Sports category, Page 614
Pitt receives verbal pledge from 2025 Ohio QB Mason Heintschel
Pitt received a verbal commitment from its second 2025 prospect Sunday when quarterback Mason Heintschel told coach Pat Narduzzi he plans to enroll next year. Heintschel (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) amassed a total of 3,080 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior last season at Clay High School in Oregon, Ohio....
T.J. Oshie returns to the Capitals’ lineup and is honored for playing in 1,000 NHL games
WASHINGTON — T.J. Oshie returned to the Washington Capitals’ lineup Sunday, getting back just in time for the ceremony honoring his milestone of playing in 1,000 NHL games. And, more importantly, at a crucial juncture of the season, with his team trying desperately to make the playoffs. Oshie was back...
Tim Benz: Illinois’ ‘blitz’ ends Duquesne’s season but doesn’t dent accomplishments
OMAHA, Neb. — Duquesne’s second-round NCAA Tournament game against Illinois was set up to be a contrast in styles. It was the 11th-seeded Dukes’ unrelenting, tenacious defense, which routinely holds opponent point totals in the low 60s, versus the high-powered offensive assault from third-seeded Illinois that led the Big Ten...
Penn State’s Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks become 4-time NCAA wrestling champs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The only thing slowing down Carter Starocci’s pursuit of wrestling glory was an ailing knee and some blood on his opponent’s face, and he left Aaron Brooks no choice but to follow his Penn State teammate into the history books. Starocci won his fourth NCAA title...
Creighton prevails in double overtime thriller to beat Oregon, advance to Sweet 16
The finale played at PPG Paints Arena Saturday as part of the NCAA Tournament’s slate of first-weekend games in Pittsburgh proved to be a March Madness classic, with Creighton and Oregon duking it out in double overtime before the Bluejays came out on top, 86-73. In the first game of...
Minor league report: Penguins shut out in Ludovic Waeber’s debut
Goaltender Ludovic Waeber made 19 saves on 22 shots in his debut for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-0 home loss to the Utica Comets at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. Acquired in a trade on March 8, Waeber’s record slipped to 6-7-1. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (31-22-8-1) was shut out...
Knee injury behind her, Southmoreland grad Olivia Cernuto helps Gannon women’s basketball reach Elite Eight
Gannon women’s basketball coach Cleve Wright didn’t hesitate. When he found out Olivia Cernuto suffered an ACL injury during soccer that would wipe out her senior basketball season, he immediately made a trip to Southmoreland. Cernuto, who led the Scotties girls basketball team to two WPIAL Class 4A title games,...
Minor league report: Penguins fight off PhantomsVideo
Goaltender Joel Blomqvist made 34 saves on 35 shots for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-1 road win against the rival Lehigh Valley Phantoms at the PPL Center in Allentown on Sunday. The result boosted Blomqvist’s record to 21-10-6-1. Forward Radim Zohorna recorded two assists for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (32-22-8-1) while defensemen...
Illini too much as Duquesne’s magical postseason run comes to an end
Lightning-fast layups. NBA-range 3s. Illinois’ calling card this season has been a relentless approach, and it continued with a vengeance Saturday night against Cinderella hopeful Duquesne. The Dukes were run out of the gym. Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 30 points and No. 3 seed Illinois opened the throttle to its...
NC State ends the Jack Gohlke story with an OT victory over Oakland
No one had more fun Saturday night than D.J. Burns, the mountain of a man who scored 24 points to lead N.C. State to a 79-73 overtime victory against Oakland at PPG Paints Arena. He played more than 42 of the game’s 45 minutes, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out four...
JJ Quinerly scores 29 as West Virginia women eliminate Princeton
IOWA CITY, Iowa — JJ Quinerly scored 29 points as West Virginia defeated Princeton, 63-53, in a women’s NCAA Tournament first-round game Saturday. Quinerly, who was 10 of 19 from the field, scored West Virginia’s first 12 points of the fourth quarter as the eighth-seeded Mountaineers (25-7) pulled away from...
March Madness has Drew brothers’ coaching patriarch jetting across country
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Former Valparaiso legend Homer Drew is racking up frequent flyer miles crossing the country to support his sons while they coach in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Scott and Bryce Drew are trying to lead their teams into the Sweet 16. Their 79-year-old father watched...
