Byron latest surprise winner in Cup Series
PGA champ wins 1st WGC title; players pay tribute to Woods
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — William Byron gave NASCAR its third surprise winner in three weeks, this one not quite as stunning as the first two at Daytona International Speedway.
Byron controlled most of the final two stages at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday and won for the second time in 111 Cup starts. His first one came at Daytona last August and landed him one of the final spots in the playoffs.
No one saw that one coming.
And few had this one on the radar, either.
Byron entered the weekend as a 28-1 shot to win a race many expected would provide a return to normal for the racing series. Instead, Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell have company in the relatively odd group of 2021 winners.
Byron hardly qualifies as even close to as much of a shocker as the previous two — both first-time winners — because he drives the famed No. 24 for Hendrick Motorsports. But he also hadn’t exactly been a regular in victory lane.
Then again, those inside the Hendrick organization had a feeling he could be in for something big this season since he reunited with former crew chief Rudy Fugle.
“That guy has been huge for my career,” Byron said. “He’s the reason I’m here and I’m just glad we could get him.”
They had their best year together while running the Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2016, even winning at Homestead.
When Byron’s former crew chief, Chad Knaus, moved up at Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendrick hired Fugle and paired him with Byron. It was a rare move for Hendrick, who typically grooms his crew chiefs from within the organization.
Fugle spent eight years at KBM and led the trucks program to two driver championships and five owner titles. His trucks won 28 races, seven with Byron behind the wheel.
Tyler Reddick was second, nearly 3 seconds back, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick.
Chris Buescher dominated the race early, winning the opening stage (the second stage win of his career). The Roush Fenway Racing driver led five times for a total of 57 laps, but he started to fade when as sunset neared. Buescher dropped from sixth to 23 after a restart early in the final stage.
Byron took over from there.
BRADENTON, Fla. — PGA champion Collin Morikawa shook off an early mistake and played a steady hand on a Concession golf course known for calamity, closing with a 3-under 69 for a three-shot victory in the Workday Championship.
Morikawa picked up a few short-game tips from major champions — Mark O’Meara on his putting, Concession member Paul Azinger on the chipping — and he says it carried him to another big win.
And there was a tribute to Tiger Woods, his golf idol growing up.
“We don’t say ‘Thank you’ enough,” Morikawa said, referring to how much Woods has raised the profile and prize money in golf. He also mentioned his grandfather dying a month ago and began to get emotional.
Morikawa won by three over Brooks Koepka (70), Viktor Hovland (67) and Billy Horschel (70).
He finished at 18-under 270 and became the 24th player to win a major and a World Golf Championship title since this series began in 1999. He joined Woods as the only players to win both before turning 25.
There were red numbers on the board and on the golf course, with several players wearing red shirts and black pants — the Sunday colors of Woods — as a show of support as Woods recovers from career-threatening leg injuries from his car crash in Los Angeles last Tuesday.
“Red and black, we know that’s what Tiger does on Sundays, so just to join in and just let Tiger know we’re supporting him in the best way we can,” Tony Finau said. “We’re still playing and we miss him out here, but it was cool just to be a part of that.”
Morikawa didn’t have the colors, but he had the game.
So many times on Sunday, Woods had the lead and forced everyone to catch him. Outside of a chunked chip on the second hole that made him scramble for bogey, Morikawa didn’t miss a fairway the rest of the way and was rarely out of position.
Horschel caught Morikawa after three holes and tried to stay with him. Koepka had the last good chance to catch him until he three-putted for par from 35 feet on the par-5 17th hole.
Hovland, who finished his second round with a quadruple bogey, might have had the best chance of all. Hovland someone managed to punch out of the wire grass and onto the green to make birdie on the par-5 13th, his seventh birdie of the round that pulled him with one shot.
His hopes effectively ended on the next hole.
Just as Morikawa was pouring in an 8-foot birdie putt on the short par-4 12th hole, Hovland ran his 40-foot birdie putt some 15 feet past the hole on the par-3 14th, and missed the par putt.
Morikawa’s lead was back to three shots, and he never flinched the rest of the day.
Scottie Scheffler also was in the mix with six birdies in 12 holes. He followed a bogey from the bunker on the 14th with another birdie to stay close, only to hit his tee shot into the water on the 16th hole to make double bogey. Scheffler still shot a 68 and finished alone in fifth.
Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed, both dressed in red and black, never got anything going. McIlroy closed with a 71 to tie for sixth, while Reed shot a 72 and to finish another spot back.
