Voters resoundingly backed paid sick leave. Now lawmakers in 3 states want to roll back the benefits

• April 30, 2025

By DAVID A. LIEB, MARGERY A. BECK and BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Voters in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska were asked last year whether they wanted to require employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers. They overwhelmingly said yes.

Now some lawmakers in each of those states are trying to roll back the benefits, citing concerns from businesses about costs.

The efforts mark the latest attempt by legislators to alter laws backed by the voters they represent. In February, for example, Michigan enacted revisions to a paid sick leave law initiated by voters seven years ago, delaying the date when small businesses must comply and allowing a longer period before new employees are eligible.

Though some voters are outraged, some lawmakers contend that citizen activists who crafted the initiatives overlooked the realities of running a business.

Restaurant owner Tim Hart, who employs about two dozen workers at his steakhouse in Hannibal, Missouri, said the paid sick leave requirement imposes a double financial hit because he must pay one person to stay home and another to fill the shift.

“When this goes into effect, we very likely won’t survive,” said Hart, who has urged the state Senate to halt the law.

The paid sick leave laws are set to kick in Thursday in Missouri, July 1 in Alaska and Oct. 1 in Nebraska.

McDonald’s restaurant worker Richard Eiker is among those who stand to benefit. He signed a petition putting the initiative on the Missouri ballot and traveled recently from Kansas City to the state Capitol to lobby lawmakers to let the law stand.

In 40 years on the job, Eiker has never received paid sick leave — not even when he was struggling with a kidney stone.

“I just took some pain medication and just went into work anyway and just worked past the pain,” Eiker said. “It would have been nice to have stayed home.”

Lower-wage workers are less likely to get paid sick leave

Federal law requires many employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for personal or family medical issues. But there is no federal mandate to pay for sick days.

Nonetheless, 79% of private-sector employees received paid sick leave last year, according to the Department of Labor. Part-time workers were significantly less likely to receive the benefit than their full-time counterparts. And just 58% of employees in the bottom quarter of income earners received paid sick leave, compared with 94% in the top quartile.

Though still discretionary for many employers, the number of states mandating paid sick leave has grown significantly since Connecticut enacted the first such law in 2012. Last year’s ballot measures raised the total to 18 states and the District of Columbia. Three additional states require paid leave for any reason, without specifying sickness.

Many paid sick leave laws, including the ones in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska, apply to any employer with at least one worker. But some states exempt the smallest businesses, with cutoffs ranging from five to 25 employees. The number of annual paid sick days also varies.

Missouri lawmaker wants it to be ‘less onerous’ for employers

On Tuesday the state Supreme Court upheld Missouri’s paid sick leave law against a challenge from business groups. But efforts to revise it continue.

In March, Republican House members passed legislation to repeal the paid sick leave requirement. That was then blocked by minority-party Democrats in the Senate. So Republicans are pushing an alternative that would delay the law until later this year, exempt smaller businesses and take away workers’ ability to sue over alleged violations.

The intent is to “just make it a little less onerous on employers,” said Republican state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, a small business owner who is backing the bill.

But many workers already have it tough, Democratic lawmakers said.

“When there’s people living paycheck to paycheck, just missing a little bit of work can really put them behind,” Democratic state Sen. Patty Lewis said.

Nebraska senator warns of ‘huge overstep’ by colleagues

Legislation pushed by Republican lawmakers in Nebraska state would carve out exceptions from paid sick leave for 14- and-15-year-old employees, temporary and seasonal agricultural workers and businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

The legislation also would strip workers of the ability to sue employers who retaliate against them for using paid sick leave.

Supporters of the revisions say they aim to protect small businesses from higher costs. Opponents say they are essentially gutting the law.

“We’re talking about just whole swaths of the ballot language being stricken by this,” state Sen. John Cavanaugh said during recent debate. “That is a huge overstep by this Legislature to say that we know better than the people who voted for this.”

