21.   With the NCAA Tournament in full swing Friday, six of the nine scheduled NBA games were played to sellout crowds.

22.   Orix is four games ahead of the second-place Seibu Lions, whose scheduled game with the Kintetsu Buffaloes at Seibu Stadium was rained out.

23.   Rain washed out all three scheduled games in Japanese major league baseball on Thursday.

24.   A scheduled game between the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Nippon Ham Fighters at Chiba was rained out.

25.   A scheduled game between the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Orix BlueWave at Chiba was rained out.

26.   A scheduled game between the Chunichi Dragons and the Yokohama Baystars at Nagoya was rained out.

27.   A scheduled game between the front-running Hiroshima Toyo Carp and the Chunichi Dragons at Nagoya also was rained out.

28.   A scheduled game between the front-running Seibu Lions and the Kintetsu Buffaloes at Seibu Stadium was rained out.

29.   A scheduled game between the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and the Kintetsu Buffaloes at Kitakyushu was rained out.

30.   A scheduled game between the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and the Nippon Ham Fighters at Kitakyushu was rained out.