NCAA
Top-seeded and defending NCAA champion UConn advanced to the Elite Eight with another double-digit victory, beating San Diego State 82-52 in a rematch of last year’s title game. Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Cam Spencer scored 18 and Tristen Newton added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies. They’ll play No. 3 Illinois Saturday for a spot in the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. The Huskies followed up blowouts last weekend with their ninth straight double-digit March Madness victory.
Grant Nelson converted a go-ahead three-point play with 38 seconds remaining, and Alabama beat top-seeded North Carolina 89-87 to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history. Nelson finished with a season-high 24 points, 19 in the second half, and he blocked RJ Davis’ attempt at a tying layup after giving Alabama the lead. The Tide face sixth-seeded Clemson on Saturday for a berth in the Final Four. Armando Bacot finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds for North Carolina. Rylan Griffen and Aaron Estrada scored 19 points each for Alabama and Mark Sears scored 18.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 29 points and Illinois reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2005, beating Iowa State 72-69 in an East Region semifinal on Thursday night. Shannon had 20 points in the first half for the third-seeded Illini, who never trailed. He broke away for a dunk in the closing seconds and later hit two free throws to help Illinois fnally put away the second-seeded Cyclones. Illinois reached a regional final for the fourth time in the past 40 years and will meet defending champion UConn on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four. Curtis Jones scored 26 points to lead Iowa State.
Chase Hunter scored 18 points and converted a three-point play with 25.7 seconds remaining, and Clemson advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history, beating Arizona 77-72 in a West Region semifinal. PJ Hall added 17 points for the sixth-seeded Tigers, who advanced to face No. 4 seed Alabama. Clemson last reached the final eight in 1980, when there were 48 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Jaden Bradley scored 18 points for second-seeded Arizona, which had a horrific shooting night, going 5 of 28 from 3-point range.
The NCAA Women’s Regional tournament is coming to Albany starting this afternoon. Teams competing include Notre Dame, Oregon State, Indiana, South Carolina, UCLA, Colorado, and Iowa. The games are sold out, with fans clamoring to see undefeated South Carolina, defending champion LSU, and Iowa, including all-time scoring leader Caitlin Clark. Notre Dame will tip off versus Oregon State at 2:30 this afternoon.
MLB
Juan Soto threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth inning of his Yankees debut after starting New York’s comeback from a four-run deficit in a season-opening 5-4 win over the Houston Astros. Oswaldo Cabrera homered and Aaron Judge doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Yankees went ahead. Soto, an All-Star acquired from San Diego in a December trade, made a one-hop throw that prevented Mauricio Dubón from scoring the tying run on Kyle Tucker's single.
Tyler O’Neill homered in his fifth straight opening day game to set a major league record, this time against the organization that drafted him, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4. Rafael Devers homered and doubled off Seattle ace Luis Castillo, but it was O’Neill’s homer on the first pitch from Cody Bolton in the eighth inning that gave the Red Sox a 6-4 lead and made history. O’Neill homered the previous four opening days with St. Louis tying him with Todd Hundley, Gary Carter and Yogi Berra. Mitch Haniger and Dylan Moore both hit two-run homers for Seattle.
Jared Triolo hit an RBI single in the top of the 12th inning to finish the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rally and beat the Miami Marlins 6-5 on opening day. Triolo’s line drive single against Marlins reliever Declan Cronin scored automatic runner Ke’Bryan Hayes. Pirates reliever Jose Hernandez got the save, retiring 2023 NL batting champion Luis Arraez, Josh Bell and Bryan De La Cruz in his only inning of relief. Luis Ortiz recorded the win for the Pirates on Thursday. After Pirates starter Mitch Keller gave up seven hits over 5 2/3 innings, Pittsburgh’s bullpen held the Marlins to just one hit.
Jonah Heim hit a game-ending RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning as the World Series champion Texas Rangers opened the season with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs. Adolis García and Travis Jankowski homered for the Rangers, who unfurled the franchise’s first championship banner before the dramatic victory. Drew Smyly, the Cubs’ seventh pitcher, walked two to load the bases before Heim lined a sharp hit into right-center field. Jankowski led off the ninth with a tying pinch-hit homer after Chicago went ahead on a disputed play in the top half of the inning involving All-Star catcher Heim.
Corbin Burnes allowed one baserunner in a dominant debut for Baltimore, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins both homered as the Orioles began defending their AL East title with an 11-3 rout of the Los Angeles Angels. Mike Trout hit a first-inning home run off Burnes, but the Angels managed nary a peep against the new Baltimore ace after that. He struck out 11 in six innings in his first start after the Orioles acquired the right-hander from Milwaukee in an offseason trade.
