Miss. St. slams way to CWS win
Jordan Westburg hit a grand slam, doubled and drove in seven runs and Mississippi State went on to beat North Carolina, 12-2, in the College World Series yesterday in Omaha, Neb.
The Bulldogs (39-27) continued their surprise postseason run and, with two wins at the CWS, are off until Friday. They need one more win to advance to the best-of-three finals.
Westburg, the freshman who two weeks ago came up with the “Rally Banana” that’s become the Bulldogs’ good-luck charm in the NCAA tournament, connected on an Austin Bergner breaking pitch. The ball landed in the seats above the left-field bullpen for a 4-1 lead in the second inning.
Bergner (7-3) then retired 16 batters in a row until the start of the eighth inning, when the Bulldogs converted six hits, a walk, a hit batter and two errors into eight runs.
In an elimination game, Jackson Kowar struck out a career-high 13 in 62⁄3 innings, Jonathan India hit a three-run homer and defending national champion Florida ousted Texas with a 6-1 win.
Kowar (10-5) held the Longhorns scoreless on five hits, mixing his changeup with a fastball still touching the mid-90s deep into his season-high 121-pitch afternoon. The Kansas City Royals’ first-round draft pick struck out the side in the third and sixth innings to became the first pitcher with 13 strikeouts in a CWS game since 2010 . . . .
Oklahoma will pay football coach Lincoln Riley $25 million over the next five years, including $4.8 million this season . . . .
Notre Dame senior middle linebacker Te’von Coney pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and was given a year of probation for an incident that happened nearly two years ago.
NBA: Bucks guard sues Milwaukee
Bucks guard Sterling Brown sued the city of Milwaukee and its police department, saying officers’ use of a stun gun during his arrest for a parking violation constitutes excessive force and that they targeted him because he is black.
Brown’s attorney Mark Thomsen filed the lawsuit in federal court, accusing police of “discriminating against Mr. Brown on the basis of his race.” The lawsuit alleges officers involved in his arrest used their incident report to try to reframe what happened to give the impression Brown was resisted and obstructed them.
Misc.: Federer stays on roll in Germany
Roger Federer opened his Gerry Weber Open title defense by seeing off Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-3, 6-4 in Halle, Germany. The world No. 1 broke the No. 72nd-ranked Bedene at the first attempt and again for 5-4 in the second set to wrap up the win . . . .
Andy Murray won the first set on his return from injury after almost a year away from competitive tennis before Nick Kyrgios rallied to win 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in the first round at Queen’s Club in London . . . .
Five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson died, his family said today. He was 88.
Thomson had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for more than four years and died at his Melbourne, Australia home surrounded by family members.