The Reds looked a little better as far as baseball productivity Thursday, but even with an early Jeimer Candelario home run and several comebacks, they couldn’t put together enough for a major league victory. It was closer, but the Diamondbacks got the win, 5-4. That’s the 8th straight loss for the Reds, the 10th in their last 13 games. Maybe a change of scenery will do them some good. Cincinnati’s now on the west coast, facing the Giants for 3 games, then visiting the D-Backs, who’ve just swept them. The first of those matches with San Francisco comes to you tonight, beginning at 9:45, on the Sports Voice, 103.9 FM, WRBI.
The Pacers are in a tough spot in the NBA Eastern conference semi-finals, down 2 games to none to the New York Knicks. But the positive is the series picks up tonight in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Indiana will have to do something about the scoring of New York’s Jalen Brunson. Wednesday night, he scored 29 points, 25 of them in the second half, after missing the entire 2nd quarter. Prior to that, he’d put up more than 40 points in half-a-dozen straight games. Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle, who got thrown out of Game 2 after 2 technical fouls, has now submitted 78 examples to the NBA of allegedly incorrect or non-existent calls the Pacers believe put them at a disadvantage in Games 1 and 2. 49 of those were based on the Wednesday game alone.
We figure “weather permitting” is often understood to be the way things go trying to squeeze in outdoor high school games in the spring, when rain is so often a possibility across southern Indiana. This week has been a good example of having to repeat it, since the atmosphere’s seemed so unstable. But local teens have gotten a lot of their games played. Softball Thursday included Lawrenceburg edging East Central 3-2, and Hauser baseball blanking South Decatur 5-0, while East Central topped Greensburg 6-3. The Cougars will host Hauser’s Jets in both softball and baseball today. Batesville baseball goes to Brownstown Central.
Also scheduled across the region, Jac-Cen-Del baseball and softball both go to Milan, Greensburg softball is hosting South Dearborn, Batesville softball visits Franklin County, and South Ripley visits Southwestern of Hanover.