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Born in Vizzolo Predabissi, a village 15 miles away from San Siro and the site of his so-far most iconic moment, Acerbi’s sporting history began in 2006 at nearby Pavia in Serie C.
After a loan spell at Renate in Serie D, Acerbi began touring Italy with moves to Reggina, Genoa and Chievo, where he made his Serie A debut and emerged as one of the most promising defenders in the league.
AC Milan, the club he had supported since childhood, took notice of his qualities. In 2012 he made a permanent move to the Rossoneri where, however, things did not turn out as expected.
Acerbi had a problem, which in turn triggered others – an unresolved relationship with his father, his first admirer but also his first critic.
“He wanted to do me good, but without meaning to, he would go so far as to hurt me,” Acerbi recently said of his father’s constant criticism.
Paolo Franchini, the psychotherapist who helped Acerbi make peace with his father over the years, said: “He was his number one fan, but also his number one pain in the neck. He was always pointing out the mistakes he made.”
Now, when Acerbi raises his arms to the sky at the start of each game, he does it for him, but his has been a long journey.
His father died shortly after his move to AC Milan. Acerbi lost his balance and fell into depression.
“Already at the beginning of my career I didn’t really have the right attitude for a professional player,” he later said.
“I would often arrive tipsy at trainings, without having fully recovered from the night before. I was physically strong, and that was enough for me.
“As my father died, however, I hit rock bottom. I no longer had any drive and could no longer play. I was sick and would drink anything.”
After just six months, the Rossoneri loaned him back to Chievo, then he moved on again to Sassuolo at the end of the season.
Marina won the Southern Section Division 3 softball championship with an 8-1 win over Westlake in Irvine on Friday.
Aviana Valbuena had three hits and four RBIs. Sister Mia Valbuena struck out 13 with one walk.
Marina improved to 19-13.
Los Alamitos won the Division 2 championship with a 3-0 win over JSerra that took 10 innings. Cienna Kowaleski hit a two-run home run in the 10th to end a great pitching duel.
JSerra’s Liliana Escobar struck out 16. Los Alamitos’ Jaliane Brooks threw all 10 innings, striking out five.
In Division 6, Irvine University defeated Rio Hondo Prep 4-1. In Division 7, Rancho Mirage defeated Culver City 7-3.
Alcaraz’s form during his second-round win over Fabian Marozsan had been patchy and Friday’s first meeting at ATP Tour level against Dzumhur looked set to be a much smoother affair.
Having shrugged off two early break points, he reeled off five successive games to wrap up the opening set inside 30 minutes, with his opponent looking exasperated at times as he struggled to contain the man seen as the one to beat on the Paris clay this year.
The second set followed in much the same fashion, and while Dzumhur, 33, did have his chances with break points in the second and sixth games, he lacked the weapons to cause Alcaraz any concern.
A double fault sealed the two-set lead for the Spaniard, but then the errors started to creep into his own game in the third as Dzumhur found another gear on the other side of the net.
After a brief pause to receive treatment on a knee injury, the Bosnian – seeking to reach the fourth round of a Slam for the first time – finally got the break he had been fighting for.
Alcaraz wasted three immediate chances to break back at 4-3 down, and a further two as his opponent served out the set.
Dzumhur’s resurgence continued into the fourth as he broke the frustrated Spaniard at the first time of asking, and Alcaraz was forced to watch more break points of his own come and go unconverted.
But Dzumhur was only ever going to hold him off temporarily.
Alcaraz, starting to show glimpses of the clinical form on show in the opening two sets, won four successive games, and while he was broken back when serving for the match, he again broke Dzumhur to close the tie as the clock neared midnight in the French capital.
CLEVELAND — José Soriano threw six scoreless innings, Mike Trout had a hit in his return to the Angels’ lineup in a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.
Jo Adell had three hits and an RBI and Jorge Soler hit a solo homer down the left-field line in the ninth inning as the Angels snapped a five-game losing streak.
Cleveland’s José Ramírez had his 21-game hitting streak snapped. He drew a walk in the eighth inning to extend his on-base streak to 26 games.
The Guardians, who have dropped four of their last five, avoided a shutout on Nolan Jones’ RBI single to right with two outs in the ninth.
It was the third time this season Soriano (4-5) has gone at least six innings and not given up a run. The right-hander yielded just four hits with two strikeouts and four walks.
Trout, activated off the injured list after he missed 26 games due to a bone bruise on his left knee, lined out to Ramírez at third in his first at-bat before he lined a base hit to left-center in the fourth inning.
Adell singled to right with one out in the second to drive in Soler, who drew a walk off Luis Ortiz (2-6) to lead off the inning.
The Angels added a pair of runs in the seventh when Scott Kingery scored on a passed ball and Soler had a run-scoring single to center.
Key moment: The Guardians had the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth inning, but Soriano got Gabriel Arias to chase a 98-mph sinker for the strikeout.
Key stat: Trout went one for five and batted fifth as the designated hitter. It was the first time since Sept. 26, 2011, the three-time American League MVP started a game hitting lower than third.
Up next: RHP Kyle Hendricks (2-6, 5.23 ERA) goes for the Angels while RHP Slade Cecconi (1-1, 3.27 ERA) takes the mound for the Guardians.
Canadian Nick Taylor shot an impressive four-under-par round of 68 to take a share of the lead at the Memorial Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
The 37-year-old made four birdies during his second round as he joined overnight leader Ben Griffin, who carded an even-par 72, at the top of the leaderboard.
Griffin’s fellow American Akshay Bhatia is a further two shots behind the pair in third at five under.
World number one Scott Scheffler is within striking distance after he finished the day at four under following back-to-back rounds of 70 at the Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry is the heading the European challenge a further shot back, four off the lead.
Michael Barnett flipped a weighted baseball into his hand and threw it against the side of the strength-training room next to UCLA’s clubhouse.
Jostling through folding tables, water coolers, television stands and a postgame news conference podium, he resumed his starting pitcher routine, as he would for any start, moving inside the weight room to stretch his right arm with resistance bands.
