Digital Sports Desk

Online Destination for the Best in Boston Sports

Archives for April 26, 2025

Novak/Griffin Win Zurich Classic

by

NEW ORLEANS – Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin were grinding it through the final two holes of the 2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans and it seemed to everyone watching that the PGA Tour would be staging its third consecutive week of playoff golf.

Embed from Getty Images

Staring down a difficult 40-footer on the 17th, Griffin buried the putt and changed the outcome of the tournament with that clutch stroke.

At 28-under, Novak and Griffin finished one stroke ahead of Nicolai and RasmusHøjgaard to win the Zurich Classic, the lone team-based tournament of the year. Since the team format was introduced in 2017, the Novak/Griffin pairing joined Cameron Smith (2017 with Jonas Blixt) and Nick Hardy/Davis Riley (2023) as players winning their first career PGA TOUR title at the event.

Novak and Griffin also became the fourth of eight winning teams who’ve held the 54-hole lead/co-lead and went on to victory.

Novak and Griffin each pocketed 400 FedExCup points, $1,329,400, a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR (through 2027) and entry into the three remaining Signature Events.

Zurich Classic | Final Leaderboard

1 Andrew Novak/Ben Griffin 62 66 61 71 260 (-28)

2 Nicolai Højgaard/Rasmus Højgaard 59 70 64 68 261 (-27)

3 Jake Knapp/Frankie Capan III 63 69 60 70 262 (-26)

Red Sox & Guardians: Let’s Play Two?

by

CLEVELAND – Following a successful series against the leaders of the American League East, the Cleveland Guardians will take aim at the other storied franchise in that division. After rain postponed their series opener on Friday, the Guardians and visiting Boston Red Sox will play a split doubleheader today.

Cleveland extended its winning streak to five games by winning the first two contests of its series against the New York Yankees before falling 5-1 on Wednesday.

“Obviously, we want to win every single day,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

Cleveland is 11-4 after losing six of its first nine games of the season. The Guardians have won seven of the last nine meetings against the Red Sox.

Embed from Getty Images

However, Boston’s scheduled Game 1 starter, right-hander Tanner Houck (0-2, 7.66 ERA), is 1-2 with a 2.37 ERA in nine career appearances (four starts) versus Cleveland.

Guardians star Jose Ramirez is 14-for-30 with five homers and 11 RBIs in his last seven home games against Boston. He is 2-for-13 against Houck, but one of those hits left the park.

After being roughed up for 12 runs (11 earned) and 10 hits over 2 1/3 innings at Tampa Bay on April 14, Houck yielded only a two-run homer in the first inning, two other hits with two walks and seven strikeouts over six frames of Boston’s 8-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

“Slowly just working your way through it and showing up each and every day with a good attitude, chipping away at it, is kind of the recipe for success,” Houck said.

The veteran will try to help Boston get back on track from dropping the final two contests of a three-game home set versus Seattle. Alex Bregman homered with two RBIs and had half of the team’s four hits in Thursday’s 4-3 loss.

Bregman is 7-for-14 with five RBIs in the last four games. He is batting .320 this season.

“He’s in a good spot. A great start,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.

In the nightcap on Saturday, the Red Sox will turn to Walker Buehler (3-1, 4.23 ERA), who allowed nine runs and 14 hits — including three homers — over 9 1/3 innings while splitting his first two starts as a member of the Red Sox. But he’s 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA in three starts since that rough opening.

The right-hander gave up three walks for a second straight start Monday against the Chicago White Sox on Patriots’ Day, but he permitted only four hits and a run while striking out nine in a season-high seven innings of a 4-2 victory.

Buehler has never faced the Guardians, who will start Ben Lively (1-2, 3.86 ERA) in Game 1. The right-hander yielded four hits and a walk through 5 1/3 innings of last Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Pittsburgh.

“That was Ben at his best,” Vogt said.

Lively usually has been at his best versus Boston, going 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four career starts.

Boston star Rafael Devers is 0-for-15 over the last five games overall and 0-for-5 with two strikeouts versus Lively.

Touted prospect Doug Nikhazy is slated to make his major league debut while starting Game 2 for Cleveland. A second-round pick in 2021, the left-hander was 1-0 with a 3.44 ERA and fanned 22 in four 2025 starts for Triple-A Columbus.

 

NFL Draft: Sanders Remains Undrafted

by

GREEN BAY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After two days, three rounds and 102 selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders is still waiting to hear his name called. One must wonder, “who will be drafted first, Sanders or Cooper Flagg?”

Embed from Getty Images

The highly hyped Colorado quarterback, who stunningly fell out of the first round on Thursday night, was not among the 70 players selected in the second and third rounds on Friday.

Three more quarterbacks were taken on Friday after two were called in the first round at the draft held in Green Bay, Wis. However, none of them was the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame member Deion Sanders, Shedeur’s head coach at Colorado.

The first quarterback off the board Friday came eight picks in, as the New Orleans Saints selected Tyler Shough with the eighth choice in the second round. Shough actually played in seven different seasons in college, starting at Oregon in 2018 before transferring to Texas Tech for the 2021 season and then Louisville for 2024.

The next two quarterbacks went late in the third round, with the Seattle Seahawks taking Alabama’s Jalen Milroe with the 92nd overall pick and the Cleveland Browns taking Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel two picks later.

Sanders’ statistics suggested he might be more highly prized by NFL teams targeting their next long-term quarterback. During his senior year at Colorado, Sanders led the Big 12 in passing yards (4,134), touchdowns (37) and passer-efficiency rating (168.2). He topped the nation with a 74 percent completion rate.

He led the Buffaloes to a 9-4 record, finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy balloting and earned Associated Press second-team all-American acclaim, with Miami’s Cam Ward receiving the first-team selection. Ward was the first overall pick in the draft Thursday, taken by the Tennessee Titans.

That capped a stellar four-year career playing for his father. In two seasons at Jackson State and two at Colorado, Sanders completed 70.1 percent of his passes for 14,347 yards, 134 touchdowns and just 27 interceptions.

The spotlight followed every move the Sanders family made over the last two years at Colorado, which carried over during the lengthy pre-draft process. Sanders’ potential destination was a hot topic on sports talk shows. Depending on the day, he was viewed as an ideal prospect for the Giants (who held the third overall pick), the Saints (ninth overall pick) and, worst-case scenario, the Pittsburgh Steelers (21st overall pick).

Sanders attended the NFL combine in February and measured in at 6-foot-1 and 212 pounds, but he did not throw for scouts until Colorado’s pro day in early April. On Saturday, the Buffaloes immortalized Sanders (and Heisman Trophy-winning teammate Travis Hunter) by retiring their numbers. There was still no sign that Sanders would be anything but a first-round selection.

But as draft day approached and uncomplimentary reports of Sanders’ interview skills and overly confident demeanor became public, the narrative shifted.

The final day of the draft is Saturday, with the fourth through seventh rounds. Of the teams believed to be most in need of a quarterback entering the draft, only the Steelers have yet to select one.

The Steelers are currently with the 21th pick of the fourth round, No. 123 overall.

–Field Level Media