Sports: Sanchez Great as Tigers Tie Nats
Tigers
The Tigers and Nationals battled to a scoreless tie in 10 innings on Thursday afternoon at Space Coast Stadium. Anibal Sanchez started and pitched 5 shutout innings, striking out 6 and giving up just two hits. He didn’t walk a batter. J.D. Martinez and James McCann continued their hot hitting with two hits each. Detroithas lost six in a row inFlorida, and 9 of their last 10. The Tigers host the Yankees this afternoon, with Alfredo Simon pitching for Detroit.
Red Wings
The Red Wings lost to the Panthers 3-1 in Florida. Erik Cole had the lone goal for Detroit, and Petr Mrazek stopped 29 shots, but the Red Wings lost for the fifth time in seven games. Darren Helm returned to the lineup last night for the first time in seven games after he suffered an oblique strain last month. Jaromir Jagr scored his 718th NHL goal, moving into fifth place on the career list. Jagr passed Phil Esposito for sole possession of fifth place with his first goal since March 1. He has two withFloridasince being acquired fromNew Jerseyon Feb. 28. The Red Wings play in Tampa tonight and host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
NCAA Tournaments
A pair of 14th seeds has advanced to the third round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament this afternoon. UAB beat third seed Iowa State and Georgia State upset Baylor. Top seeds Kentucky and Villanova won easily, and Notre Dame got past Northeastern. 7th seed Michigan State will go up against 10th seed Georgia today in Charlotte. The Spartans are in for the 18th straight season. MSU finished at 23-11 and overcame a 13-7 start this season. Coach Tom Izzo says he doesn't "want to be thought of as a March coach," but his teams have won at least one NCAA game for eight straight seasons — including last year's trip to the Elite Eight. The Bulldogs, 21-11, are in the tournament for the first time since 2011.Georgia's last NCAA Tournament win was in 2002. Broadcast time is 11:50am, following “Live with Renk” on WBCK. If MSU wins, they’ll take on the winner of the Virginia/Belmont game.
The Arkansas State women's basketball team has advanced to the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament with a 61-49 win over Western Michigan.
Western finishes the season at 20-13. Miracle Woods led WMU with 17 points.
Pistons
The Pistons host Chicago on Saturday night at the Palace.
West Michigan Wolves
The West Michigan Wolves beat Great Falls 3-1 in the opener of the NA3HL Silver Cup Playoffs in Geneva, Illinois. Michael Tratar scored twice and Hunter Vorva turned away 28 of 29 shots on goal. The Wolves play North Iowa tonight. Saturday, they playNashvilleat 4pm. The Wolves’ Michael Tratar and Dakota Ulmer are in the Top 10 in NA3HL scoring, and goaltender Hunter Vorva led the league in save percentage this season.
High School Basketball
The Class C State Girls Basketball Final will have Calumet taking on Flint Hamady tomorrow at 4pm. Flintbeat Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, the team that beat Homer this week.
In Class D, it’ll be Pittsford against St. Ignace LaSalle tomorrow at 10am.
DeWitt will play Saginaw Heritage at 1pm and, Goodrich will play Detroit Country Day at 8pm.
In Boys Basketball, Otsego takes on Milan next Tuesday.
Lions Mathis on Suh
Rashean Mathis is returning to aDetroitdefense missing its biggest star from last season. He still has high hopes for the Lions in the post-Ndamukong Suh era. Mathis says he's very confident in the players the Lions have — and in the team's personnel department.
Suh may have left via free agency, but Mathis is back, having signed a two-year contract to stay.Detroitnow can expect to return its entire starting secondary from 2014, when the team had one of the top defenses in the NFL. The 34-year-old Mathis has been a steady part of Detroit's secondary since the Lions signed him two years ago.
Golf
Morgan Hoffmann fired a 6-under 66 in Thursday's opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida, and he leads by one stroke over five players.
World No. 1 Lydia Ko fired a 6-under 66 on Thursday and she was among four leaders with the first round of the JTBC Founders Cup in Phoenix, suspended due to darkness.
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