Digest: Arizona shuts out UCSB 3-0, advances to CWS bracket final
College baseball: Jared Oliva homered for the first time in over two months and JC Cloney pitched seven strong innings, leading Arizona to a 3-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara in a College World Series elimination game Wednesday night in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Wildcats (46-22) will play Oklahoma State on Friday in the Bracket 1 final. They need to win that game and another Saturday against the Cowboys to reach next week’s best-of-three finals.
The Gauchos (43-20-1) went 1-2 in their first CWS appearance.
Cloney (7-4) gave up only five singles before turning the game over to Cameron Ming with a runner on base and no outs in the eighth.
The Gauchos threatened in the ninth after Clay Fisher doubled and Devon Gradford walked with no outs. Ming struck out Austin Bush, JJ Muno and Dempsey Grover to end the game.
Arizona has allowed only two runs in three CWS games.
Kane wins the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP
Miscellany: Patrick Kane won the Hart Trophy, becoming the first player born and trained in the U.S. to be named the NHL’s most valuable player.
The Chicago Blackhawks’ NHL scoring champion received three trophies at the league’s annual postseason awards show from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He won the Ted Lindsay Award after his fellow players recognized him as the game’s most outstanding player, and he also accepted the Art Ross Trophy in recognition of his 106-point season.
Kane was the runaway winner of the Hart, getting 121 of the 150 first-place votes. Sidney Crosby finished second with 11 first-place votes, while Dallas’ Jamie Benn was third.
Braden Holtby of Washington finished fourth, but won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie. His coach, Barry Trotz, won the Jack Adams Award for the first time in 17 seasons behind an NHL bench, recognizing the Capitals’ impressive Presidents’ Trophy season.
Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar took home the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward and the Lady Byng Trophy for his gentlemanly play.
Kopitar’s teammate, Drew Doughty, won his first Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, beating out Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson and San Jose’s Brent Burns.
Chicago forward Artemi Panarin won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. The 24-year-old Russian beat out No. 1 draft pick Connor McDavid of Edmonton, whose debut was shortened by a broken collarbone.
Jaromir Jagr, the Florida Panthers’ 44-year-old leading scorer, was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
WADA backs IAAF: The World Anti-Doping Agency sided against international Olympic officials in a statement supporting track and field’s decision to bar Russian athletes from competing under their own flag at the upcoming Summer Games.
The statement, delivered by WADA president Craig Reedie, who is also an IOC member, further scrambled the positions of the world’s foremost sports organizations on an issue that track’s federation, the IAAF, initially portrayed as having support from all sides.
Last Friday, IAAF barred the Russian track team from competing at the Rio Games. It changed its rules to clear the way for a small number of Russian athletes to participate under an independent flag, providing they could show they had been subject to doping controls outside their home country.
The IAAF said it had support of the IOC on the ruling, and the IOC’s initial reaction didn’t appear to veer from that.
But on Tuesday, the IOC countered that decision, saying Russian athletes who were cleared had no choice but to compete as part of Russia’s Olympic committee. WADA’s statement said “WADA strongly believes that the IAAF decision must be upheld as it was articulated on 17 June.”
“Until the required cultural changes in Russia is well-advanced through strong education and prevention programs, supported by independent doping control and robust compliance programs, WADA cannot assure clean athletes of the world that it is reforming,” Reedie said.
Three countries could face bans from Rio: Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus face one-year suspensions from international weightlifting competition following the retesting of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, which may prevent lifters from those countries competing at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.
The International Weightlifting Federation said the three countries are facing bans because three or more positive cases from each were discovered during the retests.
So far, 20 weightlifting cases have been found among the 55 positives in retesting of samples from all sports which the IOC has reported, including 32 from Beijing and 23 from London. Four Olympic gold medalists from Kazakhstan and medalists from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have already been provisionally suspended by the IWF.
Big 12 asks Baylor for full accounting of investiagtion: The Big 12 is asking Baylor for a full accounting of the investigation into how sexual assault allegations were handled at the school, including information that has not been released publicly.
The conference released a statement saying Commissioner Bob Bowlsby had sent a letter to Baylor interim President David Garland “once again” requesting all documents associated the investigation by the law firm of Pepper Hamilton.
The Big 12 is requesting written materials as well as any information that was conveyed orally to Baylor leadership and its board of regents along with pertinent internal documents.
