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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Wednesday, June 28, 2017 Supreme Court to review New Jersey bid for legal sports betting Associated Press USA Explosion wins Boise Blast Contributed photo from John Bradt The USA Explosion/DFM U16 softball team claimed the Boise Blast Shootout championship on Sunday in Boise, Idaho. The team went 5-1 in the three-day tournament, inclduing a 10-7 come-from-behind win in the title game. Pictured, back, left to right: Coach Lin Casciato, Allie Brock, Coach Mike Brock, Ellie Lankford, Katie Bradt, Aspen Garton, Jaiden Hafer, Coach Jamie Seavert, Manager Kelsy Garton. Middle: Carissa Cooley, Kara Gooderham, Maddie Plew, Sami Spriet, Kirah McGlo- than. Front: Jaycee Seavert. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up New Jersey’s bid to allow sports betting at its casinos and racetracks, a case that could lead other states to seek a share of the lucrative market. The justices will review a lower court ruling against the state, which is hoping to capture some of the estimated $150 billion that is illegally wagered on sports each year. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and supporters in the state Legislature have tried for years to legalize sports gambling to bolster the state’s casino and horse racing industries. The casino industry, after a period of job losses and closings, has lately been doing better. New Jersey state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a Demo- CWS: LSU misses on two chances to tie game late Continued from 1B starting pitching has carried us the whole year, but we got some timely hits.” Florida was in the CWS for the 11th time and previously had made it to the finals in 2005 and 2011, getting swept each time. “They’re a very deserving national cham- pion,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “I’m happy for Kevin. He works hard, and he has had several teams that maybe were even better than this team and sat up here as disappointed as I am right now. Finally got his championship.” Freshman Tyler Dyson (4-0) limited the Tigers to three hits in six innings in only his second start, and the Gators capitalized on LSU errors in the first and second innings to go up 2-0 against Jared Poche (12-4). Things got interesting after Michael Byrne relieved Dyson in the seventh. LSU pulled to 2-1 and would have tied it if not for Jake Slaughter being called for runner interference at second base for sliding into shortstop Dalton Guthrie’s leg as he was throwing to first to turn a double play. Josh Smith, who had run home, was sent back to third, and Beau Jordan flew AP Photo/Nati Harnik Florida shortstop Dalton Guthrie, top, falls after be- ing hit by LSU’s Jake Slaughter at second base on a double play during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the College World Series finals in Omaha, Neb. on Tuesday. Slaughter was called for runner interference on the play, disallowing what would have been the game’s tying run to score from third base. out to end the inning. Kramer Robertson punched a single into right field leading off the eighth and took second on a wild pitch. The Tigers had runners on the corners when Cole Freeman beat Byrne’s throw to first for a bunt single. After Byrne struck out Antoine Duplantis, Jackson Kowar, who would have been Florida’s starter in Game 3, came on to face Greg Deichmann. Deichmann grounded Kowar’s first pitch to first, and JJ Schwarz threw out Robertson at the plate on a play that stood after a video review. Zach