Mar 9, 2021 4 min read

Pirates almost get no-hitter

Starter Steven Brault and the Pittsburgh staff came within one out of pitching a no-hitter. Phillip Ervin broke up the bid with a two-out single off Nick Mears in the ninth inning as the Pirates rolled to a 10-1 victory Tuesday.

Ke’Bryan Hayes went 2 for 2, including his fourth double. He’s gotten an extra-base hit in all five of his games. Adam Frazier went 3 for 3 and Jacob Stallings hit a two-run double.

Atlanta newcomer Drew Smyly surrendered five runs on eight hits and a walk in two innings.

Brault, Miguel Yajure, Chris Stratton, Edgar Santana, Sam Howard, Seam Poppen and Nick Mears combined on the one-hitter.

In college basketball

Iowa’s Luka Garza is the Associated Press player of the year in the Big Ten Conference for the second year in a row and Michigan’s Juwan Howard is coach of the year.

Garza won a split vote with Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu after being a unanimous pick in 2020. Garza and Dosunmu were unanimous choices for spots on the AP’s All-Big Ten team, also announced Tuesday, in voting by 15 journalists who cover the conference.

• Baylor guard Jared Butler is the Big 12 player of the year after helping the Bears win their first conference title, averaging 17.1 points while leading the league in 3-point shooting and steals.

Butler finished third in the Big 12 in scoring during the regular season, behind two players who joined the 6-3 junior as first-team AP All-Big 12 picks: Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham (19.7 ppg) and Oklahoma senior Austin Reaves (17.5 ppg).

West Virginia junior forward Derek Culver and Texas Tech junior guard Mac McClung complete the five-player first team. The 6-10 Culver leads the league with 9.8 rebounds a game while averaging 14.8 points.

• Georgia Tech senior Moses Wright is the player of the year for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Wright, a 6-9 forward, was the only unanimous first-team pick on the AP’s all-ACC teams. He earned 10 votes for player of the year, well ahead of two votes each for Pitt’s Justin Champagnie and Virginia’s Sam Hauser after voting from 15 journalists covering the ACC regional footprint.

Source: NHL returning to ESPN

The National Hockey League will return to ESPN beginning next season.

The two sides have reached agreement on a seven-year contract that includes four Stanley Cup Finals, people familiar with the deal told the Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been finalized.

ESPN and the NHL had no comment. The deal was first reported by SportsNet in Canada.

NBC is in the final season of a 10-year contract worth $2 billion that gives it national NHL rights, but the league will air on multiple networks in its next agreement.

ESPN started airing NHL games when it went on the air in 1979 by making deals with individual teams. It had the national NHL rights from 1985-88 and 1992-2004.

In the NFL

The big money that accompanies franchise tags for the 2021 season is going to receivers, safeties and linemen.

So wideouts Chris Godwin, who helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl, and Chicago’s Allen Robinson were tagged just before Tuesday’s NFL deadline. So were tackles Taylor Moton of Carolina and Cam Robinson of Jacksonville, defensive tackle Leonard Williams of the New York Giants, and safety Marcus Williams of New Orleans.