Tarik Skubal pitched six innings of three-hit ball and the Detroit Tigers opened a promising season on a winning note, beating the Chicago White Sox 1-0. Skubal and three relievers combined to retire the final 17 batters. The White Sox did not advance past first base and wasted a terrific start by Garrett Crochet. Javier Báez singled and scored on Andy Ibáñez’s sacrifice fly in the third. Skubal picked up right where he left off last year. The 27-year-old left-hander struck out six without a walk in his first opening-day start, after going 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA in his final five outings a year ago.
Pablo Lopez pitched seven sparkling innings, Royce Lewis homered before leaving with an injury, and the Twins beat the Royals 4-1 to begin defense of their AL Central crown. Carlos Correa added three hits and two RBIs for Minnesota. That was plenty of support for Lopez, who gave up a homer to Maikel Garcia, the first batter he faced, but little else on a warm and sunny afternoon. He allowed four hits and struck out seven without a walk. Cole Ragans struck out nine, a Royals record for opening day, but still took the loss after pitching six strong innings.
George Springer, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to support the pitching of right-hander José Berríos and lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a season-opening 8-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette drove in two runs apiece for the Blue Jays, who scored five times in the sixth inning after being limited to one hit off Rays starter Zach Eflin through five innings. Berríos made his second opening-day start for the Blue Jays, fourth overall. The right-hander gave up a leadoff homer to Yandy Díaz on his fifth pitch of the day and also yielded an RBI double to Díaz in the sixth.
Shane Bieber struck out 11 in six shutout innings, David Fry had three hits and Stephen Vogt won his managerial debut as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Oakland Athletics 8-0. Bieber made his fifth consecutive opening day start and allowed four hits in six innings. Vogt spent six seasons as a player with the A’s in two stints before retiring in 2022. He was hired by Cleveland to replace Terry Francona after a year as a bullpen coach for the Seattle Mariners. The Guardians scored five times in the fourth inning to knock A’s starter Alex Wood out of the game and take a 6-0 lead.
Nick Martini homered twice and drove in five runs in his first opening-day start, Frankie Montas pitched six shutout innings in his Cincinnati debut and the Reds cruised to an 8-2 win over the Washington Nationals. Martini hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a three-run shot in the third for a 7-0 lead off Josiah Gray. Montas joined the Reds with a $16 million, one-year deal as a free agent and allowed four hits in six innings, striking out four and walking none. Josiah Gray matched his career high by allowing seven runs.
Shohei Ohtani reached three times in his home debut for the Dodgers, and Los Angeles beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 in the Dodger Stadium opener to a season of sky-high expectations. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman homered in the third inning, and Tyler Glasnow pitched six innings of two-hit ball for the Dodgers. No offseason addition to the Dodgers' star-studded lineup was bigger than Ohtani, who showed no signs of distraction after a tumultuous week in which he emphatically denied betting on sports after the firing of his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
Jake Cronenworth’s two-run double highlighted the four-run seventh inning for the San Diego Padres, who beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4 Thursday to spoil Bob Melvin’s return to San Diego. While it was opening day for the Giants, the Padres opened the season by splitting a two-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul last week. Melvin managed the Padres for the last two seasons before leaving for the Giants with a year left on his contract. He skippered the Padres into the 2022 NL Championship Series and then presided over a disappointing season that included reports of an irreparable relationship with general manager A.J. Preller.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had five RBIs and three hits, including a two-run homer, and the Arizona Diamondbacks used a franchise-record 14-run third inning to cruise over the Colorado Rockies 16-1 on Thursday night. The 14 runs were the most in an inning on opening day for any team since 1900. Arizona led 2-1 going into the bottom of the third, but then sent 18 batters to the plate and had 13 hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly. Ryan McMahon had two hits, including an RBI double in the second. Colorado's Ryan McMahon had two hits, including an RBI double in the second.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says he hopes the sport’s gambling investigation of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani will be short but he isn’t sure. MLB announced its investigation Friday after the Dodgers fired Ohtani’s interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara, following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well over $1 million. Ohtani said Monday he never bet on sports or knowingly paid any gambling debts accumulated by Mizuhara.
Many fans at the Oakland Coliseum were still hanging out in the parking lot when Alex Wood delivered the first pitch of the season for the Athletics against the Cleveland Guardians. And they had no intention of going into the stadium. In protest of the A’s planned move to Las Vegas in 2028, fan groups staged a boycott of the home opener Thursday, purchasing tickets to the game to organize a block party outside the stadium. A half-hour before the game’s first pitch, hundreds of fans gathered in the far corner of the parking lot. They displayed “Sell” T-shirts and flags and threw beanbags at caricatures of team executives —including owner John Fisher and president Dave Kaval.
Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim was going down to block a low pitch when he heard the ball tip off the bat and saw it change directions. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild didn’t hear or see the same thing in the ninth inning of the season opener for the World Series champions. The Chicago Cubs took the lead on that disputed play before Texas rallied to win 4-3 on Heim’s game-ending RBI single in the 10th inning Thursday night. Fairchild told a poll reporter after the game that he ruled a swinging strike. Asked if he had seen a replay, Fairchild said he had, but refused to talk about what he saw on it.
Tampa Bay All-Star shortstop Wander Franco was placed on administrative leave through June 1 under an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ association while the investigation continues in an alleged relationship with a minor. Administrative leave is not disciplinary under the sport’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, and a player continues to be paid. Franco, who has a $2 million salary this year, remained in his native Dominican Republic while authorities there investigate and did not report to spring training.
NBA
Dejounte Murray scored a career-high 44 points, including a go-ahead jumper in the final second of overtime to power the Atlanta Hawks to a 123-122 win over the Boston Celtics. Murray scored all of Atlanta’s 11 points in the extra period to give the Hawks their second win over Boston in four days. Jaylen Brown sank a go-ahead jumper with 6 seconds remaining in overtime to give Boston the lead. Murray answered with the jumper over Jrue Holiday. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 24 points and De’Andre Hunter had 21 points and 13 rebounds as Atlanta won its fourth straight game.
Zion Williamson scored 28 points, CJ McCollum added 25 and the New Orleans Pelicans held off the Milwaukee Bucks 107-100. Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans, giving him his 32nd double-double of the season, but just his first in 11 games. Trey Murphy III had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, who won despite going just 8 of 32 on 3-pointers and shooting just 39.6% overall. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 35 points and 14 rebounds for Milwaukee. Damian Lillard scored 20 for the Bucks, as did Malik Beasley, who hit six 3s. Milwaukee lost its second straight after falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime in their previous game.
NHL
Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck scored shootout goals, Igor Shesterkin made 38 saves through overtime and two more in the shootout to lead the NHL-leading New York Rangers to a 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko scored in regulation for New York, which won its fourth in a row to reach 102 points, tops in the league. Casey Mittelstadt and Devon Toews had goals for Colorado, which has dropped two straight following a nine-game winning streak. Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon had his 19-game point streak ended when he went without a point at home for the first time this season.
Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period to help lift the New York Islanders past the Florida Panthers 3-2. Ryan Pulock and Mathew Barzal also scored and Casey Cizikas had two assists for New York, which had lost six of its last seven. Aleksander Barkov became the first player in Panthers history to reach 700 points with the franchise with his second-period goal. Vladimir Tarasenko and Aleksander Barkov also scored and Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves for Florida, which has lost eight of nine but clinched a playoff berth when Detroit lost.
Montreal captain Nick Suzuki reached 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career and added an assist to help the Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Thursday night. Cayden Primeau made 29 saves as Montreal won its third straight in its Bell Centre return after a five-game trip. Jesse Ylonen also scored and Joel Armia and Jake Evans added empty-netters. Juraj Slafkovsky extended his points streak to a career-high nine games with an assist on Suzuki’s goal. Mike Matheson had three assists. Primeau had shutouts in his previous two home games and held Philadelphia off the scoresheet until Owen Tippett broke through with 1:01 left. Philadelphia has lost three in a row.
Evgeni Malkin scored twice to reach the 20-goal plateau for the 15th time and the Pittsburgh Penguins continued their mastery over the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 3-2 win. The Russian became the 31st player in league history to reach 20 goals in 15 seasons. Malkin did it with a pair of power-play blasts — one from the right circle, one from the left circle — that erased one-goal deficits. Sidney Crosby had two assists for Pittsburgh to increase his career total to 995. That's 11th on the NHL's all-time list. Mathieu Olivier and Cole Sillinger scored for Columbus.
Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and the Ottawa Senators enjoyed a five-goal first-period surge in cruising to a 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Artem Zub opened the scoring 2:37 in an outing the Senators led 4-0 by the 8:49 mark of the opening period, and Pinto closed the scoring with an empty-net goal. Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and assist. JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for Buffalo in a matchup of two Atlantic Division teams all but mathematically out of playoff contention.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored twice to give him six goals in seven games, Joseph Woll made 24 saves in a bounce-back performance and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Thursday night. Mark Giordano scored following a long injury absence, and Conner Dewar and Bobby McMann added goals to help Toronto improve to 41-22-9. Nic Dowd replied for Washington, and Charlie Lindgren stopped 43 shots. The Capitals dropped to 36-27-9 as they fight for a playoff spot. Woll was solid after giving up a goal on the first shot in his last two starts, including Tuesday night in a 6-3 loss to New Jersey that left coach Sheldon Keefe fuming at the entire roster’s “immature” performance.