Chile to return to Copa America final
Soccer: Charles Aranguiz and Jose Pedro Feunzalida scored in the first half and defending champion Chile returned to the Copa America championship with a soggy 2-0 victory over Colombia in Chicago.
Led by Claudio Bravo’s stellar effort in goal, Chile earned its fourth straight win since a 2-1 loss to top-ranked Argentina in their Group D opener. Next up is a rematch with La Albiceleste in the final Sunday night in New Jersey.
Chile also faced Lionel Messi and Argentina in last year’s championship, with La Roja winning 4-1 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 extra-time draw. Argentina was the last country to repeat as Copa champions in consecutive years, accomplishing the feat in 1946 and 1947.
Alberg’s hat trick lifts Union: Roland Alberg had the second three-goal game in Philadelphia history and the Union beat the Chicago Fire 4-3 in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia (7-4-5) snapped a seven-game winless streak in the series, which included three losses and four draws. Chicago (2-7-5) had its MLS-record road winless streak extended to 32 games, dating to July 2014.
The Union scored three times in the first half to tie a franchise record and Philadelphia was ahead 4-1 before Chicago scored in the 69th and 80th minutes.
Allen scores late goal, Real Salt Lake wins: Jordan Allen broke a tie in the 87th minute and Real Salt Lake beat New York 2-1 in Sandy, Utah, to end the Red Bulls’ four-game winning streak.
Tony Beltran set up Allen with a low cross along the top of the 18-yard box, and Allen’s right-footed shot deflected in off Red Bulls defender Chris Duvall.
Yura Movsisyan tied it for RSL (8-4-3) in the 65th minute when he slipped behind the two central defenders on John Stertzer’s long ball and finished with a header into the right corner of the goal.
Ronaldo, Ireland, Iceland fuel Euro drama: Cristiano Ronaldo dragged Portugal back from the brink of elimination twice, and Ireland found a late goal to stun Italy in Paris and stay in the European Championship.
Iceland’s winning goal in stoppage-time against Austria wrote another chapter of the tournament’s feel-good story and set up a round of 16 clash with England.
Belgium, widely seen as a potential champion, confirmed its place in the supposedly easier half of the knockout bracket by beating Sweden 1-0. The victory also signaled the start of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s retirement from the Swedes’ national team.
Sweden and Austria are heading home now, as are Turkey and Albania, which had hung around in France hoping that results would fall their way and lead to a place in the last 16 among the best third-placed teams.
Those hopes were dashed.
Portugal and Ireland earned the final two slots on a day of wildly swinging fortunes and emotions.
Charles, Liberty tops Dream in double OT
WNBA: Tina Charles had 23 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists for the New York Liberty, who beat the host Atlanta Dream 90-79 in double overtime for their fifth straight victory. Charles scored five quick points in the second overtime as New York opened on a 9-0 run and outscored the Dream 14-3.
Shavonte Zellous added 14 points as six players scored in double figures for New York (9-4). Swin Cash had a season-high 13 points – 11 in the first half – for the Liberty, who are ranked No. 3 in the AP power poll.
Turnovers on consecutive New York possessions led to two layups by Angel McCoughtry to pull Atlanta to 68-65 with 2:35 left in regulation. Meighan Simmons made Atlanta’s first 3-pointer with 1:09 left to tie it at 70-all. Charles missed a 3-pointer before the buzzer.
Mystics beat Fever: Tayler Hill had 11 of her 16 points in the second half and the Washington Mystics beat the Indiana Fever 76-62 on Wednesday night.
Washington (7-7) never trailed after scoring the first points of the second half and pulled away with a 15-5 run to start the fourth quarter.
Emma Meesseman and Ivory Latta added 12 points each and Stefanie Dolson scored 10. The Mystics – No. 5 in the AP WNBA power poll – have won five of their last six, including back-to-back victories at home after dropping five straight at the Verizon Center to start the season.
Djokovic, Murray seeded first, second
Tennis: Novak Djokovic cannot face Andy Murray until the final at Wimbledon after they were seeded first and second, respectively, in London for the third tennis Grand Slam of the year. It means Djokovic and Murray will be in separate halves of the draw when it is made on Friday.
Seedings were based on the current world rankings but rearranged to reflect players’ grass-court achievements.
Puig stuns Wozniacki, Radwanska advances: Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland eased into the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Eugenie Bouchard of Canada in Eastbourne, England. But former champion Caroline Wozniacki was upset by Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig, who won their third-round match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.