Watson, the Tigers’ hottest hitter in the CWS, then flew out to end the inning. The Gators scored four times in the bottom of the eighth. LSU reliever Zack Hess hit a batter with the bases loaded, Deacon Liput hit a two-run single and Schwarz had a sacrifice fly. Last year was supposed to be O’Sullivan’s best chance to win it all. The Gators were the No. 1 national seed for the NCAA Tournament, and they had eight players who were taken in the first 10 rounds of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. They went two games and out. Florida this year brought back one of the nation’s top weekend rotations in Alex Faedo, Brady Singer and Kowar and a reliever in Byrne who led the country with a school-record 19 saves. Complementing the pitching was a defense that ranked in the top 10 in the country. All that was missing was consistent offense. The Gators came into this game with no everyday player hitting .300, and they were ranked 227th out of 300 teams with a .258 batting average. The pitching overshad- owed all shortcomings, and the Gators ended up with the No. 3 national seed after sharing the SEC regu- lar-season title with LSU. “I don’t think anybody thought we would get to this point,” O’Sullivan said. “We had our struggles throughout the year offensively. In mid-March we were hitting about .230 as a team. They kept working and believing, and I told them before the season started that we had what it took, the ingredients, to pull this thing off.” MARINERS: Close out two-game series today Continued from 1B the bases on a double by Franco, Cameron Perkins’ infield single and a walk to Cameron Rupp. Ty Kelly followed with a sacrifice fly to center, with Perkins advancing to third. Daniel Nava delivered a sacrifice fly to right. Segura staked the Mari- ners to a 2-0 lead with two outs in the third with his fifth home run, a two-run shot to right with Jarrod Dyson aboard on a walk. Franco also helped preserve the lead in the seventh with a two-out diving stab at third of Segu- ra’s hard-hit grounder with a runner at second. Seattle threatened in the sixth when Ben Gamel walked leading off and moved to third on Robinson Cano’s single. Nola escaped by striking out Nelson Cruz for the third time and enticing Kyle Seager into a double-play grounder. UP NEXT: Phillies: RHP Mark Leiter Jr. (1-0, 3.60 ERA) makes his second start to close out the two-game series at Safeco Field on Wednesday afternoon. Leiter picked up his first MLB victory in his last start, allowing just three hits in six innings at Arizona. Mariners: Felix Hernandez (3-2, 4.68 ERA) makes his second start since coming off the Disabled List. crat who has led the state’s effort to legalize sports gambling, said a win for the state would give an additional boost to casinos. “Atlantic City is going to be packed when we win this case,” said Lesniak, who first introduced legislation to overturn the ban in 2009. “Sports betting will lead to people staying for several days, not just playing a few hours and going home. During football season, the NCAA tournament, the World Cup, people will be flocking to Atlantic City to bet on them.” The case will be argued in the fall. Daniel Wallach, an attorney in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and an expert in sports law, said the case could lead to a nationwide repeal of the federal sports betting ban. Speaking on a sports radio show this month, Christie criticized the federal govern- ment for restricting sports betting while simultaneously allowing states to legalize recreational marijuana even though it’s illegal under federal law. Legal sports gambling is allowed in Nevada and three other states that already had approved some form of wagering before the federal law went into effect. Nevada is the only state to allow single-game wagering. Congress gave New Jersey a one-time opportunity to become the fifth state before the ban was enacted, but the state failed to pass a sports betting law in the required time window. Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and Wisconsin had joined New Jersey’s effort to have the case heard by the Supreme Court. DAHLBERG: Continued from 1B to the minor league ballpark believe. He may not even believe it himself after hitting three home runs while striking out 69 times with the Columbia Fireflies. That got Tebow a promotion in the Mets organization that even team officials found difficult to explain. That it’s in a state where he won the Heisman Trophy as the quarterback for the University of Florida not so many years ago seems to be a little more than a coincidence. But, really, what is the harm? Tebow will put more fans in seats, and they will be happy fans because they will get a chance to be close to someone they idolize. The same goes for McGregor fighting Mayweather. The fight may be a mismatch, but no one is forcing anyone to pay to watch it. If McGregor’s fans want to blow their summer vacation money on him, well, that’s their choice. I mean, the Cleveland Browns aren’t really competitive either, but that doesn’t stop thousands of fans from putting down money every year for season tickets to watch their team. That sports are really just entertainment with a score attached shouldn’t come as much surprise to anyone at the ballpark. Batters have their own walk-up music, mascots roam the stands, and every football game offers some kind of halftime attraction to keep ticket buyers interested. The best thing happening in Atlanta right now isn’t the Braves playing in a spanking new stadium. It’s The Freeze, a costumed superhero who outruns a hapless fan between innings and has become so popular that he’s knocked the sausage race out of the nightly ESPN highlights. Want some dancing to go with your baseball? Check out the groundskeepers for the Yankees breaking out to “Y.M.C.A” between innings. Again, nothing new. Bill Veeck was the owner of the St. Louis Browns in 1951 when he had the idea to put in Eddie Gaedel to pinch hit in a game. Gaedel, who stood all of 3-foot-7 and had the uniform number 1/8, drew a walk in his only plate appearance. “For a minute, I felt like Babe Ruth,” Gaedel said. It’s all entertainment. Some good, some bad, and some that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. McGregor and Mayweather are merely entertainers themselves. They’ll sell their fight with trash talk and stunts that will be far more fun than the bout itself and no one will be able to say they weren’t forewarned about what was going to happen. Tebow, meanwhile, is a one-man franchise. He sells jerseys from two sports and stirs a passion in his fans that can’t — and shouldn’t — be ignored. Parents bring the kids to see him, and when they do, the talk is about Tebow as a football player and a devout Christian, not about his prospects of making it to the major leagues. No, it’s not sport at the highest level. Far from it, on the field or in the ring. Remember, though, nobody is forcing you to buy a ticket. ———— Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org or on Twitter @TimDahlberg. SCOREBOARD Baseball MLB AMERICAN LEAGUE East Division W L Pct GB Boston 43 34 .558 — New