Monday April 18th Local Sports

TODAY:
AM-1300 KGLO — Minnesota Twins at Boston — pre-game 9:30 AM, first pitch 10:10 AM

 

BOSTON (AP) — Michael Wacha pitched five shutout innings in his Fenway Park debut with Boston and Trevor Story drove in his first two runs in his new home, leading the Red Sox to an 8-1 victory on Sunday over the Minnesota Twins. It was the second straight day the Red Sox beat the Twins after losing their home opener. J.D. Martinez had an RBI double and sacrifice fly for Boston. The teams close out the four-game series in Boston’s annual Patriots’ Day game on Monday morning with a scheduled first pitch of 10:10 AM Iowa time.

 

 

BOSTON (AP) — The Twins placed right-hander Sonny Gray on the 10-day injured list with a low grade strained hamstring a day after he left his start. To take his place on the roster, the team activated right-hander Cody Stashak, who was on the IL with right biceps tendinitis. Manager Rocco Baldelli said before the game that he doesn’t think Gray will miss more than one start. Gray allowed a homer to Alex Verdugo in the second inning before being pulled two batters later with right hamstring tightness in Minnesota’s 4-0 loss to Boston on Saturday. The 32-year-old was acquired from Cincinnati in a trade last month.

 

 

BURLINGTON — The NIACC baseball team was swept in their three-game weekend series at Southeastern. Southeastern stopped the Trojans 18-8 on Saturday after picking up a sweep of 5-2 and 10-2 on Friday. NIACC drops to 18-13 overall and 7-8 in the conference and will travel to face Iowa Central in a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon in Fort Dodge.

 

 

CEDAR RAPIDS — The NIACC softball team was swept in a four-game weekend series at Kirkwood. Kirkwood picked up wins of 18-3 and 15-0 both games in five innings on Friday, with Kirkwood then sweeping on Saturday 6-1 and 33-3. NIACC drops to 3-25 overall and 0-16 in the conference and will travel to Marshalltown on Thursday.

 

 

WATERLOO — NIACC placed fifth over the weekend in the Battle of Waterloo men’s golf tournament. The Trojans shot a three-round total of 957, with host Hawkeye Community College winning the event with a 917. Kai Nelles shot a 231 to lead NIACC, finishing seventh in the medalist competition. NIACC will host their Spring Invitational on Tuesday at the Mason City Country Club.

 

 

 

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jared Spurgeon scored his second goal of the game 1:05 into overtime to send the Minnesota Wild to the playoffs with a 5-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday. Kevin Fiala, Dmitry Kulikov and Matt Boldy also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves to help Minnesota wrap up its 12th playoff berth. The Wild have 101 points, one behind St. Louis for second place in the Central Division after the Blues beat Nashville on Sunday. The Predators and idle Dallas have 91 points as the top-two wild card teams. Rudolfs Balcers, Matt Nieto, Noah Gregor and Nick Bonino scored for San Jose. The Sharks trailed 2-0 midway through the first period, then nearly stalled Minnesota’s playoff bid for a day.

 

 

 

MASON CITY — The North Iowa Bulls closed out their season being swept by St. Cloud in a home-and-home series over the weekend. The Norsemen used a three-goal second period to lift them to a 5-3 win on Friday night in Mason City. St. Cloud scored three times each in the second and third periods in a 7-0 win in St. Cloud on Saturday. The Bulls closed out the season with a record of 22-28-4-6, drawing 33,100 fans to the Mason City Arena, averaging more than 1100 fans per night, 10th best in the 29-team league. .

 

 

IOWA CITY — Cooper DeJean says he has been spending this spring at safety for Iowa. The former Odeboldt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove star appeared in seven games for the Hawkeyes last season at various spots.

DeJean says the experience he gained last season is a plus.

Iowa special teams coach LeVar Woods says DeJean is one of the players who could become Iowa’s holder on PATs and field goals.

Woods admits DeJean would add a different threat as a holder.

Iowa closes out spring drills this week

 

 

 

GILBERT — Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell feels his team had a productive spring. The Cyclones lost several key players from last year’s team that opened in the top ten before stumbling to a 7-6 record. They closed drills with an open practice at Gilbert High School on Friday.

The expectations won’t be as high for a team that is a mix of veterans and newcomers.

That includes at quarterback where Hunter Dekkers takes over for four year starter Brock Purdy. Campbell says they tried to put the former West Sioux star in some challenging spots.

Campbell says the key for Dekkers will be handling the adversity that comes with playing quarterback.

The Cyclones open next season on September 3rd at home against Southeast Missouri.