BASEBALL
The Portland Sea Dogs scored three runs in the fourth inning and four pitchers combined on a six-hitter in a 4-1 Eastern League win over Erie on Thursday in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Starter CJ Liu allowed three hits over five scoreless innings. Rio Gomez threw two hitless innings and Skylar Arias one. Luis Guerrero allowed one run on three hits in the ninth.
Corey Rosier had a double and two singles with an RBI and a run scored to pace the Portland offense.
COLLEGES
FOOTBALL: First-round games of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff will be played on Friday night and Saturday in the third week of December 2024, and the semifinals will be played in early January on weeknights to avoid conflicting with the NFL playoffs.
CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock confirmed a schedule that had already become apparent when the decision to expand was finalized in December. The 10 conference commissioners who make up the College Football Playoff management committee held their spring meetings in Dallas this week.
The upcoming season will be the last in which the College Football Playoff uses a four-team format.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Louisville transfer Hailey Van Lith is heading to reigning national champion LSU.
The sought-after guard averaged a team-high 19.7 points last year for Louisville. She has two years of eligibility remaining.
GOLF
PGA: Austin Smotherman closed with four straight birdies for an 8-under 63 and a one-shot lead over Erik van Rooyen and Tano Goya in the Mexico Open at Vallarta, Mexico.
Masters champion Jon Rahm, who won the Mexico Open at Vidanta for his only PGA Tour title a year ago, had five birdies on his last 11 holes to overcome a sluggish start for a 67.
LPGA: Linnea Johansson shot a 7-under 64 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the JM Eagle LA Championship in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Johansson had a bogey-free round, one of just five in the first round. Minjee Lee shot a 6-under 65 and is tied for second along with Gemma Dryburgh.
DP WORLD TOUR: Antoine Rozner of France shot 9-under 63 and led the Korea Championship by four strokes after the first round in Incheon, South Korea.
Park Sang-hyun of South Korea and Andy Sullivan of England were tied for second place.
HORSE RACING
KENTUCKY DERBY: Wild On Ice was euthanized Thursday after dropping out of the Kentucky Derby because of a left hind leg injury following a morning workout at Churchill Downs, his owner said.
A news release from the track said the Texas-bred gelding was evaluated at its equine hospital before being transported to an equine surgical facility in Lexington.
Owner Frank Sumpter told The Associated Press in a phone interview that a plate could have been inserted in the horse’s leg but said the injury was such that “so much could go wrong.”
“I didn’t want him to suffer,” Sumpter said. “It’s such a sad deal because he was training so well going up the ladder and was getting stronger all the time.”
Wild On Ice was tied for 15th with 50 points in the Derby standings after winning the Grade 3 Sunland Park Derby as a 35-1 long shot in New Mexico on March 26.
SOCCER
ENGLAND: Newcastle moved in sight of Champions League qualification with a 4-1 win at Everton that kept the home team in the Premier League’s relegation zone.
Callum Wilson scored twice, and Joelinton and Jacob Murphy also scored to help third-place Newcastle stay in third place and move eight points clear of Tottenham in fifth, having played one game less. The top four teams qualify for next season’s Champions League.
n Tottenham regained some pride after one of the worst losses in its history by coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Manchester United.
Fourth-place United dropped two points behind Newcastle in the race for Champions League qualification but is still in a good position to get back into Europe’s top competition.
WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Barcelona reached its third straight Women’s Champions League final with a 1-1 draw at home against Chelsea.
The Catalan club advanced 2-1 on aggregate after having won the first semifinal leg, 1-0 in London on Saturday.
Barcelona will face either Arsenal or Wolfsburg, whose second leg is Monday in London after a 2-2 draw in Germany over the weekend.
The final will be on June 3 in the Netherlands.
TENNIS
MADRID OPEN: Mirra Andreeva, a 15-year-old Russian, beat 14th-ranked Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6 (6), 6-3 to advance to the third round.
Sixth-seeded Coco Gauff reached the third round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Irene Burillo Escorihuela.
In the men’s draw, two-time Madrid champion Andy Murray lost his first-round match in straight sets to qualifier Andrea Vavassori.
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