Sports briefs
7 locals in Classic
Seven local wrestlers will have one final match in the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic, set for Saturday, March 25 at the AHN Arena at Peters Township High School.
Waynesburg’s dynamic duo of Mac Church and Rocco Welsh will compete for the Pennsylvania Team, which wrestles the United States Team at 6 p.m.
Burgettstown’s Joey Sentipal, Canon-McMillan’s Matthew Furman, Waynesburg’s Eli Makel and Body Evans, and Trinity’s Ty Banco will be on the WPIAL Team, which wrestles Ohio at 4 p.m.
In baseball
The start of the season can’t come soon enough for teams looking to keep their pitching staffs as healthy as possible.
A tough spring for pitchers continued Thursday with the announcements that New York Mets star closer Edwin Díaz and Washington Nationals prospect Cade Cavalli were expected to miss the entire season.
Díaz tore the patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating with his Puerto Rico teammates on the field after a World Baseball Classic victory over the Dominican Republic. Cavalli is undergoing Tommy John surgery.
- Major League Baseball is heightening in-game inspections by umpires for banned grip aides, concerned that use of foreign substances by pitchers increased again as time passed from a crackdown begun in June 2021.
“Unfortunately, spin rates began to rise again during the 2022 season and we received reports of continued use of foreign substances on the field,” MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill wrote Thursday in a memo.
“Umpires have been instructed to increase the frequency and scope of foreign substance checks this year, including randomized checks of fingers (including removal of rings worn on either hand of pitchers), hands, hats, gloves, belts/waistlines, and pants,” Hill said. “Pitchers may be subject to checks before or after innings in which they pitch, and managers may make inspection requests of a pitcher or position player either before or after an at-bat.”
- Umpires will have a new view this season: on Zoom.
Major League Baseball struck a deal with Zoom Video Communications Inc. allowing on-field umpires to watch videos being evaluated by the replay operations center during contested calls.
College softball
Washington & Jefferson opened the season with a doubleheader sweep of Penn State Greater Allegheny, 10-1 and 11-3 in five innings, Thursday at Brooks Park.
The big hit in the second game came from Izzy DiPietro-Harvey, who launched a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning.
In the NHL
St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was suspended two games without pay Thursday for throwing a punch at Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman.
Binnington received a match penalty in the second period of Wednesday’s 8-5 loss to Minnesota for swinging his blocker glove at Hartman. Binnington left his crease and went after Hartman right after giving up the Wild’s fifth goal of the night.
In the NBA
Nikola Jokic deferred to teammates early before looking for his shot and finished with 30 points to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Detroit Pistons 119-100 Thursday night to end a season-high four-game losing streak.
Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-111, extending their season-high home winning streak to six.