SOCCER
Virginia Beach United will play its first-ever playoff match Tuesday when it meets the SC United Bantams of Columbia, South Carolina, in the qualifying round of the USL League Two postseason at 8 p.m. at Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
Thirty-five teams were invited to the national bracket.
Friday, playoff action also will be held at Lionsbridge FC’s home venue, Christopher Newport’s TowneBank Stadium.
Salem City FC of Greensboro, North Carolina, will play at 4:30 p.m. against a team that wins a preliminary game, and Lionsbridge — last year’s national runner-up — will play another preliminary victor at 7:30 p.m.
Those two round-of-32 victors will clash Sunday night at CNU for a berth in the national quarterfinals.
Lionsbridge and VBU each posted 9-1-2 Chesapeake Division records, and the Lions won the tiebreaker because they were 1-0-1 against VBU.
BASEBALL
Chili Peppers upend surging Pilots
The Peninsula Pilots suffered a rare defeat Sunday night, falling 8-6 to the Tri-City Chili Peppers before 1,972 at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton.
The Pilots (26-10), already ensured of a Coastal Plain League playoff berth by their first-half East Division championship, lead the league’s second-half standings at 10-2 and had won 13 of their previous 14 games. Tri-City is 14-22, 4-8 in the second half.
Krew Bouldin was 3 for 5 with two doubles, a run and three RBIs for the Chili Peppers. Collin Hughes clubbed a two-run homer to cap Tri-City’s five-run fourth inning off Trey Morgan, which put the Pilots in an 8-0 predicament. But the hosts came back, scoring in every inning the rest of the way except the sixth.
Zac Morris was 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI, Haiden Walters was 2 for 3 and scored three runs, and Darnell Parker was 2 for 3 with three RBIs.
Tri-City’s Brandon Pond got the save by striking out Ryan Dooley, the potential tying run.
The Pilots will get back into action at War Memorial Stadium at 7 Tuesday night against the Greenville Yard Gnomes.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Two Churchland products on FCS first team
Howard defensive back Kenny Gallop, a graduate student from Portsmouth, made the FCS Football Central Preseason All-American Team. The Churchland High graduate was last season’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and the winner of the Aeneas Williams Award, which goes to the top Division I HBCU defensive back based on performance on the field, athletic ability and character.
Also honored were William & Mary first-team left tackle Charles Grant, also a former Churchland High standout, and second-team running back Bronson Yoder. The first team also included Richmond wide receiver Nick DeGennaro.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Liberty hires VCU coach
After leading VCU to the Atlantic 10 championship in his second season with the Rams, Bradley LeCroy was named Liberty’s head coach.
Prior to his first head coaching stop, LeCroy spent over two decades as an assistant coach, including 15 seasons at his alma mater, Clemson.
TENNIS
LSU, Baylor pairs capture Princess Anne titles
Teams from LSU and Baylor won the championship Sunday in the annual $20,000 Princess Anne Country Club Summer Open doubles tournament on clay in Virginia Beach.
Former LSU stars Welsh Hotard and Boris Kozlov earned the right to split $5,000 after winning three matches, capped when they edged pros Sekou Bangoura and Leonardo Vega 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 Sunday afternoon.
Bangoura and Vega shared $2,500, while the semifinalist pairs (Duke’s Teddy Truwit and Sam Landau, and UNC Wilmington teammates-to-be Joseph Wayand and Lukas Steffen) earned the right to divide $1,250 apiece.
The event, which benefits An Achievable Dream’s educational programs for at-risk children, held a women’s field for the first time.
Mel Krywoj and Alicia Herrero Liñana, who reached as high as No. 1 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings while competing for Baylor, defeated Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, last season’s No. 1 tandem for NCAA team quarterfinalist Virginia, 6-4, 6-1 for the $5,000 first prize.
The teams who reached the semis were area pros Dajana Cvjetkovic and Natalya Malenko, who starred for Norfolk State and Old Dominion, respectively; along with current ODU player Kira Matushkina and Oklahoma left-hander Ava Catanzarite.
