Oregon State bounces Washington from CWS

Kyle Nobach hit a three-run homer to put Oregon State in control in the seventh inning, Kevin Abel pitched four strong innings of relief and Oregon State sent Pac-12 rival Washington home from the College World Series with a 14-5 win on Monday night in Omaha, Neb.

The Beavers erased early deficits, starting their comeback just before a 4-hour, 31-minute weather delay and picking up where they left off when play resumed.

Oregon State (50-11-1), the No. 3 national seed, was coming off a loss to North Carolina in its CWS opener and still must win three more games to reach the best-of-three finals. Washington (35-26) went two games and out in its first CWS.

Oregon State lost All-Pac-12 center fielder Steven Kwan to a leg injury. Kwan, who came into the game batting .363 and reached base four times in the loss to North Carolina on Saturday, pulled up as he was running to first base on a double play ending the third inning.

The Beavers will play another elimination game Wednesday against the UNC-Mississippi State loser. That game was postponed until Tuesday morning because of the long delay in the Oregon State-Washington game.

ELSEWHERE

Cilic starts well in England

Marin Cilic made a winning start in his Wimbledon tuneup at Queen’s Club in London, beating Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 6-4.

The top-seeded Cilic was Wimbledon champion in 2012 and runner-up in 2013 and 2017. He came close last year, losing to Roger Federer after suffering from bad blisters in the final.

“You can’t live on the glory from last year, you have to show that again,” Cilic said. “The grass-court season, it’s short but it’s sweet as well.”

Another big-name winner was three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, who took apart Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-2, 6-3.

Sam Querrey eased past British wild card Jay Clarke 6-3, 6-3 but fellow American Jack Sock, the sixth seed, lost to Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3.

Gilles Muller, a semifinalist last year, beat Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6).

⏩ Third-seeded Dominic Thiem hit 19 aces as he defeated Russian qualifier Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the first round of the Gerry Weber Open in Germany.

⏩ Roger Federer is back at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, once again swapping spots with Rafael Nadal.

Basketball: FIBA is changing the way women’s basketball teams qualify for the Olympics and World Cup.

The International Basketball Federation announced Sunday the new system that will give more countries a chance to qualify for both major international events.

First-round qualifiers for the Olympics will be held in November 2019. Those tournaments will be geographically based with contests in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Sixteen teams will advance to play in four mini-tournaments around the world in February.

The top three finishers in each of those mini-tournaments will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, making up the 12-team field. Japan already has an automatic berth as the host nation and the winner of the World Cup this fall will also get a bid.

Golf: The TPC Twin Cities course near Minneapolis has landed a spot on the main PGA Tour with a seven-year deal starting in 2019. The event will be called the 3M Open.

The TPC Twin Cities is the longtime host of the 3M Championship on the seniors tour.