Alaska labor leader foresees ‘long battle’ over voters’ wishes

A bill by state Rep. Justin Ruffridge would exempt seasonal workers and businesses with fewer than 50 employees from the sick leave requirement. That could exclude many catering to Alaska’s summer tourists.

Ruffridge, a member of the House’s Republican minority, said small business owners should be able to choose whether to spend money on sick leave benefits or other measures to grow their businesses.

Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, which supported the ballot measure, doubts Ruffridge’s bill will gain traction in the final weeks of this year’s session.

But, she said, “I believe this is the beginning of a long battle to protect the voters’ wishes from the wills and the whims of the businesspeople who don’t want to pay sick days.”

Beck reported from Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bohrer from Juneau, Alaska.

​ Orange County Register 

Kings drop Game 5 to Oilers, face elimination on Thursday

• April 30, 2025

LOS ANGELES — After the Kings’ two losses in Edmonton evened their first-round playoff series against the Oilers, they wanted to circle the wagons, but instead they found themselves circling the drain.

They dropped a third consecutive decision, 3-1, though this time there was no third-period lead to blow as there had been in their Game 4 and 5 losses, as well their Game 1 win.

They white-knuckled their way through two periods in which they were beaten up analytically and territorially, but not on the scoreboard, until they lost yet another closing frame.

They now trail the team that has eliminated them three years in a row, 3-2, and will face elimination in hostile territory in Game 6 on Thursday night. The Kings have struggled on the road all season, winning just 17 of 43 games in the regular season and playoffs so far, while Edmonton has never failed to close out a Western Conference opponent after mounting three wins in any of the past three postseasons.

After giving up a season-high in shots on goal in consecutive games in Edmonton – 37 in a Game 3 fiasco and 48 in Game 4’s overtime folding act – the Kings allowed the most shots in a home game all season in Game 5 with 46.

Edmonton has outshot the Kings 79-35 since the start of the third period of Game 4.

Andrei Kuzmenko tallied with the man advantage. Darcy Kuemper did his best to steal the game with 43 saves after making 44 in Sunday’s Game 4.

Evander Kane, Mattias Janmark and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each scored a goal for Edmonton. Calvin Pickard moved to 3-0-0 in the series by halting 21 pucks.

The Kings were a top-10 team in the final frame during the season but their third-period woes persisted on Tuesday, as they slunk down to a 13-5 third-period deficit (plus a 1-0 hole in overtime).

A relatively miraculous 1-1 tie was broken at the 7:12 mark by a familiar face when former Kings winger Viktor Arvidsson ripped a far-side shot off an odd-man rush that gave Janmark an easy putback for the go-ahead goal. With 57.8 seconds showing on the game clock, Nugent-Hopkins heaped dirt on the Kings’ grave with an empty-net goal.

Trailing 33-12 in shots and having accumulated a meager 16% of the first 40 minutes’ expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick, the Kings still managed to earn the first goal of the game, 3:33 into the second period. They would find themselves back in a tie game less than three minutes later, a stalemate that stood at the second intermission.

The Kings’ power play scored the first goal of the game, just as it did in Games 1 and 2, when captain Anže Kopitar let fly with a shot attempt from the left point that redirected to Pickard’s glove side by Kuzmenko. Kuzmenko now has three goals and six points in the postseason, all coming at home. Kopitar’s assist moved him within one point of Luc Robitaille for second on the all-time Kings postseason scoring list on a night when Drew Doughty skated in his 100th career playoff game.

But a tripping penalty on Doughty gave Edmonton its second man advantage of the night, and they scored seven seconds after it expired. The Oilers swarmed the net and nearly got a goal from Zach Hyman before a shot recovery and a keep-in at the blue line kept the sequence going. It culminated in Kane sniping a far-side shot from just inside the right faceoff circle for his second goal of the series and his 14th playoff goal against the Kings in the past four postseasons (23 games).

