CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Virginia players remembered teammates Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry during a memorial service on Saturday, sharing stories and shedding tears — all while letting the world know how much they would dedicate the rest of their lives in their memory.
With the Chandler, Davis and Perry families sitting in the front row, and the entire football team in the rows behind them, the memorial was an opportunity not only for remembrances about all three, but in the words of university president Jim Ryan, “to start the healing of our beloved university.”
Chandler, Davis and Perry were shot and killed last Sunday on a charter bus after returning from a school field trip, devastating both the football team and the entire Charlottesville community. Running back Mike Hollins was shot and remains hospitalized. A fifth student, Marlee Morgan, was shot and is recovering at home with her family.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Prosecutors have also charged him with two counts of malicious wounding and additional gun-related charges related to shooting Hollins and Morgan. He is being held without bail in a Charlottesville jail.
Nobody at the memorial mentioned the way Chandler, Davis and Perry died. Rather, they focused on the way they lived.
Pictures of all three players were displayed on stage, where athletic director Carla Williams, coach Tony Elliott, Ryan and Virginia Rector Whitt Clement also were seated. The MLK Community Choir performed, and Grammy Award-winning gospel singer CeCe Winans sang “Goodness of God.”
Williams shared stories that their families told her. Chandler was known as “Devin the Dancing Machine” to his family. His uncle showed her a video of 10-year-old Devin arriving at track practice early, getting out of the car and “proceeding to put on a one-kid dance-off in the parking lot. His rhythm was suspect, but his confidence was never in doubt.”
Whenever Davis went home, he wanted his grandmother to cook for him.
“He especially loved the 18 scrambled eggs she would make for him,” Williams said.
As for Perry, when he was 6, he wanted to be a red Power Ranger for Halloween. His parents bought him his costume, and he didn’t take it off until after Thanksgiving — a story that drew a chuckle from the crowd of 9,075, which included former Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and a large contingent of former Cavaliers football players, including Chris Long and Heath Miller.
Video montages of each player, featuring highlights and interviews, were shown before players took the stage to say a few words about their fallen teammates. The memorial was the first opportunity for players to speak publicly about their teammates.
Virginia linebacker Chico Bennett Jr. paused multiple times as he spoke about Davis, his big smile and the way he would passionately defend his side in any argument.
“The grief, the loss, the heartache, the loss will never be gone,” Bennett said. “Now we just learn how to manage it. But rather than being sad, I’ll remember the smile and do right by you and continue to chase our common dreams of graduating and continuing our football careers. Oh, what I would give to see that smile of yours just one more time. Unfortunately, I cannot, but I know you are smiling up there and so far that I will do the same down here. I love you, little brother.”
Others told funny stories as a way to honor their teammates’ memories. Cornerback Elijah Gaines described Davis’ love for his hometown of Ridgeville, South Carolina, a small community less than an hour from Charleston. Gaines came to Virginia from New York — a city many, many times larger than Davis’ hometown.
“I swear Lavel would make Ridgeville sound like it was the biggest city in the world,” Gaines said. “I’m pretty sure there’s only 2,000 people there. He had this one tattoo on his arm, 187. I’m like, ‘Is that your area code?’ He’s like, ‘Nah it’s my exit.’ I’m like, ‘An exit? Why you repping an exit?’ ‘That’s where I’m from!'”
Safety Donovan Johnson wanted to share humorous stories about Perry because of the sense of humor he had.
“He liked to get me on the field,” Johnson said. “We were doing scout, and this was maybe early in the season and I didn’t get the call. He gave me the wrong call and Coach looked at me like, ‘Bro what are you doing?’ So later in the season, he asked me what the call was. I was like, I got him. I told him, ‘You’re blitzing.’
“So as the play went on, he walked up and he noticed he wasn’t blitzing on that play and then he looked over at me. ‘Bro, don’t ever do that again.’ I was like, ‘Got you!'”
Kicker Will Bettridge was especially poignant in talking about Perry, as the two played together in youth football, high school and at Virginia.
“You were a role model to me, and a mentor to me as I watched your every move and I wanted to be just like you,” Bettridge said. “You were a rock star in the community, giving back and helping others and doing everything for everyone before yourself. Your presence was felt each and every day I was able to share it with you. You were the first one to be there with me after a make or a miss. Your outlook on life never changed.
