Mariners baseball is officially up and running.

Pitchers and catchers had their first day of Cactus League action in Arizona today.

The M’s will play their first spring training game a week from tomorrow against the San Diego Padres in Peoria.

It comes days after the club announced that newly-elected Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day on March 27.

 

A major thorn in the Mariners’ side is moving out of the AL West.

The Boston Red Sox signed former Houston Astro Alex Bregman to a 3-year, $120 million contract last night.

The third baseman has spent all nine of his seasons in the majors with Houston up until this point, hitting 191 home runs and finishing top five in the MVP voting twice.

ESPN reports the 30-year-old is expected to play second base for Boston.

It will be a reunion between Bregman and Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who previously coached him in Houston.

 

High school basketball district tournament action continued last night.

On the boys side, Lynden Christian beat Mount Baker 92-43 and Meridian beat Nooksack Valley 69-56.

That sets up a meeting between the Lyncs and the Trojans in the 1A district championship game on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Pioneers and Mountaineers will face off in the consolation bracket for a chance to play the loser of the championship game.

 

On the girls side, Lynden Christian thumped Mount Baker 72-15 and Nooksack Valley topped Meridian 51-40 to set up a meeting between the Lyncs and the Pioneers in the 1A district championship on Saturday.

Lynden dominated Bellingham 71-8 and Squalicum edged Anacortes 38-35 to set up a meeting between the Lions and Storm in the 2A district semifinals.

The Bayhawk girls now play Anacortes in the consolation bracket tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, Sehome fell to Archbishop Murphy 55-27 and now fall into the consolation bracket, where they’ll face Lakewood tomorrow.

And the Ferndale girls had their season come to a close following a 55-45 loss to Mountlake Terrace.

 

Coming up tonight, we’ve got a great game on the radio for you.

The Squalicum boys are looking to extend their five game win streak when they travel to face Anacortes.

The winner will play the victor of tonight’s Lynden-Sehome match in the 2A district semifinals.

Coverage begins at 6:45 and tipoff is at 7:00 on KPUG with Randy Farmer and Jason Upton on the call.

 

Elsewhere in the county tonight…

The Bellingham boys are on the road against Burlington-Edison.

And the Ferndale boys are hosting Meadowdale in a loser-out match.

 

The Huskies men continued their rough introduction to the Big Ten last night in a 93-69 loss to Ohio State.

UW’s leading scorer Great Osobor was held to just 8 points and the Buckeyes shot over 60% from 3-point range in the shooting clinic.

The Huskies now drop to 12-12 overall and 3-10 in Big Ten play, which ranks them second-to-last in the conference standings.

Meanwhile, the Huskies women lost a heartbreaker to Oregon.

Deja Kelly made a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to put the Ducks up and secure the 68-67 win.

UW sophomore Sayvia Sellers led the team with 21 points in their fifth loss in their last six games.

 

The Western Washington University women are in for a big matchup tonight.

The Viks are hosting #20 Alaska Anchorage at Carver Gym for Women in Sports Celebration Night.

The Western women will look to avenge their loss to Anchorage earlier this season and climb up the GNAC standings.

Tipoff is at 7:00.

Meanwhile, the Western men are on the road against Western Oregon days after having their seven-game win streak snapped.

That game tips off at 4:00.