FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Virginia Tech gained a commitment from quarterback Kelden Ryan, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound rising junior from Keller, Texas. He plays for All Saints’ Episcopal School and is rated a 3-star prospect by 247 Sports Composite. He competed for Keller Central in his first two years of high school.
According to 247 Sports, Ryan holds offers from California, Colorado, Duke, Miami, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Texas Tech and numerous other FBS programs.
BASEBALL
Shutout runs Pilots’ winning streak to four
Hunter Cole had four hits, including two triples, as the Peninsula Pilots ran their winning streak to four games with a 6-0 shutout of the Wilmington Sharks at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton.
Sunday night’s victory improved the Pilots to 12-6 in the second half of the Coastal Plain League season. Climbing from an 0-5 start, they have reached .500 for the year (21-21).
Trailing Morehead City (14-6) by a game, the Pilots are off Monday and will face the Tri-City Chili Peppers in a 5:05 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights.
Mason Dunaway scored twice and Trey Morgan was 2 for 3 for Peninsula.
Starter Nick Willard pitched five innings, holding the Sharks to one hit and one walk in five innings. Robert Cook, Michael Caldon, Olvis Genao and Jay Schueler completed the shutout.
Ryan Dooley’s bases-loaded walk put the Pilots ahead 1-0 in the first inning.
Peninsula expanded the margin with a five-run sixth. Cole’s two-run triple and RBI singles by Henry Garcia and Ethan Ott were among the highlights.
The Pilots’ only remaining scheduled home games are against Tri-City on Wednesday and Martinsville on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.
TENNIS
Former ODU player wins title in Dallas
Former Old Dominion women’s standout Yuliia Starodubtseva won her third International Tennis Federation (ITF) event title Sunday with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Yafan Wang of China at the Dallas Open, a $60,000 event held on indoor hard courts on the SMU campus.
Starodubtseva earned a spot in the qualifying bracket for the U.S. Open in New York.
She opened the event with a 6-3, 6-2 win over former North Carolina Tar Heel Jamie Loeb and advanced through the second round a walkover win. She then knocked off top-seeded Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a quarterfinal and YeXin Ma of China 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a semifinal.
In the spring, Starodubtseva won a $25,000 event in Texas. Earlier this summer, she won a $60K event in Sumter, South Carolina.
SWIMMING
UVA standouts capture world golds
Virginia Cavaliers standouts Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh helped Team USA to a gold medal in the women’s 4×100-meter medley relay to close the 2023 World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
The gold gave Douglass her sixth medal of the championship, tying for the most by any swimmer at the meet. She won two gold medals, her relay gold on Sunday and an individual gold in the 200-meter individual medley. Douglass anchored four U.S. relays during the meet.
Walsh swam the butterfly leg of the 4×100 medley relay to win her first gold medal of the meet. She finished with three medals, including her first individual medal at the international level with bronze in the 50-meter butterfly Saturday. Walsh also added an 11th-place finish in the 50 freestyle Saturday.
Also closing out her time at the championships was her sister and her UVA teammate, senior Alex Walsh. Alex just missed the podium in the 400-meter IM, placing fourth in 4:34.46. Walsh won silver in the 200-meter IM earlier in the week.
