WEDNESDAY SPORTS, MAY 21, 2025
MITCHELL KERNELS
— Mitchell Kernels boys tennis competes at the Class AA state championship in Sioux Falls on Thursday and Friday.
— Mitchell Kernels girls golf will compete at the Brookings Country Club in the Brookings Invitational on Thursday at 10 am.
— Mitchell Kernels track and field competes at the Huron Invitational on Thursday at 2 pm.
— Mitchell Kernels softball (5-10 on the season) hosts Tea Area on Friday at 5:30 pm in the regular season finale. The Kernels are currently the No. 12 seed in Class AA and would face No. 5 Brandon Valley in a potential SoDAK 16 game next week.
DAKOTA WESLEYAN
— Abby Magnuson and Ethan Watson will represent Dakota Wesleyan at the NAIA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday and Friday in Marion, Indiana. Magnuson will compete in the women’s shot put and discus and is a two-time All-American, while Watson is a freshman who will also compete in the shot put.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
— South Dakota State baseball will take on the No. 1 seed Oral Roberts on Wednesday at Noon in Omaha in the double elimination, four team Summit League baseball tournament. No. 2 North Dakota State faces No. 3 Omaha on Wednesday at 6 pm. If SDSU loses game one, they would play the loser of game two on Thursday at Noon.
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL – REGION 3B at DRAKE FIELD
Hanson/Bridgewater-Emery 2, Mount Vernon/Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney 1 – Tyler Sanderson had eight strikeouts over seven innings in a complete game. All three runs in the game were scored in the third inning.
Sioux Falls Christian 15, Tri-Valley 5 – (5 innings)
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL – WEDNESDAY
Parkston/Ethan vs. Scotland/Menno – 3 pm in Region 1B in Parkston
Dakota Valley vs. Canistota/Freeman – 5 pm in Region 1B in Parkston
Championship at 7 pm
Howard vs. Gorton Area – 5 pm in Madison in Region 2B in Madison
Hanson/Bridgewater-vs. Sioux Falls Christian – 5:30 pm in Alexandria.
Winner from Region 3B advances to the Class B State Tournament in Brookings next week on Monday and Tuesday
Platte-Geddes/Dakota Christian/White Lake vs. Bennett County, 2 pm on Wednesday in Platte in Region 4B
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF
— Winner girls golf won the Region 3A golf tournament on Tuesday at Lakeview Golf Course in Mitchell with a team score of 398, one shot better than Chamberlain. Mt. Vernon/Plankinton finished third as all three teams and top-13 individual finishers advance to the Class A state girls golf tournament on June 2 at the Madison Country Club. Chamberlain’s Trey Speer finished first overall with a round of 84.
AMATEUR BASEBALL – THURSDAY
Platte vs. Mitchell
Parkston Rays vs. Alexandria
Corsica vs. Mt. Vernon
Winner/Colome vs. Parkston Mudcats – Sunday
CLASS A STATE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT – FRIDAY IN SIOUX FALLS
No. 1 Harrisburg vs. No. 8 Watertown, Noon
No. 4 SF Jefferson vs. No. 5 Yankton, 2:30 pm
No. 2 SF Lincoln vs. No. 7 Rapid City Stevens, 5 pm
No. 3 O’Gorman vs. No. 6 Brandon Valley, 7:30 pm
NBA
— Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 of his 31 points in the second half as the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-88 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. Oklahoma City outscored Minnesota 70-40 in the second half. Julius Randle scored 28 points for Minnesota, but just eight in the second half. Anthony Edwards, who had been averaging 26 points per game in the playoffs, was held to 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Game two in Oklahoma City is Thursday night.
NBA PLAYOFFS – WEDNESDAY
New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers, 7 pm on TNT – Eastern Conference Finals Game 1
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS – TUESDAY
Florida Panthers 5, Carolina Hurricanes 2 – Florida leads the series 1-0
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS – WEDNESDAY
Dallas Stars vs. Edmonton Oilers, 7 pm on ESPN – Western Conference Finals Game 1
NFL
— NFL owners have unanimously approved permission for players to participate in flag football for the 2028 Olympics. The vote at the spring meetings in Minnesota on Tuesday authorized the league to negotiate safety provisions and scheduling logistics with the NFL Players Association and the relevant Olympic authorities before it becomes reality during the next Summer Games in Los Angeles.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
— Two-time Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year Zakai Zeigler is suing the NCAA over rules limiting him to four seasons in a five-year window as an unlawful restraint of trade under both federal and Tennessee laws. Zeigler’s lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The point guard played four seasons at Tennessee, helping the Volunteers to consecutive Elite Eight berths before graduating earlier this month.
