Alex Bregman and Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch spoke three times Tuesday night about the third baseman carrying his bat to first base after hitting a home run in the first inning.

Hinch said he talked to Bregman about it during the game, after the game at the stadium and on the phone after they both left the park following Houston's 7-2 loss to the Nationals in Game 6.

Bregman apologized for the move after the game and Hinch shared what he told him about it.

"It's just not how we do things and not something that was necessary," Hinch said. "It was an emotional reaction. I love the way he plays and it doesn't diminish what he brings to the table, but it was unnecessary."

However, Hinch knows that Bregman learned his lesson from the miscue and wants him to put it in the past.

"After the game and into the night I wanted to make sure he realized he's got to forgive himself before he moves on," Hinch said. "We need to make sure it doesn't ruin [Game 7]. I don't want it to carry over."

CONCORD, N.C. — Brad Sweet holds the top spot in the National Sprint Car Rankings for the eighth straight week, but Donny Schatz has closed the gap with only a handful of races remaining.

Sweet has an average finish of 3.426 in 76 starts, while Schatz who won Friday night at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, is second with a 3.552 average finish in 73 starts.

Both drivers have two races at the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte remaining this season.

David Gravel ranks third with Danny Dietrich and Aaron Reutzel completing the top five.

Dietrich leads the Eastern region on the strength of 14 victories, while other regional leaders are Buddy Kofoid (Great Lakes), Billy Balog (Great Plains), Dominic Scelzi (West), Jacob Patton (Mid-America), Donny Schatz (Northwestern) and Carl Bowser. (Ohio-PA).

One hundred and 30 drivers have combined to win 380 features run through Oct. 27, with 714 drivers participating.

Click below to view the full rankings for each region.

USA Hockey announced Wednesday that it is increasing penalties for racial and derogatory slurs of any kind by way of a directive from the governing body's president.

Anyone penalized under the rule that covers racial and derogatory slurs will now receive a match penalty, which comes with an automatic five-minute major and disqualification from the game. Additionally, offenders will be suspended until an investigation and hearing can be held by a governing USA Hockey affiliate or junior league. The governing affiliates and leagues will have 30 days to complete the investigation and hearing, and further discipline can be doled out at the discretion of those entities.

Previously, such incidents would come with an automatic game misconduct and additional one-game suspension, but member affiliates and leagues could issue further discipline at their discretion.

Jim Smith, president of USA Hockey, said in a press release that he made the decision to elevate the previous penalty as an increased deterrent.

"We continue to get reports of disturbing incidents of racial and other derogatory slurs, behavior which is reprehensible and has absolutely no place in our game, especially around our children," he said. "For reasons I cannot explain or understand, the current penalty in place does not seem to be enough of a deterrent to stop this type of conduct."

A USA Hockey spokesperson said that the move was not the result of a specific incident or increased reports of incidents. The spokesperson said that the organization does receive a number of reports of such incidents each year and this directive is aimed at getting those numbers "closer to zero." A presidential directive as opposed to a board-reviewed rule change is rare, but has been used in the past, according to the spokesperson.

"The use of hateful language is a hurdle to creating a welcoming environment for families that want to be involved in our sport," said USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher in a statement. "Eradicating this kind of behavior from our game is critical as we continue to make a positive impact on society through hockey."

ATLANTA – To play off a line from Texas’ fight song, the eyes of Texas – and really the entire country – have been upon the Longhorns all fall, and the preseason No. 1 has mostly underperformed.

That changed Wednesday at the East Lake Cup, where the Longhorns showed the type of fight expected of them entering the season, beating Oklahoma State, 3-2, in the final.

“It wasn’t make or break for us, but this win was greatly needed,” said Texas sophomore Cole Hammer. “Obviously we didn’t play well leading up to this tournament, so it was good to see it all come together.”

Texas entered its fall finale ranked No. 26 in Golfstat with disappointing ninth-place finishes at Olympia Fields and Isleworth. But the Longhorns fired a dazzling 10 under in Monday’s stroke-play round and then cruised past Vanderbilt in the semifinal.