The junior right-hander’s pregame obstacle course — navigating university staffers, media and more — before trotting down to the bullpen, was outside of the ordinary. Friday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium was different — from the energy on the concourse to the noise from the dugouts and ultimately, the power from the Bruins’ bats.
Hosting its first regional since 2019, national No. 15 seed UCLA posted season highs for hits and runs in a dominant, 19-4 victory over regional No. 4 seed Fresno State.
“It wasn’t the cleanest game — it didn’t feel like the cleanest game,” said UCLA coach John Savage, “but at the end of the day, at this time of the year, you win any way you can and certainly we did that today. So it was a good win.”
A six-run, seventh-inning sent the Bulldogs unknowingly waving a white flag. UCLA first baseman Mulivai Levu’s line drive off the left-field wall cleared the loaded bases to provide the Bruins with a 12-2 lead. Fresno State’s nine players dejectedly walked off the field, as if they’d been walked off in a mercy-rule defeat.
But the field crew reminded the Bulldogs that in the NCAA tournament, no matter how many runs you trail by, both teams play nine innings. The Bruins still had seven more runs to score in the eighth inning Friday.
It wasn’t Big Ten player of the year Roch Cholowsky — the 20-year-old who dreamed of Omaha when he chose the Bruins over entering the MLB draft — who led the offensive barrage that gave UCLA a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The middle of the UCLA lineup helped produce a rally as they had all year.
UCLA’s Dean West makes contact during the Bruins’ blowout win over Fresno State on Friday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Levu — who led the Bruins in regular-season RBI with 74 and led UCLA with five RBI against Fresno State — singled into left field to start the rally. Cleanup hitter Roman Martin brought home the first run of the game with a single into left. Payton Brennan and Blake Balsz (who tallied his third-career, three-hit game) connected for back-to-back RBI base hits, solidifying a lead as the Bulldogs awaited the walk back to the dugout for a mid-inning reprieve.
“The nice part about today is I was just trying to simplify everything and trust that my teammates are gonna pick me up,” Balsz said.
Before Fresno State starting pitcher Jack Anker knew it, UCLA strung together four runs in the blink of an eye, creating distance against the Mountain West champions they never made up.
Martin connected for a third-inning solo home run — his seventh of the year — while Balsz joined his teammate with multiple RBI after a run-scoring single a few batters later.
“One of the huge things we talked about, one of our offensive goals is to score first, and that’s really a huge momentum shift for us,” Martin said. “It definitely kind of took a little bit off, especially during our first playoff game, kind of eased us into it a little bit.”
UCLA tagged Anker for six earned runs and 10 hits across five innings, holding the Bulldogs junior who entered the game averaging 10.5 strikeouts-per-nine innings to just two punchouts. The two strikeouts were the second-fewest Anker forced against an opposing team this season.
UCLA pitcher Michael Barnett delivers during the first inning Friday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Barnett’s outing on the mound was an obstacle much like his routine before toeing the Jackie Robinson Stadium mound. The sinkerballer struggled with command against the Bulldogs, throwing just 40 strikes among 74 pitches, and lasted just 4⅓ innings before UCLA coach John Savage pulled Barnett with runners on the corners and one out in the fifth.
Southpaw Chris Grothues, a junior in his first season of high-leverage pitching opportunities, broke Barnett out of the inherited jam with a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning. Grothues then spun a scoreless sixth — placing the Bruins in cruise control for the rest of the contest, earning the victory.
“They did a really good job against Barnett,” Savage said, adding that he felt lucky to be up 6-2 entering the seventh. “Our bullpen did a nice job. Grothues came in, got that double play. That was a big play — the 3-6-1 — that was a big momentum swing.”
Cholowsky, who also led the nation in wins-above-replacement with 6.36, according to D1Baseball, still collected two hits Friday.
Leadoff hitter Dean West was hit by a pitch three times by Bulldog pitchers, the last of which brought home a run to make it 9-2 in the bottom of the seventh.
Brennan hit a two-run home run in the eighth, while catcher Cashel Dugger also pulled a solo home run over the right-field wall for the Bruins’ 15th run.
UCLA advances to the winner’s bracket where it’ll face the winner of the UC Irvine-Arizona State game late Friday. The Bruins split midweek season series against both the Anteaters and the Sun Devils.
She had fielded questions regarding Earps’ retirement on Thursday, admitting it had been a “hard” start to the week.
Wiegman was visibly emotional, reflecting on the good times they shared together and unwilling to discuss how frustrating the sudden departure of the 32-year-old may be.
With only 13 caps for Hampton prior to kick-off, and none for the other two goalkeepers in the squad, fears were raised about their inexperience.
But when the team in front plays so well, it quickly becomes less of a concern.
Hampton spent the majority of the second half stood still, watching on as her team-mates tried to add to their five first-half goals, managing one more through Chloe Kelly.
Hat-trick hero Beever-Jones gave some insight into Wiegman’s talk before the Group A3 tie: “She said before the game, ‘it’s a new kit, it’s a new England, we have a new squad’.”
But it wasn’t a new England, it was a “vintage” England, according to Bardsley, who was waxing lyrical by the time the fifth goal came in only the 33rd minute, sealing a treble for Beever-Jones.
Lucy Bronze nodded in England’s second, while Beth Mead joined in on the action and substitute Kelly added the finishing touch with the sixth in the 62nd minute.
“This is reminding me of vintage England, casting myself back to 2022,” said Bardsley, who made 81 appearances for the Lionesses. “Portugal have been poor, but among the noise, it is so wonderful to see the girls with smiles on their faces.”
They were not the only ones with smiles on their faces as supporters danced and celebrated at full-time, clearly encouraged by what they had witnessed.
England’s form has dipped throughout the last 18 months. Just seven weeks ago they were beaten in Leuven by Belgium – who are bottom of the Women’s Nations League group – and two months after picking up a victory over world champions Spain at Wembley.
But the Lionesses showed they were up to the task when the pressure was on, buoyed by the return of key players Georgia Stanway, Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood from injury.
“There has been a lot of noise [this week] and players wanted to put that to bed,” added Johnson.
“Questions in the press conference were relentless and they are going to be. They just want to talk about football and they made it all about the football.
“Mary [Earps] will be missed, but when you score six goals in the fashion they did, we are just talking about the football and how good England were.”
