1st Down: It was a big day on the diamond, as every Sunday is, for Major League Baseball, and it was headlined by a rookie that not many would have been familiar with coming into the day. His name is Jack Suwinski, and he made history on this day by achieving a feat no other rookie had managed to do before: hitting three home runs and producing a walk-off homer as well. Playing against the San Francisco Giants at home in Pittsburgh, the Pirates left fielder went yard and provided all three of their four RBIs in a 4-3 triumph that prevented them from being swept away.
2nd Down: In other baseball action, of the Major League variety, the New York Yankees finally saw their winning streak snap in Toronto at the hands of the Blue Jays by a 10-9 score line. Having been down by as many as five in the bottom of the sixth, the Jays fought back when Luis Gurriel hit a grand slam to reduce the deficit to one. Teoscar Hernandez then hit a three-run shot in the seventh to hand them a 10-8 lead, and they would hang on to end a nine-game winning streak for their visitors. Despite obtaining victory, the Jays are still a long way back at 11 games off the pace in the AL East.
3rd Down: In the College Baseball World Series on Sunday, one team had to go home from Texas, and the A&M Aggies made sure it wasn’t them as they took down the Longhorns 10-2 to beat their long-time rivals and live to fight another day. The Aggies recorded ten hits, none of which were a home run, and just racked up one or two runs here and there to scoot away and oust the soon-to-be-SEC school. In the nightcap, Oklahoma bested Notre Dame 6-2 to advance in the bracket and force the Fighting Irish into a loser-goes-home affair with the Aggies in a couple of days’ time. OU started fast, plating five runs in the first five frames to earn their win.
4th Down: With the US Open underway for the last few days, much of the golf world’s attention had turned, for a moment, away from the LIV Series drama going on. Greg Norman, though, has put the attention back on the new series by announcing on Sunday that the league intends to apply for Official World Golf Ranking points on Monday. Currently, the league is considered an exhibition- a very well-paid one- but if this were to happen they would then become a whole lot more legitimate in the eyes of golfers in their prime. And perhaps that would open the floodgates even more to younger, bigger names coming over? The points are a big factor for major tournament committees as they selected players, so this decision could have a massive impact over time as to who does and does not get to play for major trophies.