Taking down the Cowboys proved much tougher, even with Oklahoma State a shell of the juggernaut team that Texas upset in last spring’s NCAA semifinal. Cowboys freshman Brian Stark put an early point on the board against All-American sophomore Pierceson Coody and junior standout Austin Eckroat topped Hammer in the anchor match.

That meant that Texas would have to earn a victory despite losses by its two best players.

Sophomore Parker Coody and senior Spencer Soosman each got the job done, setting the stage for Texas’ prized freshman Travis Vick in the penultimate match opposite Oklahoma State freshman Rayhan Thomas.

Like his team, Vick has been slow to start this fall. He did go 4-1 at the Big 12 Match Play, but Vick had yet to crack the top 25 in two stroke-play starts leading into East Lake. He missed the lineup altogether for the Nike Collegiate.

Yet Vick looked like one of the best players in college golf over three days in Atlanta. He shot 3-under 69 in stroke play before chipping in to beat Vanderbilt stud John Augenstein in 19 holes. He then held on to beat a charging Thomas with a clutch par on the par-5 18^th hole.

“You love to have your freshmen in there and you love to have them have that experience and you love for it to be positive,” Fields said. “Turns out this time it was.”

Very much so. Despite drawing a wicked lie in the rough off the tee and muscling a 7-iron over the water but into another tricky spot, Vick hit an impressive wedge shot from the wet rough – and in torrential rain – to the thick part of the green at the finishing hole and then lagged his birdie try about 5 feet past.

Thomas, meanwhile, gave himself a 10-foot look at birdie, needing to win the hole to extend the match. After he missed, Vick stepped up, dripping wet, and sunk the winning putt.

“It was great to see Travis bursting out and playing so great,” Hammer said. “Get ready, he’s a great player. I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s got in store the rest of the year.”

The same can be said for Texas. It had been a lackluster fall results-wise for the Longhorns, but this is a team that also hadn’t been at full strength until this week. Hammer missed an event to play the Houston Open. Pierceson Coody didn’t play last week at Tavistock because of a left shoulder strain. Soosman had been in and out of the lineup.

“This is the first time we’ve had this team together,” Fields said. “But we’ve got a ways to go. We’ve done some really cool things with this team already, and last year was sensational at the end, but we’re not the type of team just yet that we really want to be.”

As the fight song says: Hail, hail, the gang's all here.

But come late May in Arizona, will it be goodbye to all the rest?

“If we play to our talent level,” Vick said, “I like our chances.”

ATLANTA – No Jennifer Kupcho, no problem.

Not to take anything away from Kupcho, who capped her storied Wake Forest career by leading her team to a national runner-up finish last May, but the Demon Deacons are proving that life after their star player does, in fact, go on.

And in a big way.

Entering this week’s East Lake Cup ranked fourth in the country, Wake Forest closed its stellar fall with a convincing 4-1 victory over Auburn in Wednesday’s final. With three wins heading into the break, the Demon Deacons have the look of a national-title contender yet again.

“The resilience, the grit, all of those words you see on the front of self-motivation books,” Wake Forest coach Kim Lewellen said. “That’s what they have.”

In some ways, Kupcho is responsible for that. The players who played alongside her last season – senior Swing Liu, junior Emilia Migliaccio, sophomore Vanessa Knecht. The freshmen who looked up to her – Rachel Kuehn and Lauren Walsh. They watched, they learned, and now they’re performing on their own.

“Jenn left a precedent,” Lewellen said. “They expect to be playing that well and to have that acts as motivation when they’re at practice. She’s left a talent legacy that they’ve all wanted to continue, and they’re doing that.”

While Wake may not have an Annika Award frontrunner at the moment, this team is certainly deeper than last year’s squad. Migliaccio chose to not take advantage of an exemption into second stage of LPGA Q-School, instead focusing on filling the leadership void left by Kupcho. Liu had three top-6 finishes this fall. Knecht had two, including an individual victory at the East Lake Cup.