“I strive to be like you in many ways, your work ethic, your compassion, your mindset, your loyalty. The world would be a better place with more people like you, D’Sean.”
Running back Cody Brown echoed similar thoughts about Chandler in a letter he wrote to him.
“You lit our lives up like a shining star in the sky. You had a special gift when it came to talking to people, making them laugh, making them feel loved. It didn’t matter if it was someone you didn’t know at all, you could talk to them like you knew them for years,” Brown said. “Your joy for life was contagious and you made them happy. You were always true to yourself — it was your world and we’re just living in it.”
Elliott closed the program with remarks that leaned heavily on his faith, and promise for brighter days ahead.
“To everyone here I say, we will turn today’s tragedy into tomorrow’s triumph,” Elliott said. “We have a mission going forward and that mission requires a tremendous amount of responsibility. Amidst the pain and suffering there is hope. Weeping is going to last for the night, but great joy is coming in the morning. Because of 1, 15, 41, we have the responsibility to rebuild this community and program on the legacy of their stars, and do so in such a way as to bring light unto the world.
“Lavel, Devin, D’Sean, I’m so looking forward to the strength, motivation, courage and love that you all will provide as we triumph in the days ahead. My young kings, may you celebrate in paradise, and we will celebrate on this side each and every day with the light of your stars.”
In his first start since agreeing to a $170 million, six-year contract, the left-hander pitched a career-best eight innings as the Red Sox shut out the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 on Wednesday night. Crochet also threw 102 pitches, one shy of his career high.
“My first start in college I went eight, and I haven’t sniffed it since,” Crochet said.
Crochet (1-0) gave up four hits and a walk while striking out eight in his first victory since the offseason trade that sent him from the Chicago White Sox to Boston.
“That’s the reason he’s here,” manager Alex Cora said after the game. “That’s the reason we committed to him.”
Crochet went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA last season, a bright spot on a Chicago team that lost 121 games. He threw 146 innings, which was double his previous career total since his debut in 2020.
Then Crochet was dealt to the Red Sox, and they made their long-term commitment to the 25-year-old earlier this week.
“Going back to when the trade went through, we knew Boston was a place where we would love to be long term,” Crochet said. “Credit to the front office for staying diligent, and my agency as well.”
Now the question is less about where he’ll pitch and more about how well. He’s off to a nice start in that regard.
“I can’t think of the last time I played baseball for pride. In college, you’re playing to get drafted, and once you’re in the big leagues, you’re playing to stay in the big leagues,” Crochet said. “So to have this security and feel like I’m playing to truly just win ballgames, it takes a lot of the riff-raff out of it.”
The news all around was good for Boston on Wednesday.
It reached a $60 million, eight-year deal with young infielder Kristian Campbell, and he went out and doubled twice against the Orioles.
And Rafael Devers ended a 21-at-bat hitless streak to start the season with an RBI double in the fifth inning. He finished with two hits and no strikeouts.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
LOS ANGELES — Aside from his ability to pitch and hit and stretch the boundaries of imagination, Shohei Ohtani has displayed another singular trait in his time in the major leagues: an ability to meet the moment. Or, perhaps, for the moment to meet him.
And so on Wednesday night, with his Los Angeles Dodgers looking to stay unbeaten, the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and more than 50,000 fans standing and clenching the Ohtani bobbleheads they lined up hours in advance for, Ohtani approached the batter’s box — and his teammates expected greatness.
“He’s going to end this right here,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said he thought to himself.
“We knew,” starting pitcher Blake Snell said. “It’s just what he does.”
Validation came instantly. Ohtani stayed back on a first-pitch changeup from Raisel Iglesias near the outside corner and shot it toward straightaway center field, 399 feet away, for a walk-off home run, sending the Dodgers to a 6-5, come-from-behind victory over the reeling Atlanta Braves.
“I don’t think anybody didn’t expect him to hit a walk-off home run there,” Dodgers utility man Tommy Edman said. “It’s just a question of where he’d hit it.”
The Dodgers are now 8-0, topping the 1933 New York Yankees of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth for the longest winning streak to begin a season for a reigning champion. The Braves, meanwhile, are 0-7, the type of record no team has ever recovered from to make the playoffs. And Ohtani, with three home runs and a 1.126 OPS this season, just keeps meeting moments.