It turns out the timeline was moved up one series and three days.
Trout was activated off the injured list before Friday night’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. The Angels slugger missed 26 games with soreness in his left knee eventually diagnosed as a bone bruise. The three-time American League MVP had two operations last year on the knee after tearing his meniscus.
“I’m just itching to get out there,” Trout said before the game. “I think came out of the other day (of running bases) good. I wasn’t too sore or anything, I told them I was good enough to go out there and have some good at-bats.”
Trout’s return comes with something he hasn’t done in his 15-year big league career. This will be the first time in 1,532 starts that he will be hitting fifth in the lineup.
The only other time Trout batted fifth in 1,547 previous games was on May 14, 2022, against the Athletics, when he entered in the fourth inning and finished the game in center field.
“We know where Mike Trout is in the order. It doesn’t matter where he is hitting, he could be hitting ninth,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It’s got to be a different feeling for sure for them. I mean, he’s been in the two or three hole for what, 12 years now? But he’s still a really good player.”
Manager Ron Washington is happy to have Trout back, especially since he noted Trout wasn’t aggressive in rushing back. Washington also knows that Trout isn’t ready to return to his normal spot batting second or third.
“He hasn’t seen anything. So when you look at what we have, that’s where he sits,” Washington said. “It doesn’t make sense for him to protect (Logan) O’Hoppe. So I’ll put Mike behind him to protect O’Hoppe. He’s not ready to be at the top of the lineup, especially with those guys up there. As we go along the next couple of days, he’s not going to remain fifth.”
The 33-year old Trout was hitting .179 with nine home runs, 18 RBIs and a .727 OPS in 29 games before the injury. He will be the designated hitter for the weekend series against the Guardians before possibly returning to right field when the Halos head to Boston on Monday for a three-game series.
Even though Trout has shied away from wanting to be the designated hitter, he has done well in that spot. In seven games this season, he is eight for 28 (.286) with six home runs and nine RBIs.
Trout said whether or not he plays more games than originally planned at DH the remainder of the season is something that remains to be seen.
“Bone bruises are tricky. I know I am going to be sore but I can deal with it,” he said. “I definitely have to be cautious, especially the first couple games.”
Trout’s return comes with the Angels on a five-game skid after an eight-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champion Dodgers. Los Angeles were 25-30 going into Friday’s game.
“There’s so many games that any sense of newness or something to make you excited is something that you’d latch on to. So today is definitely a moment like that,” O’Hoppe said about Trout’s return. “He’s the heart of this organization. So we’re happy to have our heart beating again for sure.”
Trout has missed 404 of the Angels’ 664 games — almost 61% — since May 17, 2021, when he tore his calf muscle against Cleveland and was sidelined for the rest of that season. This is the fifth straight year he has had a stint of at least 25 games on the IL.
He missed five weeks of the 2022 season with a back injury, and all but one game after July 3 in 2023 after he broke a bone in his hand on a foul ball. Trout played in 29 games last season before the meniscus injury.
In a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, a woman identified as Jane Doe provides details of two alleged instances in 2020 during which Williamson raped her in a Beverly Hills apartment he was renting at the time.
“These two incidents were not isolated,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant continued to abuse, rape, assault, and batter Plaintiff in California and other states, including Louisiana and Texas, until the relationship ended in 2023.”
Williamson’s attorneys at Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, LLC, denied the accusations in a statement emailed to The Times on Friday.
“The allegations contained in the complaint are categorically false and reckless,” the firm stated. “This appears to be an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate grievance.”
Williamson’s attorneys said he and the accuser “never dated, but did maintain a consensual, casual relationship.” The firm added that “Mr. Williamson also intends to file counterclaims and seek significant damages for this defamatory lawsuit.”
Williamson’s accuser is seeking unspecified damages for nine causes of action that include assault, sexual battery, domestic violence, burglary, stalking and false imprisonment.
“Our client and we do not want to litigate this case in the press. That’s not our intent,” attorney Sam Taylor from the Lanier Law Firm, which is representing the accuser, told The Times on Friday.
“However, I do say this is a very serious case, reflected in the allegations in the complaint. Our client just looks forward to her day in court where she can talk to a jury of her peers and tell them what happened to her and how bad it was and see justice against Mr. Williamson.”
Taylor said that “as of now,” his client is not planning to file lawsuits in any of the other locations where alleged incidents took place.
The Pelicans did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, the two began dating during Williamson’s freshman, and only, year at Duke, where he played during the 2018-19 season.
“During the course of their relationship, Defendant engaged in a continuing pattern of abusive, controlling, and threatening behavior toward Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. “His wrongful conduct occurred in Louisiana and continued thereafter across several states. The abuse was sexual, physical, emotional, and financial in nature.”
Williamson moved to Beverly Hills for training and rented a house in the area during the fall of 2020, according to the filing. The lawsuit provides explicit details of two alleged instances in which Williamson raped the accuser, “on or about” Sept. 23, 2020, and on Oct. 10, 2020.
The lawsuit also alleges that Williamson committed many other “acts of criminal violence” against his accuser during their relationship, including strangling her multiple times to the point she lost consciousness, suffocating and/or smothering her, beating and kicking her, threatening to kill her and her family members, and pointing a loaded firearm to her head.
Williamson “was either drunk or on cocaine” while allegedly committing many of those acts, the lawsuit states.
“As a direct and proximate result of Defendant’s conduct, Plaintiff has suffered severe emotional distress, anxiety, depression, humiliation, loss of sleep, and other physical and emotional injuries,” the lawsuit states. “As a further direct and proximate result of Defendant’s conduct, Plaintiff has incurred expenses for medical and psychological treatment, therapy, and counseling.”
Linsey Smith becomes just the second England player to take a five-wicket haul on her One Day International debut to help England to a 108-run victory over West Indies in Derby.
None of those games were worth as much as the team’s upcoming match.
Literally.
Next up for LAFC is the $10-Million Game, in which it will play Mexico’s Club América on Saturday at Banc of California to determine the final entrant in the Club World Cup. The 32-team tournament, which will be staged across the United States from mid-June to mid-July, has a record-breaking billion-dollar prize pool.