Negative momentum from the Kings’ pair of heart-wrenching losses in Edmonton carried over into an opening salvo for the Oilers that saw them hit the net 19 times to the Kings’ four. In all, the Kings were outshot 52-17 in the third period and overtime of Game 4 combined with the first period of Game 5.

The game remained scoreless thanks to Kuemper, whose highlight reel included two saves in two seconds on Adam Henrique and a lunging glove save to deny Evan Bouchard’s sterling chance off a silky setup by Connor McDavid.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Clippers can’t slow Jamal Murray, Nuggets in Game 5, trail series 3-2

• April 30, 2025

DENVER — In Game 4 of their first-round playoff series with the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers didn’t lead until a thrilling 32-9 run gave them a late one-point lead before they lost on a walk-off dunk. The Nuggets built another 22-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 5 on Tuesday night, but they kept this one safe and sound.

The Clippers inched closer at times, but Nuggets guard Jamal Murray erupted for 43 points, seeming to dash every Clippers’ surge with one of his eight 3-pointers in a 131-115 win.

The Nuggets have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, with Game 6 on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.

The Clippers went on a 17-4 fourth-quarter run to cut their 22-point deficit to single digits at 116-107, but the Nuggets fended off another frenetic finish by fashioning an 11-0 run of their own with Murray scoring six and Aaron Gordon five to compel Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to empty his bench. The dagger was a Murray 30-foot pull-up jumper from the top of the key with 2:13 left.

Murray shot 17 for 26 from the field (8 for 14 from 3-point range), working his way inside then out throughout the game. He started his night with a dunk, found some touch from the midrange and eventually it seemed like he couldn’t miss from behind the arc.

“We knew in Game 5, (Murray) would come out aggressive. He made every shot – pull-up 3s, midrange,” Lue said. “We blitzed him, we dropped, switched, you know, a lot of different coverages. But he had a hell of a game. So as far as us just defensively having that presence to start the game, I think the last three games or so, they’ve really been attacking to start the game early. We’ve gotta be better about that.”

Russell Westbrook chipped in 21 points in his return from a foot injury, Game 4 hero Gordon scored 23 and Nikola Jokic posted his 21st career playoff triple-double (13 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists) for Denver.

Ivica Zubac led the Clippers with a playoff career-high 27 points, and Kawhi Leonard had 20 as they lost back-to-back games for the first time since March 4. After a slow start, Leonard finished 8-of-15 shooting to go with nine rebounds and a season-high 11 assists. It was his first game with double-digit assists since recording a triple-double against the Lakers in January of 2024.

The advantage from behind the 3-point line has swung throughout the series, but has not directly correlated to winning in this matchup. The Clippers and Nuggets were 29th and 30th in the league respectively in 3-point attempts during the regular season. So far in the playoffs, the Nuggets are still dead last, but they made 17 on Tuesday compared to the Clippers’ 11.

The 18-point swing from behind the arc was ultimately the difference in a 16-point game. Lue believes it will be the deciding factor the rest of the way.

“(The Nuggets) making 17 3s and they blew us out. We made 18 3s (in Game 3) and we blew them out,” Lue said. “The 3-point line is going to be the most important thing, so we’ve gotta make sure we take care of that, which we didn’t do a good job of tonight.”

“Just pretty much get out there and contest,” Leonard added. “Some of those shots were just guys being great, but there were probably a couple of wide open ones, but they knock down shots. That’s why that team is tough.”

The Clippers got good help from the supporting cast, particularly Bogdan Bogdanovic (18 points, five assists) and Kris Dunn (15 points). Bogdanovic’s point total was more than he had scored in the first four games of the series combined. He brought energy to the third-quarter surge when he and former Clipper Westbrook talked themselves into double technical fouls after a hard foul.

After missing Game 4 with the inflammation in his foot, Westbrook scored 16 of his 21 in the first half and finished 8-of-15 shooting (3 for 6 from 3-point range) off the bench.

