College Basketball News

March Madness tipped off with a bang yesterday in the opening First Four matches of the men’s bracket. Alabama State’s Amarr Knox made a layup with one second remaining to give the Hornets a 70-68 win over Saint Francis. It was Alabama State’s first-ever NCAA tournament win, as they now move on to face top-seeded Auburn in the 1st round tomorrow. After that, North Carolina hammered San Diego State 95-68 to advance to a 1st round matchup with Ole Miss.

The men’s First Four wraps up on KPUG tonight with American playing Mount St Marys in a battle of 16-seeds and Texas playing Xavier for the 11-seed. Coming up tomorrow, 8th-seeded Gonzaga will face 9th-seeded Georgia at 1:35 pm.

Meanwhile, the women’s tournament tips off today with another pair of First Four matchups, including a battle for the 16-seed between UC San Diego and Southern in Spokane. The 11th-seeded University of Washington women will take on Columbia at 4 pm tomorrow in their First Four matchup.

Kraken News

The Kraken are back in action tonight on the heels of an offensive clinic to kick off their road trip. Seattle overcame an early deficit to notch a 6-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks last night. The Blackhawks got off to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Kraken exploded for six unanswered goals to hand Chicago its fifth straight loss. Shane Wright led the charge with a pair of goals himself, while Adam Larsson added a goal and two assists.

The Kraken earned their NHL-leading eighth comeback from a two-goal deficit. They’ll look to carry the momentum on to tonight’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild. Coverage begins at 6:00 and puck drops at 6:30 on KGMI.

Mariners News

The Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 in Cactus League play this afternoon. Jorge Polanco and JP Crawford each homered to back up four innings of one-run ball from Emerson Hancock. The Mariners now improve to 9-17 in spring training. They have the day off tomorrow before facing Kansas City and Cincinnati on Friday in a pair of split-squad matches

MLB News

The MLB season got off to a roaring start overseas. The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Chicago Cubs in a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani hit a home run early this morning to highlight the pair of games. Rookie starter Roki Sasaki tossed three innings of one-run ball in his highly-anticipated debut. Dubbed “The Tokyo Series,” the event marked the first official games of the baseball regular season.