By simply qualifying for the event and playing in three group-stage matches, LAFC would be entitled to a participation fee of $9.55 million.
That might not be considered a significant prize for the Dodgers or Lakers, but it’s a major bounty for LAFC, which had a payroll of about $20 million last season.
“We know what’s at stake,” LAFC co-president John Thorrington said.
Imagine that, a Major League Soccer team playing a game with real consequences. The stakes are unusually high for a team in a league in which 18 of 30 teams reach the postseason and the threat of relegation is non-existent.
Real money will be on the line.
That’s money that could go toward covering the transfer fee or salary of the team’s next signature player, as one of LAFC’s three designated-player slots could open this summer.
Thorrington preferred to emphasize the symbolic importance of LAFC reaching the Club World Cup, how it would move the team one step closer to its long-stated ambition of becoming a global brand.
“The conversation here is not dominated by the financial benefit here, but rather the competitive opportunity that this game and the tournament present,” Thorrington said.
If LAFC advances to the Club World Cup, its opening game will be against Chelsea of the English Premier League. The other group-stage games would be against ES Tunis of Tunisia and Flamengo of Brazil.
“I think it would be something special,” defender Eddie Segura said in Spanish.
The tournament could also be a wake-up call for MLS, which has two other teams in the competition in Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders. The league has a salary cap, as well as paint-by-numbers roster compliance rules that permit minimal flexibility on how its teams can spend money. Soccer is a sport in which teams are only as good as their weakest links, but the regulations force clubs to construct top-heavy rosters.
As it was, the financial restrictions were already handicapping MLS teams in its competitions against its Mexican counterparts, with LAFC relying on its smarts instead of the economic might of its deep-pocketed owners to reach two Champions League finals. Now, MLS teams will be taking on opponents with virtually unlimited budgets. Just two years ago, Chelsea spent more than a billion dollars buying players in a single transfer window.
The Club World Cup’s cash prizes offer MLS a powerful incentive to loosen its rules. Group-stage wins are worth $2 million each. Teams will be paid $7.5 million for reaching the round of 16. The champion will take home more than $100 million.
The payouts could also force MLS to make changes to its collective bargaining agreement, which was signed when the Club World Cup was still a seven-team tournament. Under the current CBA, LAFC’s players would divide $1 million, with the remainder of the $9.55 million participation fee staying with the club.
Segura said the players are engaged in talks over their compensation.
“The club would benefit a lot, but I hope that we as players, as the ones who are there giving everything, will also have a chance to benefit,” Segura said.
The upcoming game has also offered LAFC a firsthand view of FIFA’s operations.
LAFC’s and Club América’s opportunity came at the expense of León, which was removed from the Club World Cup field because it was owned by the same group that owned another Mexican team in the tournament, Pachuca.
León qualified for the tournament by defeating LAFC in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League final. Rather than award León’s place to LAFC, FIFA basically invented a play-in game out of thin air, calling on LAFC to take on Club América, which was the region’s highest-ranked team that wasn’t already in the tournament.
LAFC was at least granted a chance. The Galaxy won the MLS Cup last season, but Inter Miami received the place reserved for the host nation before the MLS playoffs even started. The purported reason was that Inter Miami had the league’s best regular-season record. However, the widespread suspicion was that FIFA wanted Lionel Messi in the tournament.
After all, money is what is driving this tournament and money is what is driving the sport.
Visma-Lease a Bike rider Yates was visibly frustrated after finishing 24 seconds behind Del Toro in seventh.
“The plan was completely different from what we did today, so I will talk about that with the team,” he told Eurosport.
“I will not say anything more about that.”
However, team director Marc Reef said the day went “exactly as we agreed”, and added Carapaz and Del Toro were “just a bit stronger”.
Although Yates, 32, could still overhaul Carapaz and Del Toro, it looks most likely this year will again add to the heartbreak he has experienced in bids to win the Giro.
He led for 13 days in 2018 but cracked in the final week when Chris Froome launched an astonishing comeback to win the race.
After an underwhelming eighth-placed finish in 2019, Yates had to withdraw from the 2020 edition with Covid-19 and then had to recover from a difficult first two weeks to claim third in 2021.
Yates’ twin brother Adam sat up and dropped out of the top 10 overall in order to save himself to help team-mate Del Toro on Saturday.
Ecuador’s Carapaz, the 2019 Giro champion, tried to drop Del Toro on the final climb, but could not shake the 21-year-old, who is bidding to become the youngest winner of the Giro since 1940.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Del Toro, who won stage 17, showed impressive nous to grab the six bonus seconds for second place, with EF Education-EasyPost’s Carapaz, 32, having to settle for four bonus seconds in third.
Major League Baseball has been trying for years to increase the number of Black players participating in the sport, creating such programs as the Compton Youth Academy and the DREAM Series. There were 59 Black players on opening day MLB rosters, a slight increase from the previous year but far from the numbers in the 1980s.
St. John Bosco’s baseball team, which plays for a Southern Section Division 1 championship on Friday against Santa Margarita at Cal State Fullerton, offers hope for the future with five Black players in the starting lineup.
“Definitely something to be proud of,” center fielder Miles Clark said.
The sports of football and basketball have been taking away Black athletes, but St. John Bosco’s group of Clark, his twin brother James, Noah Everly, Jaden Jackson and Macade Maxwell have embraced baseball and put themselves in position to pursue college baseball and beyond.
Each player offers speed and athleticism. Maxwell had an RBI single in the semifinals against Seth Hernandez of Corona. James Clark and Everly lead the team in hitting at .394 and .347, respectively. St. John Bosco won its first Trinity League title since 2017 and is 24-5. …
Santa Margarita is much improved after getting players back from injuries, so ignore the fact it has 12 losses. Carter Enoch came back to add hitting to the Eagles’ lineup and Brennan Bauer has been the winning pitcher in all four playoff games. Seventeen seniors are graduating at 10 a.m. at the Honda Center.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Chris Taylor looks weird in an Angels uniform.
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Here we are, a little over a third of the way through the season, so let’s take a look at how the Dodgers stack up in various categories.
