Former Saint Mary’s star forward Paulius Murauskas said Wednesday that he’s transferring to Arizona State to once again play for coach Randy Bennett.

Murauskas blossomed in two seasons under Bennett and was one of the best players in the West Coast Conference this past season when he averaged 18.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 33 games (32 starts). The Gaels made the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season.

Bennett departed Saint Mary’s after the season to take over the Sun Devils.

“I followed my heart and chose the place where I trust the people and feel valued not just as a player, but as a person,” Murauskas said in an Instagram post. “I want to finish my college journey with the people who made the last two years so amazing and helped me become who I am now as a person and a player.”

Murauskas averaged 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds in 68 games (67 starts) in his two seasons at Moraga, Calif. The lone time he didn’t start came in last month’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Texas A&M when he was battling an illness and came in off the bench and played 23 minutes.

“Money is important, but the people in your life matter more,” Murauskas said. “Let’s finish where everything started.”

The 6-foot-8 Murauskas, from Lithuania, began his college career at Arizona and saw limited action during the 2023-24 season before moving on to Saint Mary’s.

–Field Level Media

Coby Mayo belted a three-run homer to highlight a sixth-run sixth inning, fueling the visiting Baltimore Orioles to an 8-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday afternoon.

Leody Taveras’ RBI single forged a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning before Jeremiah Jackson’s two-run single gave Baltimore a lead it would not relinquish.

Pete Alonso launched a two-run homer in the first inning for the Orioles, who avenged a 6-5 setback on Tuesday to win the rubber match of the three-game series.

Chris Bassitt (1-2) allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. Yennier Cano and Tyler Wells bridged the gap to rookie Anthony Nunez, who struck out two batters in the ninth inning to secure his first career save.

Kansas City’s Kyle Isbel crushed a two-run homer and Vinnie Pasquantino and Carter Jansen also went deep.

Jansen and Lane Thomas each had an RBI single for the reeling Royals, who have lost nine of their last 10 games.

Kansas City was nursing a 3-2 lead before Baltimore ignited an offensive surge to chase starter Michael Wacha (2-1) from the game.

Alonso worked a one-out walk and Samuel Basallo hit the first of three straight singles by the Orioles. Taveras’ single to right field plated Alonso, while Jackson’s single to left scored both Basallo and Taveras to give Baltimore a 5-3 lead.

Eli Morgan relieved Wacha and promptly surrendered a single to Colton Cowser before Mayo sent a 0-1 slider over the wall in left-center field. The homer was Mayo’s second in as many days.

That closed the book on Wacha, who permitted six runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He entered the game having yielded just three runs on 13 hits in his previous four starts.

Bassitt saw a 2-2 sinker sent over the wall in center field by Jansen to trim Baltimore’s lead to 8-4, Cano relieved Bassitt and served up a two-run homer to Isbel just inside the right-field foul pole.

Alonso gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead after depositing a 1-0 sinker from Wacha over the wall in right-center field. Alonso’s homer was his third of the season and first since April 13.

Pasquantino halved the deficit after sending a 2-0 sinker from Bassitt over the wall in right field. The homer was his third of the season, with all three coming in his last seven games.

–Field Level Media

In the first tour-level clay-court match of her career, Ukraine’s Daria Snigur came away with a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (13) victory over Australia’s Daria Kasatkina in first-round action of the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday.

Snigur, ranked 98th in the world, saved four match points before winning the marathon finish, which goes down as the longest first-to-seven, tour-level third-set tiebreaker in eight years and the sixth-longest in a WTA match this century.

Kasatkina, a 2022 French Open semifinalist, saved 17 of 24 break-point chances. Each competitor won 50% of both their service and return points. Snigur will next face No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland.

Seven Americans were in action during an extensive 22-match day of action in the Spanish capital. All 32 seeded competitors earned first-round byes in the 96-person event.

Alycia Parks won her opening-round match over Italy’s Elisabetta Coccioretto 6-3, 6-2, setting up a second-round clash with fellow American and No. 31 seed Ann Li.

Parks finished off her opening match in just 74 minutes. She hit just 52% of her first serves but won 71.4% of her service points, saving all three break points she faced while converting 3 of 7 on Coccioretto’s serve.

Two other Americans fell, with Taylor Townsend losing 6-4, 6-2 to Great Britain’s Katie Boulter while Elvina Kalieva took a 6-3, 6-4 defeat against Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.

Boulter will next face fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula. No. 3 seed Coco Gauff will open against France’s Leolia Jeanjean, who blew past Russia’s Oksana Selekhmeteva for a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

There were also two battles between U.S. players on Thursday. Caty McNally bested Katie Volynets 6-1, 6-2 in 94 minutes and will face No. 10 Victoria Mboko of Canada in the second round. Sofia Kenin, who won the 2020 Australian Open, defeated Ashlyn Krueger 7-6 (2), 6-4 to book a matchup against No. 32 Qinwen Zheng of China.

Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania beat Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 and will face No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the Round of 64.

That was one of seven matches contested on the day which went to a third set. However, one of the more thrilling matches was Argentina’s Solana Sierra holding off Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 7-6 (10), 7-6 (8) in a match which lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours despite only going two sets.

In other two-set matches, Italy’s Tyra Caterina Grant defeated France’s Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 6-2, Switzerland’s Simona Waltert beat Oleksandra Oliynikova of Ukraine 7-5, 6-0, Indonesia’s Janice Tjen swept Russia’s Alina Charaeva 6-4, 6-2, Colombia’s Emiliana Arango beat Australia’s Talia Gibson 6-3, 6-2, Alexandra Eala of the Philippines defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3, Hungary’s Dalma Galfi bested Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6 (7), 6-4, Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez beat Spaniard Carlota Martinez Cirez 7-5, 6-2 and China’s Shuia Zhang overcame Germany’s Eva Lys for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

In three-set territory, Czech Karolina Pliskova bested Austria’s Sinja Kraus 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan outlasted Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina beat Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine beat Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 and Hungary’s Panna Udvardy took care of Australia’s Kimberly Birrell in a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 triumph.

–Field Level Media