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Two Oakland A’s expected to be on Opening Day roster will start season on IL

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

Two players expected to be on the Oakland A’s Opening Day roster, starting pitcher Paul Blackburn and catcher Manny Piña, will instead start the season on the injured list, manager Mark Kotsay said Friday.Piña, expected to start the season as Shea Langeliers’ backup, was fitted with a brace after inflammation was discovered in his left wrist, the same one he had surgery on last May while with the Atlanta Braves. Piña began to feel discomfort during a game at the A’s minor league complex Monday.Candidates to take Piña’s spot on the season-opening roster are Yohel Pozo, Kyle McCann, and Tyler Soderstrom.Kotsay said Blackburn, an Antioch native and Heritage High School graduate, has a fingernail avulsion on his right middle finger and is unable to grip a baseball right now.In two Cactus League appearances, Blackburn had a 16.62 ERA in 4 1/3 innings, with his last outing coming on March 10. He played catch on Tuesday with no issue, but it is unclear when he’ll throw off a mound again.Bl...

March Madness: Top seed Purdue ousted, brackets in tatters

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

March Madness has truly begun! By the end of the first round, a trio of top seeds were already gone — No. 1 seed Purdue, No. 2 seed Arizona and No. 4 seed Virginia — and gone with them were millions of busted brackets.Here is what to know going into the weekend of the NCAA Tournament, including the favorites and underdogs as well as key games:TOP SEEDSThe top four seeds in the tournament were given to Alabama, Houston, Kansas and Purdue. Each had its share of headaches to set up what is already proving to be a chaotic tournament and the Boilermakers were the first to fall, ousted in a first-round stunner. Here is the latest from each region:EAST REGION: The Boilermakers got a No. 1 seed for the fourth time, but Purdue was dumped by Fairleigh Dickinson in a near-historic upset. The region appears to be wide open for the likes of No. 2 seed Marquette, Duke, Michigan State and more.SOUTH REGION: Alabama, led by coach Nate Oats in a challenging season, is a No. 1 seed for the first time...

Pili, 2nd-seeded Utah dominate Gardner-Webb in March Madness

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Alissa Pili joined Utah before the season looking for a fresh start. She has flourished with the Utes, turning into a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses.Pili tallied a career-high 33 points, eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists to power second-seeded Utah past 15th-seeded Gardner-Webb 103-77 Friday night in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.A transfer from Southern California, the junior forward led the Pac-12 in scoring and field goal percentage during the regular season and never gave the Bulldogs a chance to breathe.“I just kind of let the game come to me and took advantage of those situations,” Pili said.Jenna Johnson added 20 points and five assists for the Utes (26-4). Pili and Johnson combined to make 22 of 31 shots as the Bulldogs struggled to keep the duo from relentlessly attacking the basket.The Utes advanced to play the North Carolina State-Princeton winner in the Greenville 2 Region.“We have so many weapons offensively, ...

March Madness: Where and what is Fairleigh Dickinson?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

Add Fairleigh Dickinson to the list of giant-killing New Jersey schools in March Madness.The 16th-seeded Knights pulled off a mammoth upset Friday night, upsetting top-seeded Purdue 63-58 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Undersized FDU played big against the Boilermakers and became only the second No. 16 seed to topple a No. 1 seed. Maryland-Baltimore County was the first, knocking off Virginia in 2018.FDU’s win blew up most of the remaining brackets. Just who are these guys?WHERE IS FDU?The school has two campuses in New Jersey: Teaneck and Florham. The school’s website list a total enrollment of 11,400 students, though U.S. News & World Report lists the number as 7,860 as of fall 2021. The Teaneck campus is close to New York City; the Florham campus is on a former country estate of socialites Florence Vanderbilt and Hamilton Twombly. FDU has owned the campus since 1958. FDU also has campuses in Wroxton, England, and Vancouver, British Columbia.WHAT’S FDU ...

DeRozan scores 49 as Bulls beat Timberwolves in double OT

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored a season-high 49 points, Zach LaVine finished with 39 and the Chicago Bulls beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 139-131 in double overtime on Friday night.Nikola Vucevic added 21 points and 11 rebounds.Minnesota All-Star Anthony Edwards left with a sprained right ankle in the first quarter, and the Timberwolves lost for the fourth time in five games.Mike Conley led Minnesota with 28 points, nailing 8 of 12 3-pointers. Rudy Gobert finished with 21 points and 19 rebounds, and Jaden McDaniels scored 25 points.The Bulls led 130-125 in the second OT before Conley hit a 3-pointer. Minnesota’s Naz Reid had a layup rim out, and DeRozan made a turnaround jumper to bump Chicago’s lead to 132-28 with 1:27 remaining.Nickeil Alexander-Walker made the second free throw after an airball to pull the Timberwolves within three, but Vucevic brought the Bulls bench to its feet with a thunderous one-handed dunk for a three-point play with just over a minute left.Reid drov...

