BASEBALL
Jack Conley had four RBI with a two-run homer, Josh Ockimey blasted a three-run shot and Reading erased a 2-0 deficit and beat the Portland Sea Dogs, 7-2, in an Eastern League game on Thursday in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Tyler McKay picked up the win, pitching two innings of two-hit relief and striking out two for the Fightin Phils (26-34)
Nick Sogard stole home to put the Sea Dogs (25-35) on the board in the third, and Pedro Castellanos added an RBI single later in the inning. Brian Van Belle took the loss, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out four.
NECBL: Grayson Preslar’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly scored Tyler Grodell, giving the Winnipesaukee Muskrats (4-4) a 3-2 victory over the Sanford Mainers (1-8) on Thursday in Laconia, New Hampshire.
Justin Baeyens got the win in relief for Winnipesaukee with three innings of three-hit ball and four strikeouts. Kohl Abrams and Cole Palmeri each added RBI singles.
Marco Castillo drove in a run for Sanford while Blake MacMillan took the loss.
BASKETBALL
EUROLEAGUE: Russian basketball clubs were suspended from the next season of the EuroLeague.
EuroLeague organizers cited “air travel restrictions and prohibitions or other limitations to issuing visas to Russian residents” during the country’s war with Ukraine.
The 18-team league had three Russian entrants last season – CSKA Moscow on a long-term license and one-year entries for UNICS Kazan and Zenit St. Petersburg. Their results were annulled after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
MEN’S WORLD CUP: USA Basketball is taking some veterans into the next window of World Cup qualifying.
A roster of 12 players was unveiled for the next two games, set for July 1 at Puerto Rico and July 4 at Cuba. The Americans are 3-1 in qualifying and have already clinched a berth in the second round.
But these next two games remain important since the records from the 16-team first round of qualifying will carry into the second round. There will be 12 teams from the Americas region going to the second round; of those, seven will end up qualifying for the 2023 Basketball World Cup.
Jim Boylen will again coach the Americans in qualifying, starting with a training camp that begins in Miami later this month. His roster for these two games: Jordan Bell, Quinn Cook, Cody Demps, Michael Frazier, Langston Galloway, Justin Jackson, DaQuan Jeffries, John Jenkins, George King, Eric Mika, David Stockton and Noah Vonleh.
Bell, Galloway, King and Stockton were part of the U.S. team that went 2-0 in the most recent qualifying window back in February.
FOOTBALL
MARV LEVY is poised to join a very select pro football group. On Friday night, the former Buffalo Bills and Montreal Alouettes head coach will be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
He’ll become just the third person to be in both the Canadian and Pro Football Hall of Fame, joining former Minnesota Vikings and Winnipeg head coach Bud Grant and quarterback Warren Moon, who began his illustrious career in the CFL with Edmonton. Moon played most of his NFL career with the Houston Oilers and also played with Minnesota, Seattle and Kansas City.
Levy was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001. He returned to Buffalo as GM (2006-07) and remains the winningest coach in Bills history.
Levy, 96, will be unable to make the trip to Hamilton, but still recollects fondly his first head coaching stint in pro football 50 years ago. He left his job as a special teams coach with Washington following the team’s 14-7 Super Bowl loss to the unbeaten Miami Dolphins in 1972 to become Montreal’s head coach.
Levy had a 43-31-4 CFL record and was its top coach in ’74. That’s the same year he captured his first Grey Cup title, a 20-7 win over Edmonton.
TENNIS
VENETO OPEN: Fourth-seeded Claire Liu was upset by Tatjana Maria 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-3 in the second round at Baiba, Italy.
Maria will next face sixth-seeded Diane Parry in the quarterfinals. The Frenchwoman beat Joanne Zuger 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
QUEEN’S CLUB: Defending champion Matteo Berrettini stayed on course for back-to-back grass-court titles by recovering from a set down to beat lucky loser Denis Kudla and reach the quarterfinals at London.
Berrettini won 3-6, 7-5 (5), 6-4 and will be one of just two seeded players in the quarterfinals.
SOCCER
BARCELONA: Dani Alves is leaving Barcelona for a second time, five months after the veteran Brazil right back returned to the Spanish club he helped lead to 23 titles.
The 39-year-old Alves played for Barcelona from 2008-16, winning the Champions League three times and six Spanish leagues among other trophies. He started a second stint with Barcelona in January as a free agent on a contract that expired this summer.
Alves scored one goal in 17 appearances last season, which Barcelona ended without a title. He finished his Barcelona career with 408 appearances in total, the second most for a non-Spaniard behind Lionel Messi.
“I would like to thank all the coaching staff for the opportunity they gave me to give something back to this club and wear this marvelous shirt again,” Alves wrote on Instagram. “I hope you don’t miss my craziness and daily dose of happiness too much.”
Alves has also played for Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Sevilla. He did not say what his future plans are. He has said he hopes to make Brazil’s squad for the World Cup in Qatar.
WEIGHTLIFTING
BAN: The former Olympic official who ran the sport of weightlifting for more than 40 years was banned for life for covering up doping cases.
Tamas Ajan of Hungary was found guilty of charges relating to tampering, fraudulent conduct and complicity in covering-up years of doping cases, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said.
The case came after allegations broadcast by German network ARD in January 2020 were verified by anti-doping investigator Richard McLaren.
McLaren was appointed by the International Weightlifting Federation when Ajan was forced out of office after 20 years as president. He was general secretary for the previous 24 years.
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