Auto Racing
Second time in two months, a Sprint Car driver dies
BEAVER DAM, Wis. – Sprint car driver Scott Semmelmann, 47, was killed in a wreck during practice for a race Saturday night at Beaver Dam Raceway.
Beaver Dam Raceway general manager Carolyn Mueller and Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Car Series President Steve Sinclair confirmed the death.
Last month, Kevin Ward Jr. was killed in a sprint car race at a dirt track in upstate New York when he left his car and was struck by a car driven by NASCAR star Tony Stewart.
Basketball
France shocks USA women by 4 in exhibition game
PARIS – Sandrine Gruda had 26 points and 15 rebounds to help France stun the United States’ women’s national team 76-72 on Sunday in an exhibition game.
It’s the first loss by the Americans in an international game since falling to a team from the Czech Republic in 2011 when the U.S. was on a European tour.
The Americans, who beat the French by 36 points in the gold-medal game at the Olympics in 2012, had a 12-point halftime lead and were up 60-52 with 6 minutes, 39 seconds left in the game before the hosts rallied.
The U.S., led by Tina Charles’ 12 points, still is trying to finalize its roster before the world championship. The Americans brought 15 players to France for the three-day tournament. They beat Australia and China in the first two games.
The U.S. will head to the Czech Republic for one more exhibition game before opening up the world championship against China on Sept. 27.
College Football
Rollicking through the ACC, East Carolina gets ranked
East Carolina is ranked in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time since 2008, and Mississippi State moved into the top 25 for the first time in two seasons after breaking a long losing streak against LSU.
The top seven teams are the same as last week, starting with No. 1 Florida State, which escaped 23-17 in overtime against Clemson on Saturday night.
The Pirates are No. 23 after a record-setting 70-41 victory against North Carolina. ECU has beaten Atlantic Coast Conference teams the last two weeks after winning at Virginia Tech.
The Pirates last were ranked Sept. 21, 2008. That team finished 9-5 and won Conference USA. East Carolina (3-1) is in its first season in the American Athletic Conference.
Mississippi State is No. 14 after beating LSU 34-29 to end a 14-game skid to the Tigers. The Bulldogs last were ranked in 2012.
MLB
Gardner hits the Yankees’ historic 15,000th homer
NEW YORK – Brett Gardner hit the New York Yankees’ 15,000th home run, lining a full-count pitch from Toronto’s Drew Hutchison into the lower deck in the fifth inning Sunday.
The Yankees, citing research from the Elias Sports Bureau, said they became the first team to reach the milestone.
The total starts in 1903, the first year the franchise started play in New York.
Mickey Mantle hit No. 5,000 on Aug. 8, 1954, at Detroit against Billy Hoeft, and Claudell Washington hit No. 10,000 on April 20, 1988, at Minnesota off Jeff Reardon.
Brian McCann’s first-inning home run tied the score, and Gardner’s put New York ahead 2-1 in a 5-2 victory.
NFL
Former Titans kicker Bironas killed in a car crash
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Rob Bironas, who worked his way through odd jobs and the Arena Football League before becoming one of the NFL’s most accurate kickers, died in a car crash. He was 36.
The former Tennessee Titans player died Saturday night when he lost control on a curve in his 2009 GMC Yukon Denali and crashed after 11 p.m. less than a mile from home, Metro Nashville Police said.
Associated Press
