Guyana Amazon Warriors 144 for 3 (Pooran 54*) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 143 for 5 (Munro 43, Hemraj 3-15) by seven wickets

A record-setting winning streak shows no signs of slowing down in the CPL playoffs as Guyana Amazon Warriors became the first team in CPL history to go a perfect 10 for 10 in the regular season, closing out the league phase in confident fashion with a seven-wicket win over defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders at Providence. A scintillating half-century from Nicholas Pooran made sure a target of 144 was never enough and the win sets up a date for Warriors in the 1st v 2nd qualifier on Saturday at Providence against Barbados Tridents.

After the Knight Riders kept stride for stride with the Warriors over the first four matches of the season, the reigning champions are now winless in their last six. While the Warriors were already guaranteed of playing in Saturday's opening playoff qualifier match, the loss on Friday night was costly for the Knight Riders, who could have forced an immediate rematch in the qualifier had they beaten the Warriors. Instead, Knight Riders ended the regular season in fourth place with the loss, falling back into the first elimination playoff against St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots.

Hemmed in by new-ball (non)spin

Chandrapaul Hemraj had taken just two wickets in 12 career overs in T20 cricket entering the night. But never has a straight ball proven to be more lethal in the CPL from a left-arm orthodox bowler. Given the new ball for the fourth time in the season, Hemraj devastated the Knight Riders top order with a career-best 3 for 15.

After the opening experiment with Jimmy Neesham failed in their previous match against Barbados Tridents, Javon Searles was asked to open alongside Lendl Simmons but fared little better as he tried to smash Hemraj over midwicket and was bowled for 1 in the third over. After a wide, Denesh Ramdin played back to another arm ball that skidded on and crashed into middle stump for a golden duck. Simmons had made a decent start at the opposite end but eventually made the same mistake as Ramdin, playing back to a fullish length ball that continued straight on and pegged back off stump to fall for 30 in the seventh over. It was just the fourth time in CPL history that a bowler had taken a three-for with every wicket out bowled.

Colin Munro and Kieron Pollard rallied the Knight Riders in the middle order. A 39-run stand between the two was followed by an unbroken 41-run stand between Pollard and Neesham that was dominated by the captain to lift the Knight Riders up to a competitive total.

King of the off side

The Knight Riders did their best to build some pressure in the Powerplay, bowling 19 dot balls. But King was ruthless whenever width was offered. He smashed an overpitched delivery through the covers to start off the Amazon Warrior's reply off Akeal Hosein's left-arm spin, then guided an edge past slip to end the over for four more.

Four more boundaries were cracked by King between backward point and extra cover before the Powerplay was done, two back-foot drives off Khary Pierre and two cuts off Ali Khan. He added a seventh four through backward point off Neesham before being dismissed on the next ball for 33, given lbw despite replays showing a clear inside edge.

Pooran freed up at the finish

The Knight Riders continued to make inroads after the dismissal of King as Khan bounced out Hemraj before Pierre induced a loose drive to short cover just before a 37-minute rain delay with the score 59 for 3, at which point scores were level on DLS. Pooran arrived at the resumption of play and played cautiously with Shoaib Malik for the better part of the next eight overs. But with 42 required off four overs, the pressure was released with a costly error from Neesham to start the 17th.

With Shoaib on strike, Neesham sent down a rib-high full toss that was called a no ball, taking a single to third man. Pooran came on strike on 24 off 24 balls at the time, but took the license afforded by the free hit to hammer a straight drive for six. It was all he needed to get his innings unstuck, driving the next ball through point for four before ending the over with another class drive through extra cover for another boundary.

The cherry on top came in the 18th off Chris Jordan. Pooran took a length ball off the stumps and flicked a jawdropping shot with powerful wrist work high over square leg for another six. It took the equation under a run a ball with 12 off 14 needed. He brought up his half-century off 34 balls in the next over off Khan converting an attempted yorker through long-off for a boundary, then iced the match carving another four over point, bringing up 1000 career CPL runs in the process.

Tennessee linebacker Jeremy Banks, who was arrested during a traffic stop last month for an outstanding warrant and was shown cursing at police on video, has been dismissed from the team, coach Jeremy Pruitt announced Friday.

"While I will continue to support Jeremy in the next steps in his life, information I recently received made it clear that this decision is in the best interest of the football program and the university," Pruitt said in making the announcement.

