Saturday's sports briefs
June 22, 2008 at 5:01AM
Gerogia reaches finals Rich Poythress tied a College World Series record with three doubles, Ryan Peisel hit a three-run homer and Georgia withstood Stanford's ninth-inning comeback try to advance to the championship round with a 10-8 victory on Saturday in Omaha.
Georgia, which wrapped up Bracket 1 after a four-day layoff, will play Fresno State or North Carolina in the best-of-three finals that start Monday. The Tar Heels stayed alive by beating the Bulldogs 4-3 Saturday night, on Chad Flack's go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. The teams play again tonight.
Peisel's second home run in three CWS games and 12th of the season put the Bulldogs (44-23-1) up 9-3 in the fifth. Poythress, who became the eighth player in CWS history to hit three doubles in a game, drove in four runs.
SOCCER
Russia reaches Euro semis Russia scored two goals in overtime Saturday and advanced to the semifinals of the European Championship with a 3-1 upset of the Netherlands in Basel, Switzerland.
Dimitry Torbinski and Andrei Arshavin scored within five minutes of each other in the second half of extra time. Roman Pavlyuchenko also scored for Russia, while Ruud van Nistelrooy scored for the Dutch in the 86th minute.
Russia will play the winner of today's match between Spain and Italy on Thursday.
It was a sweet victory for Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who enhanced his reputation of getting lesser-known teams far in tournaments. The Russia coach guided South Korea to the 2002 World Cup semifinals, and he took Australia to the second round of the 2006 World Cup.
"What the boys did tonight, their commitment, to outplay tactically, physically a Dutch team -- after the game I don't want to talk in big words, but it's a miracle," Hiddink said.
• The United States won the Peace Queen Cup women's tournament, beating Canada 1-0 in Suwon, South Korea.
TENNIS
Poland's Radwanska wins Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland won her third title of the year, beating Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 6-7 (11), 6-4 in the final of the Eastbourne (England) International Women's Open. Radwanska, seeded fourth, joined Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova as the tour's only three-time winners in 2008.
• Fourth-seeded Ivo Karlovic successfully defended his Nottingham (England) Open title with a 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8) victory over Fernando Verdasco. Rain forced the final of the grass-court Wimbledon warmup indoors.
• Top-seeded David Ferrer won his first grass-court title, 6-4, 6-2 over Marc Gicquel at the Ordina Open in Den Bosch, Netherlands.
Earlier, Thai qualifier Tamarine Tanasugarn beat third-seeded Dinara Safina 7-5, 6-3 to capture her first grass-court crown.
AROUND THE HORN
Walking: Former New York Giants lineman George Martin finished his cross-country walk, raising $2 million for sick 9/11 rescue workers. Martin ended his nine-month, 3,003-mile trek at San Diego's Embarcadero Park.
Boxing: Andre Berto stopped Miguel Rodriguez in the seventh round to claim the WBC welterweight title in Memphis. The bout became a battle for the belt after former champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. retired this month.
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Grumbling about the Timberwolves’ inconsistency and Twins’ lack of offseason activity can dominate the narratives. But both teams could be in better shape than some might think.