But the key has been the emergence of the newcomers. Kuehn captured the Annika Intercollegiate in her first start last month and leads the team at No. 13 in Golfstat’s rankings. Before heading to Atlanta, Walsh, who Lewellen calls a “very professional” freshman, had a team-high three top-10s and followed a hard-fought tie against Arizona star freshman Vivian Hou on Tuesday by earning the deciding point in the final with a 3-and-1 victory over Auburn’s best player Julie McCarthy.

Coincidentally, Walsh and McCarthy, who is two years older, come from the same club, the Island Club in Dublin, and share the same coach, Shane O’Grady.

“She’s always been one of the players who I looked up to,” Walsh said of McCarthy.

This time, though, she beat her international teammate, following Migliaccio’s 1-up win over Megan Schofill and Liu’s 5-and-4 rout of Kaleigh Telfer. Kuehn chipped in with a 3-and-2 victory over Mychael O’Berry in the anchor match. The only person who didn’t win Wednesday, Knecht, took the individual title on Monday.

“Every single person has been in contention to win an event this fall,” Lewellen said. “To have that in your top 5, it’s exciting as a coach.”

Added Walsh: “We’re all good players and we showed this week that we can win at any time.”

Perth Glory have launched an audacious bid to sign iconic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The reigning A-League champions have approached the 38-year-old Swedish superstar's agent Mino Raiola about a guest player deal, which would reportedly see him play up to six games for them.

Ibrahimovic's contract at LA Galaxy, who were beaten 5-3 by local rivals LAFC in the MLS Cup Western Conference semifinal last week, is set to expire at the end of the year.

He scored 30 goals in 29 matches this season for Galaxy, earning a place in the MLS Best XI for 2019.

"An approach has been made to his agent," Perth chief executive Tony Pignata told Fairfax.

"We've asked the question firstly about his availability and secondly of his interest."

If successful, signing Ibrahimovic would constitute one of the biggest marketing coups in A-League history.

However, he posted a cryptic Instagram video on Wednesday night that could suggest he's planning a return to Spain following the expiration of his contract.

- When does the transfer window reopen?
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"Hola Espana, guess what? I am coming back," he said.

The former Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United forward has also been linked with South American teams Boca Juniors and Flamengo.

Oman 134 for 7 (Jatinder 67*) beat Hong Kong 122 for 9 (McKechnie 44, Bilal 4-23) by 12 runs

It looked like déjà vu. Just as they had 24 hours earlier against Namibia, the Oman batting order was in the midst of imploding spectacularly with a series of self-inflicted wounds.

But after being involved in a pair of run-outs, Jatinder Singh held his nerve to carry his bat through the Oman innings, including 50 off the last three overs with Naseem Khushi, to give his side a fighting chance. Bilal Khan's yorker spree left Hong Kong's chase in tatters at 18 for 5 before he came back with one more late wicket to secure a dramatic 12-run win for Oman and their second straight trip to the T20 World Cup. It also ended Hong Kong's bid to reach the opening round in Australia for the third successive time.

Jatinder's topsy-turvy innings began in ugly fashion. After he lost his opening partner Khawar Ali in the third over driving away from his body for an edge behind to 17-year-old medium pacer Nasrulla Rana, Jatinder sold out Aqib Ilyas, changing his mind on a single to mid-off in the fourth. Nizakat Khan pounced with a direct hit to beat Aqib's dive back. One over later, captain Zeeshan Maqsood was stuck halfway down the wicket miscommunicating with Jatinder on a run to cover and Kinchit fielded to turn and fire for another direct hit at the non-striker's end.

Three more wickets fell in consecutive overs opposite Jatinder in the seventh through the ninth to put him under heavy pressure. Mohammad Nadeem skied a slog off Aizaz Khan to backward point, Suraj Kumar edged a quicker ball from Ehsan Khan's offspin to the keeper and Mehran Khan copped a rough lbw decision from legspinner Mohammad Ghazanfar when replays showed an inside edge onto his pad.

But from 42 for 6 after nine overs, Jatinder and Aamir Kaleem ground their way through the next eight overs to stretch the innings out and keep Hong Kong's spinners at bay. Jatinder finally felt comfortable enough to expand his repertoire in the 15th, switch-hitting Ghazanfar over the off side for a boundary before playing the shot again successfully for four more off Ehsan in the 16th. By the time the stand ended - when Kaleem mistimed a scoop to short fine leg - the pair had doubled Oman's score.

