The Gophers football team will host two open practices this spring.

Members of Dinkytown Athletes, the NIL collective, can attend practice on March 25, while the general public can visit on April 15.

Both practices are scheduled to start at 4:15 p.m. and will be held at the indoor practice facility at Athletes Village.

Minnesota, which starts practice on March 20, is not expected to host a traditional spring game again this year. Poor weather and the pandemic canceled previous U spring games, and it has been a trend across college football to stop hosting these open events.

— Andy Greder

Ten Gophers qualify for NCAA swim/dive meet

Gopher swimmers Bar Soloveychik, Joey Tepper, Jacob Johnson, Joe Polayk, Daniel Eichel, Kaiser Neverman, Casey Stowe, and Joe Rudd will join diers ViviDel Angel and Drew Bennett at the 2024 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships on March 26-29 in Federal Way, Wash., it was announced Wednesday.

Soloveychik will swim in the 500 freestyle and 1650 free. He is also eligible to swim in the 200 free.

Fifth-year Tepper will join Soloveychik in the 1650 free, while also eligible for the 500 free and 400 individual medley.

Johnson will compete in the 200 butterfly and could also swim in the 100 fly and 50 free.

Fellow first-year Polyak will swim in the 200 breastsrtoke, and is eligible for the 200 IM and 100 breast.

Eichel, Neverman, Stowe, and Rudd qualified as part of relay teams and will take part in the 800 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay.

Del Angel will compete in the 1- and 3-meter dives, as well as plaform. Bennett qualified on 1-meter and platform.

MLB

Witt leaves game after being hit on forearm

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has left a spring training game against Seattle after being hit on the left forearm by a pitch.

Witt immediately fell to the ground after he was struck by a 95 mph fastball thrown by Andrés Muñoz in the fifth inning.

The Royals said Witt will undergo further evaluation.

Red Sox rally past Twins with two-run ninth

The Minnesota Twins fell to 6-9 in spring training after a 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Boston rallied past Minnesota with two runs on the ninth inning off reliever Cody Laweryson.

Matt Wallner and Carlos Correa had two hits and scored one run apiece. Trevor Larnach, Royce Lewis and Willi Castro had one RBI each.

Scherzer’s next spring start pushed back

Max Scherzer won’t make his scheduled spring training start for Toronto on Thursday due to right thumb soreness.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said the team is being cautious with the 40-year-old right-hander.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner signed a $15.5 million, one-year contract with Toronto and has made three spring training starts, allowing two runs over nine innings with 14 strikeouts and no walks.

Scherzer was 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA last year for Texas after starting the season on the injured list while recovering from lower back surgery. He also had a stint on the IL with shoulder fatigue and didn’t pitch after Sept. 14 because of a hamstring strain.

Reliever Strickland agrees to deal with Rangers

Middle reliever Hunter Strickland has agreed to a minor league contract with Texas and will report to the Rangers’ big league spring training camp.

The 36-year-old went 3-2 with a 3.31 ERA for the Los Angeles Angels last year.

Strickland won a World Series with San Francisco in 2014.

Basketball

Adams, Plumlee ejected in Rockets/Suns game

Houston’s Steven Adams and Phoenix’s Mason Plumlee were ejected after getting into a fight where Adams wrestled Plumlee to the court.

The two big men got tangled up fighting for a rebound with about three minutes left in the first half. The players remained intertwined as they walked away from the basket and Adams, who was facing Plumlee, then lifted him off the floor and wrestled him to the court.

— From news services