OPS+ A league average OPS+ is 100. Anything above that is good, anything below, not as good. And the higher of lower your OPS+, the better or worse you are. OPS is on-base% plus slugging%:
Freddie Freeman, 194 (Freeman is 94% better than the league average hitter) Shohei Ohtani, 191 Will Smith, 178 Teoscar Hernández, 151 Hyeseong Kim, 144 Andy Pages, 116 Mookie Betts, 111 Kiké Hernández, 108 Tommy Edman, 100 Max Muncy, 94 Michael Conforto, 73 Dalton Rushing, 68 James Outman, 67 Miguel Rojas, 66 Austin Barnes, 47 Chris Taylor, 29
ERA+ Same as OPS+, only for pitching. Minimum 10 innings
Rotation Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 198 (Yamamoto is 98% better than the league average hitter) Dustin May, 93 Tyler Glasnow, 88 Tony Gonsolin, 84 Roki Sasaki, 83 Clayton Kershaw, 82 Landon Knack, 75
Bullpen Ben Casparius, 140 Jack Dreyer, 130 Matt Sauer, 130 Alex Vesia, 117 Luis García, 103 Antony Banda, 98 Kirby Yates, 91 Tanner Scott, 85
Inherited runners who scored % League average is 32.4%
Ben Casparius, 0% (0 of 5 inherited runners have scored) Evan Phillips, 0% (0 of 3) Matt Sauer, 0% (0 of 3) Lou Trivino, 0% (0 of 3) Tanner Scott, 0% (0 of 2) Jack Dreyer, 20% (1 of 5) Luis García, 25% (3 of 12) Alex Vesia, 45.6% (5 of 11) Kirby Yates, 33.3% (1 of 3) Anthony Banda, 37.5% (3 of 8) Team, 23.6% (13 of 55)
Where the Dodgers rank as a team in various stats (numbers, except winning percentage, are through Wednesday)
Yes, I know, that’s a lot of numbers I’ve thrown at you. But before we can analyze any team weaknesses, there needs to be proof of what we are talking about.
And look at those pitching numbers. Not ideal. In the bottom half of most categories. But let me draw your attention to two key stats: The Dodgers are next to last in the majors in innings pitched by their starting rotation. And they are first in innings pitched by their bullpen. The offense has been carrying the team. And if the bullpen continues to pitch this many innings, they will be burned out by the time October gets here.
There is no fix. We can only wait for the pitchers on the IL to get healthy, especially Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell. And for Evan Phillips and Blake Treinen, among others, to return to the bullpen. We are 56 games into the season, and the Dodgers have already used 27 pitchers. They’ve had to use guys such as Ryan Loutos, Noah Davis and J.P. Feyereisen to pitch for them. This does not seem sustainable over a full season. Of course, there’s still 106 games to go.
Muncy and Conforto
The two players still drawing the most negative attention on the team are Max Muncy and Michael Conforto. They both have had lengthy, lengthy, lengthy slumps. But they are both showing signs of coming out of it.
Since May 4, Muncy is hitting .250/.365/.426. That’s solid. Since May 10, Conforto is hitting .267/.389/.444. Also good.
Some Dodger fans would like the team to trade some prospects for a replacement for Muncy or Conforto, or both. But as we can see in the previous item, the offense isn’t the problem. And with the Dodgers’ luck, if they traded for a pitcher, he’d get hurt in his first appearance.
Or, as the great coach Norman Daleonce said, “I would hope you would support who we are. Not who we are not.”
The Yankees are coming
The Yankees come to town this weekend for a three-game series. A rematch of last year’s World Series.
And as good as Shohei Ohtani is as a hitter, Aaron Judge is every bit as good. He’s hitting only .391/.488/.739 this season, with 14 doubles, 18 homers and 47 RBIs.
Some Yankees were upset during the offseason, feeling the Dodgers took too much glee and rubbed it in about the Yankees’ metdown in the fifth inning of Game 5.
Yankees closer Luke Weaver told Times reporter Bill Shaikin recently: “The way I personally look at it is, when you go out and you are on the right side of the victory, you’ve got a leg to stand on. When you lose, you ain’t got much to say. They said what they said. That’s what they felt. I don’t take it too personally. In a perfect world, yeah, you don’t want to hear that type of stuff. We know what happened. We know we had to do a better job. We just didn’t quite do what we wanted to do. With that being said, it is what it is.”
It should be a fun series to watch. And if the Yankees win two of three or sweep, don’t believe it when a sportswriter or broadcaster tells you “The Yankees avenged last year’s World Series.” No, they didn’t. One of the first lessons I learned as a sports reporter: Winning a regular season series the following season does not avenge a postseason loss. People writing that are relying on a tired cliche.
The Tanner Scott problem
Tanner Scott has three blown saves in his last five appearances. costing the Dodgers against Arizona, the Mets and Cleveland.
“I’m not putting [guys] away,” Scott told Jack Harris before the blown save against Cleveland. “I’m not getting the swing-and-miss, and I’m keeping the ball in the zone too much.”
The Dodgers don’t have much of a choice but to keep sending Scott out there (he does have 10 saves), as Harris noted:
“Fellow high-leverage relievers Evan Phillips (forearm discomfort), Blake Treinen (forearm sprain), Kirby Yates (hamstring strain) and Michael Kopech (shoulder impingement) are all out injured. And while Kopech is on a minor-league rehab assignment, and Yates and Treinen are both beginning throwing programs, Phillips’ absence is starting to become “concerning,” Dave Roberts acknowledged this weekend, with the team’s former ninth-inning fixture now going on three weeks without throwing because of an injury initially expected to keep him out for only the minimum 15 days.”
Every closer goes through rough patches. In previous seasons, the Dodgers had so much pitching depth that when a key reliever started to struggle a bit, they could let him pitch in low-leverage situations for a while until he regained his form. This season, they don’t have that luxury. Treinen, Phillips, Yates, Kopech are hurt. The odds are that Scott will rebound.
Chris Taylor update
Chris Taylor, released by the Dodgers last week, signed with the Angels, so he will be staying in the area.