While Pruitt did not specify the source of the new information, a source told ESPN's Chris Low that he was made aware of a video of an Aug. 24 incident in which Banks told a woman he would "smack" her after she refused to let him into a party.

The video, which was posted online by TMZ later on Friday, led to Pruitt's decision to remove Banks from the team, the source said.

According to TMZ, university officials and police conducted an investigation and issued a temporary no-contact order against Banks while the probe was underway. The woman told TMZ that Banks had been harassing her for months.

The sophomore played a reserve role in each of Tennessee's first four games this season. He has seven tackles and two interceptions.

Tennessee (1-3, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) hosts No. 3 Georgia (4-0, 1-0) on Saturday.

The incident in which Banks cursed police came to light Tuesday, when the University of Tennessee police department released footage of Banks after he was arrested on Sept. 15.

A records check during a traffic stop just before 4 a.m. ET revealed he had an active warrant for failing to appear in court on an earlier charge of driving with a suspended license. In video footage, Banks at one point said, "Where I'm from, we shoot at cops." At another point, Banks said he should have run and tested "you all's speed."

Knoxville television station WBIR first broadcast the footage of Banks' arrest.

After the video was made public, Banks said in a statement Tuesday night that he was "embarrassed" by his actions and vowed to be a better representative for the University of Tennessee moving forward.

Also in the video footage, Banks calls Pruitt, who speaks to an officer and asks why the player is getting arrested. When the reason is explained, Pruitt said, "This is the silliest [thing] I've ever seen in my life." Pruitt also said that "I've worked at four places and never had no crap like this except for here."

"To be honest, when I got the phone call, I had no idea who I was talking to probably for the first two minutes," Pruitt said Wednesday. "By the time I got it figured out, there was obviously some confusion because it was late, but I appreciate the officer talking to me and doing his job."

Pruitt said Wednesday he "absolutely" didn't mean to make it seem as though police at his previous stops were more willing to cut players a break when they ran afoul of the law. Pruitt was a defensive coordinator at Florida State, Georgia and Alabama before Tennessee hired him.

"There's no place I've ever coached that anybody's cut anybody a break," Pruitt said. "The point was the warrant was issued, and it had been issued for five weeks or four weeks there, and I wasn't aware of it. That's something we've got to do a better job, to focus on our players so you don't have a speeding ticket or anything that turns into something like this. We've got to do a better job as a staff to know what's going on."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Kansas athletic director Jeff Long issued an apology Friday night following a performance at Allen Fieldhouse by hip hop artist Snoop Dogg that included pole dancers, a money gun and profanity.

Snoop performed at the end of the athletic department's "Late Night in the Phog" preseason celebration following scrimmages by the men's and women's basketball teams.

"We apologize to anyone that was offended by the Snoop Dogg performance at Late Night," Long said in a statement. "We made it clear to the entertainers' managers that we expected a clean version of the show and took additional steps to communicate to our fans, including moving the artist to the final act of the evening, to ensure that no basketball activities would be missed if anyone did not want to stay for his show.

"I take full responsibility for not understanding what acrobatic dancers are in today's entertainment world and offer my personal apology to anyone who was offended. We strive to create a family atmosphere at Kansas and fell short of that this evening."

Snoop, wearing a blue No. 20 Kansas jersey, played for about 35 minutes in front of a raucous crowd that included the basketball teams. At one point, he shot a money gun full of fake $100 dollar bills featuring his face over the teams' bench area. The rapper met with the players in the locker room before the show.

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He still got it ??‍♂️?? basketball ? is my favorite sport ??????. Thank. U. @kuhoops

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Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self missed the majority of the performance after returning to the locker room, but he said he was caught off guard by some of its content after being told it would be "radio edited."

"That's not the direction that anybody at our school would want that to go at all," Self said. "Regardless of the entertainment that it provided many, it was still not the right way to provide the entertainment."

The performance comes as Self's program faces five NCAA Level I violations this week, including a lack of institutional control charge and a violation of coaching responsibilities standard.

The NCAA is scrutinizing the school's relationship with Adidas; Kansas recently signed a 14-year, $196 million extension with the apparel company.

To promote Snoop Dogg's performance, Kansas last week produced a video with Self wearing a shirt with a large "Adidas Basketball" logo and a chain with a "$" sign.

NEW YORK -- Minnesota Twins rookie right-hander Randy Dobnak will start Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Saturday, the team announced after its 10-4 loss to the New York Yankees in Game 1.

