BASEBALL
Chad Epperson will return for his second season as the Portland Sea Dogs manager, the Red Sox announced on Saturday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Chad Epperson will be back for a second season as manager of the Portland Sea Dogs, leading a coaching staff for the 2023 season that was announced Saturday by the Boston Red Sox.
Epperson guided the Sea Dogs to their first Eastern League playoff berth since 2014, as Portland was the Northeast Division’s second-half champion with a record of 45-24. Overall, the Sea Dogs were 75-63.
Doug Clark is also returning for his second season as hitting coach, and Joe Hudson remains the strength and conditioning coach.
The staff also includes pitching coach Sean Isaac, assistant coaches Mickey Jiang and Pablo Cabrera and trainer Brian Stachura.
HOCKEY
ECHL: Alex-Olivier Voyer, Patrick Shea, Mathew Santos and Grant Gabriele scored during a four-goal second period that carried the Maine Mariners to a 6-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals at Cross Insurance Arena.
Nate Kallen gave Maine a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Alex Kile got a short-handed goal in the third and also had two assists, and Michael DiPietro made 33 saves for his eighth straight win.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Former MVP Candace Parker announced on social media that she would sign with the defending champion Las Vegas Aces.
Parker spent the past two seasons playing for her hometown Sky, leading Chicago to the WNBA championship in 2021. She posted on Instagram that Chicago would always be her home, but “my family’s home is on the west coast. She also won a championship playing for the Los Angeles Sparks.
“To play for a championship close to home is the perfect situation for us. I’m looking forward to continuing the journey this summer in Las Vegas.”
The free-agent signing period begins Wednesday.
NBA: Joel Embiid won the battle of MVP candidates with 47 points and 18 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers extended their winning streak to seven games with a 126-119 win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in Philadelphia.
• Kyrie Irving scored 21 of his 32 points in the final 91/2 minutes, carrying the Brooklyn Nets to their ninth straight victory over the New York Knicks, 122-115 in New York.
SKIING
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: American skier Mikaela Shiffrin dominated a slalom Saturday in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic for her 85th career victory to move within one of the World Cup record set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in the 1980s.
Shiffrin can match the best mark of 86 wins in another slalom Sunday.
Shiffrin had shared the women’s record of 82 wins with former teammate Lindsey Vonn before triumphing at back-to-back giant slaloms in Italy this week and adding a third straight win Saturday.
The American celebrated with a shoulder wiggle and a bright smile after finishing the race, before third-place Wendy Holdener and runner-up Lena Dürr came over to hug her.
MEN’S WORLD CUP: Swiss skier Marco Odermatt won a men’s World Cup super-G in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy in a triumphant return from his injury layoff, 10 days before the start of the world championships.
Odermatt skipped two races last week to rest a sore left knee but the defending overall champion was back to his best on the scenic Olympia delle Tofane course, beating his Norwegian rival Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by 0.35 seconds.
It was Odermatt’s third super-G win of the season, while Kilde won the other two events.
FIGURE SKATING
U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS: Madison Chock and Evan Bates defended their ice dancing title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California, scoring 137.85 in the free dance for a top total score of 229.75.
Trailing the champions by more than 22 points in the total score, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons earned the silver medal with a free dance score of 126.06 for their program set to “Rhapsody in Blue,” while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who were fourth after the short program, scored 121.08 and moved up a spot to take the bronze. Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik continued a strong debut season as partners, finishing fourth with a 119.95.
GOLF
EUROPEAN TOUR: Top-ranked Rory McIlroy and rival Patrick Reed were two shots off the lead at the halfway point of the Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Richard Bland, Thomas Pieters and amateur Michael Thorbjornsen all reached 10-under overall at Emirates Golf Club for a share of the lead after two rounds of the weather-impacted tournament, which will conclude Monday.
Thorbjornsen, who is No. 2 in the world amateur rankings, shot an 8-under 64. He started on the 10th and birdied five of his first six holes before chipping for an eagle at the par-5 18th. He added a bogey and two more birdies.
PGA TOUR: Southern California native Max Homa came from five shots off the lead to win the Farmers Insurance Open by two strokes over Keegan Bradley at Torrey Pines in San Diego, where Jon Rahm imploded early and missed a shot at winning his third straight start and moving to No. 1 in the world.
Homa reeled in Sam Ryder, who was trying for a wire-to-wire win, and then held off Bradley and Collin Morikawa for his sixth PGA Tour win and fourth in his home state. He took the Genesis at Riviera in 2021 and has won the Fortinet Championship in Nampa in consecutive years.
Homa closed with a 6-under 66 to finish at 13-under 275. He made a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 18 and pumped his right fist before greeting wife Lacey and infant son Cam just off the green.
Bradley also shot a 66 on the South Course. Morikawa shot 69 and finished at 10 under. Ryder shot 75, his worst round of the week, and tied for fourth with Sahith Theegala (70) and Sungjae Im (70) at 9 under.
SOCCER
U.S. MEN: Sean Johnson kept his sixth career clean sheet, and four more U.S. players made their senior international debuts as the men wrapped up their annual January training camp with a scoreless draw against Colombia in Carson, California.
FA CUP: Leeds and Leicester avoided potential upsets to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup, but Premier League survival remains the priority for both clubs.
Leeds won 3-1 against third-tier Accrington Stanley, while Leicester overcame fourth-tier Walsall 1-0.
The wins provided a temporary distraction for both teams who each sit just one point above the relegation zone in the league.
NWSL: The National Women’s Soccer League is close to expanding by three teams, which will be in Boston, Utah and the San Francisco area, according to a Friday report in the Wall Street Journal.
The women’s pro league previously indicated it would add at least two teams by 2024. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported that the franchises in northern California and Utah are set to start play next year, with Boston to join at a later date.
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