REGION/STATE ROUNDUP
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
No. 10 Va. Wesleyan sweeps Randolph
Virginia Wesleyan (23-7, 7-3 Old Dominion Athletic Conference), ranked 10th in Division III, won a home doubleheader 11-3, 4-1 Saturday against Randolph (18-12, 6-4).
In Game 1, Virginia Wesleyan scored 10 runs in the third inning. Allison Pollack slugged a home run, and she, Caitlin Myers and Laci Campbell each had two hits and two RBIs. In Game 2, Campbell hit RBI singles in the second and sixth inning, and the Marlins’ Emma Adams and Lauren Bible combined on a five-hitter.
Virginia (28-15, 8-10 ACC) upended No. 4 Florida State 6-5 in Game 1 of a doubleheader in Tallahassee before losing 8-0 to the Seminoles in the nightcap. Kelly Ayer, Shelby Barbee and Abby Weaver produced RBI hits for UVA.
Hofstra won 8-2 at Hampton in Game 1 of a doubleheader, all but clinching the triumph with a four-run seventh. Entering Game 2, the Pirates were 12-21, 2-10 in the CAA.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Ex-Hokie retires
Wide receiver Kaleb Smith, who transferred from Virginia Tech to Notre Dame in the winter, is medically retiring from football. He had 1,143 yards and seven TDs for the Hokies.
Tyler Mason, a class of 2024 running back from Mount Airy, North Carolina, committed to play for Virginia Tech. The 6-foot, 185-pounder is listed as a 3-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
JMU lands former Lake Taylor player
James Madison gained a commitment from 6-foot-2 forward Ashanti Barnes of Norfolk, a Lake Taylor High graduate who averaged 11 points and eight rebounds per game with Trinity Valley Community College in Texas last season. The pledge was reported by the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg.
Barnes played 21 games for ODU as a freshman, averaging 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds.
MORE COLLEGES
In men’s lacrosse, No. 2 Duke held off No. 3 Virginia 15-14, breaking to a 10-4 halftime lead at home and repelling rallies by UVA. Andrew McAdorey led Duke with a hat trick. The Cavaliers (8-3, 2-2 ACC) have lost 15 of their last 16 games to the Blue Devils (11-2, 4-1).
In men’s tennis, No. 67 Old Dominion (15-9, 7-1) celebrated its Senior Day by clinching a share of the Sun Belt regular-season title alongside South Alabama, thanks to a 5-2 victory over James Madison (12-9, 3-5).
In women’s tennis, No. 31 ODU (13-4, 8-0 Sun Belt) won 5-2 at Coastal Carolina (15-6, 7-2) behind singles victories from Tatsiana Sasnouskaya, Sofia Johnson, Shahar Biran, Alexandra Viktorovich and Allison Isaacs.
Elon shut out William & Mary 8-0 Saturday before 701 at Plumeri Park, evening their Colonial Athletic Association baseball series at a victory apiece before today’s 1 p.m. decider.
Phoenix starter Shea Sprague held W&M (23-13, 8-6 CAA) to six hits and two walks in seven innings, striking out nine. Spencer Bauer completed the shutout with two hitless innings, though Lucas Carmichael and Joe Delossantos had two hits apiece for the Tribe.
The Phoenix (23-11, 12-4) scored four times in the fifth, which included Adam Berry’s three-run homer, for a 5-0 lead. Parker Haskin’s three-run double in the ninth all but put away the victory.
Brian Craven (2-3) took the loss.
No. 17 Coastal Carolina 15, Old Dominion 2:
Chanticleers freshman Jacob Morrison held ODU (24-10, 9-5 Sun Belt) to four hits and one run while striking out eight in seven innings as Coastal Carolina (22-11, 10-4) evened a series at Bud Metheny Ballpark.
Coastal Carolina hit five home runs. Two of the Chanticleers who did so, Derek Bender and Zack Beach, drove in three runs apiece.
ODU tied the score at 1 in the fourth when Tyler Wheeler’s pop fly dropped amid a cluster of fielders near the plate, resulting in Coastal catcher Caden Bodine being charged with an error. Teammate Jake Ticer dove around a tag attempt to touch the plate.
But the Chanticleers scored in the fifth, dealing ODU starter Sam Armstrong a defeat, and expanded the lead with a fourrun sixth and an eight-run ninth.
The Monarchs will try at 1 p.m. today to score a rare series victory against the Chanticleers.
ODU erased a threerun deficit to register its first victory over a top-25 opponent this season. Renowned for power, the Monarchs belted four home runs.
Down 3-0, ODU broke through in the third. Chris Dengler and Luke Waters hit back-to-back home runs to cut the deficit to 3-2. Thomas Wheeler then singled to center field, and Alex Bouche gave the Monarchs their first lead with a two-run blast to left field. Later in the inning, a pair of doubles from Kenny Levari and Tyler Wheeler made it 5-3.
Coastal pulled even at 5 in the top of the fifth, but ODU immediately answered.
Bouche led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to left and sprinted home on Jake Ticer’s double down the right-field line.
Levari was hit by a pitch and Tyler Wheeler walked before pinch runner Jay Tarkenton scored on a double play.
Reliever John Holobetz (2-1) pitched three scoreless innings to earn the win.
Carolina 5:
Pittsburgh 7, No. 7 Virginia 5:
UVA (30-5, 11-5 ACC) scored in its last three turns at the plate but couldn’t catch Pitt (15-17, 6-8) at Disharoon Park in Charlottesville. The Panthers snapped Virginia’s 23-game home win streak, the longest in the nation and the longest in program history.
Griff O’Ferrall was 3 for 5 with two runs, raising his season batting average to .404 and extending his hitting streak to 12 games.
Kyle Teel and Jake Gelof each hit solo home runs in the contest. Gelof ’s was his 15th of the season, giving him 59 RBIs in 35 games. He began the weekend leading the nation with 56.
Virginia Tech 10, Georgia Tech 7:
Almost 5 ½ hours after the first pitch, the Hokies (19-12, 6-9 ACC) won a series opener against the Yellow Jackets (20-14, 6-9) in Blacksburg. The game was delayed by rain for 39 minutes in the second inning and for 88 minutes in the seventh. Jack Hurley and Clay Grady registered three hits apiece to lead Tech.
William & Mary 6, Elon 5 (10 innings):
Down to its last strike and trailing in the ninth, the Tribe rallied to tie the series opener before winning it with a pair of outs in the 10th.
Luca Danos singled with two out in the ninth and scored the tying run on a Lucas Carmichael double down the left-field line. In the 10th, the Tribe took advantage of an Elon error as Tank Yaghoubi scored the winning run.
Rojo Prarie earned the victory, allowing no runs or hits in four innings.