Bruins will face Gamecocks for CWS title

College baseball: Trevor Bauer limited TCU to four hits and struck out 13 in eight innings and Blair Dunlap hit a three-run homer, leading UCLA to a victory at Omaha, Neb., that sends the Bruins to the College World Series finals and the Horned Frogs home.

UCLA (51-15), which hadn’t won a game in two previous CWS appearances, will play South Carolina in the best-of-3 finals starting Monday.

Aside from Bryan Holaday’s two home runs for TCU, Bauer (12-3) dominated a lineup that was batting a CWS-best .337. The Frogs finished the year 54-14.

UCLA roughed up TCU starter Kyle Winkler (12-3) for the second straight game. He didn’t record an out, hitting leadoff man Beau Amaral and giving up a single to Niko Gallego before Dunlap homered to left to help the Bruins get out to a 5-1 lead.

Bauer’s 13 strikeouts gave him a nation-leading 165 this season.

Dean Espy homered off Kaleb Merck leading off the seventh as the Bruins won going away.

Christian Walker homered and singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, and South Carolina (52-16) staved off elimination a fourth straight time to beat rival Clemson (45-25) 4-3 and advance to the series against UCLA.

Clemson was the only team to make it to Omaha that wasn’t a No. 1 regional seed.

Rose takes 3-stroke lead at Travelers

Golf: Justin Rose closed in on his second straight PGA Tour victory, shooting a 2-under 68 to take a three-stroke lead over Ben Curtis into the final round of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn.

Rose had a 16-under 194 total at TPC River Highlands after setting the tournament 36-hole record with rounds of 64 and 62.

Ferris graduate Alex Prugh shot an even-par 70 for a three round total of 206.

• Kerr extends lead: Cristie Kerr shot a 3-under-par 69 despite persistent rain and extended her lead to a tournament record eight shots after three rounds of the LPGA Championship in Pittsford, N.Y.

Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 4-over 76 for a total of 224 after three rounds.

Kerr, seeking her second career major, opened the day with a five-shot lead at Locust Hill Country Club. Her advantage entering today tops the mark of seven set in 1961 by winner Mickey Wright.

• Forsman has slim lead: Dan Forsman shot a 6-under-par 66 and gained a one-shot lead over Brad Bryant after two rounds at the Champion Tour’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.

Forsman was at 12-under 132 and lucky to be there alone after Bryant (67) bogeyed the final hole. Russ Cochran (66) and first-round leader Wayne Levi (69) were tied at 10-under.

• Tubert tops McCloskey to claim title: Emily Tubert beat Lisa McCloskey 3 and 2 in the 36-hole final match to win the Women’s Amateur Public Links title in South Bend, Ind.

Tubert trailed 2-up after five holes, but won seven straight holes to go 5-up after 12. The Burbank, Calif., native and incoming Arkansas freshman held at least a 3-up lead the rest of the way.

Incoming UCLA athletes arrested

College football: Three incoming UCLA football players have been arrested on suspicion of felony theft.

Joshua Shirley, Shaquille Richardson and Paul Richardson – all 18-year-old freshmen enrolled in the school’s summer session – were arrested on the UCLA campus Wednesday, booked at a Los Angeles County jail and released early Thursday morning, sheriff’s department records showed.

Busch squeezes out 36th career victory

Auto Racing: Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon and became the career laps-led leader in NASCAR’s second-tier series.

Busch bowed to the crowd, which saluted his sixth win of the season in the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch has led 8,118 laps in his career and earned his 36th victory.

He held off Brad Keselowski, who finished second and had his solid run derailed by a poor pit stop. Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top five.

• Vettel takes pole at European GP: Sebastian Vettel earned Red Bull’s eighth pole in nine Formula One races this season, posting the fastest time in qualifying for the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain.

The Red Bull driver drove the quickest lap in 1 minute, 37.587 seconds.

Basweti runs wild

at Seattle marathon

Running: After nearly taking the weekend off, Jynocel Basweti made good on his decision to enter the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, breaking away from a front-running pack at the 21st mile to earn a victory in the second-annual marathon which had more than 27,000 entrants.

Basweti finished with a time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 19 seconds.

Thorn to resign as Nets president-GM

NBA: Rod Thorn will step down as president and general manager of the New Jersey Nets next month, a person with knowledge of the decision told the Associated Press. The person said possible candidates to replace Thorn included Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti, New Orleans GM Jeff Bower and Nets vice president Bobby Marks.

U.S. improves to 4-0 at softball worlds

Softball: Lauren Lappin had three hits and four RBIs and Jennie Finch picked up the victory as the United States beat Botswana 21-0 in a game that was stopped after three innings at the world softball championships in Caracas, Venezuela.

The Americans will have a tougher time today against Australia, which is expected to challenge Japan and the U.S. for the title.