MLB
— A man has been charged with providing alcohol to the 20-year-old who fell from the outfield stands at a Pittsburgh Pirates game on April 30. 21-year-old Ethan Kirkwood was arrested Tuesday on misdemeanor charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor. Kavan Markwood suffered serious injuries after falling from the top of a 21-foot-high wall onto the warning track at PNC Park during a game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Markwood was admitted to the trauma center at Allegheny General Hospital in critical condition, but has made substantial progress since the fall.
WNBA
— It was a busy opening weekend for the WNBA with record breaking tv ratings. The game between Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky drew an average of 2.7 million viewers on Saturday, which made it the most watched WNBA game in ESPN history. Clark had a triple-double while Reese had 12 points and 17 rebounds in the blowout loss for Chicago.
RACING
— Kurt Busch, Ray Hendrick and Harry Gant were voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Tuesday. A ceremony will be held to officially induct the Class of 2026 into the Hall of Fame in March. The 46-year-old Busch held off Jimmie Johnson to win the 2004 Cup Series championship and went on to win 34 Cup races, including at least one victory in 19 of his 21 full-time seasons on the premier circuit before he retired in 2023.
— The Indianapolis 500 has sold out its grandstands for the first time in nearly a decade, and the local TV blackout that has been in place since 1951 has been lifted so fans in central Indiana will be able to watch the race live. Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles said that while its roughly 230,000 grandstand seats had sold out, general admission infield tickets were still available. He expects a crowd of about 350,000 race fans for the Indy 500 on Sunday.
MLB
— Rain prevented the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins from playing again on Tuesday, following the suspension of the series opener the previous night. The Twins called off what would’ve been a de facto doubleheader about three hours before they were looking to resume the suspended game from Monday before the regularly scheduled game on Tuesday night. Now the Guardians and Twins will try again on Wednesday afternoon to finish the first game, which was stopped by rain a second time on Monday with the Twins leading 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning.
— Seiya Suzuki homered, doubled and had four RBIs, while Kyle Tucker also went deep and the Chicago Cubs beat the Miami Marlins 14-1. The Cubs scored eight times in the sixth inning and matched a season-high with 21 hits.
— Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer, while rookie Will Warren struck out a career-high 10 as the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 5-2. New York has won nine of 12 to move a season-best nine games over .500.
— Max Muncy’s sacrifice fly to center scored Shohei Ohtani with the winning run in the 10th inning as the Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3 to snap a four-game losing streak. Yoshi Yamamoto tossed seven innings of one-hit ball, losing his no-hit bid on Ketel Marte’s single leading off the seventh.
— Carlos Narváez and Rafael Devers hit homers as six relievers combined to keep the Mets scoreless in Boston’s 2-0 win over New York.
— Logan Henderson had seven strikeouts in five shutout innings as the Milwaukee Brewers beat Baltimore 5-2 to hand the Orioles their eighth consecutive loss.
— Riley Greene homered and hit the winning RBI double in the ninth inning to help the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4. Tigers starter Tarik Skubal allowed three runs on five hits and struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings.
— Kyle Schwarber hit his 17th home run and Bryce Harper had three hits including two doubles as the Philadelphia Phillies won their fifth game in a row, 7-4 over the Colorado Rockies.
— Adrian Houser pitched six shutout innings in his first major league start in a year as the Chicago White Sox defeated Seattle 1-0.
— Taylor Walls hit a game-ending sacrifice fly as Tampa Bay rallied to beat Houston 3-2. The Rays trailed 2-0 until Jonathan Aranda’s two-run single in the eighth inning tied the game.
— The Blue Jays Anthony Santander and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered, while Chris Bassitt and three relievers combined on a five-hitter as Toronto beat San Diego 3-0. The shutout was Toronto’s first of the season.
— Washington rookie Dylan Crews hit a tiebreaking home run in the second inning before leaving the game in the sixth as the Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3. Crews is set to have an MRI on his sore left side and back.
— Hayden Birdsong allowed one unearned in five innings in his first start of the season as the San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2.
— Logan O’Hoppe homered and had a tiebreaking RBI single as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Athletics 7-5 for their fifth straight win.
— Bailey Falter gave up four hits through seven shutout innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a four-game losing streak with a 1-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds.