Briefs
Pony baseball
Michael Shallcross only allowed five hits and two runs as Ace Sporting Goods defeated Marthinsen & Salvitti, 3-2, to win the Washington Pony League Championship.
Shallcross tossed a complete game, surrendering one walk and not allowing an extra-base hit.
Connor Roberts had a pair of singles for Ace.
Marthinsen & Salvitti’s Troy Woodhouse was the only other playing with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4.
At The Meadows
Stride Of Pride busted out of jail at the top of the lane and went on to capture his second straight victory in Saturday’s $20,000 Preferred Handicap Pace at The Meadows.
Stride Of Pride was third into the final turn but in tight quarters along the cones. When Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. angled him wide off the pylons, the 5-year-old Manhardt-Apple B gelding brushed past Reggiano, who raced well first over, and downed him by a neck in 1:50.3. Rock The Nite shot the Lightning Lane for show.
Ron Burke trains Stride Of Pride, who extended his career bankroll to $146,627, for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, LLC and RTC Stables.
Mike Wilder and Wrenn each collected three wins on the 13-race card.
High Point National
Eli Tomac withstood his stiffest challenge to date in the 450 Class to capture his fourth straight victory and Aaron Plessinger earned a 1-1 sweep for his second win of the season in the 250 Class at the Red Bull High Point National from High Point Raceway at Mt. Morris.
Toman split races with Marvin Musquin but earned the tiebreak to now sit in a tie for 10th on the all-time wins list with Jeff Ward.
“(Today) was good. I was able to get out front early so I didn’t have to deal with a lot of roost. This track always has a tendency to get rough, so it was good to make things easier on myself (by getting good starts),” explained Tomac. “The first moto was tough. I wasn’t as good as Marv [Musquin] in that one. I was fighting myself and wasn’t flowing. I regrouped and got closer [in Moto 2], but Marv was still all over us. We were just able to hold him off.”
Toman remains 28 points ahead of Musquin in the 450 Class standings.
For Plessinger, it was his fourth career win and first time in his career that he’s won multiple races in a season.
“We had a really good day at Glen Helen, but then my bike didn’t really work well in Colorado. We did some testing during the off week and I think it showed today,” said Plessinger. “We got some good starts and I was able to ride my own race. In the second moto I worked my way to the front and then something happened to Jeremy’s [Martin] bike, so we ended up with 1-1 finishes.”
The win, combined with Martin’s 10th-place finish (2-33), moved Plessinger back atop the point standings where he will have sole possession of the red plate for the first time. He sits 20 points ahead of Martin, who dropped just one position to second.
In college baseball
North Carolina knocked out Oregon State ace Luke Heimlich during a five-run third inning and went on to beat the Beavers 8-6 on Saturday in the opening game of the College World Series.
The Tar Heels (44-18) used six pitchers in a 4-hour, 24-minute slog in 95-degree heat that was the longest nine-inning game in CWS history.
Ashton McGee and Ben Casparius, North Carolina’s Nos. 8 and 9 batters, combined to drive in five runs as the Tar Heels built leads of 6-1 and 8-4.
Heimlich (16-2), the two-time Pac-12 pitcher of the year who lasted just 2 1/3 innings – his shortest start in two years.