York 41 34 .547 1 Tampa Bay 41 38 .519 3 Baltimore 38 38 .500 4½ Toronto 36 40 .474 6½ Central Division W L Pct GB Cleveland 40 36 .526 — Minnesota 39 36 .520 ½ Kansas City 37 38 .493 2½ Detroit 34 42 .447 6 Chicago 33 43 .434 7 West Division W L Pct GB Houston 52 26 .667 — Los Angeles 41 40 .506 12½ Texas 39 38 .506 12½ Seattle 39 40 .493 13½ Oakland 35 42 .455 16½ ——— Tuesday’s Games Tampa Bay 4, Pittsburgh 2, 10 innings Baltimore 3, Toronto 1 Detroit 5, Kansas City 3 Texas 2, Cleveland 1 Chicago White Sox 4, N.Y. Yankees 3 Oakland 6, Houston 4 Boston 9, Minnesota 2 L.A. Dodgers 4, L.A. Angels 0 Philadelphia 8, Seattle 2 Wednesday’s Games Philadelphia (Leiter Jr. 1-0) at Seattle (Hernandez 3-2), 12:40 p.m. Tampa Bay (Snell 0-4) at Pittsburgh (Nova 7-5), 4:05 p.m. Baltimore (Miley 3-5) at Toronto (Stroman 7-4), 4:07 p.m. Kansas City (Kennedy 1-6) at Detroit (Norris 4-5), 4:10 p.m. Minnesota (Mejia 2-3) at Boston (Porcello 4-9), 4:10 p.m. Texas (Darvish 6-5) at Cleveland (Bauer 6-6), 4:10 p.m. N.Y. Yankees (Tanaka 5-7) at Chicago White Sox (Rodon 0-0), 5:10 p.m. Oakland (Hahn 3-5) at Houston (Paulino 2-0), 5:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Ryu 3-6) at L.A. Angels (Meyer 3-4), 7:07 p.m. NATIONAL LEAGUE East Division W Washington 46 Atlanta 37 Miami 35 New York 34 Philadelphia 25 Central Division W Milwaukee 41 Chicago 39 L 31 39 40 42 51 Pct .597 .487 .467 .447 .329 GB — 8½ 10 11½ 20½ L Pct GB 38 .519 — 38 .506 1 St. Louis Pittsburgh Cincinnati West Division 35 35 32 41 .460 4½ 42 .455 5 44 .421 7½ W L Pct GB Los Angeles 52 27 .658 — Arizona 50 28 .641 1½ Colorado 47 32 .595 5 San Diego 31 46 .403 20 San Francisco 28 51 .354 24 ——— Tuesday’s Games Tampa Bay 4, Pittsburgh 2, 10 innings Washington 6, Chicago Cubs 1 Cincinnati 8, Milwaukee 6 Miami 6, N.Y. Mets 3 Arizona 5, St. Louis 4, 10 innings Atlanta 3, San Diego 0 L.A. Dodgers 4, L.A. Angels 0 Philadelphia 8, Seattle 2 Colorado at San Francisco, late finish Wednesday’s Games Philadelphia (Leiter Jr. 1-0) at Seattle (Hernandez 3-2), 12:40 p.m. Colorado (Freeland 8-5) at San Francisco (Blach 4-5), 12:45 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Lackey 5-8) at Washington (Strasburg 8-2), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Snell 0-4) at Pittsburgh (Nova 7-5), 4:05 p.m. Milwaukee (Anderson 6-2) at Cincinnati (Castillo 0-0), 4:10 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Matz 1-1) at Miami (Locke 0-3), 4:10 p.m. St. Louis (Wainwright 7-5) at Arizona (God- ley 3-1), 6:40 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Ryu 3-6) at L.A. Angels (Meyer 3-4), 7:07 p.m. Atlanta (Garcia 2-5) at San Diego (Perdo- mo 2-4), 7:10 p.m. ALL-STAR FAN VOTING Released June 26 AMERICAN LEAGUE Catchers 1. Salvador Perez, Royals, 2,150,223 2. Gary Sanchez, Yankees, 1,337,651 3. Brian McCann, Astros, 1,330,042 4. Welington Castillo, Orioles, 1,050,023 5. Yan Gomes, Indians, 895,482 First Basemen 1. Eric Hosmer, Royals, 1,419,887 2. Justin Smoak, Blue Jays, 1,348,233 3. Yonder Alonso, A’s, 1,076,984 4. Miguel Cabrera, Tigers, 1,011,382 5. Carlos Santana, Indians, 966,199 Second Basemen 1. Jose Altuve, Astros, 2,925,041 2. Starlin Castro, Yankees, 1,737,446 3. Jason Kipnis, Indians, 957,179 4. Whit Merrifield, Royals, 589,154 5. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox, 551,841 Third Basemen 1. Miguel Sano, Twins, 1,550,240 2. Jose Ramirez, Indians, 1,341,076 3. Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays, 1,191,244 4. Mike Moustakas, Royals, 1,067,150 5. Manny Machado, Orioles, 946,013 Shortstops 1. Carlos Correa, Astros, 2,229,857 2. Francisco Lindor, Indians, 1,648,532 3. Didi Gregorius, Yankees, 1,069,822 4. Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox, 982,987 5. Troy Tulowitzki, Blue Jays, 783,649 Designated Hitters 1. Nelson Cruz, Mariners, 1,366,962 2. Corey Dickerson, Rays, 1,267,234 3. Edwin Encarnacion, Indians, 1,186,483 4. Matt Holliday, Yankees, 1,107,847 5. Evan Gattis, Astros, 885,391 Outfielders 1. Aaron Judge, Yankees, 3,442,597 2. Mike Trout, Angels, 2,559,173 3. George Springer, Astros, 1,619,385 4. Michael Brantley, Indians, 1,325,473 5. Avisail Garcia, White Sox, 1,292,694 6. Mookie Betts, Red Sox, 1,223,195 7. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays, 1,055,645 8. Carlos Beltran, Astros, 1,054,503 9. Brett Gardner, Yankees, 889,616 10. Lonnie Chisenhall, Indians, 885,443 11. Andrew Benintendi, Red Sox, 869,774 12. Lorenzo Cain, Royals, 829,284 13. Josh Reddick, Astros, 827,203 14. Kevin Pillar, Blue Jays, 801,968 15. Abraham Almonte, Indians, 684,675 NATIONAL LEAGUE Catcher 1. Buster Posey, Giants, 2,530,713 2. Willson Contreras, Cubs, 1,216,513 3. Yadier Molina, Cardinals, 1,068,485 4. Yasmani Grandal, Dodgers, 749,923 5. Matt Wieters, Nationals, 680,644 First Basemen 1. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals, 1,728,607 2. Anthony Rizzo, Cubs, 1,601,245 3. Paul Goldschmidt, D-backs, 1,200,995 4. Freddie Freeman, Braves, 767,375 5. Joey Votto, Reds, 703,832 Second Basemen 1. Daniel Murphy, Nationals, 3,057,360 2. Javier Baez, Cubs, 1,654,829 3. DJ LeMahieu, Rockies, 621,188 4. Brandon Phillips, Braves, 475,916 5. Logan Forsythe, Dodgers, 393,238 Third Basemen 1. Kris Bryant, Cubs, 1,978,692 2. Nolan Arenado, Rockies, 1,920,610 3. Justin Turner, Dodgers, 1,075,524 4. Anthony Rendon, Nationals, 779,468 5. Jake Lamb, D-backs, 726,560 Shortstop 1. Zack Cozart, Reds, 1,915,806 2. Corey Seager, Dodgers, 1,657,732 3. Addison Russell, Cubs, 1,204,204 4. Trea Turner, Nationals, 804,703 5. Chris Owings, D-backs, 676,666 Outfield 1. Bryce Harper, Nationals, 3,617,444 2. Charlie Blackmon, Rockies, 3,115,730 3. Marcell Ozuna, Marlins, 1,270,464 4. Jason Heyward, Cubs, 1,241,194 5. Ben Zobrist, Cubs, 1,122,946 6. Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins, 1,069,313 7. Matt Kemp, Braves, 1,058,050 8. Kyle Schwarber, Cubs, 949,780 9. Yoenis Cespedes, Mets, 785,178 10. Adam Duvall, Reds, 664,379 11. Dexter Fowler, Cardinals, 631,395 12. Yasiel Puig, Dodgers, 626,565 13. Jay Bruce, Mets, 561,984 14. Jayson Werth, Nationals, 540,609 15. Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies, 518,241 The starting position players and rosters for the game will be announced on Sunday, July 2 at 7 p.m. EDT MiLB Northwest League North W L Pct Tri-City 10 3 .768 Vancouver 8 4 .667 Everett 6 6 .500 Spokane 3 10 .231 South W L Pct Eugene 8 5 .615 Hillsboro 6 7 .462 Boise 6 7 .462 Salem-Keizer 4 9 .308 ——— Tuesday’s Games Salem-Keizer 9, Boise 1 Tri-City 4, Spokane 3 Eugene 5, Hillsboro 2 Vancouver at Everett, late finish Wednesday’s Games Salem-Keizer at Boise, 6:15 p.m. Tri-City at Spokane, 6:30 p.m. Hillsboro at Eugene, 7:05 p.m. Vancouver at Everett, 7:05 p.m. GB — 1½ 3½ 7 GB — 2 2 4 NCAA College World Series At TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Omaha, Neb. Saturday LSU 6, Oregon State 1, LSU advances Florida 3, TCU 0, Florida advances Championship Series Monday: Florida 4, LSU 3 Tuesday: Florida 6, LSU 1, Florida wins championship Basketball WNBA EASTERN CONFERENCE W L Pct GB Washington 9 5 .643 — New York 7 5 .583 1 Connecticut 6 7 .462 2½ Atlanta 5 6 .455 