North Carolina is in the Final Four for the 19th time in school history. The top-seeded Tar Heels punched their ticket to Houston with an 88-74 win over Notre Dame in the East Regional final. Brice Johnson had 25 points and 12 rebounds in the victory.
Tenth-seeded Syracuse outscored top-seeded Virginia by 20 in the second half to pull out a stunning 68-62 win in the Midwest Regional final. Syracuse is the first 10 seed to ever reach the Final Four. The Orange will face North Carolina on Saturday.
The Warriors continued their pursuit of history with a 117-105 win over the 76ers. At 66-and-7, the Warriors are one game ahead of the 72-win pace set by the 1995-96 Bulls. Golden State has won 53 in-a-row at home.
The Blackhawks clinched a playoff spot with a 3-2 win over the Canucks. Andrew Ladd scored the go-ahead goal with 2:27 left in the third. Tomas Fleischmann and Teuvo Teravainen also scored while Scott Darling made 26 saves. The defending Stanley Cup champions are going to the postseason for the eighth consecutive year.
J.T. Realmuto’s two-run bloop single in the sixth inning propelled the Marlins to a 4-2 win over the Cardinals in Jupiter. Jaime [[ HIGH-may ]] Garcia struck out four while allowing just two hits and two runs in five innings. The Cardinals play the Mets today in Jupiter.
Robinson Cano homered three times to power the Mariners to a 12-9 win over the Cubs. Jason Hammel allowed nine runs and eight hits during his four-and-a-third-inning start. The Cubs face the Angels this afternoon.
Travis Ishikawa plated five runs as the White Sox outslugged the Giants, 13-9. Todd Frazier and Avisail Garcia popped two-run homers in the victory. The Sox square off with the Rockies this afternoon.
Yesterday’s game between the Cubs and Mariners was delayed by a swarm of bees in the third inning. Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward climbed the fence in center field to avoid the swarm. Cubs relievers were also forced to abandon their bullpen in left field at the end of the inning.
The Triple-A Indianapolis Indians won’t open the season until April 7th, but the major-league Pittsburgh Pirates will be at Victory Field on Saturday. The Bucs will host the Cincinnati Reds in exhibition action. The Indians’ home-opener is on Thursday, April 14th against Columbus.