Down by double digits for much of the third quarter, the Clippers got within eight points with a 7-0 run that included a Bogdanovic corner 3-pointer, a Leonard tip-in and steal, then a Norman Powell layup. They never pulled any closer.

For Zubac, there shouldn’t be a need to have to come back from huge deficits all the time.

“We’ve got to start games better. Every game except for Game 1 (when the Clippers at one point had a 15-point lead), we’ve started bad. We were playing catch-up pretty much all game,” Zubac said. “We definitely have to come out with better energy and physicality because it’s hard to chase a lead the whole game.

“They won a championship (in 2023). They know what it takes, they know how to hold those leads. So we definitely can’t get into a hole to start the game.”

In NBA history, teams that win Game 5 when a best-of-seven series is tied 2-2 go on to win 81% of the time (191-44).

​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ offense arrives too late to avoid another loss

• April 30, 2025

SEATTLE — The Angels’ hitters finally showed a little life, although it came too late.

After their scoreless streak reached 21 innings, the Angels scored three runs in the final three innings of a 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

Over the last 16 games, the Angels have scored 38 runs, an average of 2.4 per game.

Not surprisingly, the Angels (12-16) have lost 12 of those games, erasing all the encouraging signs from their 8-4 start.

“The at-bats were better, more competitive,” Manager Ron Washington said. “We were able to put some runs on the board in back-to-back innings, something that we haven’t done in a while. We kept the line going, and we still had an opportunity to tie that ball game, but it just didn’t happen.”

For much of this one, the story was one Jack Kochanowicz mistake – a three-run homer – and the Angels’ hitters stringing together more zeroes.

The Angels had two hits in the first six innings. Their best scoring chances were created by drawing five walks, but they also hit into two double plays.

Logan O’Hoppe finally ended the scoreless streak – which went back to Saturday – when he hit his eighth homer of the season, a solo shot in the seventh.

In the eighth, the Angels scored twice after three doubles, from Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Jorge Soler. It could have been a bigger inning, but Mike Trout and Taylor Ward were both called out on strikes. The Angels struck out 11 times, the 13th time in 16 games that they’ve reached double figures.

“In that inning we had the heart of our lineup up,” Washington said. “We had a chance to do more damage. It just didn’t happen.”

The Angels also failed to capitalize on back-to-back walks to start the second inning. Moments after that, the Mariners converted in the bottom of the inning.

With two outs and runners at the corners, Kochanowicz got ahead with two quick strikes on Jorge Polanco, the Mariners’ hottest hitter.

Kochanowicz then threw three straight non-competitive pitches, all either up or well outside. Polanco then fouled off a sinker. Kochanowicz threw another sinker that was over the outside corner, but not down enough, and Polanco yanked it over the right-field fence, for a three-run homer.

“I think I was just trusting myself that I would get the ball down and throw it where I needed to,” Kochanowicz said. “Looking back on it, probably not the right pitch to throw back-to-back. He took a pretty good swing on the foul ball before that. So just gotta live and learn. Just trying to try to get it down in the zone. It wasn’t there.”

Polanco, the reigning American League Player of the Week, hit another homer against reliever José Fermin in the seventh, and those two runs proved to be the difference in the game. Polanco has hit six homers in his last six games.

After Kochanowicz gave up the homer to Polanco, he retired nine in a row and 13 of 15 to get through the sixth. It was his second straight quality start.

Kochanowicz struck out six and walked four, both unusually high numbers for him.

“Polanco got him there in the second and after that, he settled down, and he started throwing the ball extremely well,” Washington said. “He got us into the sixth inning again. He gave us six innings of three-run ball. You take that. But tonight was Polanco’s night. He drove in all five runs.”

​ Orange County Register 

Will Clark helps Costa Mesa baseball extend league lead with victory

• April 30, 2025

ANAHEIM – His name is Will Clark, and just like his namesake who had more than 2,000 MLB hits, Costa Mesa’s Will Clark wears No. 22 and plays first base.

But that’s not the reason Costa Mesa’s Will Clark wears No. 22.