“I think just for everyone to show their appreciation for what he means to us out here,” McIlroy said of the tribute. “If there was no Tiger Woods, I just the think the tour and the game of golf in general would be in a worse place. He’s meant a lot to us, he still does mean a lot to us and I think that was just a little way to show that.”
Reed won this WGC last year in Mexico City. It was moved for this year to Concession because of COVID-19 circumstances.
EVANSTON, ILL. — Mimi Collins had 18 points and 10 rebounds to help the No. 8 Maryland women’s basketball team beat Northwestern, 62-50, on Sunday, moving one game closer to clinching a share of its third consecutive Big Ten regular-season title.
Diamond Miller also finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points and adding 10 rebounds for the Terrapins (19-2, 15-1 Big Ten), who won their eighth straight. Ashley Owusu added 10 points and eight rebounds to help the Terrapins win a game they never trailed after grabbing the lead 12 seconds in.
“I’m really proud of the fight,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “This was not an easy game for us today but I just loved our response, especially in the second half.”
Veronica Burton scored 15 points and Lindsey Pulliam added 13 for Northwestern (13-6, 11-6).
Maryland controlled the pace of the first half, leading by as much as nine with over two minutes left in the second quarter before Northwestern finished off the half on an 8-2 run, cutting its deficit to three at the half.
Northwestern came within 32-31 when Burton made both of her free throws with over seven minutes left in the third quarter, but Maryland responded with a 6-0 run.
Anna Morris made a 3-pointer to make it a 38-37 game with four minutes left in the third quarter before the Terrapins ended the quarter on a 9-0 run.
“I thought we did a tremendous job understanding at different times when we had to have a lock down and get a big stop, I thought we were able to do that,” Frese said.
The Wildcats fought back again with an 8-2 run to start the fourth quarter before the Terrapins’ Katie Benzan made a 3-pointer with 5:18 left in the game to give her team a 52-45 lead.
Maryland never led by less than seven for the rest of the game as Northwestern failed to score in three minutes toward the end.
“I think when we play the better teams in our league as we move into the tournament, I think that we can’t only depend on two or three people to score all our points,” Morris said. “I think it’s growing our offensive threat and having more people who can score the ball.”
Mount St. Mary’s 71, Saint Francis 55:
Pre-game warmups are a time for Mount St. Mary’s to let loose.
The Mountaineers get ready for their opponents like almost every other team,
with layup lines and jump-shot drills while upbeat music blares through the public address system. But challenges are created within the routines, and Mount players try to keep alive streaks of made shots while teammates roar with approval.
Senior Kendall Bresee and junior Michaela Harrison say the team’s record is 11 baskets in a row. The home team didn’t quite get there during warmups before Sunday’s matchup with Saint Francis, but no matter. Mount St. Mary’s was having fun, and that carried over in its 71-55 victory at Knott Arena that pushed the Mountaineers one win closer toward securing the top seed in the upcoming Northeast Conference tournament.
Bresee poured in a career-high 29 points, fellow guard Harrison added 16, and senior center Rebecca Lee posted a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Mount St. Mary’s (14-4, 13-2 NEC) led by as many as 24 points, withstood a third-quarter charge from Saint Francis and pulled way in the fourth.
The Mountaineers can capture the regular-season
conference title, their first in 20 years, with a victory at Saint Francis (12-7, 10-3) on Monday. No doubt the 140-plus mile trip to Loretto, Pennsylvania will be entertaining.
“We had an eight-hour bus ride [last week], to and from Merrimack. I think most teams would have probably done homework or slept. We were up just messing with each other the whole time,” said Bresee, one of four seniors honored before Sunday’s game. “Watching basketball, playing games. That’s just how our team is. It makes it so much more enjoyable. Because these days can be long . ... It helps when we like each other.”
Bresee and Harrison combined for 14 points in the second quarter and led the Mount on a 27-4 run that gave the home team plenty of momentum. Bresee and Harrison each sank a pair of 3-pointers during the run, Lee added a three-point play and had five points, and when Aryna Taylor sank a 3 with 1:13 to go the Mountaineers led 42-18.
“Huge win for our program,” coach Maria Marchesano said. “Today was a big one, not only because we’re fighting for a championship but also because it was Senior Day. We always want to win at home on Senior Day. I thought our girls played together, they battled hard all game long . ... Just excited for the opportunity we have [Monday].”
