Minnesota Sports Roundup: Twins split a pair of Grapefruit League games

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FT. MEYERS, Fla. - The Minnesota Twins split a pair of Grapefruit League games on Sunday.

J.R. Towles hit a two-run homer in the ninth to give a split-sqaud Twins team a 5-3 win over the Rays in Port Charlotte. And, the Red Sox beat Minnesota 8-3 in the other split squad spring training game in Fort Myers. Boston's Lars Anderson clubbed a grand slam in the seventh inning to break open a close game. Twins lefty Francisco Liriano pitched two innings of shutout baseball to start the game. He allowed one hit, a walk and fanned two. The Twins play the Red Sox again tonight.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves open a four-game homestand tonight with a contest against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Target Center was likely a sight for sore eyes for the Wolves, who came out of the all-star break with a four-game, five-day road trip throughout the western United States. The team went 2-2 on the trip, including a win over the Clippers in LA last Tuesday. Tonight's game is set to tip-off at 7 p.m.

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Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves as the Avalanche blanked the Wild 2-0 in St. Paul last night. It's the fourth shutout of the season for Varlamov and the eighth of his career. Jamie McGinn scored both goals for Colorado, which halted a two-game slide. Peter Mueller and Stefan Elliott both assisted on each of McGinn's goals. Matt Hackett turned 34 shots aside in the loss for Minnesota, which has dropped four straight contests. This was Hackett's first home start of his NHL career. The Wild are at Colorado tomorrow night.

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>>NSIC Finals

(Rochester, MN) -- Here are Sunday's results in the NSIC postseason basketball tournament championship games:

Men's - Southwest Minnesota State 76, Minnesota State-Moorhead 72 (final)

Women's - Wayne State 62, Augustana 59 (final)

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The top-ranked Golden Gopher wrestling team finished second in the Big Ten Championships over the weekend at Purdue. Penn State claimed the team crown, with the Gophers second and Iowa third. Minnesota crowned two individual Big Ten champs. They were Kevin Steinhaus of Pennock at 184-pounds and Tony Nelson of Cambridge at heavyweight. The Gophers have this weekend off and will go to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis on March 15-17.

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