BASEBALL
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats took the lead on RBI singles by Reggie Pruitt and Samad Taylor in the seventh inning and went on to beat the Portland Sea Dogs 5-3 Thursday at Hadlock Field.
Tate Matheny and Pedro Castellanos had two hits apiece for the Sea Dogs, and Joey Meneses hit a two-run single.
HOCKEY
NHL: Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon have been named the finalists for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.
McDavid, considered the likely winner of the award, dominated the 2020-21 scoring race with 105 points in 56 games – 21 more than Oilers teammate Leon Draisaitl, who won MVP honors last year. A McDavid win would make the Oilers the first team with different Hart Trophy winners in consecutive seasons since the Boston Bruins in 1968-69 (Phil Esposito) and 1969-70 (Bobby Orr).
Matthews scored a league-leading 41 goals in 52 games. MacKinnon had 20 goals and 45 assists in 48 games to pace the Avalanche’s top-ranked offense and help them win the Presidents’ Trophy for the best team during the regular season. He is a finalist for the third time in four years.
• The Columbus Blue Jackets promoted Brad Larsen to fill the head coaching vacancy left after the team parted ways with John Tortorella after six seasons.
The 43-year-old Larsen, a former NHL forward who has been an assistant coach with the Blue Jackets for the past seven seasons, agreed to a three-year contract through the 2023-24 season, General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen said.
GOLF
PGA: Dustin Johnson got off to a fast start in his home-state Palmetto Championship, shooting a 6-under 65 that left him a shot behind leader Wes Roach in Ridgeland, South Carolina.
Johnson, the world’s top-ranked player and a South Carolina native, hadn’t played since missing the cut the last time he teed it up in the Palmetto State at the PGA Championship on Kiawah Island last month.
Johnson appeared he might hold a share of the lead before Roach, a 32-year-old seeking his first PGA Tour victory, rolled in a 19-footer for a birdie on the 16th hole. He was a stroke in front of Johnson, Doc Redman, Chesson Hadley and Erik van Rooyen.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Austria’s Christine Wolf and England’s Sam Horsfield shared the lead after a day of low scoring in the inaugural Scandinavian Mixed in Gothenburg, Sweden. The field of 78 men and 78 women competed on the same course at Vallda Golf and Country Club for one prize fund of 1 million euros and one trophy, a first on the European Tour.
Wolf had an eagle and six birdies in an 8-under 64 to set the clubhouse target, which was matched minutes later by Horsfield, who carded nine birdies and a solitary bogey.
“At home there’s a lot of guys I play against because there’s not many girls around, so I just really like competing against the guys,” said Wolf, who won her first title on the Ladies European Tour in India in 2019.
Horsfield also enjoyed the format and was impressed by playing partner Alice Hewson, who returned a 68. “I didn’t really know what to expect to be completely honest with you, but she played really well and I had a good time,” Horsfield said.
TRACK AND FIELD
DIAMOND LEAGUE: Norwegian youngster Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke a 21-year-old European record as he won the 5,000 meters at a Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy.
Ingebrigtsen, 20, posted a time of 12 minutes, 48.45 seconds to surpass the European mark of 12:49.71 set by Mohammed Mourhit of Belgium in 2000.
TENNIS
STUTTGART OPEN: Swiss teenager Dominic Stricker stunned the second-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) to reach the quarterfinals in Stuttgart, Germany.
The 18-year-old Stricker, who is ranked 335th, once again showed his composure in the tiebreakers a day after beating Radu Albot 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) on his grass-court debut. Stricker hit eight aces and saved five of the six break points he faced against Hurkacz to set up a meeting with Sam Querrey. The American defeated Australian qualifier James Duckworth 6-4, 7-6 (7).
Stricker was ranked No. 1,168 at the start of the season but is climbing rapidly. He also reached the quarterfinals on his ATP Tour main draw debut in Geneva three weeks ago.
Third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated South Africa’s Lloyd Harris 6-3, 7-6 (4). The Canadian next plays sixth-seeded Ugo Humbert, who overcame home favorite Yannick Hanfmann 7-6 (9), 6-2. Also, fourth-seeded Alex de Minaur won an all-Australian clash against Jordan Thompson 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-4 for a quarterfinal against Austrian qualifier Jurij Rodionov.
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