South Carolina advances to CWS final
College Baseball: Tyler Webb and Matt Price combined for seven innings of shutout relief, and two-time defending national champion South Carolina returned to the College World Series finals with a 3-2 win over Arkansas on Friday night in Omaha, Neb.
The Gamecocks (49-18) took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning on Barrett Astin’s two-out, bases-loaded walk to Adam Matthews.
South Carolina will play Arizona in the best-of-3 finals beginning Sunday.
The Gamecocks erased a 2-0 deficit in the fifth, with DJ Baxendale walking Christian Walker with the bases loaded to force in the tying run.
Matthews looked ready to swing on a 3-2 pitch from Astin in the seventh, but he held up as the slider dropped low and Joey Pankake trotted home for the go-ahead run.
Price (5-4) pitched three innings to earn his record fifth career win in the CWS. Colby Suggs (7-1) took the loss for Arkansas (46-22).
Cochran leads Champions Tour
Golf: Russ Cochran shot a 6-under-par 66 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Champions Tour’s Montreal Championship in Sainte-Julie, Quebec.
The 53-year-old left-hander, a three-time winner on the 50-and-over tour, had seven birdies and one bogey on Vallee du Richelieu Golf Club’s Vercheres Course.
He birdied each of the four par-5 holes on the 6,950-yard course.
Michael Allen, the tour leader with two victories and earnings of $1,071,282, was tied for second with Jerry Pate, Canadian Rod Spittle and 2010 champion Larry Mize.
Former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett is three shots back.
• Defending champ Jacobson leads Travelers: Defending champion Fredrik Jacobson shot a 4-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead in the suspended second round of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn.
The Swede had a 9-under 131 total. He’s trying to join Phil Mickelson, the 2001 and 2002 winner, as the only players to successfully defend a title at River Highlands.
• Ramsey, Kim advance to Public Links final: Ashlan Ramsey and Kyung Kim advanced to the 36-hole final in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, each winning two matches at Neshanic Valley, N.J.
The 16-year-old Ramsey, from Milledgeville, Ga., beat Grace Na of Alameda, Calif., 3 and 1 in the morning quarterfinals, and edged Kim Kaufman of Clark, S.D., 1 up in the semifinals.
The 18-year-old Kim, from Chandler, Ariz., topped Lakareber Abe of Angleton, Texas, 1 up in the quarterfinals, and edged Alice Jeong of Gardena, Calif., 3 and 2 in the semifinals.
• Park tops LPGA leaderboard: South Korea’s Inbee Park birdied her final two holes for a 7-under 64 and a one-stroke lead in the inaugural Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Ontario.
The 2008 U.S. Women’s Open champion had a 9-under 133 total at Grey Silo.
Michelle Wie, trying to break out of a season-long slump, shot her second straight 70, breaking par for only the third time in 19 rounds this year. She also made her first cut of the season.
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 76 and is at 148.
Roddick chalks up 600th career win
Tennis: Andy Roddick claimed his 600th career singles win and reached the Eastbourne final when Steve Darcis retired after receiving treatment on his back in Eastbourne, England.
Roddick was leading 6-3, 3-1 when Darcis stopped, sending the American into his first final since winning Memphis in February 2011. Roddick next faces third-seeded Andreas Seppi, who beat American Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-1.
On the women’s side, unseeded Tamira Paszek of Austria rallied to beat defending champion Marion Bartoli 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Paszek’s opponent in the final is fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, who beat Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-3.
• Djokovic will begin against Ferrero: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will begin the defense of his Wimbledon title against Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former No. 1 player and 2003 French Open champion.
Djokovic and Ferrero last played five years ago and have split their two matchups.
The draw also slated Djokovic to possibly meet six-time champion Roger Federer. Federer opens against Albert Ramos of Spain.
Second-seeded Rafael Nadal and fourth-seeded Andy Murray were in the bottom of the draw.
Nadal, the two-time champion, will meet Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil first up, and Murray plays former top-five player Nikolay Davydenko.
On the women’s side, Maria Sharapova, who is the top seed for the first time, has a first-round match with Anastasia Rodionova of Australia, and defending champ Petra Kvitova plays Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan.
Germany in semis for record seventh time
Miscellany: Germany scored three second-half goals to reach the European Championship semifinals for a record seventh time after a 4-2 win over Greece in Gdansk, Poland.
Philipp Lahm gave Germany the lead in the 39th minute before Georgios Samaras equalized for Greece in the 55th. But Sami Khedira, Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus all scored. Greece got a consolation penalty in the 89th by Dimitris Salpigidis.
Germany dominated nearly the entire match, but the Greek defense held for much of the first half. Lahm put his team in front by controlling the ball with his chest and dribbling toward the middle before sending a long-distance shot into the corner off the hand of goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis.
• Maynard tops Guida in split decision: Gray Maynard beat Clay Guida by split decision to win a lightweight bout and the main event of the UFC card in Atlantic City, N.J.
Maynard won 48-47 on two of the scorecards for the fight. Guida won the other 48-47.
Guida stalled and danced around Maynard for most of the five-round bout. Guida was warned by the referee in the fifth round to pick up a slow pace that had the crowd booing.
• Dumais makes fourth U.S. Olympic diving team: Troy Dumais has qualified for his fourth Olympic diving team, joining Greg Louganis as the only American men to do so.
At 32, Dumais is the veteran of the national team, with only an Olympic medal missing from his collection of hardware from world championships, Pan American Games, World Cups and national meets.