NEBRASKA BASEBALL STARTS FINAL SERIES OF REGULAR SEASON AT PURDUE TONIGHT:
Husker Baseball (26-26, 13-14 B1G) will look to secure a spot at the Big Ten baseball championships with a series win at Purdue (30-21, 10-17 B1G) this week.
First pitch between the Husker and the Boilermakers is set for 5PM Today, pregame coverage starts on KGFW at 4:30PM.
Probable Pitching Matchup: Nebraska: Tucker Timmerman, RHP, Soph. (2-1, 3.55 ERA, 25.1 IP, 10 ER, 21 H, 12 SO, 8 BB) | Purdue: Crater Doorn, RHP, Sr. (4-5, 5.04 ERA, 60.2 IP, 34 ER, 63 H, 48 SO, 30 BB)
BAHL NAMED TOP 10 FINALIST FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Nebraska softball pitcher and utility player Jordyn Bahl was named a Top 10 finalist for the USA Softball/ESPN Collegiate Player of the Year, the organization announced on Wednesday. This is the third time Bahl has been named a top-10 finalist for the award, as she was on the list in both 2022 and 2023 while at Oklahoma.
Bahl is one of three Big Ten players that made the top-10 list – Oregon’s Lyndsey Grein and UCLA’s Jordan Woolery are also finalists.
At the plate, the junior has notched 61 runs, 71 hits, 59 RBIs, 16 doubles, 2 triples and 19 homers on a .458 batting average. She has only struck out 14 times and has a slugging percentage of .955 and an on-base percentage of .540.
In the circle, Bahl has an ERA of 1.57 and a record of 23-6 across 174.1 innings pitched. She has struck out 254 batters and allowed only 39 earned runs.
The top three finalists for the Collegiate Player of the Year will be named on May 19, and the winner will be named before the Women’s College World Series.
MULTIPLE LOCAL TEAM WINNERS IN CLASS D REGIONAL TRACK, CLASS C TODAY:
Multiple local schools won team titles in Class D regional track meets yesterday.
In the D-5 regional meet, Elm Creek held off host Burwell for the girls title. The Buffaloes scored 128 points to Burwell’s 94. Central Valley won the boys title, with Amherst finishing in second and Elm Creek in third.
Silver Lake ran away with the girls team title in the D-6 regional at Sandy Creek, scoring 125 points to runner-up Giltner’s 90. The boys team race was hotly contested, with Kenesaw edging out Axtell 108-102 for the title.
Finally, the Anselmo-Merna boys had a runaway team title at the D-8 regional at Sutherland. A-M scored 109 points in the regional, followed by Hyannis with 79.
Class C regionals are today to wrap up regional track, with local athletes competing at Thayer Central, Kearney Catholic, and Wood River.
NSAA STATE GIRLS SOCCER SOCRES:
Class B Quarterfinals
(1) Gretna East 6, (8) Elkhorn 2
(4) Skutt Catholic 0, (5) Blair 1
(2) Columbus Scotus 1, (7) Norris 2
(3) Lincoln Pius 4, (6) Omaha Mercy 0
NSAA STATE BOYS SOCCER TIMES TODAY:
Class B Quarterfinals
(1) Bennington 18-1 vs (8) Gretna East 9-7 – NOON
(4) Lexington 15-4 vs (5) Mount Michael Benedictine 11-6 – 2PM
(2) Hastings 17-1 vs (7) Elkhorn North 12-5 – 5:30PM
(3) Schuyler 16-2 vs (6) Crete 12-4 – 7:30PM
KICKOFF, TV DESIGNATION ANNOUNCED FOR NEBRASKA/CINCINNATI:
ESPN announced Tuesday afternoon that Nebraska’s season-opening matchup with Cincinnati in Kansas City on Thursday, Aug. 28, will be televised on ESPN with kickoff set for 8 p.m. Central.
The Huskers and Bearcats will square off at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Nebraska’s first contest in the stadium since the 2006 Big 12 Championship game and NU’s first regular-season game in Kansas City since 1998. The matchup was originally scheduled as a Cincinnati home game before being moved to a neutral site. It marks just the second all-time meeting between the schools and the first since a 1906 matchup in Lincoln.
