The Associated Press

NATAL, Brazil Clint

Dempsey scored in the rst
minute and rookie substitute
John Brooks scored a late game
winner as the U.S. defeated
Ghana 2-1 Monday in the World
Cup opener for both.
The victory gave the Ameri-
cans some revenge against the
tiny West African county that
knocked them out of the last
two World Cups and put the
U.S. and Germany on top of the
Group G, with Ghana and Por-
tugal at the bottom.
Dempseys goal came on a
low shot just a half-minute into
the match. Ghana dominated
much the rest of the game, and
Andre Ayew leveled in the 82nd
minute.
Just four minutes later,
Brooks a 21-year-old de-
fender who came on at half-
time because Matt Besler was
injured scored off a corner
from Graham Zusi. It was the
rst time an American sub had
ever scored in the World Cup.
I said it to the bench min-
utes before, Were going to get
some chances still, U.S. coach
Jurgen Klinsmann said. So we
are still in the game after the
equalizer, we just need to kind
of push and push and grind it
out. Thats what they did. Here
comes a set piece we trained
over and over and over that
stuff. And he puts it in, so well
deserved.
Dempsey,
Brooks give
U.S. win
over Ghana
The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO Tony Gwynn, the Hall
of Famer with a sweet left-handed swing
who spent his entire 20-year career with
the Padres and was one of the games
greatest hitters, died of cancer Monday.
He was 54.
Gwynn, a craftsman at the plate and
winner of eight batting titles, was nick-
named Mr. Padre and was one of the
most beloved athletes in San Diego.
He attributed his oral cancer to years
of chewing tobacco. He had been on a
medical leave since late March from
his job as baseball coach at San Di-
ego State, his alma mater. He died
at a hospital in suburban Poway,
agent John Boggs said.
He was in a tough battle and
the thing I can critique is hes
denitely in a better place,
Boggs told The Associated
TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2014 SECTION B
INSIDE
Scoreboard, 2B
MLB
Rose coaches minor
league team
PAGE 3B
JennaFryer
The Associated Press
Coastal Plain League
RedWolves stay hot, blank Blowsh
BY SAM BUNDY
Morning News
sbundy@orencenews.com
FLORENCE Sure, its way
too early for the Flor-
ence RedWolves
to start printing
playoff tickets.
The Coastal Plain
Leagues rst half
doesnt even end until
June 30.
But Monday nights 5-0 vic-
tory over the Columbia Blowsh
is the latest in a string of solid
wins that make you think the
RedWolves ending a three-year
postseason drought is certainly
possible.
Florence has won seven of its
last eight games. And at 12-5
overall, the RedWolves are tied
for the most wins in the CPL and
trail Gastonia (11-4) by percent-
age points atop the West stand-
ings.
Everybody is playing well all
the way around right now, said
Florence coach Blake Maxwell.
Weve added some guys who
have given us more depth on the
bench. And having more players
and everybody performing well
is good.
Mondays win, which took
just an hour and 54 minutes,
was textbook. Right-hander Ja-
cob Milliman (2-1) threw eight
strong innings, and the Red-
Wolves backed him with error-
free defense and clutch hits.
In his eight innings, Milliman
gave up ve hits, walked none
and struck out eight. He threw
94 pitches, 65 for strikes.
In 23 innings this summer,
Milliman has yet to issue a
walk. Hes given up 21 hits and
has struck out a team-high
25.
MLB
American
Legion Baseball
World Cup
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
United States Clint Dempsey celebrates after scoring the opening goal
during the group G World Cup match between Ghana and the United
States at the Arena das Dunas in Natal, Brazil on Monday.
Remembering Mr. Padre Remembering Mr. Padre
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Mourners place owers at the base of the Tony Gwynn Mr. Padre statue
outside Petco Park in San Diego on Monday. Gwynn, an eight-time National League
batting champion and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, died Monday from
cancer. He was 54.
Gwynn hits a double
during rst inning ac-
tion and gets his rst
100 RBI season dur-
ing a game against the
Pittsburgh Pirates in
Pittsburgh on Aug. 20,
1997.
H
endrick Motorsports
likes things neat and
clean and organized.
NASCARs top team works hard
to avoid drama, and its way of
doing business is a huge part
of the organizations success.
Its fairly standard for
Hendrick to tie its sponsors,
drivers and crew chiefs into
tidy packages of concurrent
contracts.
That didnt happen, though,
last week when the team
announced Farmers Insur-
ance had signed a three-year
extension of its sponsorship
of Hendrick Motorsports No.
5 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
There was no mention of the
driver also getting a new deal
tied to a sponsor that will be
on the car through the 2017
season.
Kasey Kahnes contract runs
through 2015, about the same
time Chase Elliott will be ready
for a promotion from the
driver development program
to the big leagues. Hendrick
Motorsports has got to put El-
liott somewhere, and theres no
guarantee Jeff Gordon is going
to smile his way into retire-
ment and hand his seat over to
Elliott. Gordon may be about
to turn 43, but the four-time
NASCAR champion is currently
leading the Sprint Cup stand-
ings and has 11 top-10 finishes
through 15 races.
Its easy to read too much
into Kahne being left out of
the Farmers announcement, to
turn a simple sponsorship ex-
tension into much ado about
nothing.
But there are some obvious
facts that make it hard not to
wonder just how safe Kahne is
with the organization:
A seat eventually has to
open for the 18-year-old El-
liott, who has two wins and is
thick in the Nationwide Series
title race.
The team eventually must
put a plan together to replace
Gordon, occupant of the No.
24 since the 1992 season finale.
There could be a crop
of free agent drivers coming
available in the next few sea-
sons, including Kyle Larson, a
budding superstar that Hen-
drick could try to lure away
from Chip Ganassi Racing.
A matured Kyle Busch could
be interested in returning to
Hendrick, where he started his
career, and Denny Hamlin has
always been interested in be-
ing Gordons replacement.
Most glaring, though, is
Kahnes performance: Four
wins in 87 races dating to 2012.
He was a career-best fourth in
the Chase for the Sprint Cup
championship in that debut
season with Hendrick, but he
was 12th last year. Kahne is
so far winless this season and
is 19th in the standings. His
teammates, Gordon, Jimmie
Johnson and Dale Earnhardt
Jr., have combined for six
victories, rank 1-2-3 in the
standings and are all locked
into the Chase.
Nobody at Hendrick Motors-
ports has given any indication
Kahne is on the hot seat. But
hes not talking about a con-
tract extension with manage-
ment just yet, either.
Kahne
looks to
step up
See FRYER, Page 2B
Sweet-swinging Gwynn dies at 54
See GWYNN, Page 2B
See DEMPSEY, Page 2B
See REDWOLVES, Page 2B
BY RYAN VELASQUEZ
Correspondent
FLORENCE Clay Martins
two-run home run capped a
three-run second inning for
Florence Post 1 and provided
all the run support right-hand-
er KeShaun Samuel needed in
a 7-1 win over Murrells Inlet on
Monday night.
A lot of games this year,
weve had to play from be-
hind. This was one of the
best teams weve faced this
year, so we wanted to make
sure we jumped ahead early,
said Florence coach Derick
Urquhart.
Martins bat,
Samuels arm
lead Post 1 past
Murrells Inlet
See POST 1, Page 2B