— Pat Stoetzer
Delaware 86, Towson 55: Catonsville graduate Jasmine Dickey had a game-high 30 points and 11 rebounds to lift the conference-leading Blue Hens (19-3, 16-2 Colonial Athletic Association) over the visiting Tigers (12-7, 7-5).
Kionna Jeter posted a team-high 24 points and added five rebounds for Towson. Kiara Johnson, Shavonne Smith and Skye Williams all followed with six points each.
Towson will travel to UNCW for its final regular-season games on Thursday and Friday.
Morgan State 63, Coppin State 54: Jayla Atmore scored 19 points to lead the host Bears (11-3, 8-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) over the rival Eagles (2-12, 2-10).
Ashia McCalla added 13 points and five rebounds and Ja’Niah Henson had 10 points, four rebounds and four assists for Morgan State, which won its third straight.
Jalynda Salley had 14 points and seven rebounds and Nailah Delinois added 11 points for Coppin State.
Men
Navy 66, Loyola Maryland 58: John Carter Jr. came off the bench to score 16 points to lift the host Midshipmen over the Greyhounds. With the win, Navy clinched the No. 1 seed into the Patriot League tournament.
Daniel Deaver had 15 points for Navy (15-2, 12-1), which earned its fifth straight victory. Greg Summers added nine points and nine rebounds.
Santi Aldama had 21 points for the Greyhounds (4-10, 4-10). Cam Spencer and Jaylin Andres each added 11 points.
Navy had built a 14-point lead after halftime but twice Loyola cut it down to two. Mavy made seven of eight free throws in the last 29 seconds.
Coppin State 94, Delaware State 74: Anthony Tarke had 31 points as the Eagles routed the host Hornets.
Tarke made all 11 of his shots and also had seven assists. DeJuan Clayton had 15 points and reached 1,500 career points at Coppin State (9-12, 8-4 MEAC). Yuat Alok added 14 points. Nendah Tarke had 13 points, nine rebounds and five steals.
The 94 points were a season high for Coppin State.
Dominik Fragala scored a career-high 28 points for the Hornets (2-15, 0-10). Myles Carter added 14 points and six rebounds. D’Marco Baucum had 13 points.
The Navy men’s lacrosse team seemed lost for much of the first half Sunday afternoon. As rain came down in buckets at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, visiting Jacksonville looked comfortable as it made crisp passes and showed no hesitation when it found scoring chances.
The Dolphins took advantage early, building a 4-1 lead after the first quarter and holding a 5-2 advantage with less than three minutes left in the half. It was an upset in the making in Annapolis.
“The way Jacksonville came out and jumped us early with their emotion and energy, I think gave us a little shot,” secondyear Navy coach Joe Amplo said, “and it was exactly what we needed. We challenged our guys last week to take a punch and practice with that in mind this week, and I think they answered.”
A team that plays as many young players as the No. 19 Mids and is still jelling could’ve struggled to overcome the deficit, but instead they answered with a vengeance and strung together one of their most dominant runs in recent memory. Senior long stick midfielder Jeff Durden’s unassisted goal with 2:34 left in the half sparked a 9-0 run by Navy, which tied the score before halftime and netted all six third-quarter goals en route to a 13-6 victory.
Playing in their first games of the season, junior Jacob Jarosz dominated the faceoffs by winning 17 of 23 draws, and his brother, plebe midfielder and fellow Severn School graduate Jon Jarosz, scored a hat trick and was one of nine Mids to find the back of the net.
Sophomore midfielder James Flannery and plebe midfielder Bryson Rhee each had two goals, senior attackman Tyler Perreten had a pair of assists and sophomore midfielder Patrick Skalniak amassed three points on a goal and two assists.
“We’re not relying on one aspect of lacrosse,” Amplo. “There’s not one guy on offense, there’s good pieces on defense.”
Durden’s goal shifted the momentum, and it was a microcosm of what Navy hopes to be this season — the perfect mix of youth and senior leadership. Plebe defender Jackson Bonitz, a former three-sport standout at McDonogh, launched a 60-yard pass on the money to Durden, who did the rest.
“The pass was unbelievable,” Amplo said. “And then Jeff, I was almost going to call timeout, and he just takes a shot, and that gave us a large boost. It made us settle down more than bring us to a higher level because I felt like there was some nerves, there was some anxiety on the sidelines and the way we were playing, we needed a play.”
Junior Nick Cole cut the deficit to one just 43 seconds later, and Jon Jarosz knotted the score at with 28 seconds left before the break. Jacksonville failed to possess the ball late in the half until a last-second shot by goalkeeper Adam Baker (eight saves).