The postseason is the latest high point in Dobnak's meteoric rise to the majors. The 24-year old spent this past offseason as an Uber driver, proudly boasting on his Twitter bio that he has a 4.99 rating. He started the season in Class A Fort Myers, moving through Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Rochester before getting called up in August, when he tossed four scoreless innings in his major league debut.

Dobnak helped the Twins clinch the AL Central last week when he pitched six shutout innings in a 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers.

"It's been the greatest week of my life," Dobnak said. "Got married, clinching the game and now a postseason start. I don't think it's going to get any better than this."

Baldelli cited Dobnak's 52.9% ground ball rate as playing a large role in the decision to go with the rookie over veteran righty Jake Odorizzi, who had a 35% ground ball rate this season. In nine appearances this season, including five starts, Dobnak had posted a 1.59 ERA, striking out 23 batters in 28⅓ innings with a 1.13 WHIP.

"It's a fine line. It was not an obvious move in any way," Baldelli said. "I think in this ballpark, the guy that throws the ball, keeps it on the ground pretty well, was a good guy to look to. [Dobnak] has been throwing the ball great for us, so I thought it made sense."

Dobnak's unlikely rise started in 2017, when he went undrafted after graduating from Alderson Broaddus University, a small Division II school in West Virginia, with an accounting degree. He joined the United Shore Professional Baseball League, a four-team independent league in Michigan, planning to play for one season. A month later, the Twins signed him.

Now, just two years later, Dobnak will make his postseason debut at Yankees Stadium.

"I don't know if it's sunk in or if it ever will," Dobnak said. "I'm really excited for all the opportunities that have come my way this year. Two years ago, getting the chance to play indie ball, just getting a chance to play indie ball, that's something that a lot of people don't get a chance to do. And I think everything that's happened to me is something I never would have thought of."

Dobnak does not plan on deviating from his routine tomorrow, despite the raised stakes.

"I'm going to be the same person I'm always going to be. That's a very strange person," Dobnak said. "But yeah, I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing."

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Looking to put the disappointment of one year ago behind him, Josh Berry set the fastest time in ValleyStar Credit Union 300 qualifying on Friday night at Martinsville Speedway.

With a scorching lap of 19.927 seconds (95.027 mph) around the .526-mile Virginia paper clip, Berry – the 65th of 68 cars to turn a lap – rocketed to the top of the board.

Berry then held off the likes of Peyton Sellers, Layne Riggs and practice leader Lee Pulliam, who were the final three drivers out, to earn the top spot for Saturday’s race.

Friday night marked Berry’s first pole in the Martinsville late model stock car special, and it was a big one as well, worth $5,000 to the driver of the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet.

“Man, it’s been a lot faster ever since we started qualifying at nighttime and we were able to tape (up) the front ends,” noted Berry, whose lap set a new Martinsville track record for late model stock cars.

“The conditions were a little bit better too; maybe the coolest it’s ever been here for qualifying, but at the same time we’re all constantly making our cars better. When you add all those things together, you have some fast laps,” he added. “I’ve never gotten the pole here before, so we’ll see now what we can do with it. We had a great car last year and we’ve just tried to build from that momentum. We learned a lot last year as a team and I learned a lot about this place and a lot about myself.

“We really wanted to pick up where we left off last year and I feel like we’ve done that so far.”

Riggs will join Berry on the front row Saturday night, courtesy of a 19.959-second lap on his run in the No. 99 Puryear Tank Lines Ford. Riggs is another driver seeking some Martinsville redemption Saturday.

“I think we just had a really good piece,” said Riggs. “We worked hard in the shop all week. I knew the rules had changed a lot the past couple of years; that’s opened up a whole lot more horsepower ranges. The cool conditions really help everybody just stay up on top of their game and be pinpoint accurate.

“The times are really close to each other, but we were happy with our lap and we’ll move to tomorrow.”

Bobby McCarty rolls off third, followed by Sellers and Pulliam, who timed in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Dustin Rumley, Bubba Pollard, Trevor Noles, Tommy Lemons Jr. and Justin Carroll completed the top 10.

With 20 of the 68 cars in attendance locking in on their qualifying speeds, every thousandth of a second was crucial on Friday night, and it proved to be that way right at the qualifying cutoff line.

C.E. Falk III, the defending winner of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, earned the 20th and final guaranteed spot into the 200-lap main event by .014 seconds over Matt Leicht. His time of 20.188 seconds wasn’t necessarily flashy given those ahead of him, but it was enough to get the job done.

