Gebhardt named Pitcher of the Year

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. –Youngstown State senior left-hander Braden Gebhardt (Howland) was named the 2026 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year as one of six Penguins to collect postseason honors when the league office announced its postseason award winners and all-league teams on Tuesday.

Gebhardt was also voted as a member of the All-Horizon League First Team while senior right-hander Jack Messmore and redshirt junior outfielder Brady Shannon (Ursuline) were selected to the All-Horizon League Second Team. In addition, freshmen infielders Alex Jang and Misael Uriepero and freshman left-hander Bryce Palms were named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team.

The Penguins had at least one player named to the All-Horizon League First Team for the sixth consecutive season. The Penguins have also had at least one player selected to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team in nine of the last 10 seasons that postseason awards have been handed out.

Gebhardt becomes the sixth player in YSU history and the first since Matt Brosky in 2022 to be named Horizon League Pitcher of the Year. The Howland, Ohio, native collects all-league recognition for the first time his accomplished career while becoming the fourth YSU pitcher since 2009 to garner First-Team All-Horizon League honors.

Gebhardt has enjoyed one of the most successful seasons on the mound in YSU history as a senior in 2026. The southpaw owns a 5-3 record, a 2.82 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched over 14 starts. Gebhardt was named the Under Armour Horizon League Pitcher of the Week a record six times during the 2026 season, and he was named as one of 43 semifinalists for the 2026 College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year Award on April 22. He is slated to match the YSU single-season school record with his 15th start of the season on Wednesday against Oakland in the 2026 Horizon League Baseball Championship.

With his fifth weekly HL honor of the 2026 season on May 11, Gebhardt became the first pitcher in Horizon League history to win the league’s Pitcher of the Week award five times in a single season. He is just the second pitcher to win the award on four or more occasions in season, and he became the sixth pitcher to win the award at least five times in a career. With this sixth weekly award of the campaign, Gebhardt became just the third pitcher in Horizon League history to win the award at least six times in a career. He was named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week three times in as many weeks to begin the 2026 season. Gebhardt allowed his first earned run of the 2026 season during his 30th inning of work in his fifth start against Oakland on March 13.

Through games completed on May 17, Gebhardt leads the Horizon League while ranking 31st nationally with 99 strikeouts and 11th in the country with 14 games started. He also paces the league in ERA (2.82), innings pitched (83.0), WHIP (1.16) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.73). Gebhardt’s 99 strikeouts currently rank as the fifth most in a single season in program history. With one more punchout, he would become the first Penguin since Matt Brosky in 2022 to record 100 or more strikeouts in a season. The senior southpaw became just the ninth pitcher in YSU history to reach 200 career strikeouts in the series opener with Wright State on April 10. Gebhardt currently ranks sixth in program history with 235 career strikeouts, and he ranks 11th in school history with 242.0 career innings pitched.

Shannon is batting .250 while leading the Horizon League with 15 home runs and ranking seventh in the league with a .564 slugging percentage. The Youngstown, Ohio, native leads YSU with 15 homers, 38 runs scored, 35 RBIs and 97 total bases. Shannon went 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double and four RBIs in the series opener at NKU on March 27. He hit a go-ahead three-run blast in the top of the eighth inning in YSU’s 5-2 series-opening victory at Wright State on Thursday for his 15th homer of the season.

YSU will open the 2026 Horizon League Championship against Oakland today at 5 p.m. at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Kidd out as Mavericks head coach

DALLAS — Jason Kidd is out as coach of the Dallas Mavericks after five seasons, and two weeks after the club hired former Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri as team president and governor.

The team said Tuesday it was parting ways with Kidd, describing the move as a mutual decision. The Hall of Fame point guard led the franchise to its only championship as a player in 2011.

When asked about the future of Kidd at his introduction on May 5, Ujiri was noncommittal, saying he would talk to Kidd while evaluating all aspects of the team.

“As we evaluate the future of our basketball program, we believe this is the right moment for a new direction for our team,” Ujiri said in a statement. “We have high expectations for this franchise and a responsibility to build a basketball organization capable of sustained championship contention.”

Kidd made two deep playoff runs with Luka Doncic, reaching the NBA Finals in 2024, two years after a loss to Golden State in the Western Conference finals.

Kidd finished with a .500 regular-season record (205-205) with the Mavericks, an appropriate illustration of the up-and-down nature of his tenure.

Nashville will host 2030 Super Bowl

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The NFL is taking the 2030 Super Bowl to Nashville and the Tennessee Titans’ new Nissan Stadium after team owners voted Tuesday to hold the league’s championship game in the Music City for the first time.

Once the Titans broke ground on the $2.1 billion enclosed stadium, a Super Bowl being played in Nashville appeared to be only a matter of time. Commissioner Roger Goodell said in November that Nashville lacked only the stage after setting a new standard for the league with record attendance at the 2019 draft.

The Titans are on schedule to finish the new stadium directly across from the current Nissan Stadium in February, completing the three-year construction. Critics worried the planned capacity wasn’t big enough to host a Super Bowl, though league officials were updated throughout the process.

Awarding the 2030 Super Bowl to Nashville gives the Titans three full seasons to work out any kinks.

Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said the Titans are thrilled Nashville’s first Super Bowl is coming and thanked Goodell, her fellow NFL owners and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp for their partnership.