NCAA Cancels March Madness and more.
NCAA cancels men's and women college basketball tournaments due to Coronavirus
Mar 12, 2020, 4:44 pm
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In a statement released on Twitter, the NCAA announced on Thursday the cancellation of both the Men's and Women's College Basketball Tournament due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the basketball tournament, the NCAA has also canceled all remaining winter and spring championship events.
Ahead of the NCAA's decision, conference tournaments came to a halt Thursday morning, starting with Commissioner Mike Aresco — who canceled the American Athletic Conference tournament set to take place in Fort Worth. After making their return back to Houston, Cougars' head coach Kelvin Sampson said Aresco made the right decision.
The Houston #Cougars are back in Houston after the cancellation of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. H… https://t.co/SNUt1GoIcb— Coty Davis (@Coty Davis) 1584044748.0
"I really don't know how to react to this," Sampson said. "It's such a fluid situation. When something like this comes about, I think we are doing it the right way. The students that just got off the bus are my responsibility, and I am more concerned about their health then preparing for a basketball game."
Nearly all sporting events and leagues have already taken this action, starting with the NBA, following the news that the Utah Jazz's All-Star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus Wednesday night. For the NCAA, NBA, and all other sports league, this was an inevitable decision to ensure safety for its athletes, coaches, and fans.
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Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arcia’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta’s fourth straight victory.
The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.
Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.
Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.
A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.
Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.
Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.
There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.
Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.
Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.
The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tucker’s RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.
Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston’s sixth and push the lead to 4-2.
Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn’t grab a routine ground ball.
There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.
Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.
Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.
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Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.
Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.