Chris Paddack walked off the mound towards the first-base dugout and let out a primal scream while thumping his chest with his right fist. The starter had just delivered the last pitch of his night, a 95.9 mile per hour fastball that Tyler O’Neill whiffed at. It was the last of his six scoreless innings, the last of a bounce back effort from him that helped lead the Twins to their 11th straight win. The Twins matched the third-longest winning streak in franchise history on Friday night with a 5-2 win over the Red Sox at Target Field. It’s the first time since 2006 that the Twins have won ..read more

SIOUX FALLS — For the third year in a row, the Augustana baseball team has captured the NSIC regular season conference championship. They clinched it in convincing fashion, bombing Minot State 15-2 on Friday at Ronken Field in the first game of a double-header. The Vikings then won the nightcap 13-6. The wins moved the Vikings' record to 40-8, 31-6 in conference play. In the opener, All-time Vikings home run leader Drey Dirksen hit a grand slam and Trevor Winterstein, Ryan Clementi, Jack Hines, Jaxon Axelberg and Nick Banowetz all had two hits to lead an offensive barrage for the home team ..read more

OMAHA — The Jackrabbits are Summit League softball champions again, clinching the conference regular season title on the same day they suffered their first loss in league play. The Jacks dropped the opener 2-0, their first Summit League loss of the season, but fought back for a 6-4 win in the nightcap that moved them to 14-1 in the conference and secured the title. The Jacks had won 17 in a row entering the day, and 46 straight regular season conference games. The Jacks will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which they will host in Brookings next weekend. SDSU ace pitcher To ..read more

SIOUX FALLS — Berkeley Engelland left no doubt about her status as the region’s premier 800-meter talent at the Dakota Relays on Friday night. Competing in the girls’ special event for the third straight year and the second time at her preferred 800 meters, Engelland went out fast and never wavered, winning in a time of 2 minutes, 10.84 seconds, the new No. 1 time in South Dakota this spring. “The fact that it was the special event 800 meant a lot to me. I’ve dreamed of this moment, and to do it in front of all these fans here supporting me means so much,” Engelland said. “... It’s not the ..read more

The first time Byron Buxton took off for second base during Wednesday’s game, he reported not feeling much of an issue with his knee. The second time, he felt it a little bit. The third time, his knee “kind of locked up on him,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said, forcing him to shut things down. Buxton ended up jogging to second, where he was tagged out easily. He didn’t slide and walked gingerly off the field, exiting the game. The Twins wanted to wait to see how he came in feeling Friday before making any decisions, but after the center fielder reported he was stil ..read more

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was not expected to join the team on its flight to Denver on Thursday ahead of the start of the Western Conference semifinals. That’s because he has a post-operative appointment in Minnesota on Friday morning. Following that obligation, Finch plans to join the team in Denver ahead of the squad’s afternoon practice. “Other than him being on the plane with us, that’s the only thing he would miss as far as game prep for Saturday,” assistant coach Micah Nori told Chad Hartman on WCCO Radio on Thursday afternoon. If flying to a different time zone two days a ..read more

SIOUX FALLS — There’s a new home for CCHA content after the league and Midco Sports Plus announced Thursday that the two sides agreed on a three-year media rights agreement, which begins with the upcoming 2024-25 season. The conference’s regular season and postseason will be streamed exclusively on a direct-to-consumer branded digital network called CCHA TV, which will serve as a one-stop shop for all CCHA digital content. Some of the finer details, including pricing and packages, will continue to be ironed out throughout the summer before being announced in September, during which new mont ..read more

His answers to questions in media availabilities have been viral sensations ever since he bragged about his ability to dominate any activity to local sports broadcaster Marney Gellner for a “Wolves +” podcast. His highlights are just as enthralling, dating back to his epic dunk over then-Raptors forward Yuta Watanabe. Since his rookie season, everything Anthony Edwards has done has screamed superstar. And there were moments when the Timberwolves guard would get his 15 minutes of fame. But then his name would again fade to the backdrop of the national basketball conversation in favor of the ..read more

North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota governors signed on to a letter Monday alongside 45 other state governors, as well as five territories and commonwealths, opposing the Biden administration’s move to incorporate Air National Guard service members into the Space Force. The letter from the National Governors’ Association, addressed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is written in opposition to a legislative proposal submitted by the Department of Defense to the Senate Armed Services Committee that would transfer some Air National Guard personnel and equipment currently being used on s ..read more

The movement has begun to bring high school baseball under the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s wing, or to at least look into it. The SDHSAA will study it for the next year and see if it’s worth sanctioning the sport or to leave it under the independent South Dakota High School Baseball Association, which has ran the spring version of the sport for the past 20 years. The big headline from the SDHSAA’s meeting on April 17 was that American Legion officials in South Dakota believe sanctioning high school baseball will bring an eventual end to summer Legion baseball in the st ..read more