Frederik Andersen made 24 saves, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis each had a goal and two assists, and the Carolina Hurricanes clinched a playoff berth with a 4-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Aho and Jarvis scored 57 seconds apart in Carolina’s four-goal second period, with Martin Necas and Brady Skjei adding the other goals. All four goals came in a 12-minute span. Jake Guentzel had two assists. Carolina will be in the postseason for the sixth consecutive season. The Red Wings are winless (0-2-1) on the first three stops of a five-game road trip.
Matt Boldy broke a tie 18 seconds into the third period and the Minnesota Wild beat the NHL-worst San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Thursday to pick up a couple of points in their slim playoff bid. Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, Ryan Hartman added an empty-net goal and Kirill Kaprizov had two assists. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves and assisted on Hartman’s goal to help Minnesota improve to 7-1-3 in its last 11 games. Having not played in five days, Minnesota is nine points back of Vegas for the final wild-card berth in the Western Conference and three points behind St. Louis. Mikael Granlund scored and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 29 shots for the Sharks.
Brandon Saad scored his sixth winning goal of the season, lifting the St. Louis Blues to a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves and also had a pair of assists to give him seven in his career. Pavel Buchnevich scored two goals including an empty netter while Zack Bolduc and Jake Neighbours also scored for the Blues, 7-1-1 in their last nine games. Andrei Kuzmenko scored two goals and Jonathan Huberdeau had the other for the Flames, who have lost five in a row and eight of their last 10 games. Dustin Wolf made 14 saves.
Ivan Barbashev broke a late tie and added an empty-netter, Logan Thompson made 39 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Thursday night. Barbashev made it 2-1 with a high backhander past Connor Hellebuyck with 5:29 left, then scored into the empty net with 1:45 remaining. Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring late in the first period, and Jack Eichel also had an empty-net goal. Defending champion Vegas improved to 40-25-8, going 7-3-1 in its last 11 and 2-0-1 on a four-game trip. Sean Monahan tied it for the Jets early in the second, and Hellebuyck made 23 saves. They have lost five straight to match their worst skid of the season and fall to 44-23-6.
Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Thursday night in a matchup of teams jostling for home ice in a possible first-round playoff clash. Leon Draisaitl had three assists, Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, and Adam Henrique and Cody Ceci also scored for the Oilers. They are 44-23-4, going 15-2-2 at home since Jan. 1 to move five points up on the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand. Stuart Skinner made 32 saves, allowing only Arthur Kaliyev’s goal. Los Angeles dropped to 38-23-11, falling a point back of Vegas into a wild-card position. McDavid extended his points streak to six games.
Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists and the Western Conference-leading Dallas Stars wrapped up a playoff spot, beating the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory. Jake Oettinger stopped 27 shot to help Dallas improve to 46-19-9 and open a three-point lead over second-place Vancouver in the West. Jamie Benn added a goal and an an assist, Jason Robertson had an empty-netter and Joe Pavelski had two assists. J.T. Miller scored for Vancouver, and Casey DeSmith made 31 saves. Benn gave Dallas a 2-1 lead on a power play with 3:08 left, scoring a snap shot from the slot. The Stars captain has points in eight straight games and goals in six.
Tye Kartye scored the go-ahead goal with 6:57 left in the third period and the Seattle Kraken rallied to beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 to sweep a two-game set. Jaden Schwartz, Andre Burakovsky and Matty Beniers all had power-play goals for the Kraken, who overcame a 2-1 deficit after allowing two short-handed goals early in the third period. Jared McCann had three assists and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves. Jakob Silfverberg had a goal and an assist and Isac Lundestrom also scored for the Ducks, who are 1-9-1 in their last 11 games. Lukas Dostal stopped 24 shots.
Logan Cooley had his first NHL hat trick, Clayton Keller added a goal and three assists and the Arizona Coyotes snapped the Nashville Predators’ point streak at 18 games with an 8-4 victory Thursday night. Nashville had been 16-0-2 since its last loss Feb. 15 at home against Dallas. It was the longest points streak in Predators history and the longest in the NHL this season. Arizona won its second straight and went 3-0-1 against the Predators this season. Connor Ingram made 30 saves. Cooley, a 19-year-old rookie, had the first multi-goal game of his career and has 16 goals this season. He scored an unassisted empty-netter to finish it off. Jack McBain, Nick Bjugstad, Nick Schmaltz and Matias Maccelli also scored for the Coyotes.
PGA TOUR
Scottie Scheffler is off to a solid start in his bid for a third straight PGA Tour victory. The world's No. 1 player shot a 65 in the Houston Open and trails Taylor Moore and Wilson Furr by one shot at Memorial Park. Scheffler has 28 consecutive rounds under par to start the year. Moore made bogey on his first hole and then had an eagle and five birdies for a 64. Furr matched him late in the day, holing out from 120 yards for eagle on the par-4 fifth and closing with birdies on 8 and 9. Pierceson and Parker Coody became the first twins to play with each other on the PGA Tour.
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