“I’m excited to stay home — I get to live at home,” Taylor said before his first game. “The Angels have been playing really good baseball, so I’m excited to join the team and hopefully get on the field. That was one thing with the Dodgers this year, just my role, I wasn’t getting on the field that much. So I’m really just looking forward to, like, getting consistent at-bats and playing time.
“First and foremost, I want to perform on the field. I want to help this team win ballgames. I feel like I have a lot to prove to myself. I haven’t performed to how I feel I’m capable of playing the last couple seasons, and I kind of want to turn that around.”
On the Dodgers releasing him: “It was emotional. I’ve been on the Dodgers for nine years, but I do believe it was time for me. It was my time to kind of start fresh, hopefully turn the page, start a new chapter. I’m excited to do that here.”
Taylor is one for nine with five strikeouts with the Angels.
All-time leaders
The Dodgers’ all-time leaders in home runs:
Franchise 1. Duke Snider, 389 2. Gil Hodges, 361 3. Eric Karros, 270 4. Roy Campanella, 242 5. Ron Cey, 228 6. Steve Garvey, 211 7. Matt Kemp, 203 8. Max Muncy, 194 9. Carl Furillo, 192 10. Mike Piazza, 177
Los Angeles only 1. Eric Karros, 270 2. Ron Cey, 228 3. Steve Garvey, 211 4. Matt Kemp, 203 5. Max Muncy, 194 6. Mike Piazza, 177 7. Pedro Guerrero, 171 8. Raúl Mondesi, 163 9. Andre Ethier, 162 9. Shawn Green, 162 11. Justin Turner, 156 12. Willie Davis, 154 13. Cody Bellinger, 152 14. Adrian Beltré, 147 15. Dusty Baker, 144 16. Mookie Betts, 140 17. Mike Marshall, 137 18. Joc Pederson, 130 19. Gary Sheffield, 129 20. Frank Howard, 123
Up next
Friday: N.Y. Yankees (*Max Fried, 7-0, 1.29 ERA) at Dodgers (Tony Gonsolin, 2-1, 4.68 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Apple TV+, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
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The French Open night sessions – which were introduced in 2021 – feature just one singles match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
A women’s singles match, played over three sets, has not been put in this primetime slot since 2023 – meaning the past 19 night-time sessions have been men’s singles matches, which are played over five sets.
Only four matches have been from the women’s draw since they were brought in four years ago.
Questions are raised every year about whether the French Open should do more to promote the women’s game.
Mauresmo says women’s matches potentially going “really fast” is the justification behind the choices.
“There is nothing new under the sun compared to the previous editions,” she said.
“We have one single match per night session. It hasn’t changed. We won’t change everything again.
“Two sets can go really fast when you have three sets minimum – that’s the lens for me.
“It’s not the level the [women] reach right now. I’m not talking about this.”
Mauresmo also said the tournament does not want to have two matches in the night session, like the Australian Open and US Open, in fear of creating late finishes.
She pointed to the full crowd at Thursday night’s match between French favourite Gael Monfils and British number one Jack Draper – played in front of a full house until it finished at 23:45 local time – as a measure of the schedule’s success.
“If we have two matches in the night sessions, it doesn’t work in terms of how late the players are going to finish,” she said.
“But if we start earlier, the stands are going to be empty in most of the first match, so we keep this one match in the evening.
“It’s not ideal. We cannot check every box because we have many, many things to think when we are doing these choices.”
From Tim Willert: Jessica Clements hit a walk-off, two-run home run in the seventh inning early Friday morning to carry ninth-seeded UCLA past No. 16 Oregon 4-2 at the Women’s College World Series, after the Ducks tied the game in the top of the inning on a call at home plate that was overturned.
Catcher Alexis Ramirez also hit a two-run homer in support of Bruins’ starter Kaitlyn Terry, who pitched a four-hitter and gave up one earned run. UCLA (55-11) will play No. 12 seed Texas Tech on Saturday at 4 p.m. (PDT) for a spot in the semifinals. Oregon (53-9) will face unseeded Mississippi in Friday’s elimination game.
Oregon’s Paige Sinicki doubled inside the third-base line to lead off the seventh, but the ruling was challenged by UCLA. The call was upheld, but the next hitter, Dezianna Patmon bunted Sinicki to third with one out. Emma Cox followed with a ground ball to third baseman Jordan Woolery, who tried to throw Sinicki out at home. The throw to Ramirez was on time and Sinicki was ruled out at home for the second out.
Oregon challenged the call, and it was overturned after a video review showed obstruction by Ramirez.
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NBA PLAYOFFS RESULTS
All Times Pacific
Conference finals
Western Conference
No. 1 Oklahoma City vs. No. 6 Minnesota at Oklahoma City 114, Minnesota 88 (box score) at Oklahoma City 118, Minnesota 103 (box score) at Minnesota 143, Oklahoma City 101 (box score) Oklahoma City 128, at Minnesota 126 (box score) at Oklahoma City 124, Minnesota 94 (box score)
Eastern Conference
No. 3 New York vs. No. 4 Indiana Indiana 138, at New York 135 (OT) (box score) Indiana 114, at New York 109 (box score) New York 106, at Indiana 100 (box score) at Indiana 130, New York 121 (box score) at New York 111, Indiana 94 (box score) Saturday at Indiana, 5 p.m., TNT Monday at New York, 5 p.m., TNT*
NBA FINALS
West No. 1 Oklahoma City vs. NY/Ind.
Thursday at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ABC Sunday, June 8 at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ABC Wed., June 11 at NY/Ind, 5:30 p.m., ABC Friday, June 13 at NY/Ind, 5:30 p.m., ABC Monday, June 16 at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ABC* Thursday, June 19 at NY/Ind, 5:30 p.m., ABC* Sunday, June 22 at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ABC*
“You’re gonna be standing at shortstop when we win the World Series,” Woodward told Betts, the former Gold Glove right fielder in the midst of an almost unprecedented mid-career position switch. “That’s what the goal is.”
Two months into the season, the Dodgers believe he’s checking the requisite boxes on the path toward getting there.
“I would say, right now he’s playing above-average shortstop, Major League shortstop,” manager Dave Roberts said this week. “Which is amazing, considering he just took this position up.”