Tuesday’s announcement is the first kickoff time set for the Huskers’ 2025 season. Additional game times and television designations for the upcoming season are expected to be announced by the end of May.
CHIEFS-EAGLES SUPER BOWL REMATCH IN WEEK 2, ALLEN-JACKSON SHOWDOWN IN WEEK 1 HIGHLIGHT NFL SCHEDULE:
(AP) – Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs will be featured in at least eight stand-alone games during the upcoming NFL season.
Their Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles won’t be one of them.
The teams will meet Week 2 in Kansas City in the late afternoon game on Fox.
Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles dominated the Chiefs 40-22 to capture their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in February. Philadelphia is getting seven stand-alone games.
Along with Kansas City, Dallas and Washington also have eight stand-alone games, which is the most in the NFL.
The Chiefs are visiting Dallas on Thanksgiving Day and hosting the Denver Broncos on Christmas night. Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons and the Cowboys also will play on both holidays. They’ll visit Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders to kick off a tripleheader on Christmas.
Besides Chiefs-Cowboys, the Thanksgiving Day slate includes the Packers-Lions in the early game and the Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore in prime time.
REDS PAY TRIBUTE TO PETE ROSE A DAY AFTER HE WAS POSTHUMOUSLY REINSTATED BY MLB:
CINCINNATI (AP) — Pete Rose was celebrated by the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night, a day after baseball’s career hits leader was posthumously removed from Major League Baseball’s permanent ineligibility list.
There were chants of “Pete! Pete!” at Great American Ball Park. There was a pregame moment of silence, and a choir from Rose’s Cincinnati high school performed the national anthem. And No. 14 was everywhere, from the replica jerseys in the stands to the highlights shown on the videoboard.
It was the type of all-out effort that Rose himself would have appreciated.
“This city was my dad,” Rose’s daughter, Fawn, said.
Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin and Eric Davis — who played for Rose when he managed the Reds — shared stories about their former manager during a pregame panel, joined by former Rose teammate George Foster. Members of Rose’s family delivered the game ball before Cincinnati’s 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
“He played baseball with as much passion and competitive enjoyment as you ever could,” said Reds manager Terry Francona, who played with Rose with Montreal and played for him with Cincinnati. “You wanted to be on his team.”
Rose, who died in September at age 83, played for the Reds in 19 of his 24 seasons, winning two of his three World Series championships with his hometown team. His career was tarnished by a gambling scandal that led to a permanent ban on Aug. 23, 1989.
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS TO BUY STRUGGLING SHOE CHAIN FOOT LOCKER FOR $2.4 BILLION:
(AP) – Dick’s Sporting Goods is buying the struggling footwear chain Foot Locker for about $2.4 billion, the second buyout of a major footwear company in as many weeks as business leaders struggle with uncertainty over how U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs will impact companies that make many of their products overseas.
Dick’s said Thursday that it expects to run Foot Locker as a standalone unit and keep the Foot Locker brands, which include Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS and Japanese sneaker brand atmos.
Foot Locker shareholders can choose to receive either $24 in cash or 0.1168 shares of Dick’s common stock for each Foot Locker share that they own.
The footwear industry has been growing increasingly concerned over Trump’s trade war with other countries, particularly China. Athletic shoe makers have invested heavily in production in Asia.
Shares of sporting goods and athletic shoe companies have been under pressure all year.
THURSDAY’S TIME SCHEDULE:
MLB
Washington at Atlanta, 12:15 p.m.
Minnesota at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m.
Chicago White Sox at Cincinnati, 12:40 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Toronto, 3:07 p.m.
Houston at Texas, 8:05 p.m.
Athletics at L.A. Dodgers, 10:10 p.m.
NBA Playoffs – Conference Semifinals
Western Conference
Oklahoma City at Denver – Game 6, 8:30 p.m.
NHL Playoffs – Conference Semifinals
Eastern Conference
Carolina at Washington – Game 5, 7 p.m.
Western Conference
Dallas at Winnipeg – Game 5, 9:30 p.m.