AP National Sports

By ERIC OLSON AP Sports Writer Top-eight national seeds Stanford, Texas A&M and East Carolina had easy wins on their home fields in NCAA baseball regional openers. Vanderbilt, which has reached the last two College World Series finals, continued its late-season swoon and will have to fight its way out of the loser’s bracket to

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Cameron Smith doesn’t have a great history at the Memorial. In his six previous appearances, he never shot better than 71 and missed the cut four times. But this Cameron Smith is the No. 3 player in the world, a two-time winner this year that

By ANDREW SELIGMAN AP Sports Writer CHICAGO (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt homered to extend his hitting streak to 25 games, Corey Dickerson went deep twice, and the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Chicago Cubs 14-5. Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar also went deep as the Cardinals rolled to their fourth win in five games. Goldschmidt

SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Brazil defender Alex says he has undergone heart bypass surgery after four blocked arteries were discovered. The 39-year-old retired from soccer in 2016 after a long and successful career playing for Chelsea, PSV Eindhoven, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan. Alex’ former club Santos posted on its social media channels a

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Ian Churchill got two solid plays from his defense to earn a save and San Diego held on to defeat Vanderbilt 3-2 in the Corvallis Regional. After allowing a leadoff walk to Enrique Bradfield and a sacrifice bunt by Javier Vaz, the Torero defense saved the day. A hard smash to

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers opened the season with an all-time high $310.6 million payroll for purposes of the luxury tax and are on track to pay a record tax of nearly $47 million. The figures were compiled by Major League Baseball and obtained by The

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Skyler Messinger went 4 for 5 with three RBIs, Austin Todd added three RBIs and No. 9 overall seed Texas beat Air Force 11-3 in the Austin Regional. Texas has won 12 of its last 15 games, which includes a loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship. Air Force was

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Austin Bost hit a three-run homer in the seventh to help No. 5 national seed Texas A&M beat Oral Roberts 8-2 in the College Station Regional. Texas A&M returned to the NCAA Tournament after having a string of 13 consecutive trips snapped last season. Jordan Thompson opened the scoring for

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer DETROIT (AP) — The milk has barely been washed out of Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson’s firesuit and the IndyCar season has gone wild. The Swede is the new points leader, free agency has picked up at a dizzying pace and the reigning IndyCar champion said his name

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Tanner Hall struck out nine in eight innings for his ninth win of the season and No. 11 national seed Southern Miss beat Army 2-0 on Friday in the Hattiesburg Regional. Hall retired the first 11 batters, including six strikeouts, to help ensure the Golden Eagles’ eighth shutout of the season.

NEW YORK (AP) — Josh Donaldson was activated from the 10-day injured list and in the lineup for the New York Yankees for the first time since being suspended by Major League Baseball for a remark to Chicago White Sox star Tim Anderson. Donaldson was suspended one game for making multiple references about Jackie Robinson

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Peyton Graham hit the first grand slam of this season’s NCAA Tournament and No. 9 overall seed Oklahoma beat Liberty 16-3 in the Gainesville Regional. Graham’s shot highlighted and capped an eight-run fifth inning for a 14-3 lead. The first eight batters of the inning scored as Oklahoma took control. Graham

By JEFF WALLNER Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds have activated veteran left-hander Mike Minor from the 10-day injured list on Friday. Outfielder TJ Friedl was optioned to Triple-A Louisville. Minor was acquired from the Kansas City Royals on March 16 in exchange for left-handed reliever Amir Garrett.  Minor began the season on

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer MADISON, Ill. (AP) — Kyle Larson is willing to drive just about anything with four wheels and an engine, and his ability to jump between NASCAR’s highest level and small-town late model races on dirt should come in handy this weekend. You see, Larson showed up to World Wide

By CHARLES ODUM AP Sports Writer ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts says the new FieldTurf playing surface at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is soft but good. The turf was replaced in February. The Falcons had their first offseason workout at the stadium on Friday. The turf has become a safety concern in the

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Sports Writer DENVER (AP) — KSE vice chairman Josh Kroenke said Friday the Denver Nuggets are entering a “championship or bust” chapter that will be guided by general manager Calvin Booth following the recent departure of executive Tim Connelly to the Minnesota Timberwolves. “We’re entering a new phase of the organization,

By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — NASCAR returns to the Pacific Northwest this weekend, and of course there’s rain. The inaugural Xfinity Series race is set for Saturday at Portland International Raceway. It is one of the rare stand-alone events on NASCAR’s second-tier national series and its the first NASCAR

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (AP) — Michelle Wie West’s golf career is one tournament away from being over. She shot 5-over 147 through two rounds in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles and was likely to miss the cut. The 32-year-old Wie West says she plans to play next

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — UEFA has apologized to the fans for the “frightening and distressing” chaos at the Champions League final last weekend. Fans, including children, were tear-gassed, assaulted and harassed while trying to get into the final in Paris. UEFA initially blamed fans who arrived late, then fans with

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (AP) — Danielle Kang revealed Friday that she played the first two rounds of the U.S. Women’s Open with a tumor on her spine. The 29-year-old Kang is the 12th-ranked player in the world. She said she learned of the diagnosis “a few weeks ago.” Kang