South Carolina wins two in Omaha

South Carolina wins two in Omaha

Freshman Jordan Montgomery and Matt Price combined on a three-hitter Thursday night, lifting two-time defending national champion South Carolina to a 2-0 victory over Arkansas in the College World Series at Omaha.

Michael Roth of the Gamecocks threw a two-hitter against Kent State earlier in the day. South Carolina and Arkansas will play again Friday night to decide which team goes to the best-of-three finals. The winner will play Arizona, which converted three errors into a six-run first inning and advanced with a 10-3 victory over Florida State.

South Carolina is the third team in the 63-year history of the CWS to win two full games in the same day. The last to do it was Holy Cross in 1952, when it beat Western Michigan and Penn State en route to the title.

ETC.

Mathis (64) leads at Travelers

David Mathis had a hole in one and shot a six-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Travelers Championship at Cromwell, Conn.

Nathan Green, Will Claxton and defending champion Fredrik Jacobson shot 65 on a day that saw temperatures soar into the upper 90s.

Former UCLA star Patrick Cantlay made his professional debut with a 75 on the same course where he made headlines last year with a second-round 60 as a 19-year-old amateur.

Sandra Changkija birdied six of her final eight holes for a career-best eight-under 63 and a three-stroke lead during the suspended first round of the inaugural Manulife Financial LPGA Classic at Waterloo, Canada.

Play was suspended at 4:20 p.m. because of the threat of lightning in the area, and called off for the rest of the day at 6:30 p.m. Seventy-two players were unable to finish the round.

Australia’s Marcus Fraser and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti shot eight-under 64 to share the first-round lead in the BMW International Open at Pulheim, Germany.

The U.S. soccer team will face Mexico on Aug. 15 in Mexico City, the first exhibition between the two on Mexican soil in nearly 28 years.

The Americans are still seeking their first win south of the border in a series that dates to 1934. Mexico is 23-0-1 against the U.S. on its home turf, most recently earning a pair of 2-1 victories in FIFA World Cup qualifying in 2005 and 2009.

Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye is getting his own race at Santa Anita.

The track will feature the Grade III Eddie D. Stakes on opening day of its autumn meet on Sept. 28.

The 61/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up will be run on the turf. The race was previously known as the Morvich Stakes, which Delahoussaye won in 1984 aboard Tsunami Slew.

David Ferrer routed Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-1, to reach the UNICEF Open semifinals at Den Bosch, Netherlands.

The top-seeded Spaniard next plays Frenchman Benoit Paire, who beat Ito Tatsuma of Japan, 6-3, 7-5.

On the women’s side, Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat Francesca Schiavone, 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Marion Bartoli of France beat seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the Eastbourne championships in England.

Bartoli next faces Austria’s Tamira Paszek, who defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, 6-0, 6-4.

Rain forced the postponement of the men’s quarterfinals to Friday, when American Andy Roddick is scheduled to face Italian Fabio Fognini.