Digest: Robert Carroll hits walk-off, Tennessee wins in LLWS
Little League: Robert Carroll hit a walk-off, two-run double with two outs in the sixth inning and Goodlettsville, Tennessee, rallied past Bend, Oregon, 3-2 on Thursday night in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Tennessee started the sixth with two straight hits to put runners on second and third. After a fielder’s choice loaded the bases with one out, Oregon starter Zack Reynolds was replaced by Bowen Nelson due to a pitch limit. Nelson struck out his first batter but Carroll drilled a shot that glanced off the glove of the right fielder.
Tennessee will face Endwell, New York, on Sunday.
Reynolds gave Oregon a 2-0 lead in the third inning with a two-run triple. He held Tennessee to just one run through five innings.
Tanner Jones put Tennessee on the board in the third with a homer over the center-field wall. Starter Zach McWilliams pitched a complete game on 85 pitches and struck out nine.
Harlost leads New York: Ryan Harlost had three hits, four RBIs and pitched five scoreless innings to help New York beat Rhode Island 7-2 in the Little League World Series.
Harlost finished a single shy of the cycle.
He sliced a three-run home run to left field in the first inning for a 3-0 lead. In the second, Jude Abbadessa hit a two-out, two-run single and later scored on Harlost’s triple to right field. Harlost had a bloop double in the fifth, but two Rhode Island relievers combined to strike out three to end the inning.
Rhode Island had runners on the corners with two outs in the fifth, but Harlost recorded his fifth strikeout. After a short rain delay in the sixth, Sean Gallagher’s hit to right field scored two for Rhode Island but he was thrown out at third base to end it.
Panama tops Mexico: Joaquin Tejada allowed only one hit and struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings, Carlos Gonzalez had three RBIs and Panama beat Mexico 10-2 in the opening game of the Little League World Series.
Gonzalez hit a 2-out RBI single to left field in the third inning to give Panama a 1-0 lead. Two pitches later, Esmith Pineda hammered a three-run home run to right-center field for a 4-0 lead. Gonzalez hit into a double play in the fifth but Tomas Sarmiento scored to extend Panama’s lead to 5-2.
Gonzalez also came on in relief and struck out four in 1 2/3 innings.
Mexico’s first hit was in the fourth inning when Victor Juarez singled home a run to pull to 4-1. He later scored on a wild pitch. Mexico starter Patricio Juarez struck out 12 in five innings.
Panama scored five runs in the sixth inning – on a passed ball, wild pitch and two RBI singles.
Australia defeats Italy: Clayton Campbell pitched five scoreless innings and had one RBI to help Australia beat Italy 3-1 in the Little League World Series.
Campbell threw 66 pitches and had seven strikeouts for the Sydney team.
The start was delayed briefly due to weather but in the second inning, Ryley Gonzalez gave Australia a 1-0 lead with a RBI single. Campbell hit a RBI grounder past the third baseman in the third and Harrison Wheeldon hit a bases-loaded single off the glove of the shortstop in the fourth for a 3-0 lead.
Italy’s Samuele Gamberini broke up a combined no-hitter in the sixth with a two-out single. Tommaso Adorni drove it up the middle to put runners on the corners and Gamberini scored on a passed ball to make it 3-1. Italy had runners on first and second, but Wheeldon closed it with a strikeout.
It was Australia’s first win in a LLWS opener.
Bello, Na share lead in Wyndham
Golf: Rested after the Rio Olympics, Rafa Cabrera Bello shot a 7-under 63 on in the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, for a share of the first-round lead with Kevin Na.
Cabrera Bello eagled the par-5 fifth and closed the bogey-free round with a birdie on Sedgefield’s par-4 ninth. On Sunday, the 32-year-old Spaniard tied for fifth in Rio.
Na had seven birdies in his bogey-free round in the PGA Tour’s final regular-season event. The American tied for eighth last week in the John Deere Classic.
Luke Donald, Brandt Snedeker, Derek Fathauer, New Zealand Olympian Danny Lee and Peter Malnati shot 65. Donald made a hole-in-one on the 16th.
Jim Furyk had a 66 in his first round since shooting the first 58 in PGA Tour history two weeks ago in the final round of the Travelers Championship.
Patrick Reed also had a 66. He won the 2013 event for his first tour title.
U.S. Olympic teammate Rickie Fowler birdied his last two holes for a 67. He tied for 37th in Rio.
Carlson moves to quarterfinals: Michigan sophomore Nick Carlson won two matches on the 19th hole at Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, to advance to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals.
Carlson, from Hamilton, Michigan, beat British Amateur champion Scott Gregory of England in the morning round of 32, and topped Thailand’s KK Limbhasut in the afternoon round of 16.
Carlson will face Illinois junior Dylan Meyer of Evansville, Indiana, on Saturday on the Donald Ross-designed South Course that Ben Hogan dubbed the “The Monster” in his 1951 U.S. Open victory.
Meyer beat Alex Smalley, the Duke sophomore from Wake Forest, North Carolina, who led stroke-play qualifying, 4 and 3 in the morning and outlasted England’s Sam Horsfield in 19 holes in the afternoon.
In the other upper-bracket quarterfinal, Pepperdine’s Sahith Theegala of Chino Hills, California, will face Australia’s Curtis Luck. In the round of 16, Theegala beat Chile’s Joaquin Niemann 3 and 1, and Luck routed Cameron Young of Scarborough, New York, 6 and 4.
In the other quarterfinals, Southern California’s Jonah Texeira of Porter Ranch, California, will play LSU’s Luis Gagne of Orlando, Florida, and former Stanford player David Boote of Wales will face Oklahoma’s Brad Dalke of Norman, Oklahoma.
Texeira beat Kyler Dunkle of Denver 6 and 5; Gagne topped Jimmy Stanger of Tampa, Florida, 3 and 1; Boote edged Collin Morikawa of La Canada, California, 2 and 1; and Dalke beat Bryan Baumgarten of Granite Bay, California, in 19 holes.
Tennessee A.D. Hart announces retirement
College athletics: Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart is retiring effective June 30.
The school announced the decision Thursday.
Hart said in a statement he decided this would be a good time to step down “as I thought about finishing this job well and how extremely proud I am of what everyone in our department has contributed collectively to get us to where we are today.”
Hart has been Tennessee’s athletic director for five years and managed the school’s consolidation of its men’s and women’s athletic departments. His tenure has included fundraising increases and improvement in facilities as well as some controversy.
Eight unidentified women sued the university this year and over its handling of assault complaints against athletes. The school is paying $2.48 million in a settlement.
Duke suspends Carter, Boyce: Duke has suspended two football players, including starting safety Phillip Carter, for the first three games of the season for unspecified reasons.
Coach David Cutcliffe said Thursday that defensive tackle Brandon Boyce and Carter will practice with the team but won’t be allowed to play in games until the trip to Notre Dame on Sept. 24.
Carter has 18 tackles and an interception in 21 career games over two seasons. He was listed as the starter at rover on the preseason depth chart ahead of junior Alonzo Saxton II.
Boyce had 24 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in 13 games as a freshman in 2015. He’s listed as the third-string defensive tackle.