Sports: Tigers Start West Coast Trip

The Tigers were off Thursday and play Oakland tonight as they start a west-coast road trip.  Rookie Michael Fulmer starts for the Tigers.   Mike Pelfrey will pitch Sunday, but Saturday remains up in the air as the Tigers figure out what to do with Jordan Zimmermann likely to miss his next scheduled start.  It’s likely that the Tigers will call lefty Matt Boyd up from Toledo to start on Saturday.  The Tigers are 23-23 on the season, in 4^th place but only 3 games behind first place Chicago in the Central Division.

Tigers at Oakland tonight.  Broadcast time is 9:45pm on WBCK.

NHL

It’ll be the San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals.

The Penguins are in for the first time since 2009 after taking Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, a 2-1 triumph over Tampa Bay. Bryan Rust scored twice while the Pens were outshooting the Lightning 21-5 in the second period. Rust opened the scoring 1:55 into the period and tallied just 30 seconds after Jonathan Drouin tied the game.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

NBA

Golden State wins-wrap.mp3

Stephen Curry scored 31 points and the Golden State Warriors pulled within three games to two in the NBA's Western Conference finals by downing the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder 120-111. Curry also provided seven rebounds, six assists and five steals for the Warriors, who bounced back after losing the third and fourth games of the series in Oklahoma.  Game 6 is Saturday at 9pm at Oklahoma City.

The Cleveland Cavaliers can clinch their second straight conference title and trip to the NBA Finals with a win in Game 6 on tonight in Toronto.

PGA

Rocco Mediate is the leader after the first round at the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor.  Mediate shot a 9-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead over Gene Sauers.  Playing partners Kenny Perry shot a 6-under 65 and two-time defending champion Colin Montgomerie carding a 4-under 67.

The biggest following for the fans was John Daly, who was just in his second senior tour event. He couldn't recover after scoring a 9 on the par-4 16th hole. He's 4-over on the tourney and could miss the cut, which is projected at 1-over.  The second round begins at 7:30am this morning.

College Baseball

In the Big Ten baseball tournament….  The game between Maryland and Michigan State had to be postponed to this morning after bad weather in Omaha on Thursday.

Michigan defeated Minnesota 3-2 Thursday.

French Open

Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal claimed his 200th career Grand Slam victory by taking his second-round match in straight sets.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic won in straight sets. Seventh seed Tomas Berdych, 11th seed David Ferrer and No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also advanced.

The Williams sisters both moved into the third round. Serena Williams is the No. 1 seed and seeking her 22nd Grand Slam title, which would equal Steffi Graf's Open-era record.

Girls’ Soccer

Marshall won the Interstate Eight Conference Gold Tournament by beating conference

co-champion Jackson Lumen Christi 4-3.

Baseball

Lakeview swept top-ranked Coldwater, 13-8 and 7-5.

Marshall swept Loy Norrix.

Climax-Scotts took two from Tekonsha.

Bronson and Quincy split two games.

Softball

Lakeview beat Coldwater 5-4 in game one, but lost game two 11-0.

Pennfield swept Delton-Kellogg.

Climax-Scotts took two from Tekonsha.

Quincy swept Marshall.

Clinton swept Bronson.

NASCAR

Martin Truex Jr. has won the pole for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR's longest race of the year. Truex turned a lap of 192.328 to take the top spot from Joey Logano, who had the top qualifying time in the first two rounds and won the All-Star race last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start third, Denny Hamlin fourth and Brad Keselowski fifth.

MSU Hall of History

Construction crews at Michigan State University's Breslin Center have moved a statue of Earvin "Magic" Johnson as part of an ongoing $50 million renovation project.  e statue of the former basketball star was lifted by crane on Wednesday from its current location near the ticket office at the East Lansing arena to a temporary area about 100 feet east.

Jason Van Zee, a construction project manager, tells the Lansing State Journal the statue will sit about 150 feet south of its former home when the project is completed.  The statue is being moved to make way for the new Hall of History, a 26,000-square-foot addition to Breslin Center commemorating the school's college basketball legacy. Breslin Center is open during renovations, which are expected to finish by June 2018.