College football

Aaron Judge broke Mark McGwire’s major league record for home runs by a rookie, hitting a pair for the second straight day to raise his total to 50 and lead the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals, 11-3, Sept. 25.

The 6-foot-7, 25-year-old slugger tied the mark with a two-run drive to rightcenter off Jakob Junis (83) in the third inning that put New York ahead, 3-0. His solo shot over the visitors’ bullpen in left against Trevor Cahill in the seventh made it 7-3 and earned him a rare curtain call.

Judge has 13 home runs in September and six in five games, and he is second in the majors behind Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton, who has 57. Judge has four multihomer games this month and seven this season.

Judge was hitting .329 with 30 homers and 66 RBI when he won the AllStar Home Run Derby, then slumped to a .179 average with seven homers and 16 RBI from the start of the second half through Aug. 31, striking out 67 times in 44 games. His September rebound boosted his average to .283 with 108 RBI and an ALleading 120 walks and a big league-high 203 strikeouts, putting himself back into MVP consideration. Standout receiver Antonio Callaway and running back Jordan Scarlett are among nine Florida players facing felony fraud charges for allegedly transferring money from a stolen credit card and using it to buy electronics.

According to Alachua County court records, sworn complaints were filed Sept. 25 against the suspended players. The State Attorney’s Office will investigate the complaints and decide whether to formally charge the players with third-degree felony charges.

State Attorney Bill Cervone said Monday that Callaway transferred $1,970 from a stolen credit card number to his campus bookstore debit account. Scarlett transferred $1,940 to his account from the same card number. Callaway and Scarlett then bought high-end computers and fancy headphones at the bookstore, Cervone said.

Defensive lineman Keivonnis Davis, defensive lineman Richerd Desir-Jones, linebacker James Houston, linebacker Ventrell Miller and receiver Rick Wells also made one charge with the stolen card number, ranging in value from $500 to $2,000, authorities said.

Those seven are eligible for a statutory diversion program that could lead to reduced charges and potentially improve their chances of returning to the team.

Defensive lineman Jordan Smith and offensive lineman Kadeem Telfort were more egregious offenders, according to university police reports.

Smith is facing five charges, and Telfort is facing 30.

Leaders at the U.S. Olympic Committee insist they must wait for the results of ongoing doping investigations before calling for harsh penalties against the Russians.

It’s a position meeting more resistance inside the U.S. Olympic team itself, with a number of athletes and sports leaders calling for the Russians to be ousted from next year’s games.

USOC CEO Scott Blackmun says he’s anxious to see the outcome of a pair of investigations by the International Olympic Committee looking into widespread doping corruption at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. Blackmun says there have to be consequences if the findings match those from previous investigations.

U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens and runner-up Madison Keys were knocked out of the Wuhan Open in straight-sets first-round upsets Sept. 25.

In their first matches since the final at Flushing Meadows, 17th-ranked Stephens succumbed to 55thranked Chinese Wang Qiang, 6-2, 6-2, while 12thranked Keys lost to 79thranked qualifier Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-6 (4).

The 22-year-old Keys ranked 12th and seeded 10th in this tournament was beaten, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in 1 hour, 49 minutes by 31-year-old Lepchenko.