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Aaron Judge is off to the hottest start in MLB. (Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters

Aaron Judge is off to a great start. To both the 2025 season and his New York Yankees career.
The reigning AL MVP hit his MLB-best sixth homer of the season and 17th RBI of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, taking reliever Tim Mayza deep to push the Yankees’ lead to 9-1.

The homer was 106.7 mph off the bat and traveled 403 feet, per Statcast. Reminder: he’s doing this without the (somewhat overrated) torpedo bats.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Florida assistant coaches John Andrzejek and Kevin Hovde are racking up the hours before the Final Four. So is Houston assistant Quannas White ahead of Saturday’s national semifinals at the Alamodome.
Yet all three are doing more than fine-tuning scouting reports or breaking down video of their opponents. There’s also work — fit carefully into an already-stuffed schedule — to get started on running their own programs.
Andrzejek is headed to Campbell, Hovde to Columbia and White to Louisiana-Lafayette in hirings that have already been announced.

Former Michigan State forward Xavier Booker is transferring to another Big Ten school.
News broke on Friday evening that Booker is officially transferring to UCLA. One college basketball insider reported that he was expected to go to UCLA earlier on Friday and it became official a few hours later.
Booker is a former five-star prospect in the 2023 class, and is one of the highest-rated prospects to ever sign with Michigan State. Booker, however, struggled to see extended playing time during his two years with the Spartans.
Booker only started five games and averaged 11.

Spencer Torkelson had one of the best views of anyone in Comerica Park during the Detroit Tigers’ home opener against the Chicago White Sox.
Batting out of the No. 4 hole, Torkelson stood at the top of the dugout steps as Kerry Carpenter clubbed two home runs — one pulled into the right-field foul pole and then another the opposite way into the Tigers’ bullpen in left. Later on, he was even closer when Riley Greene smoked a no-doubt home run halfway up the seats in right field.
“I got a really good seat, front row,” Torkelson said.

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is on the cusp of rewriting the NHL history books. But some people are trying to sabotage his pursuit of greatness because of his nationality.
If “The Great Eight” scores three more goals in the next seven regular-season games (which is doable for him), he will pass Wayne Gretzky and become the all-time leading goalscorer in NHL history. For all sports fans – hockey ones especially – this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a man break a record many thought was untouchable.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are out on the East Coast for a weekend series with the Philadelphia Phillies, and then on Monday they’ll head down I-95 to Washington for a three-game series against the Nationals.
So, a championship-winning team in Washington? That could only mean one thing: a White House visit!
And this time around, Mookie Betts will be there.
Of course, because many people can’t just be adults, White House visits have been “controversial” for no other reason than people being unable to separate politics from sports at every turn.

MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand (AP) — Wet underfoot conditions delayed the toss in the third one-day international between New Zealand and Pakistan on Saturday.
While the weather was fine when the toss was due to be made, damp areas on the pitch block at Bay Oval caused the umpires to delay the start.
Ground staff were using blowers to try and dry problem areas.
New Zealand holds an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series after winning the first match by 73 runs and the second by 84 runs.
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AP cricket: https://apnews.

SAN ANTONIO — Kon Knueppel calls them “victory scars.” 
The bumps, bruises, cuts and scrapes have accumulated since the start of preseason practice for Knueppel and Duke basketball. The Blue Devils (35-3) will likely add a few more of those against Houston (34-4) on Saturday (8:49 p.m., CBS) at the Final Four. 
“I’ve got all these scars and everything on my arms,” Knueppel said Friday afternoon inside Duke’s locker room at the Alamodome. 
“Those are just victory scars of working hard in a college basketball season.

No. 1 Tennessee (27-2, 8-1 SEC) will host Texas A&M (14-14, 1-8 SEC), Friday-Sunday, for a three-game series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The series opener is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. EDT and will be televised by ESPNU.
Saturday’s game No. 2 will take place at 6 p.m. EDT (SEC Network+). First pitch for Sunday’s series finale is scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT and will be televised by ESPN2.

No. 1 seeds UCLA, South Carolina and Texas advanced to Tampa. But 2-seed UConn has momentum and experience.