Sports
Team Spirit, Team Falcons prevail at IEM Cologne playoffs
Nolan Starkey, a senior at Rossville High School, plays Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Monday, April 15, 2019, in Rossville. Starkey signed his letter of intent Wednesday to play esports at Trine University in Angola, Ind.
Rossville High School Senior Signs With Trine University To Play Esports
As the top performing team during Stage 3 group play, it is unsurprising that Team Spirit got off to a strong start during the eight-team playoff on Friday.
Team Falcons, on the other hand, had perhaps more success than expected as the fifth seed.
Both teams earned 2-1 victories in the quarterfinals Friday to advance to face one another in the next round on Saturday.
The Counter-Strike 2 tournament with 32 entrants competing for their share of a $1.25 million prize pool began June 2 with the start of the first stage.
The field was ultimately trimmed to the final eight playoff teams through a series of three stages, where all matches were best-of-three, as is most of the playoffs. Sunday’s grand final will be best-of-five, with the winner taking home $500,000.
Spirit, unblemished in Stage 3, picked up where they left off by handling G2 Esports. Despite absorbing a surprising 13-9 loss on Overpass to open, the Russian esports team showed resilience in rallying for a 16-14 overtime win on Dust II and a 25-22 quadruple-OT victory on Mirage.
As expected for such a closely contested match, multiple players racked up impressive kill numbers. Spirit’s Danil “donk” Kryshkovets paced all players with 81 kills and a 1.32 rating, though teammate Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov added 75 kills against just 56 deaths.
G2 was paced by Matus “MATYS” Simko’s 71 kills and 1.19 rating.
The Falcons established an advantage over fourth-seeded Team Vitality with a 13-11 win on Anubis to begin play. When Vitality rallied to win 13-11 on Inferno in Game 2, Team Falcons responded with a 13-11 closeout victory on Dust II.
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov led all scorers with 63 kills, while his Falcons teammate Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin (52 kills) had the match’s highest rating at 1.43.
Vitality was led by Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut’s 54 kills and 1.16 rating.
The semifinals will be contested on Saturday. Previous qualifiers FURIA and Aurora Gaming face off in the first match of the day before Spirit and Falcons match up later in the day.
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool
1. $500,000
2. $170,000
3-4. $80,000
5-8. $45,000 — BetBoom Team, 9z Team, Team Vitality, G2 Esports
9-11. $15,000 — Natus Vincere, FUT Esports, The MongolZ
12-14. $15,000 — MOUZ, Monte, Legacy
15-16. $15,000 — B8, PARIVISION
17-19. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, TYLOO, BIG
20-22. $10,000 — MIBR, M80, Astralis
23-24. $10,000 — GamerLegion, FlyQuest
25-27. $5,000 — Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid
28-30. $5,000 — THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC
31-32. $5,000 — Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports
–Field Level Media
Sports
Rangers keep responding, defeat Padres in high-scoring affair
Jun 19, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Jacob Latz (67) and catcher Elias Diaz (35) celebrate after the Rangers defeat the San Diego Padres at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Wyatt Langford went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs as the Texas Rangers rallied from a five-run deficit to earn a 9-7 victory over the visiting San Diego Padres on Friday.
Alejandro Osuna and Jake Burger each drove in two runs, while Jacob deGrom (6-4) threw six innings of six-hit, six-run ball, while striking out nine and walking three. Jacob Latz earned a four-out save — his 13th in 15 tries for Texas, which had dropped five of its last six games.
Ty France hit two home runs and drove in five for San Diego, which has lost three of its last four. Randy Vasquez (6-5) lasted just 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) on eight hits, walking three and striking out one.
San Diego jumped on Texas early, scoring five first-inning runs. After Fernando Tatis Jr. began the game with a walk and Samad Taylor followed with a single, Gavin Sheets’ two-out single scored the Padres’ first run.
Xander Bogaerts walked to load the bases before France hit a grand slam to push the margin to five.
Texas answered with a six-run bottom of the first. Joc Pederson reached on an error and Josh Jung walked to begin the inning. Two batters later, Brandon Nimmo’s double cut the deficit to 5-1. Ezequiel Duran then walked and Osuna doubled to pull the Rangers within two.
Burger doubled to even the score at five apiece. Nicky Lopez singled to place runners on the corners, before Elias Diaz’s infield single gave Texas a 6-5 lead.
France’s second home run went 409 feet and tied the game at six in the top of the fourth.
Jung singled and Langford doubled to put Texas ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the fourth.
Yuki Matsui then relieved Vasquez, tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Against David Morgan in the sixth, Jung and Langford singled before Duran’s RBI single gave the Rangers an 8-6 lead.
Jakob Junis threw a scoreless seventh in relief of deGrom. In the eighth, Sheets’ solo home run off Junis sliced Texas’ lead to 8-7.
