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Fossum named HL Batter of the Week
Youngstown State senior outfielder Kyle Fossum has been named the Under Armour Horizon League Batter of the Week for the second time during the 2025 season, the league office announced on Tuesday.
Fossum, who is putting together one of the greatest seasons at the plate in program history, batted .500 and slugged .813 with eight hits including a home run in 16 at bats over five games played this past week. The senior outfielder totaled two doubles, one home run, six RBIs, six runs scored, 13 total bases, seven walks and a .652 on-base percentage for the week. Fossum was also named the Horizon League Batter of the Week on March 25.
Fossum went 3-for-3 with a home run, a double, three walks, three RBIs and three runs scored in YSU’s 13-6 series-opening win at Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday. The Seattle, Wash., native broke YSU’s single-season home run record with his 18th home run of the season on the first pitch of the game. Fossum went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored in game two of the series at Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday before going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, two walks and two runs scored in a 16-7 series-clinching victory in the series finale on Sunday.
Fossum leads the Horizon League in hits (66), home runs (18), slugging percentage (.846), walks (37) and OPS (1.368) while ranking second in batting average (.407), on-base percentage (.522), doubles (17) and runs scored (49) and third in RBIs (49). The senior also ranks second in the nation in home runs, third in slugging percentage, fourth in total bases (137) and 21st in batting average.
Youngstown State will return home to begin a three-game Horizon League series against Wright State on Friday. First pitch at Eastwood Field is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Spurs’ Castle wins Rookie of the Year
Stephon Castle made no secret about it: He wanted to be rookie of the year.
And he got it done — by a wide margin.
The San Antonio Spurs now have back-to-back winners of the award, with Victor Wembanyama last year and Castle this season. Castle was the fifth rookie in Spurs history to score more than 1,000 points.
Castle got 92 first-place votes, easily topping runner-up Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks and third-place finisher Jaylen Wells of the Memphis Grizzlies. Risacher got five first-place votes, Wells got the other three.
“Coming in with all the confidence that I had in myself as a player, that was definitely a goal of mine from Day 1,” Castle said on TNT, which broadcast the unveiling of the results. “I’m just happy I was able to execute it.”
Castle’s win marked the second time in more than a half-century that one franchise went back-to-back with the top-rookie honor. Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins (now of Miami) and Karl-Anthony Towns (now of New York) were voted rookies of the year in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
The last instance of a team going back-to-back before that: 1973 and 1974, when Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio pulled it off for the Buffalo Braves.
Castle led all rookies this season in points (1,190) and steals (74). Risacher finished strong, winning Eastern Conference rookie of the month for both February and March. Wells led all rookies in games started (74) and 3-pointers made (138, matching the total posted by Washington’s Bub Carrington).
On Wednesday, the most improved player — Cade Cunningham of Detroit, Dyson Daniels of Atlanta, or Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers — will be announced, also at 7 p.m. on TNT.
Ogilvy, Snedeker named Cup captains
Geoff Ogilvy of Australia takes over as International captain of the Presidents Cup for 2026 at Medinah with a unique distinction from the previous eight captains. He can claim home-course advantage while trying to lead his team to victory on the road.
Ogilvy, the former U.S. Open champion, and Brandt Snedeker were introduced Tuesday as captains for 2026 in the Chicago suburbs, matches that have been so one-sided that the Americans have lost only once since they began in 1994.
Ogilvy knows the venerable No. 3 course at Medinah better than anyone because his design company — Australian-based OCM — was in charge of renovating the course that previously hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and a Ryder Cup.
“It’s a humbling thing. It’s a great honor,” Ogilvy said on a conference call in Chicago. “Medinah is a place where we’ve done a lot of work, my company, the last two, three years. It’s clearly an away game, but it’s exciting to be on a course that I’ve come to know really, really well the last few years.”
Ogilvy was the clear choice even as the Americans were finishing off another victory at Royal Montreal in 2024. Snedeker, a nine-time PGA Tour winner who captured the FedEx Cup in 2012, was more surprising and didn’t get offered the job until about two weeks ago.
Snedeker played in only one Presidents Cup, in 2013 at Muirfield Village, and twice in the Ryder Cup in 2012 and 2016.
Ekblad suspended for elbow to head
NEW YORK — Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for two games for elbowing Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the head midway through Game 4 of the Panthers’ first-round series against Tampa Bay.
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced its ruling after a phone hearing with Ekblad earlier Tuesday. He will be out for Game 5 and either Game 6 of this series or the Panthers’ first game next round.
No penalty was called when Ekblad hit Hagel in the chin with his right elbow and forearm with just under nine minutes left in the second period on Monday night. Hagel left the ice and did not return, and Ekblad scored the first of two goals in 11 seconds late in the third to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a comeback victory and a 3-1 series lead.
Coach Jon Cooper said Hagel would not play in Game 5. Hagel was suspended for Game 3 for his late hit that knocked Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov out of Game 2.
Ekblad missed the first two games and the final 18 of the regular season after being suspended for violating the league and NHLPA’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Florida got accustomed to playing without Ekblad.
Another Panthers defenseman, Niko Mikkola, was fined $5,000 for boarding Tampa Bay’s Zemgus Girgensons. Mikkola was given a five-minute major and ejected for the play early in the third period of Game 4.