“You’ve got to be in it to win it, and thankfully we’re in it,” Falk said after the conclusion of qualifying. “To be in the top 20 is a great accomplishment. We haven’t had the speed that I thought we would have since we got back from the test, even though we’ve put in a lot of work in the shop. It just hasn’t translated to the race track. The tires are a little bit different than what we normally run, but we’ll work through all this and see if we can’t win another grandfather clock on Saturday night.”

Among those who will have to race their way in through one of two 50-lap Last Chance Showdowns on Saturday afternoon are NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series regular Brennan Poole (22nd), former event winner Mike Looney (27th), NASCAR K&N Pro Series East young gun Colin Garrett (31st) and CARS Tour winner Brandon Pierce (42nd), among others.

To view complete qualifying results, advance to the next page.

LAS VEGAS – Coming off an injury to his right triceps tendon and making his first PGA Tour start since February, James Hahn was cruising along at 7 under par for the week when disaster struck.

With five holes to play in his second round at the Shriners Open, Hahn hit his tee ball at the par-3 fifth into the rocks short and right of the green.

Rather than take a drop, he elected to play from the desert, but his second shot went mostly sideways.

“From there it was a big blur,” he said.

His third shot sailed over the green and lodged into a rock wall.

So he found himself taking a drop after all – now from the sixth tee box, perched high above the fifth green.

From there, his fifth shot ended up short of the putting surface. That’s when he told playing partner Scott Stallings he needed “a timeout.”

“I was just tired,” Hahn explained. “I had hit too many shots, and I was like: I don’t know what’s going on – I could’ve ended up making a 20 if I wasn’t smart.”

One chip and two putts later and he was in the hole … for an eight.

“It’s like the old Seve saying: How did you make an eight?” Hahn asked, setting himself up for the punchline. “Well, I missed the putt for seven.”

Confessing that he didn’t even know what to call an eight on a par-3 – a quintuple bogey, by the way – Hahn started contemplating flights home.

But then there was the bounceback birdie at 6. And another at 7. And the near-ace at 8, where he settled for par. Suddenly just one off the cut line heading to his finishing hole, the par-5 ninth, Hahn went from one out to one in with an eagle at the last.

He played his last five holes quintuple bogey-birdie-birdie-par-eagle to make the weekend with a shot to spare.

“I like to think I shot 4 under in the last four holes rather than 1 over in the last five,” he joked.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – For the second consecutive season, Fanschoice.tv will broadcast the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 live from Martinsville Speedway.

Saturday night’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway has become one of the marquee events in NASCAR racing. With the support of Southern Trust Home Services, Woodall Auto Mall and Lester Group Inc., fans who will not be able to attend the race in person can watch online.

“While we know nothing can replace the fan experience of attending the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 in person we are happy to be able to bring this race to fans everywhere,” said Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell. “This event has become one of the prominent Late Model races in the country and for us to be able to bring the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 to viewers on FansChoice.tv is huge for our fans, partners and competitors.

“We are proud to stream the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 live this Saturday on FansChoice.TV,” added NASCAR Senior Director of Media Strategy Dan Barker. “Martinsville Speedway is an iconic venue and streaming this race is an opportunity to showcase the backbone of local short tracks to fans of grassroots racing around the world.”

MRN’s call of the race will serve as the audio for the FansChoice.tv broadcast, starting at 6:30 p.m.

“The ValleyStar Credit Union 300 is a race every late model driver wants to win,” said Motor Racing Network President Chris Schwartz. “In addition to listening to our race on MRN through our affiliates or digital platforms, fans can also tune in to FansChoice.tv to enjoy our coverage of this prestigious event.”

Dave Moody and Kyle Ricky will be in the MRN booth, while Ford Martin will call the action in the turns. Pit road will be covered by Woody Cain and Hannah Newhouse.

The ValleyStar Credit Union 300 is NASCAR’s biggest, richest and most prestigious late model stock car race, paying $32,000 to the winner with a total purse of more than $110,000.

In addition, a total of $10,000 will be paid out to the top-three drivers in the Virginia Late Model Stock Car Triple Crown. The winner will take home $7,000 for the title.

Danville, Virginia’s Peyton Sellers leads the Triple Crown standings going into the final race.

DOVER, Del. – All Sam Mayer had to do to clinch the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship was take the green flag Friday at Dover Int’l Speedway.

He did one better.

After being quickest in practice and qualifying on the pole, he led all but two laps to close the season with a win and celebrate in style.

