LOCAL BASEBALL
The Peninsula Pilots finally can relax. They’re no longer winless.
Friday night at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights, they squandered a seven-run lead but recovered for a 9-8 Coastal Plain League victory over the Tri-City Chili Peppers (7-2) before 1,366 fans.
VMI player Justin Starke’s two-run homer in the eighth erased an 8-7 deficit the Pilots (1-5) had incurred after being ahead 7-0.
Starke was 3 for 4 with two runs and three RBIs, Mason Dunaway was 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI, Hunter Cole was 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI, and Christopher Martinez drove in two runs for Peninsula.
With the Pilots starved for pitching, their starter and final reliever were effective. Jay Scheuler gave up just one run and two hits in four innings, and Michael Caldon yielded no hits or runs in the final two innings, striking out three and stranding two runners to end the game.
For Tri-City, Cole Garrett and Dalton Hurst hit home runs, and Brandon Eike was 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI.The Pilots will return to Hampton’s War Memorial Stadium at 7 Saturday night to meet the Wilson Tobs.
PRO BASKETBALL
O’Quinn to play for HBCUnited in TBT
Former Norfolk State star and ex-NBA player Kyle O’Quinn announced he will play in July in The Basketball Tournament for HBCUnited.
O’Quinn, 33, led the 15th-seeded Spartans to an upset of No. 2 seed Missouri in 2012 and has been in pro ball most of the time since. He has averaged 5.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 472 NBA games with New York, Orlando, Indiana and Philadelphia.
His next stop will be in the $1 million winner-take-all event. Norfolk State coach Robert Jones guided HBCUnited last season.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S SOCCER
Nansemond River grad transferring to JMU
James Madison announced the addition of Nansemond River High graduate Riley Goss, a midfielder who went to Louisville as a freshman in 2022 but saw her season’s hopes derailed by an injury.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
JMU’s O’Regan gains contract extension
James Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne announced a three-year contract extension for coach Sean O’Regan through the 2027-28 season.
The Dukes went 26-8 and took the Sun Belt Tournament title in their first season in the conference. O’Regan’s teams have gone 156-62 in the seven years since he was promoted from assistant to head coach when Kenny Brooks left for Virginia Tech.
COLLEGE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Area players honored for academics
Freshman Phillip Van Essendelft, a Hickory High graduate, was one of six Randolph-Macon players to earn Continental Volleyball Conference Academic All-Conference awards.Roanoke’s Davin Stevenson, a homeschooled freshman from Virginia Beach, also gained a CVC academic award.
COLLEGE MEN’S TENNIS
ODU third, W&M ninth in region rankings
NCAA champion Virginia was the obvious No. 1 pick in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s final Atlantic Region men’s rankings.
Old Dominion was third and William & Mary ninth.
Individually, ODU’s Francois Le Tallec was 11th, while the Monarchs’ Younes Lalami and Brandon Perez were sixth in doubles.
W&M’s George Davis and Bill Duo was ranked No. 10 in the doubles standings.
In the women’s Atlantic Region rankings, UVA was first, Sun Belt champion Old Dominion second andColonial Athletic Association champion William & Mary 10th.
In singles, Tatsiana Sasnouskaya was ranked first in her final season with the Monarchs before going to Texas as a graduate transfer. Also for ODU, Sofia Johnson was ninth and Shahar Biran 12th.
In doubles, Sasnouskaya and Johnson were second, while teammates Alexandra Viktorovitch and Allison Isaacs were sixth.
The Tribe’s Hedda Gurholt was 15th in singles, and Sofiya Kuzina and Ine Stange were 10th in doubles.
NN native gains ITA honor
Denver assistant coach Maureen Slattery, who grew up in Newport News, was named the ITA Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year.
Pioneers head coach Paul Wardlaw, the region’s Coach of the Year, and Slattery, a Hampton Roads Academy graduate combined to lead Denver to its ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance after winning the Summit League title for the ninth year in a row.
For the 15th time since transitioning to Division I in 1998-99, Denver was ranked at the end of the season, holding the No. 53 spot this year. In 2017, Slattery became Denver’s first women’s tennis All-American, taking that honor in doubles as a senior.
