briefs
Rangers fall
Fort Cherry dropped a 49-44 decision to Sto-Rox in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Boys Class AA playoffs Saturday.
No further information was made available to the Observer-Reporter.
Pirates land pitcher
The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired right-hander Duane Underwood Jr. in a trade with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
Underwood, 26, went 1-0 with a 5.66 ERA in 17 games with Chicago during the pandemic-shortened season. He was designated for assignment on Tuesday.
Underwood, a second-round pick in the 2012 amateur draft, is 1-1 with a 5.20 ERA in 30 career games.
The Cubs received minor league first baseman Shendrik Apostel in the deal. The 20-year-old Apostel was signed by the Pirates out of Curaçao in July 2017.
Meanwhile the Pirates clubbed Baltimore, 13-1, in spring training action Sunday.
In college basketball
Seth Lundy scored 31 points – one away from matching his career high – and Penn State rallied to stun Maryland 66-61 on Sunday night.
Lundy made 11 of Penn State’s 19 field goals.
n Al-Amir Dawes scored a season-high 21 points, knocking down five 3-pointers, and Clemson defeated Pitt 77-62 on Saturday to end the regular season.
The Tigers (16-6, 10-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) pulled away early in the second half when Nick Honor drained a 3-pointer to start a 9-0 run, expanding Clemson’s lead from 43-41 to 52-41 in 97 seconds.
n Minus star freshman Cade Cunningham, No. 17 Oklahoma State still found some welcome momentum going into the postseason.
Sophomore Avery Anderson III scored a career-high 31 points and the Cowboys, with Cunningham sitting out the regular-season finale because of a sprained ankle, beat No. 6 West Virginia 85-80 on Saturday.
Oklahoma State has won six of seven heading into the Big 12 tournament.
Larson wins in Las Vegas
Kyle Larson wasn’t sure he’d ever race again in NASCAR, and if he could, he didn’t know who would even hire him.
It was Rick Hendrick who took the chance on a driver many believed was radioactive for sponsors. Larson’s use of a racial slur while participating in an online race last April cost him his job, his reputation and his ability to attract the corporations that fund a race team.
Hendrick said he’d pay for the car himself because he was that confident that Larson, reformed after months of self-work, could be redeemed.
On Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced to his first NASCAR victory since he was reinstated from a nearly yearlong suspension. He ran just the first four races last season and was hired by Hendrick Motorsports when NASCAR said the suspension would lift at the start of this year.
DeChambeau wins at Bay Hill
Bryson DeChambeau received a text message Sunday morning from Tiger Woods to keep fighting, good advice for a final round that turned out to be the toughest at Bay Hill in 41 years.
Inspiration from Arnold Palmer is everywhere, and DeChambeau was particularly drawn to the King’s motto to play boldly.
DeChambeau needed every bit of that Sunday to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, playing the final 17 holes without a bogey, entertaining thousands with another monstrous drive over the water and delivering one last par with a 5-foot putt on the final hole for a one-shot victory over Lee Westwood.
He looked dapper in his tam o’shanter cap and red cardigan sweater that goes to the winner.
“I think this red cardigan is not only for Mr. Palmer, but I would say it’s a little bit for Tiger, as well, knowing what place he’s in right now,” DeChambeau said.
Woods, recovering from serious leg injuries from his single-car crash in Los Angeles two weeks ago, would have witnessed quite a show in blustery conditions, fast fairways and greens to quick they looked almost white.
DeChambeau closed with a 71, matching the low score of the final round in which no one broke 70 on Sunday at Bay Hill for the first time since 1980.