Kaleem's innings might look ugly on the scorecard, making just 17 off 30 balls, but he soaked up enough time to free up the big-hitting Naseem Khushi to go full throttle at the death. Playing as a specialist bat at No. 9 in a team packed with allrounders, Khushi whacked 26 off his last eight balls. He got off the mark second ball bashing Rana over square leg for six, then drove him over extra cover for four.

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At the opposite end Jatinder switch-hit Kyle Christie for six to bring up a 41-ball fifty, then continued to switch-hit throughout the final three overs for three more boundaries. One more six off the final ball by Khushi took Oman to 134 for 7 in a furious half-century stand to end the innings.

Oman's bowling unit took the momentum given to them by Jatinder and Khushi into the start of the chase behind Bilal's blistering burst. Much of Hong Kong's hope hinged on batting star Nizakat but Bilal wiped him out second ball with a full inswinger that defeated his drive to knock back off stump. Oman caught a break in the second over when Kinchit flicked Fayyaz Butt off his pads straight to short fine leg for the second wicket.

But there was nothing lucky about Bilal's sustained barrage in the third over. An inswinging yorker cleaned up Aizaz Khan for 5 before another inswinging yorker pinged Waqas Barkat in line with leg stump to make it 13 for 4. Fayyaz then bounced out Simandeep Singh, caught by Bilal at short fine leg to make it 18 for 5.

Captain Maqsood elected to keep one over back from Bilal and Hong Kong seized on the opening to rebuild their innings. Scott McKechnie and Haroon Arshad added 52 for the sixth wicket and at the halfway stage, Hong Kong looked rock solid at 62 for 5, needing a very manageable 73 off the last 10 overs.

Khawar's allround skills came to the fore to disrupt Hong Kong's valiant fightback, clipping the outside edge of Haroon playing away from his body for a catch to wicketkeeper Kumar in the 12th. Ehsan Khan tried to guide Khawar to third man but picked out a delivery that was far too full and tight to the stumps, resulting in a drag on for 9 in the 14th to make it 82 for 7. McKechnie's vigil finally ended for 44 in the 17th through another yorker, this time from Nadeem's medium pace to trap him in front.

Bilal's fourth victim, third clean bowled, was Rana cleaned up by - you guessed it - a yorker to wrap up one of the finest fast bowling spells of the tournament. Bilal effectively clinched the match as the last pair were left needing 24 off the last nine. They could only manage 11 as Oman outlasted their Asian rivals in Dubai's first televised thriller of the tournament. Oman now take on Scotland in the fifth-place match at ICC Academy on Thursday for seeding purposes in Australia.

HOUSTON -- Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki is back in Washington's lineup for the deciding Game 7 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.

Suzuki hadn't played the last three games while dealing with a hip flexor strain. The 36-year-old, who homered in Game 2, will be behind the plate to catch for Max Scherzer.

Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young winner, was unable to make his start in Game 5 because of an irritated nerve near his neck. He is starting the finale after a cortisone shot.

Washington's lineup was unchanged aside from Suzuki back in the lineup batting eighth, and center fielder Victor Robles dropping to the No. 9 spot after catcher Yan Gomes hit in that spot in Game 6.

Houston used a familiar lineup against the right-hander, led off by 2017 World Series MVP George Springer.

Astros manager AJ Hinch said Game 6 starter Justin Verlander won't be available for Game 7. After taking the loss in Game 6 to fall to 0-6 in seven career World Series starts, Verlander said he would be available on Wednesday if Hinch needed him. But Hinch shut that down.

"All hands on deck means most hands on deck," Hinch said.

While Verlander is out, fellow ace Gerrit Cole could be used out of the bullpen. Cole got the win in Game 5 on Sunday. Hinch said he'll talk to him before the game about how he might use him on Wednesday.

"It would be in a limited capacity if I ask him to do anything," Hinch said.