January February March

April May June

July August September

October November December

April

April 1 -- Florida wore down North Carolina using the same 10-man rotation, full-court press and balanced scoring that brought them to the Final Four, ended the Tar Heels' improbable tournament run with a 71-59 victory. Michigan State beat Big Ten rival Wisconsin 53-41 for the fourth time this season.

April 2 -- Connecticut won its second women's national championship with a 71-52 victory over Tennessee. The top-ranked Huskies beat No. 2 Tennessee for the second time in three meetings this season. The top-ranked team has never lost the title game.

April 2 -- Portland's Rasheed Wallace received two technical fouls and an automatic ejection during a 95-82 victory over Seattle, setting an NBA record for technical fouls in a season. Wallace received his 33rd and 34th technicals with 10:37 left in the second quarter, the most since the league began keeping statistics on technical fouls in 1961. Wallace surpassed the mark of 32 by Charles Barkley in 1992-93 and 1994-95 with Phoenix, and tied by Dennis Rodman in 1993-94 with San Antonio.

April 3 -- Michigan State won its second national championship as Mateen Cleaves led the Spartans to an 89-76 victory over Florida. Cleaves led the Spartans to a 43-32 halftime lead by scoring 13 points and negating Florida's full-court pressure. He rolled his right ankle early in the second half with his team ahead 50-44, and had to go to the locker room. Morris Peterson added 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting, and A.J. Granger had 19 on 7-for-11 shooting.

April 3 -- Andres Galarraga made a triumphant return to Turner Field. Out all of last season because of cancerous tumor in his back, Galarraga celebrated his comeback by hitting a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning that lifted the Atlanta Braves over Colorado 2-0.

April 3 -- Savannah State's baseball team set an NCAA record for consecutive victories. The Tigers beat Claflin 8-0 and 21-1, extending its streak to 42 and eclipsing the record of 40 claimed by Marietta College of Ohio, a Division II school, last year.

April 4 -- The Los Angeles Lakers made their way into the NBA record books with an 84-83 win over Phoenix for their 10th consecutive victory. The Lakers became the third team in NBA history to have three winning streaks in a season of 10 games or more. Los Angeles had 16- and 19-game streaks earlier in the season.

April 5 -- Two-time world pairs champion Yelena Berezhnaya of Russia was suspended for three months, and she and partner Anton Sikarulidze were stripped of their European title for failing a drug test at the the World Championships.

April 5 -- Arizona's Mike Morgan got his first save in nine years as the Diamondbacks beat Philadelphia 11-3. Morgan became the 25th major leaguer to play in four decades when he relieved starting the sixth. Arizona was Morgan's 12th team, a record in any U.S. major league.

April 6 -- Kelly and Coco Miller, identical twins who led Georgia to the NCAA women's Final Four in 1999, won the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athletes. The Miller sisters became the first athletes in the award's 70-year history to win as an entry.

April 7 -- Fifty-seven home runs were hit in the 15 games played, setting a Major League record. The previous mark of 55 was set in a with 17 games last Aug. 13. Thirty-six homers in the American League set a record for a league in one day, topping the previous mark of 30.

April 7 -- The Cleveland-Tampa Bay baseball game was the first in the majors played on FieldTurf, a new artificial surface that looks and plays more like natural grass.

April 8 -- Lee Goren scored the tying goal, assisted on Jason Ulmer's game-winner and added an empty-netter as North Dakota won the NCAA championship with a 4-2 victory over Boston College.

April 9 -- Fiji native Vijay Singh met every challenge to win the Masters, closing with a 3-under 69 for a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.

April 9 -- Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr, sidelined for 19 games, still captured his third straight scoring title with 96 points. Jagr became the first to win three straight since Wayne Gretzky took seven straight from 1980-81 to 1986-87 with Edmonton. It's the first time since 1967-68, in full NHL seasons, the scoring leader has not reached 100 points.

April 9 -- Canada beat the United States for the sixth straight time in the women's world hockey championship game, winning 3-2 on Nancy Drolet's overtime goal.

April 9 -- The Colorado Avalanche edged the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in the first penalty-free NHL game in 20 years. It is the first time since the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres played a 2-2 tie on Feb. 17, 1980.

April 9 -- In a 13-7 win over Kansas City, Minnesota's Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy hit consecutive home runs. The Royals' Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye and Mike Sweeney repeated the feat, marking the first time in major league history that both teams hit three consecutive home runs in the same game.

April 9 -- Cleveland's Jim Thome struck out a major league record-tying five times in a 17-4 victory over Tampa Bay.

April 10 -- Cincinnati Ken Griffey Jr. became the youngest player to hit 400 career home runs when he connected in the Reds' 7-5 loss to Colorado. At 30 years, 141 days, Griffey beat the previous mark set by Jimmie Foxx, who was 30 years, 248 days old.

April 11 -- Kevin Elster of the Los Angeles Dodgers, went 3-for-3 with three home runs and four RBIs at new Pacific Bell Park in a 6-5 victory at San Francisco.

April 12 -- Karl Malone passed 2,000 points for the season during the Jazz's 102-93 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, the 12th time in his 14-year career that Malone reached the milestone -- more than any player in NBA history.

