BASEBALL
DENVER (AP) - The NL West-leading Colorado Rockies locked up a playoff berth for the second straight season, beating the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Friday night for their eighth win in a row behind a resilient start from Kyle Freeland.
David Dahl homered for the fifth consecutive game and Ian Desmond hit a two-run homer against his former team to help Colorado clinch at least a wild card with two games remaining. The Rockies entered the night with a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers as they try to wrap up the franchise’s first division crown.
Wade Davis struck out Bryce Harper looking to end the game and earn his 43rd save. The sellout crowd at Coors Field roared and fireworks went off.
The Rockies are headed to the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time in team history. This is their fifth playoff trip since the franchise began in 1993 - last year, they lost to Arizona in the NL wild-card game.
NEW YORK (AP) - Aaron Judge again has baseball’s most popular jersey.
MLB says the Yankee slugger’s No. 99 was the top seller for the second straight season. Judge beat out 2017 AL MVP Jose Altuve, who will be trying to repeat as a World Series champion with the Houston Astros next month.
Judge and the Yankees will face Oakland in the AL wild-card game Wednesday. Teammate Giancarlo Stanton was ninth in jersey sales in his first season with New York.
MVP candidates Javier Baez and Mookie Betts each jumped seven spots into the top five. Baez, an electrifying infielder with the Chicago Cubs, ranked third. Betts, the AL MVP favorite with the Boston Red Sox, was fifth.
Clayton Kershaw was fourth on the list in what could be his final season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kershaw can opt out of the final two years of his deal at the end of the season. Bryce Harper ranked 13th in the last season of his contract with the Washington Nationals.
Los Angeles Angels two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani ranked eighth.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - LSU basketball player Wayde Sims has died after he was shot during a fight involving several men early Friday near the campus of another university in his hometown of Baton Rouge.
Sims, 20, was shot around 12:25 a.m. and died from his wounds at a hospital, Baton Rouge police Sgt. Don Coppola Jr. said.
The shooting happened near Southern University’s A.W. Mumford Stadium, where homecoming festivities are taking place this weekend.
Police have begun circulating a video of a fight among several men in a street which they believe led to the shooting of Sims. Police did not identify Sims in the video, which also shows cars stopping to avoid the melee, but Coppola said police are primarily interested in identifying a man seen wearing red pants with a white stripe.
STORRS, Conn. (AP) - The University of Connecticut and former basketball coach Kevin Ollie have been notified by the NCAA of alleged recruiting and other violations during his tenure at the school.
The notice of allegations, released Friday night by UConn with the names of recruits redacted, include numerous charges, including unethical conduct by Ollie for allegedly provided false or misleading information about video calls to a recruit from two former UConn stars, Hall of Famer Ray Allen and San Antonio Spurs guard Rudy Gay.
Based on the allegations, the NCAA recommends the case be reviewed by a hearing panel of its Committee on Infractions “pursuant to procedures applicable to a severe breach of conduct.”
Ollie was fired by UConn in March with cause, allowing the school to forgo paying him the $10 million left on his contract. The school later released 1,300 pages documents outlining alleged NCAA violations under Ollie.
Ollie is challenging the school’s decision to withhold the money and has asserted that any violations were minimal and isolated.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - UCLA freshman Shareef O’Neal will sit out the entire upcoming basketball season because of a heart condition that the son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal says is “risky.”
The younger O’Neal didn’t specify the condition in a TMZ Sports video , saying only that “I know it’s something serious and it’s risky.”
O’Neal said he will attend classes and take a medical redshirt. He’s expected to be sidelined for three to four months after undergoing surgery.
UCLA said in a statement Friday that it will support O’Neal as he gets the issue resolved. The school said only that he was being sidelined for a medical reason and a spokesman declined to provide further details.
NFL
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Wes Hopkins, a 10-year safety with the Philadelphia Eagles and 1985 All-Pro, has died. He was 57.
The team announced his death Friday. No cause was given.
Hopkins spent his entire NFL career in Philadelphia, starting 125 games. Hopkins ranks fifth on the franchise’s all-time interceptions list with 30 and is tied for third in games played among defensive backs with 137.
A second-round draft pick in 1983, Hopkins was a member of SMU’s 2018 Hall of Fame induction class.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - The New York Giants placed Jonathan Stewart, their most experienced running back, on injured reserve Friday.
Stewart, who joined the Giants this year after 10 seasons with the Carolina Panthers, has a foot injury. His spot on the roster was taken by Jawill Davis, a wide receiver from Bethune-Cookman. Davis joins tight end Garrett Dickerson as newcomers to the roster. They could make their NFL debuts on Sunday when the Giants host the New Orleans Saints.
Stewart played in each of the Giants’ first three games, but was third on the depth chart behind Saquon Barkley and Wayne Gallman.
AUTO RACING
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Felix Rosenqvist will move to IndyCar next season as driver for Chip Ganassi Racing alongside five-time champion Scott Dixon.
Rosenqvist won two races and three poles in the FIA Formula E series this past season. The Swede finished sixth in the standings.
He will replace Ed Jones in the Ganassi lineup that features Dixon, who just wrapped his fifth title. Rosenqvist will be sponsored by NTT Data, which renewed its contract with Ganassi for the No. 10 Honda.
GYMNASTICS
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A retired psychologist has agreed to give up his license after being accused of failing to report assault allegations against Larry Nassar back in 2004.
Michigan regulators said Friday that 79-year-old Gary Stollak didn’t contest the allegation that he violated state law by failing to report abuse of a minor. Stollak was a psychologist and counselor at Michigan State University.
A woman says she was molested by Nassar when she was a girl during family visits to his Lansing-area home. She says she told Stollak about the abuse, but Nassar denied it and no police report was made.
BOBSLED
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) - Sylvia Hoffman took the women’s title and Josh Williamson claimed the men’s crown Friday at the USA Bobsled National Push Championships.
Briauna Jones won the women’s driver push event, and Frankie Del Duca won the competition among men’s drivers. All four winners became a USA Bobsled national push champion for the first time.
Hoffman has never even been in a bobsled. She won the rookie push championship last month, earning her an invite to the national championships - which take place on a track with a wheeled sled. On-ice training starts in October.
SAILING
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Former America’s Cup holders Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts are set to announce a new sailing league called SailGP that will be contested in an enhanced class of foiling 50-foot catamarans, a person familiar with the situation said Friday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details won’t be announced until Wednesday night in London.
Ellison, the software tycoon who co-founded Oracle Corp., and Coutts, a New Zealander, headed the Oracle Team USA syndicate that won the America’s Cup in 2010 and 2013 before losing it to Emirates Team New Zealand in 2017.
They have been working for several months on the concept of an annual league that will keep alive their vision of competing in fast, cutting-edge catamarans.
Plans call for SailGP to have five regattas in 2019, beginning in mid-February in Sydney, Australia.
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