Ford still winless in 2024 as NASCAR heads to first road race of the season at COTAVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — Five races into NASCAR’s 2024 season and Ford is in a funk. Make no mistake: The Ford cars have been fast, just not quite fast enough to produce any wins. At the race in Atlanta, the razor-thin margins at the finish meant 0.003 seconds was the difference...
Riverhounds drop 3rd straight to start season
Three games into the season, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds have their first goal, but they’ve still yet to secure their first win. Louisville FC scored a pair of second-half goals to send the Riverhounds to a 3-1 loss Saturday afternoon at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville. After being shut out in...
Keith Mitchell holes out 7-iron on 18th for Valspar lead
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Keith Mitchell capped off a magnificent run through the “Snake Pit” at Innisbrook on Saturday with a shot he never saw go in. His 7-iron from the 18th fairway one-hopped into the hole for eagle and a 5-under-par and a two-shot lead in the Valspar Championship....
LSU coach Kim Mulkey lashes out at Washington Post, threatens legal action
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Kim Mulkey lashed out at and threatened legal action against the Washington Post on Saturday, saying the paper has spent two years pursuing a “hit piece” about her and that it gave her a deadline to answer questions this past week while the defending...
Members of ’09 Dukes who let NCAA bid slip away enjoying ride with current team
Pittsburgh’s namesake school is usually the big man on campus during March Madness, but this year, the Duquesne Dukes are stealing the show, appearing in their first NCAA Tournament in nearly a half-century. While it hasn’t happened often, it might have 15 years ago had the Dukes gotten the right...
Longtime Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos dies at 94
BALTIMORE — Peter Angelos, owner of a Baltimore Orioles team that endured long losing stretches and shrewd proprietor of a law firm that won high-profile cases against industry titans, died Saturday. He was 94. Angelos had been ill for several years. His family announced his death in a statement thanking...
Solid start against Red Sox puts Pirates RHP Jared Jones in position for spot in rotation
Jared Jones pitched on a day he wasn’t supposed to, but the 22-year-old right-hander might have solidified a spot in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting rotation in the process. Jones flashed a four-seam fastball that averaged 96.7 mph and touched triple digits and mixed it with a slider to strike out...
‘Bulldog’: How Pirates catcher Henry Davis improved defense to make push for starting job
When the Pittsburgh Pirates told Henry Davis to concentrate on catching this offseason so he could report to spring training at his natural position, it was all the 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick needed to hear. Davis is nothing if not renowned for his work ethic, and Pirates teammates...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Big contracts for Penguins’ aging stars have handcuffed Kyle Dubas
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in deep decline. That’s OK, for now. Keep that first-round pick. Get more balls in the draft lottery. Maybe the Penguins get lucky. It’s happened before. Despite my faith in president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas, he can’t do as he says. Dubas can’t reassemble a...
NFL meetings to focus on change to kickoffs; Steelers propose pushing back trade deadline
If the NFL competition committee has its way, a radical approach to kickoffs will take place next season, and a controversial tackling technique will be outlawed. And if the Pittsburgh Steelers get enough support for their proposal, the league’s trading deadline will be pushed back a week. Such topics —...
Penguins goalie prospect Joel Blomqvist making seamless transition in 1st North American hockey campaign
Logic dictates that for a 22-year-old — let alone one who is a professional athlete — who moves across the globe to a new country, the changes would be staggering. That’s the reality Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender prospect Joel Blomqvist has been living with since joining Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey...
Penn State sends 6 to finals, clinches 11th NCAA wrestling title in 13 years
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks will have a chance to make some wrestling history for Penn State. The two Nittany Lions passed their semifinal tests at the NCAA championships on Friday night, giving them a chance to join an exclusive club of four-time winners on Saturday...
James Madison pulls off 1st 12-5 upset by knocking off Wisconsin
NEW YORK — James Madison announced itself by beating a Big Ten team to start this season. When the Dukes did it again to start their NCAA Tournament, they made sure everybody knew: “It’s not an upset,” Xavier Brown yelled, popping his jersey in the middle of the celebration with...