By the time Jacksonville (2-2) tallied its next shot attempt, Navy (2-0) had claimed a 10-5 advantage.
Jacob Jarosz was relentless on faceoffs and the Mids’ offense found its stride and scored in quick succession. Senior attackman Christian Daniel, who entered the game six points shy of 100 for his career, put Navy in front 55 seconds into the second half, and plebe midfielder Max Hewitt notched his second goal of the season soon after. Flannery’s first of the game and Rhee’s second 1:09 apart extended the lead to 9-5, and Skalniak and Flannery again buried perfectly placed shots from distance to cap the 9-0 run.
“It starts with Jacob Jarosz,” Amplo said. “… Credit to that kid. He didn’t take one faceoff last week and when we were getting our tails kicked in facing off in the fourth quarter last week, he probably should have went in the game, and I texted him afterwards and I told him we won’t let that happen again. He didn’t complain and he just does his job every day, and today I’m really proud of him for doing his job and really helping us earn this victory in a large way.”
Jacob Jarosz credited assistant coach John Orsen for scouting the Jacksonville faceoff specialist and finding a particular flaw he could exploit.
“When he lost the clamp, he would tend to fishhook in front and it allowed the through-the-legs to yourself to be wide open … and it really worked today,” Jacob Jarosz explained. “I got to give credit to all the other faceoff guys because it was a really intense week of practice for the five of us.”
Jacob Jarosz said only one thing was missing from what was otherwise an exceptional day for his family: an assist for his brother.
“Every time he [Jon] scored I was screaming. Just seeing him out there and scoring, especially as a freshman, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s awesome,’” he said. “I wanted to try to get an assist or something to him on a fastbreak, but it didn’t work out. But it was awesome to see him out there.”
The nation’s top-rated freshman class was key in Navy’s win. Bonitz got another stamp of approval from Amplo for his effort and ability to “make plays you don’t expect a freshman to make.”
“When he’s on the ball I think everybody takes a breath and is calm and feels comfortable,” the coach added.
Durden described the entire freshman class as “super hard-working” and added, “I can’t say enough great things about them, whether that’s on the field or off the field.”
The influx of youth has also pushed solidified players like Daniel, a captain, into new roles.
“He’s a senior who, the ball has been in his stick a lot for Navy the past few years, but he’s accepted his role and being a leader, and we get to 13 today because everybody bought into the plan,” Amplo said.
“Hopefully these guys just continue to grow up. Our potential and our success later on in the season is going to be determined by how mature these kids can be moving forward.”
Matt Stagnitta led Jacksonville with three points on a goal and two assists. Troy Hettinger (Marriotts Ridge) and Brendan McKenna (River Hill) each scored once for the Dolphins, while Tucker Denault (Spalding) tallied an assist.
Women
No. 3 Northwestern 18, Johns Hopkins 9: The Wildcats (3-0 overall and in Big Ten) used a 7-1 run early in the second half to take control of the game en route to an 18-9 win over the host Blue Jays (0-3, 0-3) on a rainsoaked Homewood Field.
Maggie Schneidereith led the Blue Jays with six points on four goals and two assists. Maeve Barker notched a career-best four points (two goals, two assists) and her first career assist, while Aurora Cordingley (two goals, one assist) and Mackenzie Heldberg (one goal, two assists) each added three points.
Izzy Scane paced Northwestern with a game-high seven goals, while Lauren Gilbert added four goals, two assists and nine draws.
Towson 18, George Mason 4: Lindsay Marshall and Molly Lynch each scored a hat trick and Nikki Sliwak recorded two goals and four assists to help the Tigers (4-0) rout the visiting Patriots (0-2) for their fourth straight win.
Blair Pearre and Kaitlin Thornton each added two goals and an assist for Towson, which had 11 players score goals and is 4-0 to start the season for the first time since 2016. The Tigers scored five goals in the first five minutes of the game.
Towson will host No. 5 Stony Brook on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Spring training is taking place under unique circumstances for the Orioles, but that doesn’t change the fact that Sunday’s Grapefruit League opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Sarasota, Florida, is a welcome departure for the players and staff from two weeks of workouts.
There are rhythms to spring training, and the Orioles are following them so far. The pitchers are in great shape and being prepared for multiple innings. Everyone with over two years of service time is a leader, and Chris Davis is promising different and better things going forward.
The four-week calendar of games, however, will illuminate just what kind of team the Orioles will break camp with and who will be coming north at the end of March.
