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Kansas beats Minnesota 29-1, matches NCAA record with 5 straight homers

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Kansas beats Minnesota 29-1, matches NCAA record with 5 straight homers


Brady Counsell of Kansas grew up watching his dad do plenty of incredible things on big league fields.

Craig Counsell was never a part of something like his son was Wednesday.

The younger Counsell hit the third of five consecutive home runs for Kansas, which propelled the Jayhawks to a 29-1 win over Minnesota in a game shortened to seven innings. The run of homers in Minneapolis matched an NCAA record set three time previously, most recently in 2006, when South Carolina accomplished the feat against Georgia.

No big league team has ever hit five straight home runs.

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“I’ve never been a part of anything like that,” Brady Counsell said. “I think kind of in the moment I didn’t really realize that we had three, and after (Brady) Ballinger went deep that was four. We were kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh. What is happening?’”

Then Jackson Hauge went deep to make it five.

“And it was, ‘Wow! That’s crazy!’” Counsell said.

Counsell’s father, who is now the manager of the Chicago Cubs, hit 42 homers in 16 seasons and 4,741 big league at-bats.

The spree for Kansas started with Chase Diggins’ three-run shot with no outs in the third inning. Max Soliz Jr. went deep next, and Counsell, Ballinger and Hauge followed. The Jayhawks scored eight more times in the fifth inning to win in a rout, setting a school record for runs against a Division I opponent on the road.

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Kansas also set a record for margin of victory against a Division I opponent.

“I’ve never seen that,” said the Jayhawks’ Dan Fitzgerald, who has been coaching college baseball for nearly 25 years. “We hit three in a row earlier in the year, and of course been a part of some of those, but never five in a row. It was super cool, and I love how engaged our guys were today. I thought our approach at the plate was awesome.”

The first college team to hit five consecutive homers was Centenary, which did it against Stephen F. Austin in the first inning of a game in 1992. Eastern Illinois matched the feat in the fifth inning against Morehead State in 1998.

“I actually didn’t know we had four when I went up to the plate because they made a pitching change,” said Hauge, who actually had two homers in the game. “It was Diggins, Soliz and then a pitching change. I was just going up there thinking, ‘This would be awesome to go back-to-back-to-back. When I got back in the dugout they yelled, ‘Five!’ So it was pretty cool.”

The record for consecutive homers in a big league game is four, which has happened 11 times.

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Kansas is 15-2 heading into its Big 12 opener Friday against Baylor.

“The five home runs in a row? That was fun to be on the right side of it,” Fitzgerald said.



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Wolves assistant Micah Tori hired as Trailer Blazers head coach

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Wolves assistant Micah Tori hired as Trailer Blazers head coach


The Portland Trail Blazers picked Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori as their next head coach on Tuesday, after making the playoffs for the first time in five years under the direction of interim coach Tiago Splitter.

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Nori, who spent the past five seasons with the Timberwolves, has interviewed for multiple head coach vacancies, including the Chicago Bulls earlier this month, the New York Knicks last year, and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024. 

Nori, 52, was the lead assistant under Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch while the club made the playoffs each season, won five series, and reached the Western Conference finals in 2023 and 2024. Nori, who began his NBA career in 1998 as a scout with the Toronto Raptors, has also been an assistant for the Raptors, the Sacramento Kings, the Denver Nuggets, and the Detroit Pistons. His son, Dante, is a minor league baseball player in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori, left, confers with head coach Chris Finch in the second half of Game 7 of an NBA second-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Denver.

David Zalubowski / AP

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Splitter, who was hired last week as head coach of the Chicago Bulls, was promoted from assistant to interim coach when then-head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested in October in a federal takedown of a sprawling gambling operation. Billups has pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

The Blazers went 42-40 with a five-game loss to NBA finalist San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs, the first postseason appearance and first time they finished with a winning record in five years.

The news comes a day after the Wolves reportedly traded three-time All-Star Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets in a three-team trade that sends Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls.



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Report: Timberwolves trade Julius Randle to Brooklyn Nets as part of 3-team deal

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Report: Timberwolves trade Julius Randle to Brooklyn Nets as part of 3-team deal



The Minnesota Timberwolves are reportedly trading three-time All-Star Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets in a three-team trade that sends Nic Claxton to the Chicago Bulls.

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Minnesota is sending the 28th pick to the Nets and will be receiving the No. 33 pick that will be made in the second round on Wednesday night, according to a person who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not received the required approvals from the league office.

For Minnesota, the trade opens up a slew of financial possibilities. It creates a $33 million trade exception, plus gives the Timberwolves room they can use to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu and target more players in free agency.

Julius Randle #30 of the Minnesota Timberwolves dribbles during the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Nov. 3, 2025, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Sarah Stier / Getty Images

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Randle, a three-time All-Star, will be moving to his fifth team after stints with New York, the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans and the Timberwolves. He averaged 21.1 points this past season, though shot just 39% from the field and 24% from 3-point range in Minnesota’s 12 playoff contests.

Claxton just finished his seventh NBA season, all with Brooklyn. He averaged 11.7 points this past season.

The 2026 NBA Draft begins Tuesday night.



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Keeping the ‘Classic’ Minnesota Flag – Minnesota Senate Republicans

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Keeping the ‘Classic’ Minnesota Flag – Minnesota Senate Republicans


At Senator Westrom’s St. Paul office, visitors are greeted by the classic Minnesota state flag, which the DFL leaders should not have taken away from Minnesotans.

However, local communities have the authority to keep flying it, like many have done, and Senator Westrom encourages communities interested in keeping it to do so.



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