The St. Paul Saints, in conjunction with the Twins, announced their first Class AAA roster on Saturday. It has 18 pitchers, four catchers, four infielders and four outfielders.
The Twins, who are considered to have one of the top 12 minor league systems by many publications, will showcase a lot of talent at CHS Field in St. Paul.
The Saints, who open the season Tuesday at Werner Park against the Omaha Storm Chasers, a Kansas City Royals affiliate, have the second- (outfielder Trevor Larnach), fourth- (catcher Ryan Jeffers), fifth- (pitcher Jhoan Duran), 12th- (outfielder Brent Rooker) and 25th-best (infielder Travis Blankenhorn) prospects in the Twins' organization as ranked by Baseball America.
Larnach and Jeffers are the 33rd- and 54th-best prospects in baseball, according to Baseball America.
The Saints' first home game as the Class AAA affiliate of the Twins will be May 11 at 7:05 p.m. against the Iowa Cubs (Chicago Cubs). A limited number of single-game tickets are available for all Saints games by going to saintsbaseball.com or contacting the Saints box office during normal business hours.
Tommies hold scrimmage
The St. Thomas football team held its spring game and celebrated Senior Day at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
Running back Tom Loeffler scored two touchdowns, one on a 97-yard kickoff return. Nick Rice averaged 8.5 yards on the ground and also scored a touchdown. Tommy Shelstad had 10 tackles on defense, and Louis Hyde made three of four field-goal tries and four PAT kicks.
"Our team grew more in the last year than in any other time in our 13 seasons here so far," Tommies coach Glenn Caruso said, "and we didn't play a single game. That makes me feel very proud."
St. Thomas exits Division III and the MIAC in all sports this summer. Caruso's team will begin Division I play in the Pioneer Football League this fall.
Sprinter breaks U record in 100
Gophers sophomore Kion Benjamin of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, set a program record in the 100-meter dash, winning the event in 10.25 seconds in the M City Classic, Minnesota's lone home event of the season, competing against Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The record was 10.29, set by Ibrahim Kabia in 2008.
Other men's winners were Ben Psicihulis in the 400 (46.38), Jordan MacIntosh in the 800 (1:51.35), Alec Basten in the 3,000 steeplechase (8:41.38) and Carter Hughes in the shot put (64 feet, 11½ inches). Psicihulis anchored the winning 4x400 relay (3:12.49), too.
On the women's side, Anastasia Korzenowski won the 800 (2:05.53) — the second-best time in program history — Hannah Hood-Blaxill took first in the high jump (5-7) and Tiera Robinson-Jones won the triple jump (40-0). Minnesota's 4x400 relay (3:38.48) also won.
Bueckers' surgery goes well
Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers, named the National Player of the Year by the Associated Press after her freshman season, underwent successful surgery on her right ankle to repair an osteochondral defect, the school announced. Bueckers, a former star at Hopkins High School, is expected to be ready for preseason work in September.
According to Stanford Health Care, an osteochondral defect is a "focal area of damage that involves both the cartilage and a piece of underlying bone that can occur from an acute traumatic injury to the knee or an underlying disorder of the bone." The surgery was performed at UConn Health.
Bueckers injured her ankle in the fourth quarter of UConn's game at Tennessee in late January. Though she missed the following game, she played the rest of the season for the Huskies, who fell to Arizona in the women's Final Four semifinals.
U golfer Flanagan fades with a 77
Angus Flanagan, a Gophers senior, saw his chances of winning a second individual golf title in the Big Ten Championships diminish when he shot a 5-over 77 at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind. He dropped from a tie for 10th after the first round to a tie for 16th at 152 — eight shots off the lead.
Flanagan, the conference co-champion in 2019, had one eagle and one birdie and eight bogeys his second round.
Minnesota as a team was in 10th place after a 306 — eight shots better than Friday — at 620.
Etc.
• The Gophers baseball team lost 4-3 to Maryland when the Terrapins (17-13 overall/Big Ten) scored a run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jack Liffrig allowed only two runs and four hits the first six innings and Ron Sweeny hit a two-run homer for Minnesota (4-25), which has lost 12 straight.
• Vayle Baker, a sophomore at Augsburg, took first at 57 kg in women's freestyle on Friday at the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals in Coralville, Iowa.
• Sarah Bacon, a four-time NCAA diving champion for the Gophers, and Kassidy Cook, a five-time All-America diver for Stanford, clinched Team USA's Olympic quota spot in the 3-meter synchronized springboard event by finishing fifth at the FINA Diving World Cup in Tokyo.