“This was my mom’s number in high school,” Clark explained.

Whatever the connection to No. 22, the Costa Mesa senior hits like the Will Clark of San Francisco Giants fame. He was 4 for 4 with two RBIs in the Mustangs’ 5-3 win over Katella in a Golden West League baseball game Tuesday at Katella High.

Costa Mesa improved to 9-0 in the league. The Mustangs have a two-game lead over second-place Katella (7-2 in league) with three league games: Thursday and Friday against Katella at Costa Mesa High and May 7 at Kennedy.

Segerstrom was a factor in the race for the Golden West League championship but was found to have violated CIF Southern Section bylaws. Segerstrom had to forfeit several weeks’ worth of victories and was ruled ineligible for this season’s playoffs.

Clark went into Tuesday’s game with a team-high 27 hits and was batting .355. His four hits were singles. His third-inning single drove in the Mustangs’ first run and his fourth single drove in their final run.

Senior starting pitcher Troy Simmonds worked into the seventh inning to get the win and improve to 5-2.

Simmonds, a left-hander, is not a strikeout pitcher. He went into the game with 35 strikeouts in 50.1 innings. He struck out two Tuesday but more importantly allowed only two walks and four hits, which Clark admired.

“Just let the other team hit the ball and trust your defense,” Clark said. “That’s all he had to do and he got the job done.”

Katella (18-4 overall) took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Julian Bustos led off the inning with a single and scored on Robert Barba’s sacrifice fly. A single by Alejandro Tinoco drove in Isaiah Munoz, who had walked.

A three-run third inning gave the Mustangs the lead for good.

With one out Wyatt Rottschafer got it started when he was hit by a pitch. He went to third base on Aiden Comte’s single and scored on Clark’s hit. Grady Jackson pulled a double down the right-field line to drive in Comte and Clark for a 3-2 lead.

Clark’s RBI single in the sixth inning sent home Rottschafer to make it 4-2.

Costa Mesa coach Jim Kiefer said that sort of opportunistic hitting has been part of Clark’s game all season.

“He had a couple big ones today,” Kiefer said. “He’s been that way for us all year.”

In the seventh inning, with Mateo Navarro on second base, Owen Dever squared to bunt then pulled the bat back to slap the ball over the head of charging Katella first baseman Hector Perez. The hit brought home Navarro for a 5-2 lead.

Katella’s Andrew Ureno scored on an error for the Knights’ third run.

Kiefer said his team is taking care of its own business and has not given much thought to what happened at Segerstrom.

“We’re not involved in that so we just keep playing our season,” Kiefer said. “We know where we’re at and we’re just trying to be our best.”

Costa Mesa was 1-2 against Segerstrom in their league games.

Clark said the Mustangs offense has been more productive lately.

“At the beginning of the year, we weren’t getting as many hits,” Clark said. “We were just missing the ball and leaving runners on base. Over the last couple of games we’ve had clutch hits in clutch moments.”

​ Orange County Register 

Orange Lutheran softball edges JSerra for share of Trinity League title

• April 30, 2025

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Orange Lutheran’s softball team scored twice with two outs in the seventh inning to rally past visiting JSerra 2-1 on Tuesday to clinch at least a share of the Trinity League championship.

Madelyn Armendariz singled in the tying run before Cate Medvitz delivered a walk-off double to left-center field to score Kai Minor.

Orange Lutheran’s Jo Marsh fired a complete game to outduel fellow junior Liliana Escobar of JSerra.

Marsh, who is committed to UCLA, allowed three hits, walked two and struck out six.

Escobar surrendered six hits, walked one and struck out 11. She held Orange Lutheran hitless through five innings.

Freshman Annabel Raftery added an RBI double for JSerra (13-13, 1-6).

Orange Lutheran (21-3, 6-1), ranked No. 2 in Orange County this week, leads second-place Mater Dei (15-10-1, 4-3) by two games with two games remaining in league.

