Sunday, May 25, 2008
Jemile Weeks hit a three-run homer and Enrique Garcia threw seven scoreless innings to lead top-seeded Miami into the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game with a 5-2 victory over North Carolina State in Jacksonville, Fla., yesterday.
The Hurricanes (46-8) will play Virginia at 1 p.m. today. Miami swept the regular season series from the Cavaliers 3-0 at home and has a four-game winning streak against the Cavaliers.
Miami outscored its opponents 27-15 in going 3-0 in Division A round-robin play at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
Virginia, the only 2-0 team in Division B of the round-robin format, clinched a spot in the title game Friday by beating second-seeded Florida State, 5-3. The Cavaliers (38-20) lost to Wake Forest, 7-4, late last night in a game that meant little to Virginia.
Weeks broke a scoreless tie with his two-out homer in the third. The Hurricanes added two in the fourth on Dave DiNatale's RBI double and Jason Hagert y's run-scoring single.
N.C. State (38-20) scored two in the eighth on an RBI single by Matt Payne and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Marcus Jones.
· TENNIS: Agnieszka Radwanska beat top-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia, 6-3, 6-2, to win the Istanbul Cup and become the first Polish woman to surpass $1 million in career earnings on the WTA Tour.
The No. 2-seeded Radwanska earned $30,500 for her third career title and gained momentum heading into the French Open after having been eliminated in the round of 16 at all four of her previous clay-court tournaments this year.
Dementieva, the defending champion ranked seventh in the world, led 2-0 and 40-15 in the first set before Radwanska rallied to win 11 of the next 13 games.
"In the warmup I couldn't put the ball in the court because I was so nervous, so the first few games were more like my warmup," Radwanska said. "Then I started playing my game and being more aggressive. After winning the first set I won the first few games of the second set and things got better, and I did it."
· GYMNASTICS: Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm said he believes there is a "definite opportunity" for him to be on the U.S. team at the Beijing Games, despite breaking a bone in the ring finger of his right hand.
"There's no guarantees, no matter what," Hamm said, his right hand and wrist encased in a blue cast. "The only thing I can do at this point is make an attempt, try and see what happens."
Hamm broke the bone in his right hand Thursday night when he jammed his ring finger in the closing seconds of his parallel bars routine at the U.S. championships in Houston. He could have surgery as early as Tuesday. Recovery time is at least four weeks.
He'll have to petition for a spot on the Beijing squad because he'll miss next month's Olympic trials in Philadelphia. Provided he is healthy, USA Gymnastics is almost sure to grant the petition.
Hamm, after all, is the only American man to win a world title (2003) or Olympic gold (2004). Despite his 2 1/2 -year layoff after the Athens Olympics -- an unheard of break in elite gymnastics -- he has been better than ever this year, firmly establishing himself as a favorite to defend his gold medal. . . .
Stanford senior David Sender did just enough on pommel horse to edge Jonathan Horton for the title at the U.S. championships. His 13.75 on pommel horse gave Sender 180.7 points for the two-day meet, a mere 0.25 ahead of Horton, who was fourth in the world last year.
Joseph Hagerty was third and defending national champion David Durante was fourth.
· BOXING: Ricky Hatton prevailed in a lopsided decision over Juan Lazcano to retain his IBO light welterweight title and restart his career before a raucous home crowd in Manchester, England.
Hatton won easily on all three judges scorecards at the Manchester City soccer ground: 120-110, 118-110, 120-108. It was his first fight since he lost a WBC welterweight bid against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December. That was his first loss in 44 career fights.
· SOCCER: Chelsea fired Avram Grant as manager, three days after the club's loss to Manchester United on penalty kicks in the European Champions League final.
The Israeli coach's position had been subject to speculation all season even though he guided the Blues to second place in the English Premier League.
· AUTO RACING: Felipe Massa will start the Monaco (Monte Carlo) Grand Prix from the pole position after leading a Ferrari 1-2 finish in qualifying.
The Brazilian driver, who has won two of the last three Formula One races, gave Ferrari its first pole in Monaco in eight years after setting a best lap time of 1 minute 15.787 seconds around the famous street circuit.
Teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who won in Monaco for McLaren in 2005, will start on the front row for today's race, with McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen filling the second row.
· BASKETBALL: Sophia Young scored 23 points, Becky Hammon added 20 and the host San Antonio Silver Stars defeated the Seattle Storm, 87-72. . . .
Lindsay Whalen scored 21 points to lead the Connecticut Sun past the visiting Sacramento Monarchs, 87-64, for its 3-0 start in franchise history.
-- From News Services
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