2½ Indiana 6 7 .462 2½ Chicago 3 10 .231 5½ WESTERN CONFERENCE W L Pct GB Minnesota 11 1 .917 — Los Angeles 10 3 .769 1½ Phoenix 7 5 .583 4 Dallas 8 8 .500 5 Seattle 6 7 .462 San Antonio 0 14 .000 ———— Tuesday’s Games Washington 100, Seattle 70 Los Angeles 87, Connecticut 79 Wednesday’s Games Indiana at Chicago, 9:30 a.m. 5½ 12 Soccer MLS EASTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts Toronto FC 10 2 5 35 Chicago 10 3 4 34 NYC FC 9 5 3 30 Orlando City 7 6 5 26 Columbus 8 9 1 25 Atl. United FC 7 7 3 24 New York 7 8 2 23 New England 5 7 5 20 Philadelphia 5 7 4 19 Montreal 4 5 6 18 D.C. United 5 9 3 18 WESTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts Sporting K.C. 8 4 6 30 FC Dallas 6 3 7 25 Houston 7 6 4 25 Portland 7 7 4 25 San Jose 6 6 5 23 Los Angeles 6 6 4 22 Vancouver 6 6 3 21 Seattle 5 7 6 21 Minn. United 5 9 3 18 Real Salt Lake 5 11 2 17 Colorado 5 10 1 16 GF 30 31 31 20 29 33 17 27 21 24 12 GA 15 17 20 26 30 25 23 25 20 26 25 GF 22 23 30 31 18 25 21 22 24 17 15 GA 12 15 25 28 21 24 21 27 38 37 23 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. ———— Thursday’s Game Minnesota United at New York City FC, 4:30 p.m. Friday’s Game Orlando City at Real Salt Lake, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 1 D.C. United at Montreal, 4 p.m. Portland at Sporting Kansas City, 4 p.m. Toronto FC at FC Dallas, 4 p.m. Vancouver at Chicago, 4 p.m. Atlanta United FC at Columbus, 4:30 p.m. Houston at Colorado, 6 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 2 New England at Philadelphia, 2 p.m. Golf PGA Tour FedEx Cup Standings Through June 25 Rank Player Points 1. Dustin Johnson 2,270 2. Hideki Matsuyama 2,145 3. Justin Thomas 2,060 Money $6,355,725 $5,945,990 $5,131,179 4. Jordan Spieth 1,979 5. Jon Rahm 1,708 6. Brooks Koepka 1,534 7. Kevin Kisner 1,458 8. Daniel Berger 1,450 9. Rickie Fowler 1,429 10. Pat Perez 1,426 11. Brian Harman 1,420 12. Adam Hadwin 1,246 13. Brendan Steele 1,186 14. Marc Leishman 1,072 15. Sergio Garcia 1,049 16. Billy Horschel 1,018 17. Jason Dufner 998 18. Russell Henley 989 19. Justin Rose 984 20. Charley Hoffman 924 $4,948,145 $4,491,815 $4,464,771 $3,744,106 $3,629,134 $3,835,172 $3,582,575 $3,834,258 $2,834,762 $2,776,620 $2,823,147 $2,975,896 $2,541,971 $2,701,474 $2,376,340 $2,751,715 $2,430,181 Upcoming Schedule June 29-July 2 — Quicken Loans National, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, Potomac, Md. July 6-9 — The Greenbrier Classic, The Greenbrier (The Old White TPC), White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. LPGA Tour Upcoming Schedule June 29-July 2 — KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Olympia Fields CC (North Course), Olympia Fields, Ill. July 6-9 — Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic, Thornberry Creek at Oneida, Oneida, Wis. Motorsports NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Points Standings Through June 25 1. Kyle Larson 659 2. Martin Truex Jr. 646 3. Kevin Harvick 548 4. Kyle Busch 542 5. Brad Keselowski 519 6. Chase Elliott 509 7. Jimmie Johnson 483 8. Jamie McMurray 477 9. Denny Hamlin 476 10. Joey Logano 434 11. Clint Bowyer 427 12. Matt Kenseth 423 13. Ryan Blaney 415 14. Kurt Busch 389 15. Ryan Newman 367 16. Erik Jones 358 17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 355 18. Trevor Bayne 337 19. Daniel Suarez 334 20. Austin Dillon 322 Upcoming Schedule Saturday — Coke Zero 400 at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla., 4:30 p.m. (TV: NBC) July 8 — Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky., 4:30 p.m. (TV: NBCSN)