BASEBALL

Torre picked to manage Team USA in WBC

Joe Torre is returning to the dugout next year — to manage the United States at the World Baseball Classic.

Torre, who turns 72 next month, guided the New York Yankees to four World Series championships and managed the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2008-10. He is now Major League Baseball’s Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations.

“I have been fortunate to have many different experiences throughout my career, but being a part of Team USA will be a first, and I am very excited about it,” Torre said in a statement released by USA Baseball on Thursday.

The tournament begins with qualifiers in September and November of 2012, with the U.S. team starting up in March. Buck Martinez managed a U.S. team full of All-Stars to a sixth-place finish in the first WBC in 2006 and Davey Johnson led the U.S. squad into the semifinals in 2009.

JUNIOR LEGION: Nick Conley singled in Casey Twarley in the top of the seventh inning as Biddeford Savings (1-0) held off Bruno’s (0-1) for a 4-3 win in a Junior Legion game at Portland.

Silas Corman paced Bruno’s with three hits and two RBI.

• Visiting Bonny Eagle scored six runs in the second inning in a 10-6 win over the Windham Merchants in an opener.

AMERICAN LEGION: Jack Herzig’s walk-off double in the eighth inning gave the Windham Merchants a 1-0 win over Smith-Tobey in an opener.

Tony Dube pitched a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

NECBL: Marcus Davis knocked in two runs on three hits to lead the Laconia Muskrats (3-2) to a 3-1 win over the Sanford Mainers (2-4) at Goodall Park.

TENNIS

QUEEN’S CLUB: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga may have to miss Wimbledon after injuring his right hand during a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (5) third-round loss to Ivan Dodig in London.

Tsonga hurt the little finger on his dominant hand when he slipped and fell during the sixth game of the final set.

AEGON CLASSIC: Jelena Jankovic received a walkover into the quarterfinals at Birmingham, England, when Casey Dellacqua withdrew with a stomach ailment.

GERRY WEBER OPEN: Rafael Nadal defeated Lukas Lacko 7-5, 6-1 in Halle, Germany, his first singles match since winning a record seventh French Open. Roger Federer, a five-time winner of this Wimbledon tuneup, downed Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-4, 7-5.

WIMBLEDON: Andrea Petkovic of Germany withdrew from the tournament because of a persistent right ankle injury.

GOLF

EUROPEAN TOUR: Adam Gee of England shot a 4-under 67 to share the lead with Simon Wakefield of England and Sihwan Kim of South Korea in the opening round of the Saint-Omer (France) Open.

OLYMPICS

TRACK: Three-time world vault champion Cheng Fei will miss London Olympics because of an Achilles tendon injury.

State television reported that the Chinese star, the captain of the gold-medal team in Beijing four years ago, had an operation to repair a ruptured Achilles and would miss the Olympics. Her coach, Lu Shanzhen, confirmed Cheng had surgery.

Cheng, 24, was a mainstay of the Chinese team at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

— From staff and news services

 

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