AMATEUR BASEBALL Friday, August 7
VOLGA 9, SALEM 7
The Volga Cormorants held off a furious late rally by the Salem Cubs to secure a 9–7 victory in the first round of the Class B state amateur baseball tournament on Friday. Volga grabbed an early 7–0 advantage behind a five-run second inning and a stellar performance from pickup pitcher Dom Boerger, who struck out 12 over seven innings. Salem mounted a four-run rally in the top of the ninth to narrow the gap, but Volga’s Jordan Sagedahl came in relief to record the final two outs and earn the save. For the Cubs, Cole Cheeseman had two hits and two runs scored and Kyle Tuschen drove in two runs. With the win, Volga (15–7) advances to face the Lennox Bandits in the round of 16 on Monday at 7:30 p.m., while Salem ends its season at 8–17.
LENNOX 2, GROTON 1
The Lennox Bandits rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Groton Locke Electric 2-1 on Friday afternoon at Cadwell Park. Making their first-ever state tournament appearance, Lennox scored the decisive go-ahead run in the eighth inning after tying the game in the sixth. Mason Reischl provided the lone RBI for Lennox, while relief pitcher Braxton Musser picked up the win on the mound.
CLARK 6, WESSINGTON SPRINGS 5
The Clark Traders scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat Wessington Springs 6 to 5. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jack Heesch hit a sacrifice fly, the Owls committed an error, and Jakob Steen laid down a sacrifice bunt, each scoring one run. Owls lost despite out-hitting Clark Traders eight to six. Blaze Herdman and Terrek Butterfield each collected two hits for Owls. Blaze Herdman had two hits and led Owls with two runs batted in. Layne Cotton pitched five innings in relief for Owls allowing just four hits and three runs (zero earned) while striking out six and walking none. Zach Toben and Marik Junker each had two hits for Clark Traders.
TABOR 6, MT. VERNON 2
Josiah Peterson racked up 12 strikeouts over seven 1-hit innings to propel Tabor to a 6–2 victory over Mount Vernon in the opening round of the Class B state amateur baseball tournament on Friday night. Relief pitcher Matt Brown loaded the bases in the eighth inning and surrendered a run on a wild pitch but limited the damage before closing out the win in the ninth. Tabor’s offense scored in five separate innings, taking full advantage of five Mount Vernon fielding errors, which directly accounted for three Bluebird runs. Joey Slama led Tabor at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Spencer Neugebauer provided the offense for Mount Vernon (5-15), scoring both of their runs on a 2-hit night. Tabor will face Clark next at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Cadwell Park.
Saturday, August 8
Parkston Rays vs. Hartford/Humboldt Gamecocks, 11 am *** KORN News Radio FM 101.3/AM 1490
Winner/Colome vs. Dell Rapids Mudcats, after 1 pm
Castlewood vs. Canova, 5:30 pm
Burke vs. Redfield Dairy Queen, after 7:30 pm
Sunday, August 9
Larchwood vs. Flandreau Cardinals, 11 am
Hartford/Humboldt Wood Ducks vs. Four Corners, after 1 pm
Parkston Mudcats vs. Kimball/White Lake, 5:30 pm *** KORN News Radio FM 101.3/AM 1490
Dell Rapids PBR vs. Garretson, after 8 pm
Monday, August 10
Alexandria vs. Wynot (Neb.), 5:30 pm *** KORN News Radio FM 101.3/AM 1490
Lennox Bandits vs Volga, 8 p.m.
MITCHELL KERNELS
Mitchell Kernels girls tennis begins its regular season on Tuesday when they host Huron and Aberdeen Roncalli in a triangular scheduled for 10 am at Hitchcock Park.
Mitchell Kernels soccer starts the season on Friday, August 14th by hosting Huron. The girls match will be at 4 pm at Joe Quintal Field, followed by the boys match at 6 pm.
DAKOTA WESLEYAN
Dakota Wesleyan volleyball begins its season on Friday, August 14th at the Our Lady of the Lake Varsity Invite. The Tigers will face Saint Francis (Ind.) on 9 am, followed by Montana Western at 5 pm. DWU is coming off a 20-12 season where they advanced to pool play in Sioux City at the 2025 NAIA National Championship.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
South Dakota State volleyball will hold its Yellow and Blue scrimmage on Saturday at 11 am at First Bank & Trust Arena. The Jackrabbits will play a pair of exhibition matches starting on Friday, August 14 at Iowa State.
South Dakota State women’s soccer will be at Minnesota on Saturday at 6 pm for an exhibition match. The Jackrabbits begin the regular season by hosting Manitoba on Thursday, August 13 at 7 pm in Brookings.
SOUTH DAKOTA
South Dakota women’s soccer will host Omaha for an exhibition match on Saturday at 11 am in Vermillion. The Coyotes begin the regular season on Wednesday at Northern Iowa.
NFL
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid says Patrick Mahomes is unlikely to play in Kansas City’s preseason opener against the Rams next week as the quarterback could sit out the entire three-game preseason. Mahomes is returning from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left knee. He has been ahead of schedule in his rehab and was cleared last month to practice without restrictions. Reid says Mahomes doesn’t need much preseason work because of his experience, while Kansas City has new quarterbacks behind him who need the reps. The Chiefs acquired Justin Fields from the Jets to serve as Mahomes’ primary backup and also drafted former LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.
