS — Western Conference First Round Playoff: Los Angeles at Edmonton, Game 2
SOCCER (MEN’S)
3 p.m.
CBSSN — The Italian Cup: Fiorentina at Atalanta, Semifinal – Leg 2
USA — Premier League: Newcastle United at Crystal Palace
8 p.m.
FS1 — CONCACAF Champions Cup: CF Monterrey at Columbus Crew, Semifinal – Leg 1
TENNIS
5 a.m.
TENNIS — Madrid-ATP/WTA Early Rounds
6 a.m.
TENNIS — Madrid-ATP/WTA Early Rounds
5 a.m. (Thursday)
TENNIS — Madrid-ATP/WTA Early Rounds
6 a.m. (Thursday)
TENNIS — Madrid-ATP/WTA Early Rounds