Mariners News

It was a split opening weekend of the season for the Mariners. Seattle fell to the Athletics on Friday and Saturday, but rallied on Sunday to end the series with a tie. Julio Rodriguez was the hero for the M’s yesterday, hitting a 2-run homer in the sixth to give them a 2-1 win.

It was much-needed for an otherwise struggling Mariner offense. Before Rodríguez hit his home run, A’s starter J.P. Sears had retired 16 of the previous 18 hitters, with the Mariners managing just three singles against him.  Bryan Woo threw six innings of one-run ball to earn his first win of the season. Seattle now sits at 2-2 ahead of tonight’s series-opener against the Detroit Tigers with Emerson Hancock making the start at T-Mobile. Coverage begins at 5:30 and first pitch is at 6:40 on KPUG.

Meanwhile, Bellingham native delivered a big win for the Mariners’ minor league affiliate yesterday. Bellingham High School alum Austin Shenton hit a walk-off three-run homer to lead the Tacoma Rainiers over Round Rock. The former fifth-round pick was reacquired by Seattle in an offseason trade with Tampa Bay. Yesterday’s home run was Shenton’s first at the Triple-A level for the Mariners.

Kraken News

The Seattle Kraken have been officially eliminated from playoff contention. It came as the Dallas Stars clinched a playoff spot in their 5-1 win over the Kraken on Saturday. Eeli Tolvanen scored the first goal of the game, but the Stars responded with five unanswered goals to earn their fifth-straight win. Both teams will rematch at Climate Pledge tonight before the Kraken set off on their final road trip of the season. Coverage begins at 6:30 and puck drops at 7 on KGMI.

College Basketball News

The Final Four is set in the men’s college basketball tournament. Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston are heading to San Antonio this weekend. It’s the first time since 2008 that all four 1 seeds have made the Final Four. Auburn will face Florida this Saturday before Duke plays Houston ahead of the national championship on Monday.

Meanwhile, the women’s Elite 8 is wrapping up tonight. Washington-native Hailey Van Lith and her TCU Horned Frogs are taking on Texas before UConn faces USC. The winners will join UCLA and South Carolina in the Final Four, which tips off on Friday. Also coming up tonight, the Washington State men play Georgetown in the first round of the new College Basketball Crown tournament. The Cougs tip off at 8:00 from Las Vegas.

Sounders/Reign News

Albert Rusnák scored late in the second half to rally the Seattle Sounders to a 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. The Sounders netted the equalizer in the 80th minute when Rusnák used assists from Cristian Roldan and Jesús Ferreira to score for the second time this season. It was Seattle’s third draw of the young season, as they now sit at 1-2-3.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Reign lost to Angel City 2-1 last night. Rookie Riley Tiernan scored the go-ahead goal in the second half to hand the Reign their first loss of the season. They have an extended break before hosting the Orlando Pride on April 12.