LOCAL

LOCAL
Koval wins
AKRON -- Undefeated heavyweight boxer Chris Koval (11-0) of Austintown won over James Porter of Terre Haute, Ind., with a TKO in the third round Friday at Canal Park.
Koval, who weighs 221 pounds, won with a big volley over Porter (3-4), who weighs 229 pounds.
Sachire advances
GODFREY, Il. -- Ryan Sachire of Canfield, the second seed, advanced to the quarterfinals of the USTA Men's Futures Tennis Tournament as he defeated Jason Hazley, 6-3, 6-3 Friday at Lewis and Clark College.
Top-seeded Raven Klaasen and Sachire advanced to the semifinals as they defeated Naoki Arimoto-Go Soeda of Japan, 6-4, retired.
Scrimmage timechanged to morning
YOUNGSTOWN -- The starting time of Tuesday's Cardinal Mooney-Struthers football scrimmage at Stambaugh Stadium has been changed from 7 p.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Niles football setsMeet the Team
NILES -- The Niles High "Meet the Football Team" event has a new look this year.
The event, sponsored by the Niles Football Mothers Club, has a new name -- Dragon Day, which kicks off Sunday at 9 a.m. at Bo Rein Stadium.
There will be a 1-mile fun run, a PPK clinic and contest for children ages 7 to 14.
The public is welcome beginning at 4 p.m. Admission is $1 per person or $5 per family.
The football team will take the field at 7 p.m. and a battle of the bands begins at 8.
REGION
Aeros lose
READING, Pa. -- Aaron McNeal's eighth-inning homer snapped a tie game and gave the Reading Phillies a 6-5 victory over the Akron Aeros in the Eastern League on Friday night.
The win ended a three-game Reading losing streak.
Martire Franco (4-7) pitched 31/3 scoreless innings to earn the win. He allowed five hits and one walk, and struck out one. Brad Guy earned his third save with a scoreless ninth.
Fernando Cabrera (9-4) took the loss, allowing two hits and one run over one inning.
The Phillies trailed 5-2 after a five-run Akron fifth but came back with single runs in each of the final four innings.
The Phillies tied it 5-5 in the seventh on Jim Deschaine's two-out RBI single.
McNeal hit his 13th homer of the season the snap the tie with one out in the eighth.
Brian Luderer had a solo homer, his fourth of the year, and Ryan Church had a two-run double in Akron's five-run fifth.
Benson put on DL
DENVER -- Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Kris Benson was transferred to the 60-day disabled list Friday, a move that will likely end his season.
Benson had been on the 15-day DL with irritation in his shoulder since July 28.
Pirates team doctor Edward Snell had determined that Benson did not need surgery on the shoulder, and Benson sought a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews. Andrews concurred with Snell's opinion, and Benson asked for a third opinion from another doctor.
Pirates spokesman Jim Trdinich said that the third doctor also agreed with Andrews' and Snell's assessments, and that Benson is not scheduled to undergo surgery at this time.
Benson, 28, was 5-9 this season with a 4.97 ERA in 18 starts. He was the overall No. 1 pick by the Pirates in the 1996 amateur draft.
The Pirates traded Suppan to the Boston Red Sox last month.
The Pirates put right-hander Salomon Torres on the 15-day disabled list Friday after he strained his right hamstring shagging fly balls.
The team purchased the contract of right-hander Pat Mahomes from Triple-A Nashville. Mahomes went 7-4 with a 2.80 ERA in 37 games, including two starts, at Nashville. He had two saves, struck out 27 and walked 20 in 61 innings.
CANADA
Agassi upset
MONTREAL -- Andre Agassi was upset by Rainer Schuettler 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 Friday at the Canada Masters in a rematch of the Australian Open final.
Agassi made a series of mistakes from the baseline in the quarterfinal at the hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open.
The eighth-seeded Schuettler -- who lost to Agassi in straight sets at the year's first Grand Slam tournament -- will play David Nalbandian or Feliciano Lopez next.
Earlier, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer set up a Wimbledon rematch by winning quarterfinals in straight sets Friday.
Roddick, last year's runner-up, reached the semifinals by beating Karol Kucera 7-6 (5), 6-3, while Federer celebrated his 22nd birthday with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over Max Mirnyi.
Staff/wire reports