April 15 -- Cal Ripken became the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits when he lined a clean single to center off Twins reliever Hector Carrasco. He reached the milestone with his third hit in a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins and became the seventh player in major league history to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.

April 15 -- The Cleveland Browns made Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown the top pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. The New York Jets had an unprecedented four first-round selections and Florida State's Sebastian Janikowski was the first kicker to be picked in the first round in 21 years, going 17th overall to the Oakland Raiders.

April 16 -- Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners hit three homers and drove in seven runs in a 19-7 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.

April 16 -- Savannah State's NCAA record string of consecutive baseball victories came to an end. Savannah College of Art & Design beat the Tigers 3-1, halting Savannah State's streak at 46 games.

April 17 -- Kenya's domination in the Boston Marathon extended to a record 10 consecutive victories, as Elijah Lagat outkicked Ethiopia's Gezahenge Abera and Kenya's Moses Tanui in the closest finish in the race's 104-year history. Lagat and Abera were both timed in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 47 seconds, with Tanui three seconds back. Catherine Ndereba pulled away in the final mile and became the first female Kenyan winner at 2:26:11.

April 18 -- Utah's Karl Malone had three assists in a 105-104 overtime loss at Denver to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Charles Barkley as the only players in NBA history with 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists.

April 18 -- Adam Kennedy tied a club record with eight RBIs and came within a double of the cycle as the Anaheim Angels defeated Toronto 16-10. A hot dog promotion at the SkyDome went awry as fans got splattered with bits of wiener when they fell apart in midair after being shot from the "Hot Dog Blaster." Although the hot dogs repeatedly disintegrated, promoters continued shooting them into the stands.

April 18 -- In his first game back following a 12-game suspension for making disparaging remarks about minorities, gays and immigrants, Atlanta's John Rocker pitched a scoreless ninth inning in a 4-3, 12-inning victory over Philadelphia.

April 19 -- Los Angeles' Orel Hershiser tied a major league record by hitting four batters in a game during the Dodgers' 10-3 loss to Houston. Hershiser accomplished the "feat" in just 1 1-3 innings. Houston's Richard Hidalgo was hit three times -- twice by Hershiser and a third time by reliever Matt Herges -- tying a major league record.

April 19 -- Minnesota's Kevin Garnett became the ninth player in NBA history to average 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a season. The last to do it was Charles Barkley for Phoenix in 1992-93.

April 22 -- The Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox were involved in an ugly brawl during Chicago's 14-6 victory. Eleven people were ejected and the benches emptied twice -- first for 13 minutes in the seventh inning when Detroit's Dean Palmer charged Chicago White Sox starter Jim Parque after being hit with a pitch. And then a second time for eight minutes in the ninth.

April 22 -- The Suns-Spurs playoff opener tied an NBA playoff record for fewest points. Phoenix beat San Antonio 72-70. The 142 points tied the record set by Atlanta and Detroit on May 12, 1995.

April 23 -- New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams and catcher Jorge Posada each homered from both sides of the plate as the Yankees beat Toronto 10-7. It is the first time that feat has been accomplished by two players on the same team in the same game.

April 25 -- The San Jose Sharks, the Western Conference's No. 8 seed, eliminated the NHL's regular-season champions, the St. Louis Blues, with a 3-1 Game 7 victory. The Blues are only the second NHL regular-season champion to get knocked out in the first round, joining the 1991 Chicago Blackhawks.

April 26 -- Computer Associates chief Charles Wang bought the New York Islanders ($195 million) from Howard and Edward Milstein and Steven Gluckstern, to become the fourth owner of the Islanders since 1997.

April 27 -- In what is believed to be the harshest penalty for a brawl in baseball history, 16 members of the White Sox and Detroit Tigers were suspended for a total of 82 games. Nine others were fined for bench-clearing brawls, which resulted in 11 ejections, in game on April 22. Managers Phil Garner and Jerry Manuel were suspended for eight games each. Detroit coach Juan Samuel, seen throwing punches, got the longest suspension, 15 games.

April 27 -- Chicago White Sox shortstop Jose Valentin hit for the cycle and drove in five runs in a 13-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Valentin singled in the first, doubled in the second, tripled in the third and homered in the seventh.

April 28 -- Chris Holt pitched a one-hitter for his first career complete game shutout as Houston blanked Milwaukee 7-0.

April 29 -- Lennox Lewis knocked down Michael Grant three times in the first round and knocked him out at 2:53 of the second at Madison Square Garden in New York to retain his WBC and IBF heavyweight titles. The combined weight of 497 pounds made it the heaviest title fight ever.

April 29 -- Pittsburgh and Cincinnati tied a major league record in the Reds' 6-5 win by combining for five sacrifice flies.

April 29 -- Marion Jones anchored the USA women's team to a world record of 1 minute, 27.46 seconds in the 800-meter relay at the Penn Relays. Jones teamed with LaTasha Jenkins, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Nanceen Perry. The previous record was 1:28.15 by an East German team in 1980.

April 30 -- St. Louis hit two homers in a 4-3 win over Philadelphia, finishing April with a record 55 homers and tying the 1947 New York Giants (July) for the NL record for homers in a month.

May 1 -- Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies hit three homers while going 4-for-5 with five RBIs in a 15-8 victory over Montreal.

Files from AP