Here are five things we’ll be watching closely during the first week of games in Florida:
Another milestone on the comeback trail with Trey Mancini’s first game
Mancini said last week that he’ll consider his comeback from stage 3 colon cancer complete on Opening Day in Boston when the games actually count. But it’s almost assured that Mancini won’t be able to contain a grin Sunday as he’s putting on his home white uniform, hitting and stretching before the game and standing on the first base line during the national anthem.
It will be nice that there’s a crowd, however limited, to recognize the moment for him. It will be nice for him to get it out of the way and get on with the business of preparing for the 2021 season. And it will be nice for the Orioles and everyone who supported Mancini during his battle to see him on the baseball field in a real uniform a year after their worlds were shaken by his diagnosis.
How set is the outfield situation?
Two years of experience shows that the Orioles have their plans well in place in spring training and often stick with them, no matter how spring training goes. That’s why Cedric Mullins broke camp as the center fielder in 2019 despite a brutal spring and Austin Hays and Anthony Santander went to the minors. It will take a pretty big swing for someone to win or lose a job based on spring games, which, even if they carry more meaning in 2021, are still not very predictive of the future.
But can a big spring from DJ Stewart and a poor one from Ryan Mountcastle change how the team distributes playing time in the outfield to begin the season? What about if Hays or Mullins perform in a way that
changes how the team planned to deploy them in their projections? It’s all possible, but through two years, the only things that have really changed a player’s role in spring training with this edition of the Orioles is a pandemic-related expansion of rosters or a waiver claim coming in to reduce a prospect’s role so the prospect can go to the minors.
Are the veterans on minor league deals any good?
Last week, Hyde said veteran minor league free agents Félix Hernández, Matt Harvey and Wade LeBlanc would get into games in the first week to give the team as long a look as possible at where the pitchers are this spring.
That will be particularly instructive to see in person because, as Hyde noted, spring training statistics can quickly turn unrepresentative. Hernández and LeBlanc aren’t going to overpower hitters. But it would be a good sign, especially early in camp when pitchers are a little further ahead of the batters, if Hernández can cruise through two hitless innings with a bunch of whiffs the way he did in the 2020 spring opener pitching for the Atlanta Braves against the Orioles.
As for Harvey, the Orioles won’t be necessarily looking up at the radar gun on his fastball but will be interested in how hitters are reacting to the movement he’s trying to get
on his pitches thanks to his newfound interest in pitch data.
“It’s going to be such a small sample from a numbers standpoint,” Hyde said. “I don’t think we’re going to be looking at numbers, but we will be looking at what their pitches look like, if they look healthy, the kind of swings that they’re getting from opposing hitters. I think all those type of thing are going to be important. … It’s not about ERA or that type of thing. It’s more about the kind of swings; we’ll be looking at the kind of swings opposing hitters are going to take off these guys.”
Who is going long on the pitching side?
No pitcher will get more than two innings in a game in the first week, but getting two innings in the first half of spring training will be indicative of the team’s plans for them.
The aforementioned minor league free agents will be prepared as starters. So too will presumptive Opening Day starter John Means and rookies Dean Kremer, Keegan Akin and Bruce Zimmermann. The Orioles have plenty of swingman candidates to stretch out, such as Jorge López, Thomas Eshelman, César Valdez and Ashton Goudeau. And that doesn’t even account for camp reserves, such as Josh Rogers, who are going to be required as depth both in the spring and once the season begins.
The Orioles’ strategy for how to cover
the massive jump in innings in a full season seems to be to have as many starters and long-relief options at their disposal as possible. It’s far too early to really know how they’ll stack up on an early season roster. This, however, is when we find out who will be in that mix.
How much oxygen will the Chris Davis saga consume?
Davis was unspecific about all the things he wished he could do differently in the past as he was about the changes to his swing and plate approach that he yet again believes will return him to being a productive big league hitter in 2021, so this will be another spring of watching to see what it looks like.
Sadly, he can’t win even if things are different — however unlikely that is. If he looks like the Davis of home run king yore, all anyone needs to do is point to him being in that spot last spring and still having a terrible season to say that it doesn’t mean anything. If he doesn’t look good, he’s liable to abandon whatever changes he’s wanted to make. He’s done it before. Davis’ decline has been so steady and so steep that it’s naive to count on things changing. But yet again, a team that’s so badly trying to bring attention to its young players and the core that will make up what they hope will be another era of contending teams will have Davis taking up more attention than anyone else in camp.