BASEBALL
Nathan Hickey and Stephen Scott homered in the first inning, and Tyler Dearden and Niko Kavadas also went deep for the Portland Sea Dogs in a 10-5 Eastern League win Friday night against the Somerset Patriots at Hadlock Field.
Hickey, a top catching prospect who was promoted this week, gave Portland a 2-0 lead with his first Double-A home run. Scott’s third home run of the season made it 3-0, and the Sea Dogs extended their lead to 6-0 with three runs in the second, including an RBI double by Phillip Sikes.
Dearden hit his first home run of the season in the sixth after Somerset cut its deficit to 8-4. Kavadas belted his third home run in the eighth.
Dearden was 2 for 3 with two walks and three runs scored, while Christian Koss went 3 for 5 and scored twice.
GOLF
PGA: Scottie Scheffler shot his second consecutive 7-under 64 for a one-shot lead over Ryan Palmer and Mackenzie Hughes midway through the AT&T Byron Nelson in McKinney, Texas.
Palmer’s 65 and a 64 from Hughes put them at 13-under 129.
LPGA: Jin Young Ko shot her second straight 4-under 68 at the Founders Cup in Clifton, New Jersey, and shared the halfway lead with Sarah Kemp.
Kemp, whose best finish on tour is a tie for second in 2019, shot a 65 to match Ko, a two-time LPGA Tour player of the year, at 8-under 136.
Defending champion Minjee Lee (69), South Korean rookie Hae Ran Ryu (70) and Aditi Ashok (68) of India were a shot behind the leaders.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Ernie Els birdied the final two holes to cap a 6-under 66 in Birmingham, Alabama, and take a one-stroke lead over Paul Broadhurst after the second round of the Regions Tradition, the first of five PGA Tour Champions majors.
Defending champion Steve Stricker is two shots back at 8 under after his second straight 68, tied with first-round co-leader Timothy O’Neal (69).
EUROPEAN TOUR: Swedish golfer Simon Forsstrom, ranked No. 429 in the world, maintained his one-stroke lead in the Soudal Open in Antwerp, Belgium, by posting a 4-under 67 in the second round.
Jeong weon Ko of France moved into second place at 10 under with his second straight 66.
LIV: Branden Grace shot a 9-under 61 to build a two-shot lead after one round of LIV Golf Tulsa at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Dustin Johnson was tied for second with Brendan Steele after finishing his 63 with five straight birdies.
TENNIS
ITALIAN OPEN: Six-time champion Novak Djokovic was tested by 61st-ranked Tomas Martin Etcheverry in a 7-6 (5), 6-2 second-round win in Rome.
Djokovic’s third-round opponent will be Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Stan Wawrinka, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
In women’s action, top-ranked Iga Swiatek opened her bid for a third straight Rome title with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Paula Badosa defeated Ons Jabeur, last year’s runner-up, 6-1, 6-4.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Danish driver Christian Lundgaard won his first IndyCar pole, claiming the No. 1 starting spot for Saturday’s Indianapolis Grand Prix.
Last season’s rookie of the year posted a fast lap of 1 minute, 9.3321 seconds on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.
A late wiggle on Felix Rosenqvist’s final qualifying run left the Swede with the second-best lap, 1:09.3348. Alex Palou earned the No. 3 starting spot.
HOCKEY
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Alex Tuch scored two goals and Drew O’Çonnor had a goal and two assists to lead the U.S. to a 4-1 win over defending champion Finland in a tournament opener in Tampere, Finland.
In Riga, Latvia, MacKenzie Weeger scored a goal and added two assists as Canada opened with a 6-0 win over Latvia 6-0.
CYCLING
GIRO D’ITALIA: The first mountain stage ended without any changes to the top of the overall standings, as the leaders all crossed together amid big banks of snow in Campo Imperatore, Italy, three minutes behind a group of three breakaway riders.
Italian rider Davide Bais won the seventh stage when he attacked the other two breakaway riders with 150 meters to go. It was his first professional victory.
Norwegian rider Andreas Leknessund held on to the pink jersey, while prerace favorites Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic remained second and fifth overall.
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