Sports briefs: EKU earns its 12th OVC men's golf title
Eastern Kentucky's men's golf team won its 12th Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title Sunday. The Colonels were five shots better than three schools that tied for second — Murray State, Belmont, Tennessee Tech — at The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at The Shoals in Alabama.
Tennessee-Martin's Brendon Caballero won the individual title with 5-under par 211 over three rounds, which was one shot better than Jacksonville State's Tomasz Anderson. The duo played in the same pairing on Sunday and Anderson had a par putt on 18 that would have forced a three-hole playoff but it came up just short.
Belmont's Ashton Van Horne, a Scott County graduate, was third at 3-under par. Eastern Kentucky's Jared Brown (South Warren) finished seventh at even par. The Colonels' Taylor Riggs (Oldham County) and Murray State's Brock Simmons (Calloway County) and Jordan Smith (Murray) tied for eighth at 1 over. Players tied for 11th at 2 over included Morehead State's Will Branham (Pikeville) and Eastern Kentucky's Will Sallee (Lafayette) and Patric Sundlof.
Eastern Kentucky also won the women's OVC Tournament title this past week. The Colonels' Sofie Levin won the individual title, followed by Murray State's Minta Yin.
■ Justin Rose birdied the final two holes to win the Zurich Classic in Avondale, La. Rose, who entered the week ranked ninth in the world, completed a 7-under 65 in the rain-delayed third round and closed with a 66 at TPC Louisiana for his seventh PGA Tour title. The Englishman has won at least once in six straight seasons, the second-longest streak on the tour behind Dustin Johnson's eight straight.
■ Lydia Ko won the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic for the second straight year, beating Morgan Pressel on the second hole of a playoff in Daly City, Calif. The 18-year-old Ko never had the lead Sunday until she rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole for her seventh career victory. She also made birdie on the 18th in regulation for a 2-under 70 to force a playoff.
Pressel closed with a 72. She missed three birdie putts on the 18th hole — from 15 feet in regulation, from 10 feet on the first playoff hole and from 8 feet on the second playoff hole.
Brooke Henderson, a 17-year-old from Canada, had a 74 and missed the playoff by one shot.
■ Joe Durant had a hole-in-one and teamed with Billy Andrade to win the Champions Tour's Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Mo. Andrade and Durant closed with a 9-under 45 at the par-3 Top of the Rock course, playing nine holes of modified alternate shot and nine of better ball. Durant aced the third hole on the second nine, using a 7-iron on the 167-yard hole.
■ Phil Mickelson withdrew from the Match Play Championship in San Francisco because of personal reasons. Mickelson did not elaborate in a short statement Sunday released by the PGA Tour. Mickelson said he is happy with the new format and he likes Harding Park as a venue for the 64-man field. He said only that it was unfortunate he would not be able to play this year. Mickelson will be replaced by Mikko Ilonen.
UK Sports
Bat Cats clobbered in series finale at Florida
In search of its first series sweep at Florida in 20 years, Kentucky's baseball team jumped out to a one-run lead. But the fifth-ranked Gators scored 10 unanswered runs in a 10-1 win over the Wildcats in Gainesville. UK (25-17, 10-10 Southeastern Conference) was trying to extend its winning streak to seven games with a second consecutive league sweep.
UK starter Andrew Nelson (2-3) took the loss, allowing eight hits and five runs in 32⁄3 innings.
The Cats' next game is on the road against No. 3 Louisville at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Etc.Canadiens, Wild advance in NHL playoffs
Carey Price made 43 saves, Brendan Gallagher scored in the first period, and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-0 to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs. Max Pacioretty sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1 second remaining. ... Zach Parise scored twice, including a short-handed, highlight-reel goal to get Minnesota going in the first period, and the Wild advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
■ Trevor Gott (Tates Creek, UK) earned his fourth save of the season in Double-A Arkansas' 8-6 win at Springfield. The Los Angeles Angels prospect pitched one scoreless inning and lowered his ERA to 1.17 in seven appearances. ... The Class A Lexington Legends split a doubleheader at West Virginia. Torey Deshazier (2-1) gave up one run in six innings in the opener, which the Legends won 4-3. The Power won the second game 5-4.
■ Miranda Kramer had 18 strikeouts, a Conference USA record for a league game, and pitched 11 innings in the Western Kentucky softball team's 3-1 loss to Charlotte. It was one K short of Kramer's career high, as she had 19 against Troy earlier this season in a seven-inning contest.
The last word
The Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria followed up Saturday's 4-for-4 night with another perfect stat line Sunday. Longoria singled in his first three at-bats, extending his career high to seven consecutive hits. Longoria's only miscue came in the fifth, when he blasted a shot off the leftfield wall but was thrown out trying to stretch a single. He said:
"I've got the Little League mentality going right now. I'm just running until I get tagged."
This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Sports briefs: EKU earns its 12th OVC men's golf title."