Santa Cruz’s John Mel and Sam Coffey advanced to Round 3 at the World Surf League’s Vans Pro Virginia Beach, a Men’s Qualifying Series 3,000 event in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Friday.
Mel, ranked No. 119 in the QS standings, won Heat 11 of Round 2 with a two-wave score of 12.27, while Coffey, ranked No. 249, finished with a 10.60 total to finish second in Heat 8.
Coffey faces No. 118 Kyuss King of Australia, No. 120 Josh Burke of Barbados and No. 143 Noah Schweizer of the U.S. in Heat 7 of Round 3.
Santa Cruz’s Nat Young, No. 12 in the QS, sees his first action in Heat 8 of Round 3 against a trio of Americans: No. 271 Jackson Butler, No. 285 Kevin Schulz, and No. 436 Blake Speir.
Mel returns to action in Heat 11, facing No. 69 Ian Crane and No. 160 Kei Kobayashi of the U.S. and No. 474 Gabriel Farias of Brazil.
At season’s end, the top 11 ranked surfers on the QS qualify for the Championship Tour. Nineteen other events remain on the 2019 QS schedule.
Running
Fraser takes ninth in Ireland: Scotts Valley’s Vanessa Fraser took ninth place in the 1,500-meter race at the Morton Games International Athletics at Morton Stadium Santry in Dublin, Ireland on Wednesday. The former Scotts Valley High and Stanford University alumnus finished in 4 minutes, 15.46 seconds.
U.S. runners Elinor Purrier (4:08.59), Elise Cranny (4:09.01) and Cory McGee (4:09.06) posted the top three finishes in the 16-runner field.
Pro baseball
Hill homers in win: Rookie second baseman Glenallen Hill Jr., the Arizona Diamondbacks’ fourth-round pick in June, hit a leadoff home run in the first inning and the AZL D-backs edged AZL Brewers Gold 6-4 in the teams’ Arizona League game Thursday.
It was the third home run for the Santa Cruz High alumnus, who finished with two hits and a walk on the night to boost his average to .209 over 40 games.
Del Bonta-Smith stays hot: For the 12th time in his past 13 outings, Fineas Del Bonta-Smith didn’t allow an earned run in his relief appearance, but the short-season Single-A Boise Hawks lost 6-5 to host Salem-Keizer in the teams’ Northwest League game Thursday.
The right-hander, a Souqel High alumnus, retired all four batters he faced over 1 1/3 innings and recorded one strikeout. He lowered his season ERA to 2.89 over 28 innings.
Andrews picks up win in relief: Cabrillo College alumnus Clayton Andrews gave up a solo home run to lose a save opportunity, but he picked up the win
as the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers rallied past host Montgomery 6-5 in Southern League action Thursday.
The left-hander (2-0) gave up one run over two innings of relief and struck out a pair of batters. He has a 2.77 ERA over 26 innings since being promoted from Advanced Single-A Carolina.
Koenig gets no-decision in Erie’s win: Starting pitcher Jared Koenig struck out eight batters over 6 2/3 innings, and the Lake Erie Crushers went on to beat Windy City 3-2 in the teams’ 12-inning Frontier League game Thursday.
The Aptos High alumnus gave up two runs on four hits and three walks. He has a 2.13 ERA on the season.
The East Division-leading Crushers opened a three-game series against second-place Schaumburg on Friday night.
The Crushers held a five-game lead on the Boomers with nine games remaining in the regular season.
