Nov 21, 2019 4 min read

Wild Things busy making roster moves

The Wild Things continue building their roster for the 2020 season. The Frontier League recently declined the options on three players from last year’s team, acquired another player in a trade and signed a former college infielder.

Washington declined the team options on outfielder Mick Fennell, third baseman Shaine Hughes and pitcher Josh Lapiana.

The Wild Things acquired first baseman Josh Rehwaldt from the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association in exchange for future considerations. Rehwaldt has signed a contract with Washington.

On Thursday, the Wild Things announced the signing of infielder Jonathan White out of Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C.

As a junior in 2018, White, led the Big South Conference in hitting with a .358 average, earning first team all-conference honors. As a senior, he set numerous program records. His career .431 on-base percentage set a new high for the Blue Hose and his 15 hit by pitches in ’19 tied a single season record. White finished the campaign with a .305 average. The majority of White’s starts last year came at third base.

In golf

Webb Simpson birdied seven of his last 10 holes at the Plantation Course on Thursday for a 7-under 65 and the first-round lead in the RSM Classic, the final PGA Tour event of the year.

The top-ranked player in the field at No. 12, Simpson is coming off a six-week break since tying for seventh in Las Vegas.

“I only have a week off before Tiger’s tournament and we leave from there for the Presidents Cup, so I’ve had my time off,” Simpson said. “I’ve been home a lot lately, so it’s nice to get back at it.”

He began the birdie run on the par-5 18th and played the front nine in 6-under 30 with birdies on Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9.

Three players were 6 under. Cameron Tringale and Kyoung-Hoon Lee shot 64 on Sea Island’s Seaside Course, and Rhein Gibson had a 66 on the Plantation layout. The final two rounds will be played on the Seaside Course.

Sei Young Kim set a goal of winning three times this year on the LPGA Tour, and she’s down to her last chance.

Reaching the goal would pay off big at the CME Group Tour Championship.

Kim scrambled to keep bogeys off her card Thursday along the back nine at Tiburon Golf Club, and then she pulled away from the pack with one big shot. Her approach on the par-5 17th narrowly stayed on the fringe of the green, and she holed the 12-foot eagle putt that carried her to a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead in the final LPGA Tour event of the year.

The winner gets $1.5 million, the richest prize in the history of women’s golf.

Nelly Korda, the highest-ranked American at No. 3 in the world ranking, did her best to make sure Kim didn’t get too far away, even after one round. She birdied the par-3 16th, holed a 35-foot eagle putt from just off the 17th green and closed with a 20-foot birdie. That took her from middle of the pack to a 67, leaving her two shots behind.

In the NHL

Aaron Ekblad scored his second goal of the game 22 seconds into overtime and the Florida Panthers rallied with five straight goals to stun the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 Thursday night.

Brett Connolly sparked the comeback with two goals in 27 seconds in the second period, and Dominic Toninato tied it with 4:23 remaining in the third. Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves, and Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau each had two assists.

• Oliver Bjorkstrand, Boone Jenner and Eric Robinson scored in the third period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-4.

Jenner beat Jimmy Howard with a sharp-angle shot 8:43 into the third, 63 seconds after Bjorkstrand’s tying power-play goal. Robinson made it 5-3 before Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi scored with 3:14 left.

Alexandre Texier and Cam Atkinson also scored, Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves, and Columbus won its third straight.

• Claude Giroux had two goals and two assists, leading the Philadelphia Flyers past the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-3.

Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist in his second NHL game, helping the Flyers stop a four-game slide. Ivan Provorov also scored, Travis Konecny had three assists and Kevin Hayes added an empty-netter with 5.7 seconds left.