“He’s pretty good, huh?” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “It’s Shohei. He’s going to do that. He’s going to do things better than that.”
On Aug. 23 last year, Ohtani reached the 40/40 club with a walk-off grand slam. Five days later, the Dodgers staged a second giveaway of his bobblehead — one that saw his now-famous dog, Decoy, handle the ceremonial first pitch — and Ohtani led off with a home run. On Sept. 19, Ohtani clinched his first postseason berth and ascended into the unprecedented 50/50 club with one of the greatest single-game performances in baseball history — six hits, three homers, two steals and 10 RBIs. Barely two weeks later, he homered in his first playoff game.
When Ohtani came up on Wednesday, he had what he described as a simple approach.
“I was looking for a really good pitch to hit,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “If I didn’t get a good pitch to hit, I was willing to walk.”
Of course, though, he got a good pitch.
And, of course, he sent it out.
“You just feel that he’s going to do something special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And I just like the way he’s not pressing. He’s in the strike zone, and when he does that, there’s just no one better.”
The Dodgers began their much-anticipated season with a couple of breezy wins over the Chicago Cubs from Japan, even though Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman did not play in them. They returned home, brought iconic rapper Ice Cube out to present the World Series trophy on one afternoon, received their rings on another and swept a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Then came the Braves, and the Dodgers swept them, too — even though Freeman, nursing an ankle injury caused from slipping in the shower, didn’t participate.
The Dodgers already have two walk-offs and six comeback wins this season.
Wednesday’s effort left Roberts “a little dumbfounded.”
A nightmarish start defensively, highlighted by two errant throws from Muncy, spoiled Snell’s start and put them behind 5-0 after the first inning and a half. But the Dodgers kept inching closer. They trailed by just two in the eighth and put runners on second and third with two out. Muncy came to bat with his batting average at just .083. He had used the ballyhooed “Torpedo” bat for his first three plate appearances, didn’t like how it altered his swing plane, grabbed his usual bat for a showdown against Iglesias and laced a game-tying double into the right-center-field gap.
An inning later, Ohtani ended it.
“Overall, not just tonight, there is a really good vibe within the team,” Ohtani said after recording his fourth career walk-off hit. “I just think that’s allowing us to come back in these games to win.”
The Dodgers’ 8-0 start has allowed them to stay just ahead of the 7-0 San Diego Padres and the 5-1 San Francisco Giants in the National League West. Tack on the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2) and the Colorado Rockies (1-4), and this marks the first time in the divisional era that an entire division has combined for at least 25 wins and no more than seven losses, according to ESPN Research. The Dodgers’ and Padres’ starts mark just the fifth season in major league history with multiple teams starting 7-0 or better, and the first time since 2003.
The Dodgers famously overcame a 2-1 series deficit to vanquish the Padres in the NL Division Series last year, then rode that fight to their first full-season championship since 1988.
That fight hasn’t let up.
“It feels like this clubhouse is carrying a little bit of the attitude we had last year that we’re never out of a game and we’re resilient, and we’ve been carrying it into this season,” Muncy said. “It’s been fun to watch. The guys don’t give up. Bad things have happened, and no one’s really been down or out on themselves. Everyone’s just, ‘All right, here we go, next inning, let’s get after it.’ The whole team, top to bottom, has been doing that. It’s been making it really, really fun to play.”
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death of the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, authorities in Costa Rica said Wednesday night.
Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency, said 14-year-old Miller Gardner was tested for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood.
When carboxyhemoglobin saturation exceeds 50%, it is considered lethal. In Gardner’s case, the test showed a saturation of 64%.
“It’s important to note that adjacent to this room is a dedicated machine room, where it’s believed there may be some type of contamination toward these rooms,” Zúñiga said.
The head of the Costa Rican judicial police added that, during the autopsy, a “layer” was detected on the boy’s organs, which forms when there is a high presence of the poisonous gas.
Gardner died March 21 while staying with his family at a hotel on the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.
Asphyxiation was initially thought to have caused his death. After an autopsy was performed by the Forensic Pathology Section, that theory was ruled out.
Another line of investigation centered around whether the family had suffered food poisoning. Family members had reported feeling ill after dining at a nearby restaurant on the night of March 20 and received treatment from the hotel doctor.
Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire major league career with the organization. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008 to 2021.