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ANAHEIM, Calif. — The baseball sailed deep into the night sky, and Shohei Ohtani‘s bat went right along with it — the latter flipping five times before landing somewhere between the batter’s box and the first-base dugout; the former traveling 403 feet to straightaway center field at Angel Stadium.

It was another signature moment in another season full of them for the Los Angeles Angels star.

Ohtani’s unprecedented pitching and hitting exploits over these past 2½ years have been well-documented and thoroughly celebrated. What still isn’t fully grasped, perhaps, is how stridently he chases greatness and how determinedly he yearns to win. But moments like that on Monday — an epic bat flip in the midst of a seventh-inning, game-tying homer, his major-league-leading 35th — provide a window into that desire.

“Everything he does is calculated to be the best player in the world, for the purpose of winning,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said after his team’s 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees. “Everything else that comes along with that is great, but he wants to win, in the worst way. This has been frustrating for him in these last two weeks, as it’s been for everybody.

“But you can see it on him. He wants to win. He wants to win here.”

Ohtani’s home run marked the third consecutive game in which he has gone deep in the seventh inning or later; it set the stage for Michael Stefanic, who grew up rooting for the Boston Red Sox, to deliver a walk-off hit in the 10th against Yankees lefty Nick Ramirez.

Ohtani, on pace for 60 home runs in his third full season as a two-way player, homered against Houston Astros closer Ryan Pressly to begin Saturday’s ninth inning, propelling a late-game comeback.

The following night, he produced another ninth-inning shot to trim his team’s deficit to one. The Angels ultimately lost that game, dropping a series to their division rivals after blowing two leads late. It marked the Angels’ 11th defeat in 13 games, a stretch that saw them go from legitimate postseason contenders to a team that might actually be forced to trade Ohtani before the Aug. 1 deadline.

Less than 24 hours later, Ohtani — and Griffin Canning, the Angels starter who threw 120 pitches, more than anybody in baseball this season — helped spark a victory the Angels desperately needed.

“After yesterday, you come out on the wrong end today of that one, it can knock you down pretty good,” said Nevin, his team still 5½ games out of the final wild-card spot with two weeks left before the trade deadline. “That one meant a lot, certainly.”

The Yankees, coming off a stunning series loss at the Colorado Rockies that dropped them to last place in the American League East, had taken a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh in Anaheim on the strength of a two-run double by Oswaldo Cabrera and a sacrifice fly by Gleyber Torres. Ohtani came to bat against right-hander Michael King with a runner on first and two outs, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone didn’t consider intentionally walking him.

“Maybe if he had gotten to second base and fallen behind in the count or something, but no, not there,” said Boone, whose team has lost back-to-back games in which it led by multiple runs in the seventh inning or later for the first time since 1992.

The Yankees, still reeling without Aaron Judge (toe), struck out 17 times and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

“I thought we did a lot of good things tonight,” Boone said, “but certain situations there you got to be able to make better adjustments.”

Ohtani’s 35 home runs are one more than he hit all last season and stand as the fifth most through a team’s first 95 games this century, trailing only Barry Bonds (42 in 2001), Luis Gonzalez (37 in 2001), Chris Davis (36 in 2013) and Judge (36 in 2022). Nineteen of Ohtani’s homers have come over his past 31 games.

Ohtani came to bat again in the ninth inning on Monday needing only a triple for the cycle, making it the major-league-leading seventh time he was three-quarters of the way to one this season. Ohtani ultimately struck out, but he had done enough to make the Angels — without injured Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon and a host of other important players — believe for another day.

“Everything that we wanted is still in front of us. He’s a big part of that,” Nevin said of Ohtani.

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Sources: Sooners DT Stone hits transfer portal

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Sources: Sooners DT Stone hits transfer portal

Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, sources told ESPN.

Stone, a former five-star recruit and the No. 6 overall player in the ESPN 300 for the 2024 class, made the surprising decision to enter the portal after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman with the Sooners. The 6-foot-3 313-pounder saw limited playing time, playing 88 snaps and recording 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 sack.

Stone was expected to compete for a more significant role as a sophomore, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently praised him as the Sooners’ most improved defensive tackle this offseason.

The Oklahoma native finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Florida and was a significant recruiting victory for Venables and his coaching staff in August 2023. Stone chose the Sooners over Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Michigan State.

The SEC does not grant immediate eligibility to players who transfer within the conference during the spring transfer window, so Stone would need to sit out the 2025 season if he moves on to another SEC program.

Oklahoma returns its top three defensive tackles from 2024 in Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton and Jayden Jackson. It also added Trent Wilson, the No. 164 recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2025, as an early enrollee this spring.

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QB Browne returns to Purdue after brief UNC stint

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QB Browne returns to Purdue after brief UNC stint

Quarterback Ryan Browne has decided to transfer back to Purdue after joining North Carolina earlier this offseason.

Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.

North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.

Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.

Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.

By returning to West Lafayette, Browne will get an opportunity to compete for a starting job with Arkansas transfer Malachi Singleton, Washington State transfer Evans Chuba and Bennett Meredith, a former Arizona State transfer.

The Boilermakers lost one quarterback, EJ Colson, to the transfer portal earlier this week.

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U-M’s Underwood has up-and-down spring game

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U-M's Underwood has up-and-down spring game

Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.

Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.

He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.

“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”

As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.

“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”

Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.

Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.

“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”

Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.

“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.

Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.

‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”

He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.

Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.

Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.

“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”

Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.

“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”

Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.

“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”

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