Adrian, MI – Here is a summary of recent Sports Updates, featured on Inside the Cave (96.5fm), 7-9am:
******************************************************************************
In Lenawee County Little League Softball…
Clinton defeated Tecumseh Wednesday, 7-4, and will advance to the district title game Friday against the winner of today’s contest between Blissfield and Tecumseh. All remaining contests in the Clinton district of Little League Softball will be played at 6pm at Tate Park.
******************************************************************************
Madison baseball assistant Coach Eric Dopp was selected as one of the Assistant Coaches of the Year, presented by the Michigan High School Coaches Association.
He was honored prior to the East-West High School all-star game at Comerica Park in Detroit. Coach Dopp talked with 96.5 The Cave Program Director Ian Wendt about the honor. He had to first make sure the “congratulations” text wasn’t a scam…
Dopp talked to WLEN Sports about what the honor meant to him. He put it all in perspective…
******************************************************************************
College Sports Communicators announced the 2024-2025 Academic All-District Team on Tuesday for Track and Field/Cross Country, which included five members of the Adrian College track and field team.
Honorees were required to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher, be at least a sophomore in both academic and athletic standing, and rank among the top 50 nationally in their event, as listed on TFFRS.
Earning spots on the All-District team are Will Houvener and Matthew Cunningham from the men’s program, while the women’s team is represented by Ciara Heslet, Amelia Smolinski, and Bridget Waterstradt.
******************************************************************************
The Division I Board of Directors have adopted additional changes to NCAA rules to implement the court-approved House settlement.
The changes — which codify roster limits, including legislated exceptions for current student-athletes whose roster spots would have been impacted by those limits — are effective July 1st.
Moving forward, NCAA rules for Division I programs will no longer include sport-specific scholarship limits. Instead, schools in the defendant conferences and others that opt in to the settlement rules and associated benefits to student-athletes will have roster limits, and schools will have the option to offer scholarships to any and all of those student-athletes.
This change will dramatically increase the number of scholarships potentially available to Division I student-athletes, including more than doubling the possible number of scholarships that can be offered to women.
NCAA schools have a deadline of June 30th to indicate whether they intend to opt into the settlement for the 2025-26 academic year.
******************************************************************************
A former head coach of the University of Michigan men’s golf program from 1983-2002, Jim Carras, passed away peacefully over the weekend at the age of 92.
Carras spent 24 years with Michigan, including four as an assistant. During his tenure, nine Wolverines earned All-Big Ten honors.
Michigan finished as high as third at the Big Ten Championship four times, and nine times the Wolverines finished among the top six conference teams. During the regular season, Carras’ teams won six tournament titles and were in the top three 17 times.
In addition to the Big Ten success, Carras guided three teams to NCAA Championships play…1994-95, 1996-97, and the 1999-2000 squad.
Born and raised in Ann Arbor, he served in the Army from 1952-54. After graduating from Eastern Michigan University in 1958, he was an elementary school teacher in Allen Park and Ann Arbor’s Northside Elementary for 10 years.
He and his late wife, Lou, lived in Ann Arbor and had four children and seven grandchildren.
******************************************************************************
The University of Michigan men’s basketball team announced Tuesday its inclusion in the Duel in The District against Duke on February 21st at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Scheduled near the tail end of the Big Ten regular season, the Wolverines meet the Blue Devils for the first time in 13 years. The last meeting was during the 2013 ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
The Duel in The District marks the seventh neutral-site game between Michigan and Duke. Three of the previous six have been during the NCAA Tournament, including the 1992 national championship, the 1964 Final Four and the 2011 second round, when U-M fell 73-71 as a late game-tying Darius Morris lay-up attempt rattled off the rim. The last neutral-site game was in the 2011 Maui Invitational (Nov. 22) — an 82-75 Duke win.
The Maize and Blue is guided by Dusty May, who in his first season led the Wolverines to a 27-10 record, won the Big Ten Tournament title and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
******************************************************************************
The Toledo Mud Hens dropped a 4-3 decision to the Charlotte Knights in extra innings during game two of their six-game set on Wednesday at Fifth Third Field..
With the game tied after nine, the contest headed into extras. Charlotte jumped ahead with a two-run homer.
Toledo didn’t go down without a fight. Jace Young delivered a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the inning to plate Brewer Hicklen, trimming the deficit to one. Ryan Kreidler followed with a single to right, but Jung was thrown out at the plate to end the game.
Reese Olson got the start for the Mud Hens, tossing four solid innings, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out five. The bullpen combined for six innings of work, highlighted by scoreless outings from Matt Manning, Beau Brieske, and Drew Sommers. Ryan Miller was tagged with the loss after the tenth.
The Toledo Mud Hens look to bounce back in game three of the series against the Charlotte Knights tonight at home…first pitch at 7:05 p.m.
******************************************************************************
Jacob Lopez pitched seveninnings and Nick Kurtz hit a three-run homer to help the Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0 on Wednesday night.
Lopez gave up three hits and a walk, striking out six to improve to 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA in his last four starts.
Jack Flaherty took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits and four walks in six innings. Flaherty struck out seven.
Flaherty walked two batters in the third before Kurtz hit a changeup to the top of the first row of shrubs above the 412-foot sign.
The Tigers didn’t get a runner in scoring position until Jahmai Jones doubled with two out in the sixth. Lopez got Riley Greene to ground out to end the inning.
The Athletics got two singles to start the eighth, putting runners on the corners, but Matt Gage and Dylan Smith escaped the inning.
Michael Kelly pitched the eighth, aided by running catches by Tyler Soderstrom in left and Denzel Clarke in center. Mason Miller threw a perfect ninth for his 15th save.
******************************************************************************
Cooper Flagg is headed to the Dallas Mavericks, who may have found their next franchise superstar less than five months after trading one away. The Mavericks took the Duke forward with the No. 1 pick in the draft Wednesday night, selecting the 18-year-old who was the college player of the year in his lone season.
Mavericks fans were furious when Dallas traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February, some immediately threatening to end their support of the team. But the ones who stuck around may quickly love Flagg, who averaged 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds while leading Duke to the Final Four. Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper was taken by San Antonio with the No. 2 pick.
******************************************************************************
Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday night that the NBA had already convened a panel of experts to study Achilles tendon injuries even before Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton ruptured his in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The league had seven known Achilles injuries this season — Pacers forwards James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson, New Orleans guard Dejounte Murray and Miami guard Dru Smith had them in the regular season, while Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard and Haliburton then had them in the playoffs.
******************************************************************************
A person with direct knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press that a 22-year-old fan who heckled Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte during a game against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on Tuesday night has been banned indefinitely from all major league stadiums.
Marte was seen in tears on the field after the spectator yelled a derogatory comment about Marte’s late mother during a seventh-inning at-bat in Arizona’s 4-1 win over Chicago.
According to a White Sox spokesperson, the security staff at the ballpark relayed that the fan was QUOTE “very apologetic and remorseful after the fact, and admitted to being very inappropriate and stupid with his comments.” UNQUOTE.
The fan’s name has not been publicly disclosed.
******************************************************************************