U.S. advances in WBC
Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer and the United States eliminated the Dominican Republic — the World Baseball Classic defending champion — with a 6-3 victory Saturday night in San Diego to earn a spot in the semifinals.
Three innings later, Adam Jones made a spectacular leaping catch over the fence in the deepest part of the park to rob Baltimore Orioles teammate Manny Machado of a home run.
The U.S. will face Japan on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin wrapped up the overall World Cup title when Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec didn’t race in Aspen, Colo.
Petra Vlhova of Slovakia stole some of Shiffrin’s spotlight by nipping the American skiier by 0.24 of a second to take a slalom race. Golf: Charley Hoffman closed with three straight birdies for a 1-under-par 71 to catch Kevin Kisner (68) for a share of the lead in the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando. Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes for a 65 and climbed within five shots.
Anna Nordqvist shot a tournament-record 11under 61 to take a twostroke lead over Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn (both shot 66) in the LPGA Tour’s Bank of Hope Founders Cup in Phoenix.
Steve Stricker shot a 10-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead over Tom Lehman (67) in the Tucson Conquistadores Classic in his PGA Tour Champions debut.
Brian Ma of Milpitas will meet former USF player Seb Crookall-Nixon in Sunday’s finals of the San Francisco City Championship at Harding Park. Ma, a sophomore at Mitty High, earned a 2-and-1 victory over Ned Jensen in Saturday’s semifinals. Crookall-Nixon advanced with a win over Brandon Jacobs. On the women’s side, 2016 champion Sabrina Iqbal of San Jose rolled into the finals with a 5-and-4 victory over Jasmine Chen. Iqbal will face Kiran Sangha, who outlasted Ashley Shim. Swimming: In Indianapolis, Stanford won its first NCAA women’s swim title since 1998, capping its effort with an NCAA, U.S. and championships record-breaking 400-meter freestyle relay. Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky, Janet Hu and Lia Neal swam it in 3:07.61. Manuel also set an NCAA, U.S. and championships record in the 100 free (45.56). Boxing: Genady Golovkin outlasted Danny Jacobs in a 12-round defense of his middleweight titles in New York. It was the first time Golovkin did not score a knockout in 24 fights. Tennis: Roger Federer defeated Jack Sock 6-1, 7-6 (4) to reach the BNP Paribas Open final at Indian Wells (Riverside County). Federer will play Stan Wawrinka in an all-Swiss title match Sunday after Wawrinka beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3.