Stony Brook loses to UCLA in CWS debut
Baseball: So much for shocking the world. This time Stony Brook got zapped.
Tyler Johnson allowed five runs in the first inning and the Seawolves couldn’t get much going against UCLA ace Adam Plutko in losing 9-1 in their College World Series debut on Friday in Omaha, Neb.
Johnson said the pressure of playing in front of 22,000 people at TD Ameritrade Park on college baseball’s biggest stage was no excuse.
“We’re a very good ballclub and we’re here for a reason,” he said. “It didn’t go our way today. That’s going to happen. We’ll get back after it on Sunday.”
Stony Brook (52-14) has staved off elimination five times in the NCAA tournament and will have to do it again Sunday to extend its stay in Omaha.
Until Friday it had been an amazing week for a Stony Brook baseball program that has been Division I for only 12 years. Little known outside the Northeast, the Seawolves emerged on the national scene with their “Shock The World” mantra after upsetting powerful LSU in a three-game super regional in Baton Rouge, La.
The Seawolves came to town as the first team from their part of the country to play at the CWS since Maine in 1986.
They were no match for a UCLA (48-14) team that has won 134 games the past three seasons – the best stretch in program history.
Plutko, who threw a two-hit shutout against Creighton in the regional and allowed two runs in seven innings against TCU in the super regional, gave up just two singles before Pat Cantwell drilled his second homer of the season in the third.
• Arizona wins in 12 innings: In the day’s second game at the CWS, Johnny Field’s RBI double in the top of the 12th inning lifted Arizona to a 4-3 victory over Florida State.
Joey Rickard had doubled into the left-center gap for the Wildcats’ first hit off Florida State closer Robert Benincasa (4-2), who came on in the ninth. Field followed with his two-base hit to right, driving in Rickard.
The Seminoles scored two unearned runs off Arizona starter Kurt Heyer to tie it 3-3 in the sixth but had only three batters reach base the rest of the way. Wildcats freshman closer Mathew Troupe (5-1) worked the last 2 2/3 innings for the win.Arizona (44-17) plays UCLA on Sunday night in a meeting of Pac-12 co-champions. The Seminoles (48-16) meet Stony Brook in an elimination game Sunday.
England eliminates Sweden from Euro
Soccer: England eliminated Sweden from the European Championship after Theo Walcott scored one goal and set up another for an entertaining come-from-behind 3-2 win in Kiev, Ukraine.
England only needs a draw against Ukraine in its last game to advance to the quarterfinals.
In Donetsk, Ukraine, Jeremy Menez and Yohan Cabaye scored early in the second half to give France a 2-0 win over Ukraine in a storm-delayed match.
After a 1-1 draw with England, France has four points in Group D, one more than Ukraine, which beat Sweden.
‘Pacman’ ordered to pay $11 million
Football: Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones must pay $11 million in damages to two Las Vegas strip club employees injured in 2007 when a lone gunman claiming he was doing Jones’ bidding attacked.
A club manager who was left paralyzed and a former bouncer who was wounded stand to collect after the verdict.
Jones’ lawyer, Lisa Rasmussen, says there’s no evidence Jones was behind the shooting, which occurred after Jones and several other people were ejected from the club. Rasmussen says she plans to appeal the verdict.
The shooter, Arvin Kenti Edwards, demanded $15,000 from Jones for “services rendered” after the shooting.
• NFL turns over some evidence in appeal: The NFL turned over some evidence to the four players suspended for the New Orleans Saints bounty program, but lawyers for the players said they are seeking more information.
Current Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith, Green Bay defensive end Anthony Hargrove and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita will have their appeals heard Monday by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Evidence presented included some 200 pages of documents, with emails, PowerPoint presentations, even hand-written notes, plus one video recording. But a ledger that reportedly documents payments of $1,000 for plays called “cart-offs” and $400 for “whacks,” as well as $100 fines for mental errors, was not in the material.
Vilma has been suspended for the 2012 season, while Smith got four games. Hargrove was suspended for eight games and Fujita for three.
Previously, Goodell suspended Saints coach Sean Payton for the season and assistant coach Joe Vitt for six games.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis got eight games, while former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams – who has apologized for his role in the scandal – was suspended indefinitely.
The players already have lost two grievances filed with arbitrators that challenged Goodell’s authority to impose punishments in the bounty cases.
The NFL’s investigation of the Saints found Williams ran a system for three years in which bounties were set on targeted opponents, including Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. The program was in effect from 2009, when New Orleans won the Super Bowl, until last season.
• Jets’ Ellis to split Virginia jail sentence: New York Jets defensive lineman Kenrick Ellis will split his jail sentence for assault and battery stemming from a 2010 fight while attending college in Virginia, a move that will allow him to make training camp.
The Hampton Circuit Court clerk’s office says that, under an agreement with the court, Ellis was set to report to Hampton city jail Friday night and will remain in custody until July 9. He will then serve the remainder of his 45-day sentence beginning March 1.
German ousts Nadal in quarterfinals
Tennis: Rafael Nadal lost in the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, beaten by Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 in the Spaniard’s first tournament since winning a record seventh French Open.
Kohlschreiber, who is seeded eighth, won this tournament last year.
The 34th-ranked German ended Nadal’s 13-match winning streak.