MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Randal Grichuk, Justin Smoak and Teoscar Hernandez hit home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins 7-4. Eric Sogard added a three-run double for the Blue Jays, who took three of four at Target Field. Eddie Rosario homered twice for the Twins. Michael Pineda (2-1) had his worst start of the season, allowing six earned runs and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings. He struck out one batter, threw a wild pitch and allowed two home runs to equal his combined total from his first three starts. Willians Astudillo and Jonathan Schoop both ended 0-for-15 stretches with singles in a three-run second inning for the Twins. Ryne Harper tossed 3 1-3 innings of scoreless relief for Minnesota.

 

 

IOWA CITY — The Iowa Hawkeye baseball team returns to action Friday night at home by opening a three game series against Big Ten leader Nebraska. The Hawkeyes have won three straight series and stand 7-5 in the league race.

That’s Iowa coach Rick Heller. The Huskers are 10-2 in the Big Ten.

Heller says the Huskers are fundamentally sound.

Something has to give. The Hawkeyes are 12-3 at home while the Huskers are 12-4 on the road.

Tonight’s game starts at 6:05, Saturday is a 2:05 start that will be on the Big Ten Network, while Sunday is a 1:05 first pitch.

 

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Lynx will honor Lindsay Whalen by making her jersey the first to be retired by the 20-year-old franchise. The Lynx announced they will hang Whalen’s number 13 from the Target Center rafters at the June 8 game against the Los Angeles Sparks. Whalen is now the head coach at her alma mater, the University of Minnesota. She retired after the 2018 WNBA season. Whalen played nine of her 15 years in the league with the Lynx, winning four championships.

 

 

CEDAR FALLS — The Mason City High boys track team finished fifth at the Cole Collinge Relays at Cedar Falls High School on Thursday. The Mohawks picked up a couple of first-place finishes, with Michael Rowe winning the 1600 in a time of 4:47.27 and the distance medley relay winning in a time of 3:46.84. Also having top three finishes were Luke Mulholland, finishing third in the 800, as well as the 4×100 and shuttle hurdle relay teams finishing third. Cedar Falls won the team title with 214 points, Dike-New Hartford was second with 112. Mason City had 56 points. Mason City hosts the Mohawk Relays on Monday starting at 5 o’clock.

 

MASON CITY — Katie Cooling scored on a penalty kick with 16:16 to go to give Mason City High a 1-0 win over Clear Lake in girls soccer on Thursday afternoon in Mason City. The Mohawks improve to 5-0 on the season and will host Des Moines East later today. Clear Lake suffers their first loss, dropping to 2-1. The Lions will host Humboldt on Monday.

 

CLEAR LAKE — Webster City downed Clear Lake 3-0 in boys soccer on Thursday at Lions Field. Clear Lake drops to 2-4 on the season and will play at the Boone tournament on Saturday.

 

 

 

DES MOINES — Drake football coach Todd Stepsis has taken a non traditional approach in his search for a new starting quarterback this spring. Senior Alex Berg, junior Ben Nienhuis and sophomore Hunter Wendling are competing to replace Grant Kraemer under center.

Stepsis believes keeping the quarterbacks live has helped them make progress.

Stepsis admits the offensive coaches were a little hesitant when discussing the idea of letting the quarterbacks get tackled.

Stepsis says a starter won’t be named at the end of spring drills.

Stepsis says the Bulldogs will have a competitive spring game on Saturday. The teams were drafted and it included an NFL style draft.

Drake’s spring game will take place at Drake Stadium starting at 3 o’clock on Saturday afternoon.

 

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings will be constructing a new front five yet again this year. Perhaps this will be the spring they can finally plant a couple of seeds for stability on the offensive line. For the fifth straight year, they’ll return no more than three of five primary starters from the previous season. Just like from 2017 to 2018, the Vikings will have two new starting guards this year. Position shuffles are possible, so they could target a tackle or a center in the early rounds, too.

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