THURSDAY SPORTS, APRIL 24, 2025
MITCHELL KERNELS
— Mitchell baseball, 7-6 on the season, hosts Sturgis for a doubleheader on Friday at 4:30 pm. The pregame show starts at 4:15 pm on KORN News Radio FM 101.3/AM 1490 and KORNRadio.com
— Mitchell Kernels boys tennis split a pair of duals on Tuesday for the second day in a row, defeating SF Jefferson 9-0 and losing to defending state champion SF Lincoln 9-0. The Kernels are 7-4 on the season as they head to Rapid City this weekend. Mitchell faces Rapid City Stevens in a dual on Thursday before competing at the Rapid City Invite starting on Friday.
— Mitchell Kernels softball, 4-4 on the season, is schedule to host Brandon Valley on Thursday at 5:30 pm pending weather.
— Mitchell Kernels girls golf had its quadrangular on Thursday at Bakker Crossing cancelled due to weather. Mitchell opened its season last week on Thursday with a win at the Harrisburg Invitational.
DAKOTA WESLEYAN
— Dakota Wesleyan baseball will wrap up the regular season this weekend as they host Concordia for back-to-back doubleheaders. Game one on Friday is schedule for 1 pm and the first of two games on Saturday is schedule for Noon, both at Drake Field.
— Dakota Wesleyan softball hosts Morningside on Saturday for a doubleheader at 1 pm, before getting ready for the GPAC Tournament starting on Wednesday, April 30.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
— South Dakota State softball hosts Omaha for three games starting on Friday at 5 pm, followed by a 1 pm doubleheader on Saturday. The Jacks are currently 1.5 games behind Omaha for first place in the Summit League.
— South Dakota State baseball lost in Sioux Falls on Wednesday night 12-2 in seven innings to Creighton. The Blue Jays scored three runs in the first inning, two runs in the second and three more in the third to take an early 8-0 lead. SDSU starts a three game home series vs. North Dakota State on Friday at 3 pm, followed by a Saturday doubleheader at 11 am.
SOUTH DAKOTA
— USD softball starts a three-game series at North Dakota State with a doubleheader on Saturday at Noon.
NFL DRAFT
— The Cleveland Browns and New York Giants are fielding trade inquiries for their early picks in the NFL draft, according to sources. Although the Tennessee Titans are not entertaining offers for the first overall pick, sources say that the Browns, who have the second pick, and the Giants, who pick third, have received trade calls over the past 48 hours , and neither team is outwardly rejecting those overtures. The expectation is that those teams looking to trade up to the No. 2 or No. 3 pick are pursuing Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, Penn State pass rusher Abdul Carter or Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. The first round of the NFL Draft is Thursday night in Green Bay. Tennessee is expected to select Miami QB Cam Ward with the #1 overall pick.
OLYMPICS
— Simone Biles is unsure whether she will compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. For now, the most decorated gymnast of all-time has other priorities and is listening to her body, too. The 28-year-old American will be in Los Angeles for the Games but does not yet know in which capacity. Biles won three gold medals and a silver at the Paris Olympics, taking her career total to seven Olympic golds and 11 medals overall.
NFL
— Former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Steve McMichael died Wednesday following a battle with ALS. He was 67. An All-Pro in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. He played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to Richard Dent on the Bears’ career sacks list with 92 1/2. His final NFL season was with Green Bay in 1994. He was also a part of the famed Bears defense in 1985 that led the franchise to its only Super Bowl victory.
— The Detroit Lions have agreed to a four-year, $86 million extension with All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph. The deal makes Joseph the highest-paid safety in NFL history with an average of $21.5 million per year. Joseph will be entering his fourth season in the league after the Lions selected him in the third round of the 2022 draft. He led the NFL with nine interceptions last season.
NCAA
— The judge overseeing the rewriting of the college sports rulebook threw a potential roadblock into the mix Wednesday, insisting parties in the $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit redo the part of the proposed settlement involving roster limits that many schools are already putting in motion. The judge gave the sides 14 days to contact their mediator and return to the bargaining table. The settlement in the class-action lawsuit called for schools to no longer be bound by scholarship limits for their teams, but rather by roster limits in which everyone would be eligible for aid.