Jason Adam took over in the eighth and surrendered Langford’s leadoff homer to push the advantage back to two.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Braxton Fulford's two-run pinch double lifts Rockies over Pirates
Jun 19, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies second baseman Willi Castro (3) hits a RBI double in the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images Pinch hitter Braxton Fulford delivered a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Colorado Rockies survived a shaky ninth inning to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 in Denver on Friday.
Kyle Freeland struck out eight to become the second Colorado pitcher to reach 1,000 for his career, joining German Marquez (1,069). He finished the game with 1,001 K’s.
TJ Rumfield homered among his two hits and Ezequiel Tovar also had two hits for the Rockies, who recovered to win the opener of the three-game series. Colorado has alternated losses and victories for six games.
Jared Triolo had two hits and an RBI for Pittsburgh, which overcame Freeland’s longest start of the season. Freeland blanked the Pirates on two hits through seven innings and reached his strikeout milestone when he fanned Marcell Ozuna in the seventh.
That came during a stretch when Freeland retired 16 in a row, but Pittsburgh rallied after the lefty got the first out of the eighth.
Esmerlyn Valdez ended the streak with a one-out double. Triolo followed with a run-scoring double to chase Freeland, who wound up charged with two runs on four hits and no walks in 7 1/3 innings.
Jaden Hill came on to face pinch hitter Bryan Reynolds, who produced an RBI single on the reliever’s first pitch. Hill hit Spencer Horowitz with a pitch, and Nick Gonzales tripled to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead.
Colorado, which had built a 2-0 edge on Willi Castro’s RBI double in the third and Rumfield’s 11th home run in the fourth, answered in its half of the eighth against Mason Montgomery (2-2).
With two outs, Tyler Freeman and Cole Carrigg singled to put runners on first and second. Fulford then came through to move the Rockies in front.
The Pirates loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth on a single, an error and a walk, but Antonio Senzatela (7-0) struck out Tyler Callihan and got Triolo to hit into a game-ending double play.
Pittsburgh starter Bubba Chandler tossed six strong innings, allowing two runs on six hits during his first start at Colorado. He walked two and struck out one. Chandler earned a save when he made his major league debut against the Rockies last August in Pittsburgh.
–Field Level Media
Sports
LIV Golf's top US Open contender T34 as seven miss cut
Bryson DeChambeau during the 2026 US Open at Shinnecock Hills. LIV Golf has bigger issues to tackle in the near future, but it’s another troublesome sign for the fledgling league that a player who carded a septuple bogey could well be LIV’s top U.S. Open finisher come Sunday in Southampton, N.Y.
For those counting, a septuple bogey is carding a 7 over par on one hole, which Joaquin Niemann ended up with on the par-4 sixth hole at Shinnecock Hills on Thursday after being assessed a two-shot penalty for throwing his club.
To the young Chilean’s credit, he used the viral moment as motivation to card a 65 on Friday, tying the low round of the day with Collin Morikawa. It also propelled Niemann inside the cut line at 3-over 143 for the tournament.
He was one of only six of the 13 LIV players to qualify for the weekend. And half of those made the cut on the number when it moved to 4 over.
At 3 over, Niemann is equal to Dustin Johnson and one shot behind England’s Tyrrell Hatton. Hatton, who was LIV’s top finisher at the Masters and is coming off a win at Andalucia, enters the third round tied for 34th. After opening with a 74, Hatton rebounded with a 2-under 68 on Friday.
Niemann and Hatton were largely an anomaly for LIV on Friday.
Johnson, who was contending for the lead much of the first round, carded double and quadruple bogeys on his back nine on Friday to post a 7-over 77. He will play the weekend, which is more than fellow former U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm can say.
The Spaniard opened with a 68 and appeared poised to build on his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship last month. That was short-lived, however, as Rahm went 6 over across a five-hole stretch and missed the cut by two shots.
Bryson DeChambeau has missed the cut in each of the first three majors of 2026. He carded consecutive double bogeys while stumbling to a 75 on Friday — missing the cut by a lone shot.
On a positive note, 22-year-old Caleb Surratt survived closing with consecutive bogeys to make the cut on the number in his first career major.
LIV GOLF U.S. OPEN SCORES THROUGH 36 HOLES
Tyrrell Hatton, T34 (+2)
Dustin Johnson, T46 (+3)
Joaquin Niemann, T46 (+3)
Laurie Canter, T60 (+4)
Caleb Surratt, T60 (+4)
Peter Uihlein, T60 (+4)
MISSED CUT
Bryson DeChambeau (+5)
Carlos Ortiz (+6)
Jon Rahm (+6)
Cameron Smith (+6)
Lucas Herbert (+6)
David Puig (+9)
Graeme McDowell (+12)
–Derek Harper, Field Level Media
