WJPA Sports

MIAMI (AP) — Paul Skenes shined in the World Baseball Classic semifinal, dominating an All-Star lineup in the United States’ 2-1 victory over the Dominican Republic. He improved to 2-0 in the tournament, allowing Junior Caminero’s homer in a 4 1/3-inning outing. Skenes has a 1.96 ERA in 55 career starts, striking out 386 while walking 74 in 320 2/3 innings.  Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony homered and the United States limited the Dominican Republic’s electric offense to win a thrilling semifinal 2-1 and move a win from its second World Baseball Classic championship. The loaded U.S. team reached its third straight WBC title game after winning in 2017 and falling to Shohei Ohtani and Japan in 2023.

Duke is the top overall seed in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, with Arizona, Michigan, and Florida also landing on the No. 1 line. Miami (Ohio), which opened the season 31-0 before a loss early its conference tournament, got in as an 11 seed despite a weak schedule. They play a First Four game on Wednesday against SMU. The tournament begins Tuesday with other play-in games, including Texas versus North Carolina State.

UConn is the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament and enters March Madness needing six more victories to complete the seventh undefeated season in school history. The Huskies (34-0) are looking for their 13th national title and becoming the first team to repeat as champions since the Huskies won four in a row from 2013-16. They are joined by UCLA, Texas and South Carolina as the other No. 1 seeds.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Cameron Young finally has a big title to go with his major talent. In a thriller at The Players Championship he made a 10-foot birdie on the island green at the TPC Sawgrass to tie Matt Fitzpatrick. Young crushed a drive that set up an easy par and won when Fitzpatrick failed to make an 8-foot par putt to force a playoff. Young shot 68 and won $4.5 million. Ludvig Aberg had control of the tournament until hitting into the water on consecutive holes on the back nine. He shot a 40 on the back nine for a 76.