“I can’t thank everyone at GMS enough for all they do for me,” Mayer said. “I mean, they had a rocket ship for me, I can’t thank them enough for that. Drivers Edge Development, Chevrolet, Chevrolet Accessories for being on the car and bringing me out here in the first place, and giving me this opportunity to go win a K&N East championship.It means so much and I’m going to celebrate even more, for sure.”

Mayer is the youngest NASCAR champion at 16 years, 3 months and 8 days, eclipsing mark set in 2016 by current Todd Gilliland (16 years, 5 months). Mayer also bettered the East record that was set in 2017 Harrison Burton (16 years, 11 months, 20 days).

Mayer won four races and finished outside the top 10 only once in 12 races. His average finish for the year wound up being an impressive 3.2.

The championship is also GMS Racing’s first in the series, coming in their first full-time season of competition in the K&N Pro Series.

The DGR-Crosley trio of Tanner Gray, who led two laps, Todd Gilliland and Drew Dollar finished second, third and fourth, respectively, with Chase Cabre rounding out the top five.

The finish:

Sam Mayer, Tanner Gray, Todd Gilliland, Drew Dollar, Chase Cabre, Max McLaughlin, Spencer Davis, Ruben Garcia Jr., Brandon McReynolds, Justin S. Carroll, Josh Fanopoulos, Bill Hoff, Sam Hunt, Stefan Parsons.

Brittany Altomare is picking up where she left off at the Solheim Cup.

With a 5-under-par 66 Friday, Altomare moved into a three-way tie for the lead at the LPGA’s Volunteers of America Classic in suburban Dallas. At 9 under overall, she shares the lead with Alena Sharp (65) and Cheyenne Knight (67).

They’re each seeking their first LPGA title.

In fact, the top six players on the leaderboard are all looking to win their first LPGA titles.

Stephanie Meadow (72) is one shot back, with Jaye Marie Green (68) and Katherine Perry (68) each two shots back.

Knight is enjoying home cooking this week. The LPGA rookie is a two-time Texas state high school champion from nearby Aledo, with a strong local following turning out for her at Old American Golf Club.

“It’s incredible,” Knight said. “I know they're going to cheer for me if I make a birdie or if I make a bogey. Just having all my family and friends here, it means a lot, just having that support because I don't get to play close to home very often. Just seeing them smiling and cheering me on is definitely a little advantage."

Altomare made an impressive Solheim Cup debut in Scotland three weeks ago, closing with four birdies over the final six holes teaming with fellow American Nelly Korda to come from 3 down with three holes to go to halve an opening fourballs match. She teamed with Annie Park to defeat Suzann Pettersen and Bronte Law in another fourballs match and won her singles match.

Altomare, 28, made her first big splash on an international stage finishing runner-up at the Evian Championship in 2017. She is ninth on tour in total birdies made this season, but her consistency is also notable.

“I was putting well [today], and I just didn't make any mistakes,” Altomare said.

Altomare has now gone 70 consecutive holes without a bogey, dating back to last week’s Indy Women in Tech Championship.

“Charlie [Ryan] my caddie, has helped me to just manage the golf courses really well and not get ourselves in too much trouble, so it's been good,” Altomare said.

Her weekend plan?

“I think just keep on doing what I'm doing, just play smart, which I think is really key, and then when I have the opportunities, to maybe go for pins or a par 5, just take them,” she said.

Nuria Iturrioz made a big move Friday to set up a run at a promotion to the LPGA next year.

With a 5-under-par 67, Iturrioz took the lead at the season-ending Symetra Tour Championship.

At 11-under overall, she’s two shots ahead of Sierra Sims (69) and Laura Wearn (70) and three ahead of a pack of seven players.

Iturrioz, a Spaniard who has won twice on the Ladies European Tour this year, is 14^th on the Symetra Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list. The top 10 on the money list after this week’s finish will win LPGA tour cards.

“I’m thinking about all of it,” Iturrioz said. “I was practicing last week and changed a couple things, so now I’m getting more confident.”

Iturrioz isn’t the only player just off the top-10 money bubble who is making a move this week. Five players between Nos. 10-20 on the money list are sitting T-17 or better on the leaderboard.

The battle for the 10 tour cards opened a bit with news that Mind Muangkhumsakul wouldn’t be teeing it up this week. She holds down the 10^th spot on the money list but missed her tee time for Wednesday’s pro-am and was withdrawn from the event, per tour rules.