BASEBALL

Jose Butto pitched six shutout inning to lead the Rumble Ponies to a 9-0 win over the Portland Sea Dogs at Binghamton, New York, on Tuesday night in the start of a seven-game series.

Butto (1-0) allowed five hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

Portland had a seven-game winning streak on the road stopped.

Binghamton padded a 1-0 lead with three runs in the sixth, two scoring on Yoel Romero’s double.

The Rumble Ponies tacked on five runs in the eighth.

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Carlos Cortes had three hits for Binghamton.

The Sea Dogs had five hits, two by Devlin Granberg.

NECBL: Charles Middleton had a hit and two RBI, JuJuan Lacewell-Cason had two hits, a stolen base and a run scored, and Justin Grech hit a solo home run as North Adams beat the Sanford Mainers 5-2 in the quarterfinals at North Adams, Massachusetts.

Brian Zeldin gave up three hits over 6 2/3 innings for the win, striking out two and walking two.

Freddy Rojas Jr. had an RBI sacrifice fly for Sanford. Mitchell Moralez scored on an error.

Sanford finished its season 16-26.

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AUTO RACING

NASCAR: Trackhouse Racing has signed Ross Chastain as its second Cup Series driver in a multiyear deal announced.

The 28-year-old Chastain currently drives the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Trackhouse purchased the Ganassi operation in late June in a deal that takes effect at the end of this season and includes both of Ganassi’s Cup Series charters.

COLLEGES

OHIO STATE: Football players and athletes in Ohio State’s other 35 sports now will be able to make money off the sale of Buckeyes jerseys bearing their names and numbers.

The school said it entered into a group licensing agreement allowing athletes who opt in to the program to share in the profit from jerseys bearing Ohio State trademarks and their names and numbers.

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HOCKEY

AHL: Former Buffalo Sabres captain Michael Peca is rejoining the organization after being hired to become an assistant coach of the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester, New York.

The 47-year-old Peca still lives in the Buffalo area, and spent last season as a player development coach for the Washington Capitals. He spent the previous eight years working his way up the ranks from coach to general manager of the Ontario Junior Hockey League Buffalo Junior Sabres.

Peca joins Seth Appert’s staff by replacing Adam Mair, who was promoted to be the Sabres’ director of player development.

HORSE RACING

HAMBLETONIAN: Captain Corey is the 3-1 favorite and stablemate Delayed Hanover is the 7-2 second choice in the $1 million Hambletonian final on Saturday at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

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Captain Corey and Delayed Hanover, both trained by Ake Svanstedt, won the two elimination divisions last week. The first five finishers in each elimination race advanced to the one-mile final for 3-year-old trotters.

SOCCER

ERIKSEN PROGRESSING: Inter Milan midfielder Christian Eriksen is back in Italy for the first time since his near-tragic collapse at the European Championship.

Italian media reports Eriksen landed in Milan and has already met with Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta.

In one of the scariest scenes in soccer history, Eriksen fell face-first onto the field during Denmark’s opening match against Finland on June 12. His teammates formed a protective wall around him as medical workers resuscitated him with a defibrillator. The 29-year-old Eriksen spent a week in the hospital, where he had a type of pacemaker fitted, before going home to Denmark to recover. He has also undergone a raft of medical tests to discover the cause for the cardiac arrest.

Eriksen will undergo further tests in Italy and is not expected to be back on a soccer field for at least six months.

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Depending on the cause of the cardiac arrest and the nature of his treatment, he could be prohibited from playing in Italy but could continue his career in England or the Netherlands where the rules are different.

BAN IMPOSED: FIFA banned its former interim president Issa Hayatou for alleged wrongdoing in a commercial deal for African soccer.

Hayatou, who was Confederation of African Football president for 29 years until 2017, was banned for one year for a breach of “duty of loyalty” rules, FIFA said in announcing the ruling of its ethics committee.

He was also fined 30,000 Swiss francs ($33,000) though it is unclear how FIFA can enforce payment.

The FIFA investigation concluded Hayatou negotiated and signed CAF “into an anti-competitive agreement with Lagardère Sport,” a media rights agency based in France. The 12-year deal was worth a reported $1 billion and gave exclusive rights to CAF competitions including the African Cup of Nations and African Champions League through 2028. It was later canceled.

Hayatou was a longtime FIFA vice president and its stand-in president for several months between Sepp Blatter’s suspension from office in October 2015 and the election of Gianni Infantino four months later. The 74-year-old Cameroonian lost the CAF presidency in 2017 in an election against Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar, whose campaign had been supported by Infantino.

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PREMIER LEAGUE: Premier League players will continue to take a knee before games during the 2021-22 season in an antiracism gesture.

The league said it “wholeheartedly supported” the decision and confirmed that players and match officials will also continue to wear “No Room For Racism” badges on their shirts.

UEFA: UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings against the English Football Association over the behavior of some England fans at the European Championship final at Wembley Stadium.

Fans without tickets forced their way into the stadium and there were ugly scenes in the stands during the July 11 game, which Italy won 3-2 on penalties.

OBITS

OLYMPICS: Angela Bailey, the Canadian women’s record holder in the 100 meters and an Olympic 4×100 relay silver medalist, has died. She was 59.

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Her death Sunday was confirmed by Athletics Canada. The family said she died at home from lung cancer, adding she never smoked and suffered from mental illness for five years.

Bailey’s record time of 10.98 seconds in the 100 for Canadian women was set in 1987 and still stands. She was part of the silver medal-winning 4×100 team at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Bailey’s medal-winning relay team members – Marita Payne, Angella Taylor-Issajenko and France Gareau – paid tribute to her in a statement, calling her “a tremendous competitor on the track.”

TENNIS

CITI OPEN: Sebastian Korda  and Brandon Nakashima picked up straight-set victories at Washington.

The 12th-seeded Korda, who is coming off a fourth-round run at Wimbledon, moved into the second round by beating Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-4.

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Wild-card entry Nakashima, the runner-up in his past two ATP appearances, defeated Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3 in a first-round match.

NATIONAL BANK OPEN: Naomi Osaka pulled out of the hard-court tuneup to be played in Montreal this month ahead of the U.S. Open.

The tournament announced the withdrawals of Osaka and two other top-10 players who have won Grand Slam titles, Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek.

Osaka is coming off a third-round loss at the Tokyo Olympics, where she had the honor of lighting the cauldron during the opening ceremony.

Before that, the 23-year-old Osaka had not competed anywhere since withdrawing before her second-round match at the French Open, citing the need for a mental health break. She also sat out Wimbledon entirely.


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