Betts has not only returned to shortstop this season after his unconvincing three-month stint at the position last year; but he has progressed so much that, unlike when he was moved back to right field for the stretch run of last fall’s championship march, the Dodgers have no plans for a similar late-season switch this time around.
“I don’t see us making a change [like] we did last year. I don’t see that happening,” Roberts said. “He’s a major league shortstop, on a championship club.”
“And,” the manager also added, “he’s only getting better.”
Years before diminutive and speedy Atwell matured into an NFL prospect, the Rams receiver played flag football.
Could anybody stop him?
“Nah, nah,” Atwell said, chuckling.
So Atwell, a 2021 second-round draft pick who will earn $10 million this season, said he would be cool and fun if he got the opportunity in a few years to try out for the 2028 U.S. Olympic flag football team.
Atwell echoed the feelings of Minnesota Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson and other players in the league since NFL owners last week approved a resolution that would allow them to try out for flag football. The resolution limits only one player per NFL team to play for each national team in the Los Angeles Games.
NFL players would compete for spots with others already playing flag football.
“It’s great,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “If that’s something that players say they want to be able to do, then I think it’s a really cool experience for them to be able to be a part of while also acknowledging that, man, there are some other guys that have been doing it.”
Let’s hear from you. Could a smoother path to the College Football Playoff be worth losing the Notre Dame-USC rivalry? Vote here and let us know. Results announced next week.
NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS
All times Pacific
Conference finals
Western Conference
Central 2 Dallas vs. Pacific 3 Edmonton at Dallas 6, Edmonton 3 (summary) Edmonton 3, at Dallas 0 (summary) at Edmonton 6, Dallas 1 (summary) at Edmonton 4, Dallas 1 (summary) Edmonton 6, at Dallas 3 (summary)
Eastern Conference
Metro 2 Carolina vs. Atlantic 3 Florida Florida 5, at Carolina 2 (summary) Florida 5, at Carolina 0 (summary) at Florida 6, Carolina 2 (summary) Carolina 3, at Florida 0 (summary) Florida 5, at Carolina 3 (summary)
STANLEY CUP FINALS
P3 Edmonton vs. A3 Florida Wednesday at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT Friday, June 6 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT Monday, June 9 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT Thursday, June 12 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT Saturday, June 14 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT* Tuesday, June 17 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT* Friday, June 20 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT*
* If necessary
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1903 — Flocarline becomes the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes.
1908 — Jockey Joe Notter misjudges the finish of the Belmont Stakes and eases up on his mount, Colin, whose career record to that point was 13-for-13. Notter recovers from his mistake and holds off Fair Play, who came within a head of defeating Colin. When he retired, Colin’s record stood at 15 wins in as many starts.
1911 — Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500 in 6 hours, 42 minutes and 8 seconds with an average speed of 74.59 mph.
1912 — Joe Dawson wins the second Indianapolis 500 in 6:21:06. Ralph Mulford is told he has to complete the race for 10th place money. It takes him 8 hours and 53 minutes as he makes several stops for fried chicken. The finishing rule is changed the next year.
1951 — Lee Wallard wins the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first driver to break the 4-hour mark with a time of 3:57:38.05.
1951 — Ezzard Charles beats Joey Maxim in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1952 — At 22, Troy Ruttman becomes the youngest driver to win the Indianapolis 500.
1955 — Bob Sweikert, an Indianapolis native, wins the Indianapolis 500. Bill Vukovich, seeking his third consecutive victory, is killed in a four-car crash on the 56th lap.
1957 — European Cup Final, Madrid: Alfredo Di Stéfano and Francisco Gento score as defending champions Real Madrid beats Fiorentina, 2-0.
1974 — 17th European Cup: Ajax beats Juventus 1-0 at Belgrade.
1985 — The Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup for the second straight year with an 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5.
1987 — Mike Tyson beats Pinklon Thomas by TKO in round 6 in Las Vegas to retain WBC/WBA heavyweight boxing titles.
1993 — Emerson Fittipaldi wins his second Indianapolis 500, by 2.8 seconds. Fittipaldi takes the lead on lap 185 and holds on, outfoxing Formula One champion Nigel Mansell and runner-up Arie Luyendyk.
2004 — In Cooper City, Fla., Canada easily beats the United States in a three-day cricket match, the first competition on American soil sanctioned by the International Cricket Council.
2005 — Johns Hopkins wins its first NCAA lacrosse title in 18 years, beating Duke 9-8 to complete an undefeated season.
2009 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (89,391): Chelsea beats Everton, 2-1; Frank Lampard scores 72′ winner.
2010 — Dario Franchitti gets a huge break from a spectacular crash on the last lap to climb back on top of the open-wheel world to win the Indianapolis 500. Franchitti’s second Brickyard victory in four years helps his boss, Chip Ganassi, become the first owner to win Indy and NASCAR’s Daytona 500 in the same year.
2011 — Jim Tressel, who guided Ohio State to its first national title in 34 years, resigns amid NCAA violations from a tattoo-parlor scandal that sullied the image of one of the country’s top football programs.
2012 — Roger Federer breaks Jimmy Connors’ Open era record of 233 Grand Slam match wins by beating Adrian Ungur of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in the second round of the French Open. Federer, who owns a record 16 major championships, is 234-35 at tennis’ top four tournaments. Connors was 233-49. The Open era began in 1968.
2015 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (89,283): Arsenal beats Aston Villa, 4-0; Gunners’ 12th title.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1894 — Boston’s Robert Lowe became the first player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game, leading the Beaneaters to a 20-11 win over Cincinnati. After hitting four straight homers, all line drives far over the fence, Lowe added a single to set a major league record with 17 total bases.
1922 — Between the morning and afternoon games of a Memorial Day twin bill, Max Flack of the Chicago Cubs was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Cliff Heathcote. They played one game for each team.
1927 — In the fourth inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, shortstop Jim Cooney of the Chicago Cubs caught Paul Waner’s liner, stepped on second to double Lloyd Waner and then tagged Clyde Barnhart coming from first for an unassisted triple play.
1935 — Babe Ruth made his last major league appearance. He played one inning for the Boston Braves against the Philadelphia Phillies. Jim Bivin retired Babe Ruth on an infield grounder in the Babe’s final major league at-bat.
