📰🏟️ Stinging defeat

Good afternoon. Today’s edition brings you the top news from around the sports world. Let’s get right to it.

—Kyle

1) Hornets advance in NBA Play-In after dramatic OT win

LaMelo Ball made the go-ahead layup with 4.7 seconds left in OT, while Miles Bridges blocked an attempted game-winner at the buzzer as Charlotte beat Miami 127-126.

• The Heat lost star C Bam Adebayo to injury in Q2, when Ball appeared to intentionally grab his ankle and trip him—but avoided any foul call or review.
• In last night’s other Play-In game, the Trail Blazers clawed back to beat the Suns 114-110 and clinch the West’s #7 seed.
• The Hornets will face the loser of tonight’s 76ers-Magic matchup, with the Blazers to face the winner of tonight’s Warriors-Clippers game.

NBA Playoffs off to thrilling start

2) Masters earns biggest rating in over a decade

An average of 14M viewers tuned in to the Masters’ final round on Sunday, including a peak of over 20M watching as Rory McIlroy secured his 2nd straight green jacket on the 18th hole.

• Average viewership was up 8% year-over-year, marking the most-watched Masters Sunday since 2015.
• It was also the largest peak viewership since Adam Scott and Ángel Cabrera went to a sudden-death playoff in 2013.

The Masters comes Rory-ing back

3) Star reporter resigns after photos w/NFL head coach

Diana Russini stepped down from her role as a senior NFL insider at The Athletic yesterday, one week after the NY Post published photos of her and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel holding hands and hugging at a resort.

• Both Russini and Vrabel—who are married to other people—downplayed the photos after they were published.
• The Athletic initially also defended its star reporter. But the news org later reversed course and suspended Russini pending an investigation.
• This includes a review of her work for the outlet, which is still ongoing after her departure.

More on Russini’s resignation

4) LIV Golf shutdown rumors are swirling

Late Tuesday night, golf reporter Ryan French held an audio conversation on X where he said the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league is shutting down, citing “some pretty good sources.” 

• According to French, some LIV players and employees didn’t get paid yesterday amid other financial struggles for the golf league.
• This morning, The Telegraph reported LIV Golf executives have been called to an “emergency meeting” in NY as speculation mounts over a “seismic” announcement.
• The paper also noted LIV’s media center was closed for the first time in its 4-yr history.

However, several LIV players contacted by the media say it’s “business as usual,” while other LIV insiders say the employees they’ve spoken to have been paid as normal.

Stay up to date on developments

5) Lehigh baseball sets D1 record with 20-run 1st inning

Lehigh entered the college baseball history books on Tuesday with their 38-6 win over Coppin State.

• Lehigh scored 5 runs before the 1st out was recorded, then added another 15 runs prior to making their 2nd out.
• Runs 4 through 16 were all scored on walks, hit by pitches, or wild pitches, followed by a grand slam to make it 20-0.
• Lehigh’s 20 runs broke the previous D1 record for a first inning (18), but fell short of the record for any inning (23).
• 3B Aidan Quinn also drew an NCAA-record 7 walks in the game.

Game summary: Le-high, ball four

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