May 29, 2018 4 min read

Wild Things

sign pitcher

The Wild Things made two roster moves prior to their series opener Tuesday night at Joliet. They placed pitcher Aaron Burns on the 7-day disabled list and signed left-handed pitcher Nick Wegmann, who recently concluded his collegiate career at Binghamton University.

Burns has a 1-0 record and a 2.79 ERA in three outings. He was the starter Sunday in a 5-4 win over Florence but went only three innings.

Wegmann played four seasons at Binghamton and had a 9-13 record. This spring, he was 3-7 with a 3.71 ERA in 14 games, including 13 starts.

Conference USA tries unique scheduling

Conference USA has adopted a men’s basketball schedule format that will have the league’s top teams playing each other at the end of the regular season in hopes of getting more postseason berths.

The league said Tuesday that the 14 teams will play each other once with a second game for travel partners in the first seven weeks of C-USA play. After those 14 games, the league standings will determine the matchups for the rest of the regular season.

The teams will be divided into two groups of five (first- through fifth-place; and sixth- through 10th-place) and a group of four (11th through 14th place.). The last four C-USA games for each team will be played within those respective groups.

The last time C-USA had more than one team in the NCAA Tournament was 2012.

NBA TV ratings

Game 7 of the Western Conference finals drew a peak audience of 18 million viewers, making it the second-most watched NBA game in cable TV history.

Golden State’s victory over Houston on Monday night to earn a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals averaged 14.8 million viewers for the TNT telecast, with the peak audience from 11 to 11:15 p.m. EDT. The network says Tuesday that only its coverage of the 2016 West finals Game 7 between the Warriors and Oklahoma City drew a larger audience for an NBA game on cable.

Final Four most outstanding player Donte DiVincenzo is staying in the NBA draft after helping Villanova win the national championship.

The school announced DiVincenzo’s decision Tuesday, the day before the NCAA deadline for players who haven’t hired an agent to withdraw from the draft and return to school. The 6-foot-5 guard had two years of eligibility remaining.

Villanova’s DiVincenzo staying in draft

Final Four most outstanding player Donte DiVincenzo is staying in the NBA draft after helping Villanova win the national championship.

The school announced DiVincenzo’s decision Tuesday, the day before the NCAA deadline for players who haven’t hired an agent to withdraw from the draft and return to school. The 6-5 guard had two years of eligibility remaining.

Cincinnati gets

MLS team

Major League Soccer is adding Cincinnati in its latest round of expansion, rewarding a city that set attendance records in three seasons of United Soccer League play and agreed to a stadium deal last month.

The announcement Tuesday brings MLS to a 26-team league.

Cincinnati will join the league next year and play at the University of Cincinnati’s football stadium while a 21,000-seat soccer stadium is built in the West End neighborhood. It is to open in 2021.

Nashville got one of the two expansion spots last year. The league held off picking the other team from among Sacramento, Detroit and Cincinnati.

Cincinnati jumped ahead of the other two when the city council approved $34.8 million for infrastructure as part of the stadium construction.