The Lancers have won at least a share of six straight Trinity League titles.

In another Trinity League game:

Mater Dei 13, Santa Margarita 3: Freshman Lelei Salue hit a two-run home run as the Monarchs (15-10-1, 4-3) won a mercy-shortened game to move into sole possession of second place.

In the Crestview League:

Cypress 8, Canyon 4: The host Centurions (16-9, 4-5) scored five runs in the first inning and never trailed in moving within half-a-game of the third-place Comanches (18-8, 5-5).

Naya Taylor had three hits and Delaney Faus threw a complete for Cypress, which plays at Esperanza on Thursday.

Canyon won 2 of 3 against Cypress in league and would have the tiebreaker against the Centurions.

El Modena 4, Esperanza 2: Kylie Tafua went 2 for 3 with two doubles with two RBIs and Julianna Brower had two RBIs to the lead the second-place Vanguards (17-7, 6-4).

In the Freeway League:

La Habra 7, El Dorado 6: Freshman catcher Eliana Corona hit a home run for the third consecutive game to help lead the Highlanders (20-7, 11-0). Corona and Mireya Gonzalez each had two RBIs for La Habra.

Villa Park 5, Sonora 4 (8): Freshman Hannah Estrada doubled to score Sydney Pollack in the eighth as the Spartans (13-13, 4-6) won in a walk-off to move into sole possession of third place.

In the Sunset League:

Huntington Beach 3, Marina 2: Senior shortstop Morgan Drotter hit a three-run home run with two outs in the sixth inning as the Oilers (17-7, 6-2) moved half-a-game ahead of the Vikings for second place.

​ Orange County Register 

No. 9 UC Irvine beats Cal State Fullerton at Angel Stadium

• April 30, 2025

ANAHEIM — The UC Irvine baseball team took a breather from its Big West Conference schedule on Tuesday night, a rare chance to perform under the lights at Angel Stadium against a friendly rival, and with an opportunity to cap the month on a positive note.

A day after ascending to No. 9 in the latest Baseball America Top 25 poll, their highest ranking since 2014, the Anteaters checked all the boxes in a 5-1 victory against Cal State Fullerton, ending the month of April with eight consecutive wins for the second season in a row.

“It’s easy to be fired up. Angel Stadium, Cal State Fullerton,” UCI coach Ben Orloff said. “We were fired up to play. We need to play better, but it is pretty cool to play here at Angel Stadium, where a lot of our kids have never played on a big league field before.”

UCI (33-9 overall) was coming off a three-game sweep against second-place Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo last weekend, giving the Anteaters a four-game cushion over the Mustangs for first place in the Big West with three weeks left in conference play.

Nine more conference games remain for UCI, including a three-game series against Fullerton to finish the regular season on May 15-17.

“That’s when we want to be playing our best ball in May and June, so on the right direction,” UCI first baseman Anthony Martinez said after going 3 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored against the Titans.

The Anteaters were ranked 24th in Baseball America’s preseason poll after finishing 20th last season.

They’ve steadily moved up to their highest ranking in Orloff’s seven seasons at the helm, but that number has little meaning to him.

“It’s good for propaganda, it’s good for the families, it’s good for recruiting, but the reality is, it means nothing,” he said. “There’s so much left to go. The goal isn’t to be somewhere on April 25. … Even last weekend at Cal Poly, it wasn’t about playing for first place or second place. We’re trying to get better.”

Martinez led off the second inning with a sharp single to center after Fullerton catcher Max Ortega could not glove a high foul against the screen behind home plate.

Rowan Felsch dropped a one-out single into right-center and Will Bermudez then pulled an RBI double off the base of the wall in left for a 1-0 lead.

The Anteaters loaded the bases with still just one out in the inning before Frankie Carney rolled a squibber up the third-base line. Carter Johnstone touched his bag for the second out and threw home for the tag on James Castagnola to complete the inning-ending double play.

