San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
SHOT-BLOCKING KING DIES AT 64
Mark Eaton, the 7-foot-4 shot-blocking king who twice was the NBA'S defensive player of the year during a career spent entirely with the Utah Jazz, has died. He was 64.
The team announced his death Saturday.
Eaton left his home for a bike ride Friday night in Summit County, Utah, and shortly thereafter someone called 911 to report after seeing him lying on a roadway and unconscious. Eaton was taken to a hospital where he later died.
The team, citing county officials who investigated, said “there is no reason to believe a vehicle was involved in the incident.”
The Jazz described him in a statement as an “enduring figure in our franchise history” who had a “significant impact in the community after his basketball career.”
The center led the league in blocks per game four times and his average of 5.6 per contest in 1984-85 remains the highest average since the NBA started officially tracking that statistic.
Locally
The San Diego Legion defeated the Houston Sabercats 39-11 at the Elite Training Center in Chula Vista to improve their 2021 Major League Rugby record to 4-6. The Legion jumped out to a 25-6 halftime lead thanks in large part to a pair of scoring plays by Dean Muir.
The San Diego State baseball team (30-16, 22-14 MW) jumped out to a big lead at New Mexico, withstanding a late Lobos rally to record an 11-10 victory in the regular-season finale.
The final game of the inaugural Division I season for UC San Diego baseball (2428, 21-19 Big West) could not have been scripted any better as Everett Lau stepped up to bat in the bottom of the ninth and hit a walk-off grand slam for a 5-4 win over CS Northridge.
Redshirt freshman Conner Thurman dominated on the mound, graduate student Thomas Luevano launched a grand slam, and the USD team (33-12, 19-9 WCC) scored a 10-2 over host Gonzaga.
College golf
San Diego State had a rough day at the NCAA men's golf championships, shooting 21 over to tumble from eighth to 22nd place after two rounds of the 30team event at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. USD fell to 27th place after shooting 23 over.
Aztecs senior Puwit Anupansuebsai was two strokes off the lead after an openinground 68 on the par-70 course. But he followed that with a 76 on Saturday, dropping him from fifth to a tie for 45th in the individual competition and 12 strokes behind leader Bo Jin of Oklahoma State.
Jin, a freshman from China who attended Futures
Academy in Carlsbad, had birdies at 16, 17 and 18 to shoot 65 and take a threestroke lead at 8 under. The best two-round scores by USD (freshman Andi Xu) and SDSU (senior Steve Sugimoto) are 3 over.
The top 15 teams after today make the cut to Monday's final round, from which the individual champion is crowned. Then the top eight teams advance to a match play Tuesday and Wednesday.
MLS
The San Jose Earthquakes' Tanner Beason's
own goal in the late match was the only score of the game in LA Galaxy's 1-0 win at home. The Galaxy improved to 5-2-0 while San Jose fell to 3-5-0.
Ismael Tajouri-shradi
broke a tie in the 90th minute and New York City FC (32-2) came from behind in the second half for a 2-1 victory over host Los Angeles FC (23-2).
Tennis
Novak Djokovic warmed up for the French Open by beating Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-3 to take his 83rd career title on home soil at the Belgrade Open in Serbia.
Sebastian Korda, 20, won his first ATP trophy with a straight-set victory over Italian wild card Marco Cecchinato at the Emiliaromagna Open in Parma, Italy. Korda had not dropped a set all week in
Parma and he carried on that run in the final to see off the 104th-ranked Cecchinato 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes.
WNBA
Courtney Williams scored 31 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left in overtime, to lift the Atlanta Dream (4-2) to a 90-87 win over the host New York Liberty (5-2).
Brittney Griner had 27 points and 15 rebounds, Kia Nurse hit five 3-pointers and finished with 21 points and the visiting Phoenix Mercury (3-3) never trailed in an 89-85 victory over the Dallas Wings (1-4).
Also
Egan Bernal looks set to add the Giro d'italia title to his Tour de France win after maintaining a significant lead at the end of the penultimate stage, which was won by Italian rider Damiano Caruso.
Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist as the United States won its fourth straight game in the men's world hockey championship, beating Norway 2-1 at Riga, Latvia.
Jared Bernhardt had five goals and two assists, and third-seeded Maryland beat second-seeded Duke 14-5 in the Division I men's lacrosse semifinals at East Hartford, Conn. In the other semifinal, reigning national champion Virginia held on late to beat top-seeded North Carolina 12-11.
Hronis eager for Rock Your World’s ‘do-over’
It’s hard to imagine a rougher or rockier start to the Kentucky Derby than the one experienced by Rock Your World.
The horse, owned by Hronis Racing, hesitated out of the gate just long enough for the shrinking hole between neighboring horses Essential Quality and Highly Motivated to vanish. Then one foot of veteran jockey Joel Rosario flopped out of a stirrup.
Goodbye, Derby shot.
As the Belmont Stakes near, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club board member Kosta Hronis hopes time and space can change fates.
“He traveled well to Kentucky, but race day, the walkover was a little troublesome for him,” Hronis said. “There were a lot of people around him. In the paddock, he acted up a little bit and showed his immaturity.
“We got bumped (at the start), but that’s our fault. If those horses don’t see anyone between them, they’re going to float over. Rock Your World was kind of his own worst enemy.” Winning all three career races before tumbling to 17th in horse racing’s ultimate spotlight deflated. The Belmont offers a chance at redemption for Rock Your World, the fourth betting choice among 12.
The smaller field and longer race create a fascinating do-over. “That’s horse racing,” Hronis said. “That’s part of the deal. You move on to the next race. His gallop out of (winning) the Santa Anita Derby was really strong. We had trouble pulling him up. He was ready to do more.
“He’s looked really fresh after workouts, not taxed, so the distance shouldn’t be an issue.”
A clean start would be nice, for, um, starters.
“It will be pretty anxious when those gates open,” he said.