The Tennessee Titans have signed left guard Peter Skoronski to a four-year, $100 million contract extension. The deal includes $88 million guaranteed and makes Skoronski the highest-paid guard in the NFL. Skoronski was selected 11th overall by Tennessee in the 2023 draft. Last year, Skoronski played every offensive snap for the Titans and emerged as one of the league’s top pass blockers.
NBA
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke died in May from the effects of heroin and cocaine, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. The 29-year-old basketball player’s death was ruled accidental. Clarke was found dead May 11 inside a home near L.A. Authorities previously reported that drug paraphernalia was found at the residence. Clarke spent all seven of his NBA seasons with the Grizzlies after playing college basketball at Gonzaga. About six weeks before his death, Clarke was arrested in Arkansas on charges of speeding, reckless driving and possessing a controlled substance.
A misdemeanor gun charge against Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden has been dismissed by a Texas judge after Harden completed an alternative resolution program. The judge dismissed the charge at the request of the district attorney’s office. The program allows defendants to avoid a criminal conviction, though court records did not detail the terms of Harden’s agreement. Harden was arrested June 13 in Houston after police found a handgun in his vehicle. Texas law makes it a misdemeanor to have a gun in plain view in a vehicle without a license. The 36-year-old Harden averaged 23.6 points per game last season for Cleveland. He has said he wants to remain with the Cavaliers but declined a $42 million player option in favor of pursuing a longer-term contract.
MLB
Josh Bell went 4 for 5 with a homer and Kaelen Culpepper also went deep in his major league debut as the Minnesota Twins erased a four-run deficit and beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-6 on Friday night. Minnesota trailed 4-0 after two innings before scoring two runs each in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth. It was the biggest lead Milwaukee has blown in a loss all season. The Twins scored twice with two outs in the sixth to break a 6-all tie. Minnesota is now just two games back of the Chicago White Sox for first place in the AL Central and ½ game back of Texas for the final AL Wild Card spot. Game two of the three game series in Milwaukee is Saturday at 6:10 pm
Boston’s Payton Tolle struck out a career-high 14 in six innings, while Wilyer Abreu drove in three runs as the Red Sox won their ninth game in a row with a 13-1 rout of the Athletics on Friday night. The Red Sox are just the seventh team since 1920 to win 27 games or more in a 30-game span. Tolle was the first Red Sox pitcher to strike out 14 since Chris Sale in 2019. He was perfect through four innings and allowed one run on two hits.
Angel Martínez hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 8-2. Steven Kwan added a solo home run to help the Guardians trim Chicago’s division lead to two games after being swept by the New York Mets. All-Star left-hander Parker Messick allowed four hits and both Chicago home runs in the first seven innings. He struck out eight and walked just one.
Ben Rice ripped a tying single off the right-field fence with two outs in the ninth inning and Ryan McMahon hit a game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10th as the New York Yankees rallied past the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Friday night in a rain-delayed game that ended after midnight.
Rookie Ryan Waldschmidt hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off closer Edwin Diaz to give the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3 victory over Los Angeles on Friday night, sending the Dodgers to their season-high seventh straight loss. Diaz — a three-time All-Star — has given up 11 earned runs in nine innings this season.
Drew Rasmussen pitched seven shutout innings, Jonny DeLuca and Jonathan Aranda homered and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 on Friday night. The AL East leading Rays have won five of six. The Mariners have dropped seven of 10, and trail the final AL wild-card spot by 2 1/2 games.
Toronto reliever Tyler Rogers allowed two runs in the ninth inning after he twice loaded the bases and retired All-Star outfielder Brandon Marsh on a groundout to end the game and preserve the Blue Jays’ 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
Daylen Lile and Harry Ford homered for Washington, and the Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 on Friday night for just their second win in the last 10 games.
Mike Trout and Nolan Schanuel both hit home runs for the Los Angeles Angels in a 4-3 win over the Marlins to open the series on Friday night, Miami’s fourth straight loss. Trout homered in the first inning to open the scoring. Trout, who turned 35 on Friday, hit a home run on his birthday for the sixth time in his 16 MLB seasons.
Marcus Semien hit a three-run homer, rookie Zac Thornton pitched five scoreless innings, and the New York Mets matched a season high with their fourth straight win by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Friday night.
Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Nathan Eovaldi and three relievers combined to limit Baltimore to one run as the Texas Rangers beat the Orioles 2-1 Friday night.
Kevin Gausman provided exactly what the Cubs hoped for when they acquired him from the Blue Jays last weekend, pitching seven sharp innings in his Chicago debut in a 6-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night. The 35-year-old right-hander retired 12 of 13 at one point and ended up allowing two runs on four hits and a walk.
Iván Herrera hit a solo home run, Kyle Leahy pitched five innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Friday night. Leahy (8-4) allowed two runs and eight hits for his first decision in five starts and only his fourth in his past 13.
Cam Smith homered twice and the AL West-leading Houston Astros spoiled Robbie Ray’s San Diego debut by beating the Padres 6-3 on Friday night for their eighth win in 10 games. The Padres dropped two games behind the third NL wild-card spot.
Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer in the first, Jung Hoo Lee singled in two runs the next inning before Willy Adames homered in the fifth, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 on Friday night.