April 4, 2024 4:42 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Catcher Joey Bart has been added to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ roster after he was acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants took him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft. The 27—year-old Bart once was considered Buster Posey’s likely successor as San Francisco’s starting catcher. But the Giants designated him for assignment on Sunday. The Pirates received Bart in a deal that sent minor league right-hander Austin Strickland to the Giants. Bart appeared in 162 games over four seasons with San Francisco, batting .219 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs and 178 strikeouts. Pittsburgh put backup catcher Jason Delay on the 10-day injured list.
April 4, 2024 4:45 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have agreed to trade their top receiving threat, Stefon Diggs, to the Houston Texans. The Bills acquired the Texans’ second-round pick in the 2025 draft, which Houston acquired in a trade with Minnesota. Houston also acquired Buffalo’s sixth-round pick in this year’s draft, and a fifth-rounder in 2025. Diggs’ departure from Buffalo leaves quarterback Josh Allen without his favorite target, and breaks up a tandem that has re-written the team’s passing records since the receiver’s arrival in a trade with Minnesota in March 2020. For the Texans, Diggs gives the offense another playmaker to team with Nico Collins and Tank Dell.
April 4, 2024 4:46 am
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Defending national champion UConn had a tough time getting off the ground on the way to the Final Four. The Huskies finally took off from Bradley International Airport near Hartford at about 1:30 a.m. EDT Thursday after the plane they were supposed to take experienced mechanical issues getting to the East Coast. After the five-hour flight, the team was expected to arrive at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix at about 3:30 a.m. MST. The flight was originally scheduled to leave Wednesday at about 6 p.m. EDT, but a mechanical issue kept the plane that was supposed to used from arriving at Bradley, the school said.
April 3, 2024 4:41 am
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice in Pittsburgh’s five-goal third period and the Penguins kept their playoff hopes alive, rallying for a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils. The Devils led 3-1 after two periods on goals by Timo Meier, Curtis Lazar and Jesper Bratt. Crosby and Malkin scored 67 seconds apart early in the third to tie the score. Rickard Rakell then put Pittsburgh ahead with 3:44 to play before Malkin scored again 21 seconds later. Crosby added an empty-net goal. Alex Nedeljkovic had 23 saves for the win.
April 3, 2024 5:02 am
(AP) – Caitlin Clark can claim another record — the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history. Iowa’s 94-87 victory over LSU averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen. Clark scored 41 points as the Hawkeyes avenged last year’s loss to the Tigers in the national championship game. It was one of the most-viewed games in any sport other than NFL football over the past year. Iowa-LSU outdrew all but of the five games in last year’s NBA Finals, along with the clinching game of last year’s World Series. The previous biggest audience for women’s college basketball was the 1983 national title game between Southern California and Louisiana Tech.
April 2, 2024 4:39 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates are 5-0 for the first time since 1983. They beat the Washington Nationals 8-4 on Monday with two run-scoring hits from Connor Joe, including a tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth inning. Michael A. Taylor, a former member of the Nationals, had three hits, and Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen, Alika Williams and Henry Davis delivered two apiece. Reynolds stretched his on-base streak to 33 consecutive games dating to last season and tacked on a two-run double in the ninth. Pittsburgh remained unbeaten in 2024, all on the road, following a four-game sweep at Miami to begin the season. Washington’s Riley Adams made it 3-all with a two-run homer in the seventh.
April 2, 2024 4:37 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist and Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat New York 5-2, snapping the Rangers’ five-game winning streak. Bryan Rust also scored twice and Emil Bemstrom added a goal for Pittsburgh, which ended a four-game losing streak in New York and improved to 14-9-3 in its last 26 games against Rangers. The Penguins lost both previous games this season at home against the first-place Rangers and were making their lone appearance at Madison Square Garden. Kaapo Kakko and Jack Roslovic scored goals for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin finished with 16 saves.
April 2, 2024 4:41 am
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Caitlin Clark made nine 3-pointers and finished with 41 points and 12 assists in a sensational performance as Iowa knocked defending national champion LSU out of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 94-87 victory, advancing the Hawkeyes to their second straight Final Four. Top-seeded Iowa will play UConn in the national semifinals Friday night in Cleveland. Monday’s highly anticipated matchup was a rematch of last year’s national championship game won by LSU, which drew a record 9.9 million viewers. With the game tied at 45 after an entertaining first half, Clark took over in the third quarter. She hit four 3-pointers in the period. Meanwhile, after being a spectator a year ago, Paige Bueckers is headed back to the Final Four after scoring 28 points and lifting UConn to a 80-73 win over Southern California in the women’s NCAA Tournament. Bueckers outdueled fabulous USC freshman All-American JuJu Watkins, sparking a decisive run over the final five minutes that sent third-seeded UConn to its 23rd Final Four, the most of any school. Leading 65-64, the Huskies scored 11 straight points, including seven from Bueckers and a three-point play from Aaliyah Edwards to finally put away the top-seeded Trojans. Edwards finished with 24 points. Watkins scored 29 points for USC.
April 2, 2024 12:01 am
Section play opened last week for a handful of area baseball and softball teams. This week brings a full slate of games starting Tuesday, weather permitting. Wash High and West Greene baseball have bye weeks along with the Little Prexies softball squad. Here’s a snapshot of records following the opening week:
Baseball: McGuffey (2-0) & Waynesburg (1-0) lead 3A Section 4. Wash High (2-0), Burgettstown (1-0) lead 2A Section 1, with Beth-Center (1-1), Charleroi (0-1) and Bentworth (0-2) following. Carmichaels (2-0), California (2-0) and Avella (1-0) won their first-week games. Jeff-Morgan (0-2), Mapletown (0-2) and West Greene (0-1) trail the leaders in 1A Section 1. Canon-McMillan (6A), Peters Township & Trinity (5A), Ringgold (4A), Chartiers-Houston (2A) and Fort Cherry (1A) open section play this week.
Softball: Canon-McMillan (1-1) split opening-week games in 6A Section 1. Charleroi (1-0) and Bentworth (1-0) won their 2A Section 3 openers. Burgettstown (1-1) split its first-week games. Fort Cherry (0-1) and Wash High (0-1) trail the leaders. Mapletown (1-0) topped California (0-1) in the only 1A Section 2 game last week. Peters Township & Trinity (5A), Ringgold (4A), McGuffey & Waynesburg (3A), Beth-Center (2A), Avella, Carmichaels, Chartiers-Houston, Jeff-Morgan and West Greene (1A) have openers this week.
April 2, 2024 4:43 am
HOUSTON (AP) — Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros threw the first no-hitter in the major leagues this season, blanking the Toronto Blue Jays 10-0. The right-hander struck out seven and walked two. He walked George Springer to start the game and again with two outs in the ninth. When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end it, Blanco smiled broadly before raising his arms above his head just before being mobbed by teammates. It was the 17th no-hitter in Astros history and the first in the majors since Philadelphia’s Michael Lorenzen threw one against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 9 of last year.
