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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brandon Lowe homered and drove in four runs as the AL wild card-leading Tampa Bay Rays defeated the New York Yankees 7-4 in a contentious matchup Sunday and kept the road team winless in series since June.

Benches and bullpens emptied twice in the eighth inning after one of five hit batters but no punches were thrown, and the Yankees lost their eighth straight series rubber game.

“Looking at it in a different view, it’s a last-place team,” Lowe said. “We don’t need to worry about it. We need to focus up on what we need to do down the stretch. If they lose a guy, it’s not going to be quite as big of a deal as if we’re losing one of our guys. We’re focused up on kind of a bigger picture.”

Tampa Bay rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the sixth when Harold Ramírez flared a bases-loaded, two-out single to right off Ian Hamilton (2-2) that went just over a slow-to-react Gleyber Torres at second, and Lowe followed with a two-run single against Wandy Peralta.

New York (62-68) dropped a season-high six games under .500 and is in danger of ending its streak of 30 consecutive winning seasons. The last 16 batters made out for the Yankees, who are 0-8-2 in series since winning two of three games at Oakland in late June. New York has been held to four hits or fewer 23 times.

“We haven’t been very good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Everything has been a challenge.”

Tempers flared after Randy Arozarena was hit on a 3-1 pitch by Albert Abreu, the fourth Tampa Bay player hit. Arozarena was also hit twice by the Yankees on May 5, once by Abreu after hitting a long home run.

“I think it was on purpose,” Arozarena said through a translator. “If you look back at [the] previous series, he’s hit me before. I’ve been hit in previous series’ before that. They hurt Yandy [Díaz] the other day, they hit [Isaac] Paredes in the head, so I think it probably was an issue for them.”

Several players had to be restrained, including Díaz. Arozarena stole second and then third, resuming yelling at Abreu, and players ran onto the field for a second time.

Abreu, speaking through a translator, said he was not throwing at Arozarena. Díaz was hit on the left forearm in Friday’s game and missed the past two games.

Osleivis Basabe was hit by Carlos Rodon and Paredes and Jonathan Aranda by Hamilton, while New York’s Oswald Peraza was plunked by Zack Littell. Twelve Rays batters were hit by the Yankees this season and two by the Rays.

“You understand their anger?” Hamilton said. “I understand it, but at the same time if they want to come over here they can come over here, I guess. Wish we had another game against them.”

In the last meeting of the AL East rivals until next April 19, Rays fans among the announced crowd of 22,624 erupted when Lowe doubled for a 7-3 lead and Arozarena jogged home.

Kyle Higashioka, DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Volpe homered for the last-place Yankees, who have lost 12 of 14. New York dropped two of three to the Rays and is 1-12-3 in its past 16 series.

Higashioka and LeMahieu had solo drives over a four-pitch sequence against Littell (3-4) in the third, and Volpe connected on a fourth-inning two-run shot that put the Yankees up 4-2.

Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead in first. Arozarena singled, stole second, advanced on Higashioka’s throwing error into center and came home when Harrison Bader‘s throw to third skipped past LeMahieu for another error. Lowe homered on the next pitch, the 10th allowed by Rodon in 37⅔ innings — two shy of his total in 178 innings for San Francisco last year.

Rodon, making his just his eighth start in an injury-marred season after signing a $162 million, six-year contract in December, retired 11 in a row at one point before departing in the fifth with two on and two outs. He was replaced by Hamilton, who hit Isaac Paredes on the side of the helmet before striking out pinch-hitter Josh Lowe.

Paredes stayed in the game.

Littell allowed four runs and four hits in six innings. Jason Adam worked the ninth for his 12th save in 18 chances.

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Wisconsin fires offensive coordinator after 2 years

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Wisconsin fires offensive coordinator after 2 years

Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.

In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”

Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.

The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.

Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.

Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.

Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.

“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.

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4-star QB Jones, former FSU commit, picks Florida

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4-star QB Jones, former FSU commit, picks Florida

Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.

Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.

“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”

Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.

Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.

Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.

Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).

When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).

With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.

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Ted Williams’ 1946 MVP award sells for over $500K

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Ted Williams' 1946 MVP award sells for over 0K

A rare souvenir postcard picturing Hank Aaron as a rookie with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues sold for nearly $200,000 at a baseball memorabilia auction that also included Ted Williams’ 1946 AL MVP award, which went for $528,750.

The Aaron postcard from the scrapbook of scout Ed Scott, who discovered Aaron, went for $199,750 following a bidding war that soared past the pre-sale estimate of $5,000-$10,000, Hunt Auctions said.

The auction included 280 items from Williams’ personal collection that had been held by his daughter, Claudia, who died last year. Among the other items were a silver bat awarded for his 1958 batting title, which sold for more than $270,000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him by fellow naval aviator George H.W. Bush, which went for $141,000.

The sale also included items from the collection of Rutherford Hayes Jones, the business manager of the Washington Giants, one of the earliest Black baseball teams. The trove was discovered in 2001 in a suitcase, where it had been unseen for 40 years.

A first batch of items from Claudia Williams’ collection went up for auction in 2012 at Fenway Park and garnered more than $5 million.

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