NBA
— Jalen Green made eight 3-pointers and scored 38 points to lead the Houston Rockets to a 109-94 win over the Golden State Warriors to even the first-round Western Conference series at one game apiece. The seventh-seeded Warriors never led and played short-handed for most of the night after Jimmy Butler left with a pelvis bruise after a hard fall on a foul late in the first quarter.
— Boston’s Jaylen Brown had 36 points and 10 rebounds, while Kristaps Porzingis returned to the game after getting a bloody gash to the forehead and finished with 20 points as the Celtics beat the Orlando Magic 109-100 in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series. Boston took a 2-0 series lead while playing without All-Star Jayson Tatum, who has a bone bruise in his right wrist and missed a playoff game for the first time in his career. Game 3 is Friday night at Orlando.
— Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 30 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, as the Cavaliers held on for a 121-112 win over the Miami Heat. The Cavaliers had a 19-point lead with under 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter before the Heat made their run to get within 105-103 lead with 3:11 left.
NBA PLAYOFFS – THURSDAY
Boston Celtics vs. Orlando Magic, 6 pm on TNT, Boston leads the series 1-0
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat, 6:30 pm on NBA TV, Cleveland leads the series 1-0
Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors, 8:30 pm on TNT, Golden State leads the series 1-0
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS – WEDNESDAY
Washington Capitals 3, Montreal Canadiens 1 – Washington leads the series 2-0
Dallas Stars 2, Colorado Avalanche 1, OT – Dallas leads the series 2-1
Los Angeles Kings vs. Edmonton Oilers – Los Angeles leads the series 2-0
MLB
— Two Minnesota Twins greats are recovering from strokes suffered days apart, the team confirmed Wednesday. Tony Oliva had what the team called “a series of mini strokes” over the past month but is expected to make a full recovery. Former first baseman Kent Hrbek also suffered a minor stroke following knee surgery in early April and is recovering at home. The 86-year-old Oliva spent his entire 15-year career with the Twins. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1964 and won the batting title three times. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022. Hrbek, 64, played his entire 14-year career with his hometown team. He was an integral part of the Twins teams that won the World Series in 1987 and 1991.
— Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach homered to help the Minnesota Twins beat the last-place Chicago White Sox 6-3. Larnach hit a solo shot in the sixth to make it 4-3. Buxton hit a two-run homer an inning later as Minnesota won its second straight in the series. Chicago scored all three of its runs in the fifth.
— Pete Crow-Armstrong homered and drove in four runs as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-6. L.A. Is just 8-9 since starting the season 8-0.
— Juan Soto threw out Nick Castellanos at the plate to prevent the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, Starling Marte capped a two-run 10th with a walk-off single as the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 to complete a three-game sweep that extended their winning streak to seven.
— Carlos Rodón pitched seven innings, Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs and Aaron Judge raised his major league-leading average to .415 as the Yankees beat Cleveland 5-1.
— Eli White hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the eighth inning as Atlanta beat St. Louis 4-1.
— Reese Olson allowed just two hits in 7 1/3 shutout innings as the Detroit Tigers defeated the San Diego Padres 6-0. Detroit improved to 9-4 at home on the season.
— Christian Walker homered in a three-run second inning as the Houston Astros beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 to sweep the three-game series.
— Seattle right-hander Emerson Hancock struck out a career-high seven batters and J.P. Crawford had four RBIs to help the Mariners to a 8-5 win over the Boston Red Sox.
— Wilmer Flores hit a two-run single in the sixth inning as San Francisco beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2.
— Kameron Misner and Yandy Díaz had RBI doubles in the 11th inning as the Tampa Bay Rays held on for a 7-6 victory over Arizona, overcoming Corbin Carroll’s two home runs.
— Shea Langeliers had four hits and Nick Kurtz drove in a run with a base hit his first major league at-bat to help the Athletics beat Texas 5-2 on a night that saw the Rangers’ Joc Pederson end a 0-for-41 slump with a pinch-hit double.
— The Pirates Oneil Cruz hit a 463-foot home run to center field, the fourth longest in baseball this season, while Andrew Heaney retired the first 13 batters he faced to help Pittsburgh shutout the L.A. Angels 3-0.
— The Reds Austin Wynns homered, doubled and singled, while Brady Singer struck out eight in six innings as Cincinnati beat the Miami Marlins 5-2.
— Luis Garcia Jr.’s sacrifice fly to deep center scored Alex Call with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth as the Washington Nationals beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3. James Wood led off the game with his eighth homer of the season for Washington.