West Chester still in World Series

May 30, 2006|THE INQUIRER STAFF

West Chester won its first-ever Division II College World Series baseball game, edging Francis Marion, 3-2, yesterday in Montgomery, Ala., to stay alive in the consolation round.

The Golden Rams (39-19) set a school record for victories in a season after substitute sophomore second baseman Kyle Bechter, a Pennsbury High graduate, speared a line drive in the bottom of the 10th inning to end the game.

In the top of the 10th, Bechter's take-out slide at second base broke up a double play and allowed Mark Gilliford to score the winning run.

Story continues below.

West Chester plays tomorrow night at 7:30 against Montevallo, which edged the Golden Rams, 3-2, in 12 innings Saturday.

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Benjamin Kohlloeffel of Germany became UCLA's first men's NCAA singles champion in 31 years, beating Virginia's Somdev Devvarman, 6-1, 6-4, in Stanford, Calif.

Kohlloeffel's current coach, Billy Martin, last won the title for the Bruins in 1975.

In the women's final, California's Suzi Babos beat Southern California's Lindsey Nelson, 6-4, 6-1, to become Cal's first women's singles champion.

Clemson (47-14) was named as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Division I baseball tournament's 64-team field.

The Tigers will host one of 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals that begin Friday.

The other national seeds, in order, are: Rice (50-10), Texas (40-19), Alabama (41-19), Cal State Fullerton (43-13), Nebraska (42-15), Georgia (41-19), and Georgia Tech (45-16).

Each of the regionals will be played on campus sites from Friday to Monday.

Eight teams will eventually advance to the College World Series, which starts June 16 in Omaha, Neb.

Pro football

Suspended Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams appeared to be in great shape yesterday during his first practice with the Toronto Argonauts.

Williams was suspended by the NFL for the entire 2006 season after a fourth positive drug test. But the Dolphins gave him permission to play this year in the Canadian Football League, and he signed with Toronto on Sunday.

Williams showed good hands, catching all five swing passes thrown his way.

Horse racing

Edgar Prado guided Silver Train to a narrow victory over Sun King in the $600,000 Metropolitan Handicap, the 4-year-old colt's fourth straight win at Belmont in New York, all with Prado in the saddle.

The winning time for the Met Mile was 1 minute, 34.27 seconds.

Soccer

England striker Wayne Rooney will have the next scan on his broken right foot June 7, one week earlier than planned.

That will give coach Sven-Goran Eriksson time to replace the injured Manchester United player if Rooney cannot play at the World Cup.

Jamaican referee Peter Prendergast is out of the World Cup after injuring his knee.

U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter has signed a two-year contract with German second-division team 1860 Munich, making a free transfer from Energie Cottbuss.

He was added to the U.S. World Cup roster last week after Cory Gibbs injured his knee.

Noteworthy

Tony Sardisco, the former Tulane lineman who captained the AFL's Boston Patriots in the early 1960s, died Sunday at age 73 of a massive heart attack at his home in Shreveport, La.

Villanova graduate Jen Rhines was among the four-member American squad that won the women's team competition in the Bolder Boulder 10-kilometer races in Colorado.

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