Purdue, Painter lament another early March Madness exit

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — It’s become a disturbing, familiar pattern for Purdue.Another promising season. Another putrid NCAA Tournament.For the third straight year, the Boilermakers were bounced by a double-digit seed, losing Friday night to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson, which doesn’t have a player taller than 6-foot-6 but took out the Big Ten’s best squad with surprising ease.“Obviously it hurts,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “It hurts bad. I don’t want to take anything away from them. They earned it. They played better than we did.”Purdue was looking to make history. Not this type.The Boilermakers are the second No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed, joining Virginia, which fell to UMBC in 2018.This March was supposed to be different. The Boilermakers (29-6), who haven’t made the Final Four since 1980 and have never won a title, had one of the nation’s best players in All-America center Zach Edey, shooters to support him, experience and depth.But Pur...

Aston-Reese scores 2 as Maple Leafs beat Hurricanes 4-2

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Zach Aston-Reese scored twice and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 Friday night to snap a two-game skid.Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, and Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews also scored to help Toronto improve to 4-2-1 in its last seven games. John Tavares and Calle Jarnkrok each had two assists and Ilya Samsonov finished with 32 saves to help Toronto increase its lead to three points ahead of third-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division.Martin Necas and Brady Skjei each scored for Carolina in its third loss in four games. Pyotr Kochetkov had 19 saves as the Hurricanes remained one point ahead of second-place New Jersey in the Metropolitan Division. Aston-Reese got the scoring started as he tipped Erik Gustafsson’s shot from the right point past Kochetkov 2:54 into the game.Marner made it 2-0 with 7 1/2 minutes left in the first as fired a shot from the right circle off the post and in for his 25th.Skjei got the Hurricanes on the...

Grizzlies rally from 29 down, stun Spurs 126-120 in OT

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 28 points and the Memphis Grizzlies completed the largest comeback in franchise history after trailing by 29 in the third quarter, rallying to beat the San Antonio Spurs 126-120 in overtime Friday night.Desmond Bane added 21 points, including eight points in overtime, and Tyus Jones had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for Memphis, which faced a nine-point deficit in the final minute of regulation before outscoring San Antonio 9-0 to send it to overtime.The huge comeback win came as Ja Morant nears his return for Memphis. The All-Star guard missed his seventh game as part of an eight-game suspension for “conduct detrimental to the league.” Memphis improved to 4-3 without Morant.Devin Vassell had 25 points and Zach Collins added 24 for San Antonio, which fell to 0-5 in overtime this season after being outscored 63-40 in the second half.After trailing by 29, Memphis tied it at 109 on a 3-pointer by Dillon Brooks with 1.8 seconds remaini...

Tshiebwe’s 25 boards helps Kentucky top Providence in NCAAs

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Oscar Tshiebwe kept battling for position, pushing his way to daylight and grabbing seemingly every loose rebound with a rugged relentlessness.No one was going to stop him, either.When it was over, the two-time Associated Press All-American had turned in the best rebounding performance in the NCAA Tournament in nearly a half-century — and Kentucky was free to move past last year’s one-and-done showing.Tshiebwe pulled down 25 rebounds and Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, helping the Wildcats beat Providence 61-53 in Friday night’s first round.Tshiebwe’s rebounding output represented the most in any tournament game since 1977. Eleven of his rebounds came on the offensive glass — a big factor in the sixth-seeded Wildcats (22-11) staying in control as both offenses grinded to a halt after halftime.“I told (my teammates), I said, ‘This year we come in and fight, last year doesn’t matter anymore,'” said Tshiebwe, who entered as the nation...

Urías leads Mexico 5-4 over Puerto Rico, into WBC semis

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:12:34 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Luis Urías hit the go-ahead single in a three-run seventh inning that fueled Mexico’s 5-4 comeback victory over Puerto Rico to advance to its first-ever World Baseball Classic semifinals.Mexico will face Shohei Ohtani and Japan in the semifinals Monday. Puerto Rico failed to make it past the second round for the first time.Isaac Paredes, who homered earlier, tied it at 4 with a single off losing pitcher Alexis Díaz that drove in Austin Barnes and Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena.Puerto Rico tried to rally in the ninth with singles from Christian Vazquez and Francisco Lindor, but reliever Giovanny Gallegos got out of the jam for the save.Arozarena saved the potential tying run in the eighth when he made a leaping catch at the wall in left center.Puerto Rico was coming off an emotional quarterfinals-clinching victory over the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, when New York Mets star closer Edwin Díaz tore the patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating the...