Whenever Cardinals ace Carlos Martinez has gone off the rails, it most often has been traced to his inability to survive the early innings or to complete a mundane fielding play.

Here’s a link at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Southern Illinois football program will host a youth camp at 6 p.m. on April 11, 2018, in Saluki Stadium. Campers (Grades 2-6) will learn the game of football and have fun doing it. They will develop football skills, including passing, catching, tackling and blocking. Kids will participate in various passing and agility games, and no equipment will be needed.

The camp will fun from 6-8 p.m. in Saluki Stadium. Cost is only $35, and you can apply at SalukiFootballCamps.com. Walk-up registrations will be accepted. For additional questions, contact assistant coach Austin Flyger at aflyger@siu.edu or 618-453-7979.

The Blue Jays made spoiling Miguel Gonzalez’s White Sox return as easy as 1-2-3-4 Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre.

Here’s the story at the Chicago Tribune.

What happened at the beginning of Tuesday night’s Cardinals-Milwaukee Brewers, mirrored by what occurred at the end, never had happened before, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Here’s a link to the story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler has a look at five winners and five losers from Monday’s NCAA national title game won by Villanova, both on the court and on TV.

Here’s a link at the Southern Illinoisan.

The Salukis will “Go Green” this April. Saluki Athletics is excited to partner with Mid-America Transplant on two Green Up Games during National Donate Life Month to raise awareness about organ, eye and tissue donation while honoring and celebrating organ and tissue donors, donor families, and transplant recipients.

The Green Up Games will be held:

• Sunday, April 15: Softball vs. Indiana State
• Tuesday, April 24: Baseball vs. Southeast Missouri State

The three-year partnership will be featured during National Donate Life Month, which highlights local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation. At each Green Up Game, fans will have the opportunity to learn more about organ, eye and tissue donation and register their decision to be a donor at the “Green Up” games. Mid-America Transplant is coordinating a pre-game ceremony dedicated to honoring organ and tissue donors.

“This is an exciting, new partnership for our organization,” Mid-America Transplant President and CEO Diane Brockmeier said. “For many years, Carbondale and the communities of southern Illinois have shown remarkable generosity to help others through organ and tissue donation. With the support of the Southern Illinois University Department of Athletics, we will be able to continue honoring organ and tissue donors, while also educating the public on the lifesaving benefits of donation.”

The baseball and softball teams will wear Donate Life-themed uniforms during the Green Up Game. The Donate Life shades of green and blue represent ongoing efforts to increase the number of people registered as organ, eye, and tissue donors.

“This is a cause that is very near and dear to both Jen Sewell and I,” SIU softball head coach Kerri Blaylock said. “We we’re very, very excited to do this. Jenny Jansen, one of our players, her mother donated a kidney to a boy in St. Louis a couple years ago. We all feel like it’s a very important game for a very important cause. We’re definitely glad to do this.”

“We’re happy to use our platform to bring awareness to this important issue,” SIU baseball head coach Ken Henderson said. “Organ donation affects so many people, and we hope these games will raise awareness for the cause and appreciation for donors.”

Mid-America Transplant is eager to partner with the Southern Illinois University Department of Athletics to raise awareness about organ, eye and tissue donation. More than 115,000 people are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant nationwide after a year in which a record 34,768 organ transplants were performed in the United States. Mid-America Transplant contributed to the 2017 record by facilitating the recovery of an organizational record 718 lifesaving organs from 223 selfless, heroic organ donors. 

About Mid-America Transplant

Mid-America Transplant enables adults and children to receive lifesaving gifts through organ and tissue donations. For more than 40 years, it has facilitated and coordinated organ and tissue donation, and now serves 84 counties covering eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and northeast Arkansas that together are home to 4.7 million people. It saves lives by providing expert and compassionate care for organ and tissue donors, recipients and families, and transforms the clinical processes required to recover and transplant organs and tissues. Mid-America Transplant was the first such organization in the U.S. to use an in-house operating room for organ recovery and pioneered innovative models of increasing donor registry enrollment to provide more organs and tissues to those in need. It is federally designated as one of 58 such organizations in the U.S., and is the first organ procurement organization to be recognized as a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence and a three-time recipient of the Missouri Quality Award.

In the end, there was just no stopping Villanova. And there was no stopping Donte DiVincenzo.

Here’s a link to the story at FOX News.

With their first late-game lead of the season, the Cardinals offered a sneak peek Sunday of how they intend to hold a lead without a closer to call on for the ninth. It included rookie Jordan Hicks manning the eighth as Dominic Leone’s setup man.

Here’s the link to the story at St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In his return to stateside baseball, Cardinals righthander Miles Mikolas allowed three home runs Monday to the Milwaukee Brewers, good for all four of their runs. But Mikolas, who pitched in Japan the last three seasons, also homered himself.

Here’s a link to the story at St. Louis Post-Dispatch.