Fullerton reliever Chad Gurnea struck out the first two batters to start the third before issuing back-to-back walks to Chase Call and Martinez.

Castagnola then grounded a 2-and-2 pitch through the left side to score Call from second for a 2-0 lead.

Gurnea then walked two more batters to force in a run and make it 3-0.

The Titans took advantage of two successful bunts to load the bases with no outs in the third and cut it to 3-1 on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Kirchner, but couldn’t draw any closer in the inning.

Nobody scored again until the eighth, when the Anteaters loaded the bases with one on a hit batter and two walks. Colin Yeaman then grounded a single off the glove of Johnstone and into left field to score two runs and extend the lead to 5-1.

The Anteaters closed the game with six shutout innings of relief, capped by Ricky Ojeda striking out the side in the ninth.

“The jitters were going,” Martinez said. “Obviously we can play better than we did today, but great to come out with a win.”

The Big West Tournament is scheduled for May 21-25 at Cal State Fullerton, followed by the NCAA Regionals the following weekend. Orloff believes the Anteaters have the right makeup to make a deep run this postseason.

“It starts with pitching and defense for us,” he said. “The offense gets the attention, but we win because of pitching and defense, and if we keep pitching at the level we’re pitching it, and playing good defense, I think we’ll be a team that has a chance to, hopefully, play beyond Memorial Day.”

The Titans (23-21) sit one game back of Cal Poly in third place after sweeping a three-game series at UC Davis last weekend.

Fullerton lost seven of its first eight games to start the season, and then dropped its first five conference games before an eight-game winning streak righted the ship.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers follow 2024 script to blow out Marlins

• April 30, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The recipe to overcome what was starting to look like a championship hangover was to add a little spice.

Less than a week ago, the Dodgers were on the hunt for offensive consistency. A 15-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night was the most definitive example yet that the flavor has returned.

Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff home run sure looked like 2024 again. The flashbacks continued with 18 total hits from the lineup, five doubles in that total, and eight walks that were the most telling sign of all. The Dodgers were back to waiting out the bad pitches, driving up pitch counts and hammering the strikes.

Over their current four-game winning streak, they have averaged 9.8 runs per game.

But the similarities to 2024 did not end there. The Dodgers also used a bullpen game for success, just like they did in last year’s postseason run when they used three starters and a pile of relievers to get through the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and New York Yankees for the eighth title in club history.

While they used an opener and mostly one-inning contributions while winning in the playoffs, the Dodgers turned this bullpen game on its ear with two innings from rookie left-hander Jack Dreyer and five from right-hander Matt Sauer (1-0), who was called up Tuesday specifically to take down as many innings as possible. Utility man Kiké Hernandez closed it out with a scoreless ninth inning from the mound.

After the first win of his career, Sauer is expected to be sent down in advance of Tony Gonsolin’s return to the major leagues Wednesday, but the outing is sure to earn him another call in the near future.

Sauer gave up one run on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts. And it was nearly a scoreless outing, with the Marlins only scoring a run against him on the second to last of the 19 batters he faced.

Ohtani’s ninth home run of the season came on the first pitch of the game from Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara, who finished by allowing seven runs on seven hits in 2⅔ innings with five walks and two strikeouts.

Alcantara’s outing can serve as a cautionary tale. It was his sixth outing since returning from 2023 Tommy John surgery. He now has an 8.31 ERA.

Gonsolin also will be returning from 2023 Tommy John surgery on Wednesday afternoon.

If the Dodgers can continue to produce on offense, it should be an eventful return for the right-hander.

Teoscar Hernandez had two doubles among his four his with four RBIs and two runs scored. Freddie Freeman also had two doubles with two runs. Will Smith had a double among his two hits with two RBIs, while Tommy Edman drove in three runs, one game after his game-ending two-run single in the 10th inning.

Ohtani’s leadoff home run was his second of the season and the 14th of his career. After a 1-for-16 dry spell, Ohtani is now 7 for 15 over his last four games with six runs scored.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register