LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: In AUS football, the Bishop’s Gaiters defeated the X-Men 37-27 at Coulter Field in a rematch of last year’s Loney Bowl final. The Gaiters outscored the X-Men 15-0 in the fourth quarter for the comeback, improving to 2-0 on the season and handing the X-Men their first regular season loss since October 2019. For the X-Men, Silas Fagnan was 12-28 for 227 yards, as his favorite target was Zach Houde who had four catches for 131 yards. Caleb Fogarty was 13-74 on the rushing side for X, stepping in to replace All-Canadian Malcolm Bussey who was out with an injury. St. FX will have their home opener on Saturday when they host Acadia at 2 pm.
The X-Women Rugby team host Acadia on St. FX Field at 3 this afternoon.
The Celtic U13 boys soccer squad is at the Mainland Commons Soccer Field in Halifax for a provincial tournament. Playoffs begin this morning.
The U13 Girls provincials are in Stellarton, where the Celtics face Halifax County United at 10 am. It is a must win for the Celtics to go through to the gold medal game at 2 o’clock.
And the U15 Boys provincials continues today – the first games are at 10 am on both St. FX Field and Central Sports Field.
U18 Major Hockey Exhibition play in Membertou: Cape Breton West Islanders 6 Sydney Rush 1
Islanders Goal scorers – Mathieu Delaney (2), Will Chisholm, Jacob Hebb, Colby Fleet and Hunter MacDonald (1 each)
The Islanders host the Rush this afternoon at 1:15 at the Keating Center in Antigonish.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Victoria-born quarterback Nathan Rourke made his first-ever professional start at home memorable as the B-C Lions blitzed the Ottawa Redblacks 38-12. Rourke connected on 21 of 30 passes for 325 yards and three touchdowns, and he also rushed for a major, as the Lions snapped a five-game losing skid in the Touchdown Pacific game. The Redblacks were unbeaten in six straight games heading into the first-ever C-F-L game on Vancouver Island.
Toronto hit three two-run homers, including two in a seven-run first inning, and starter José Berríos tossed six shutout innings as the Blue Jays routed the Minnesota Twins 15-0 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Daulton Varsho and Spencer Horwitz each hit two-run home runs in the first inning off Twins’ starter Zebby Matthews, giving the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead just four batters into the game.
Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman led off Saturday’s game with consecutive home runs for the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers en route to an 8-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ohtani, on a full count, hit his 44th of the season, 420 feet to dead centre against D-Backs’ starter Merrill Kelly. Betts followed with his 14th and Freeman blasted one to right-centre for his 19th of the season.
Pedro Vite scored in the 70th minute to snap a scoreless tie and the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps defeated Austin F-C 1-0 in Major League Soccer action. Elsewhere, Dominique Badji’s goal in the 88th minute snapped a 1-1 deadlock and lifted visiting D-C United to a 3-1 win over Toronto F-C. And at T-Q-L Stadium in Cincinnati, Luca Orellano scored twice as Cincinnati F-C beat C-F Montreal 4-1. Kwadwo Opoku scored for Montreal.
Gabriel Diallo’s impressive singles run at the U-S Open is over. The 22-year-old from Montreal lost in four sets to the 14th-seeded Tommy Paul of the United States in Saturday’s third round of the Grand Slam tournament. Ranked 143rd in the world entering the New York tennis showcase, Diallo qualified for only his second main draw at a major and upset 24th seed Arthur Fils of France in the second round.
Paralympics organizers say triathlon competitions scheduled for today have been postponed because of concerns about water quality in the Seine River after heavy rainfall. The 11 para triathlon events are now scheduled for Monday, if upcoming water testing allows. Rainstorms hit the French capital Friday and Saturday. Heavy rains cause wastewater and runoff to flow into the river, leading to a rise in bacteria levels – including E. Coli. The disruption is another hiccup for the city’s efforts to clean up the river for future public swimming, one of Paris’ most ambitious promises ahead of hosting the Olympics and Paralympics this summer.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
CFL
B.C. 38 Ottawa 12
MLB
American League
Toronto 15 Minnesota 0
Houston 5 Kansas City 2
L.A. Angels 5 Seattle 4
Detroit 2 Boston 1
Texas 3 Oakland 2
National League
Chicago Cubs 5 Washington 3
L.A. Dodgers 8 Arizona 6
Philadelphia 3 Atlanta 0
Milwaukee 5 Cincinnati 4
Miami 4 San Francisco 3
Interleague
St. Louis 6 N.Y. Yankees 5
Tampa Bay 11 San Diego 4
Pittsburgh 3 Cleveland 0
N.Y. Mets 5 Chicago White Sox 3
Colorado 7 Baltimore 5
WNBA
Connecticut 96 Washington 85
Major League Soccer
Vancouver 1 Austin FC 0
D.C. United 3 Toronto FC 1
Cincinnati 4 CF Montréal 1
Atlanta 1 Charlotte FC 0
Columbus 4 New York City FC 2
Philadelphia 2 New York 0
Orlando City 3 Nashville 0
Miami 4 Chicago 1
Colorado 3 FC Dallas 2
Real Salt Lake 2 New England 0
Houston 2 Los Angeles FC 0
Portland 1 Seattle 0
Minnesota 2 San Jose 1
Sunday’s Games (All times Eastern)
CFL
Winnipeg at Saskatchewan, 7 p.m.
MLB
American League
Boston (Criswell 5-4) at Detroit (TBD), 1:40 p.m.
Kansas City (Marsh 7-7) at Houston (Blanco 9-6), 2:10 p.m.
Toronto (Rodríguez 1-6) at Minnesota (Ober 12-6), 2:10 p.m.
Oakland (Spence 7-9) at Texas (Pennington 0-0), 2:35 p.m.
Seattle (Miller 10-7) at L.A. Angels (Dana 0-0), 4:07 p.m.
National League
Milwaukee (Myers 6-5) at Cincinnati (TBD), 12:10 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Taillon 9-8) at Washington (Parker 7-8), 1:35 p.m.
Miami (McCaughan 0-0) at San Francisco (Webb 11-8), 4:05 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Wrobleski 1-1) at Arizona (Pfaadt 8-7), 4:10 p.m.
Atlanta (Schwellenbach 5-6) at Philadelphia (Nola 12-6), 7:10 p.m.
Interleague
St. Louis (Mikolas 8-10) at N.Y. Yankees (Cortes 8-10), 1:35 p.m.
Pittsburgh (Keller 11-8) at Cleveland (Cobb 1-1), 1:40 p.m.
San Diego (Cease 12-10) at Tampa Bay (Pepiot 7-6), 1:40 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Manaea 10-5) at Chicago White Sox (Crochet 6-9), 2:10 p.m.
Baltimore (Eflin 9-7) at Colorado (Blach 3-6), 3:10 p.m.
WNBA
Seattle at Connecticut, 1 p.m.
Chicago at Minnesota, 3 p.m.
Indiana at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Las Vegas at Phoenix, 4 p.m.
Atlanta at Los Angeles, 7 p.m.
Major League Soccer
L.A. Galaxy at St. Louis City, 2:45 p.m.