1940 — Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants threw 87 pitches in a 7-0 one-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He faced the minimum 27 batters. Johnny Hudson, who singled, was caught stealing.
1956 — Mickey Mantle hit a home run that came within a foot-and-a-half of leaving Yankee Stadium. It hit the face of the upper deck in right field, 370 feet from home plate and 117 feet in the air. Mantle became the first player to hit 20 home runs by the end of May as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators 4-3.
1961 — Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Bill Skowron each hit two homers to lead the New York Yankees to a 12-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox. Yogi Berra also added a homer.
1962 — Pedro Ramos of the Cleveland Indians tossed a three-hitter and hit two home runs, including a grand slam, for a 7-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
1977 — Cleveland’s Dennis Eckersley pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the Angels.
1982 — Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr. began his record consecutive games streak by starting at third base against the Toronto Blue Jays.
1987 — Eric Davis hit a grand slam in the third inning, breaking two National League records and leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Davis became the first NL player to hit three grand slams in a month and his major league leading 19 homers broke the NL record for most homers in April and May.
1992 — Scott Sanderson became the ninth pitcher to beat all 26 major league teams as New York defeated Milwaukee 8-1. Sanderson joined Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander and Rich Gossage as those who have defeated every club.
2001 — Barry Bonds hit two home runs, moving past Willie McCovey and Ted Williams into 11th place on the career list with 522. Bonds with 17 home runs in May, surpassed the mark set by Mark McGwire in 1998 and Mickey Mantle in 1956.
2003 — Ken Griffey Jr. hit a game-tying home run in the ninth and a go-ahead homer in the top of the 11th to lead Cincinnati over Florida 4-3.
2006 — Vernon Wells hit three home runs and Troy Glaus added two more in Toronto’s 8-5 victory over Boston.
2009 — Travis Tucker hit an RBI single with one out in the top of the 25th inning, leading Texas to a 3-2 victory over Boston College in the longest game in NCAA history. The game eclipsed the previous record of 23 innings, set in 1971 when Louisiana-Lafayette defeated McNeese State 6-5.
2010 — Albert Pujols hit three long home runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Pujols homered in the first, fifth and ninth innings for his fourth career three-homer game.
2011 — Jo-Jo Reyes won for the first time in 29 starts by throwing his first career complete game to lead Toronto to an 11-1 rout of Cleveland. Reyes avoided becoming the first pitcher to go winless in 29 starts. Oakland’s Matt Keough went 28 starts between wins in 1978 and 1979, matching the dubious mark first set by Boston’s Cliff Curtis in 1910 and 1911. Reyes went 0-13 with a 6.59 ERA in his 28 starts between wins.
2011 — Arizona’s Kelly Johnson became the second player in the majors this year to have four extra-base hits in a game as the Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins 15-4. Johnson hit solo home runs in the third and sixth, doubled in the fourth and tripled in the seventh.
2015 — The Dodgers snap a 42-inning scoreless road streak in beating the Cardinals, 5-1. They are held hitless for five innings by Michael Wacha to beat an unenviable club record dating back to 1908, until a run-scoring single by Howie Kendrick in the 6th puts the team on the board and a three-run homer by Yasmani Grandal gives them the lead. It is Wacha’s first loss after opening the year with seven straight wins.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
As ever with these situations, Manchester United can draw a positive out of a negative.
They felt earlier this week it was coming towards the end game in their pursuit of Delap, and it was between them and Chelsea. Now they know they have lost out.
The positive is, with the decision made, they can move on. That is in stark contrast to 2022, when then manager Erik ten Hag delayed for months in an ultimately fruitless attempt to sign Frenkie de Jong and United ended up panicking at the end of the transfer window and spent £150m on Casemiro and Antony.
But that does not answer the pertinent question: who do they try for now?
Delap fitted their template of an improving, hungry young player, with scope to reach a high standard – at a set fee.
Rasmus Hojlund – who is four days younger than Delap – fitted the same criteria, apart from the last one. And it has not worked out.
Nothing I have seen on their post-season trip to Asia makes me feel United have the answer to their goalscoring issues within the club. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
The ‘safe’ but expensive options are Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo and Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta. But Mateta is 27 and Mbeumo will be at the Africa Cup of Nations for a month with Cameroon.
After that, it is a risk.
Former United striker Danny Welbeck scored 10 goals in the Premier League at the age of 34. Is there any merit in bringing him back and taking some of the pressure off Hojlund – or has Ruben Amorim concluded the 22-year-old Denmark international will never be good enough?
If so, it is back to Europe to sign another promising forward with no guarantee it will work.
The NCAA Division I college baseball playoffs begin this week, and there are several graduates from Southern California high schools representing in the college ranks.
Freshman Dylan Volantis of Texas, a Westlake High graduate, has had an All-American season, going 4-1 with a 1.99 ERA and 12 saves as a closer in the SEC.
Freshman shortstop Nate Castellon, a Calabasas grad, helped Cal Poly win the Big West tournament. He’s batting .364.
Collin Clarke (Santa Margarita) is 5-2 with a 4.59 ERA for Oregon. Trent Caraway (JSerra) has 33 RBIs for Oregon State. Colin Yeaman (Saugus) is batting .342 with 13 home runs and 55 RBIs for UC Irvine. Aiden Taurek (Foothill) is batting .336 with 10 home runs and 45 RBIs for St. Mary’s.
Derek Curiel (Orange Lutheran) is the No. 2 hitter for LSU with a .336 average and 45 RBIs. Aidan Cremarosa, who once played for Burbank Burroughs until enrolling at IMG Academy, is 6-5 with a 4.13 ERA for Fresno State.
Dean Curley (Northview) is batting .313 with 12 home runs for Tennessee. Jimmy De Anda (Mater Dei) has a .281 average for Utah Valley.
For USC, Ethan Hedges (Mater Dei) leads the team with a .343 average and has nine saves. For UCLA, freshman Easton Hawk (Granada Hills) has been a late-season closer with five saves.
The Call brothers, Chase and Phoenix, play for UC Irvine and UCLA, respectively, and could face off in the Westwood regional.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
