Tonight, baseball fans will be headed to the polls. Riley Park will be the site of Bobblection '08 and fans will make their choice for the U.S. president three months early.

David Loring is competing in the U.S. Singlehanded Championships for the George O'Day Trophy at Sayville Yacht Club in Blue Point, N.Y., on Long Island's South Shore through Sunday. He is one of 23 top American single-handed sailors, including Doug Kaukeinen of Rochester, N.Y., the recent winner of the Sunfish North American Championship, Paul Foerster of Heath, Texas, an Olympic and Pan American Games medalist, and former Sunfish world champion Paul-Jon Patin of Forest Hills, N.Y.

South Carolina State began alternating two-a-day workouts in the morning with its first live practice in full gear, followed by an evening session in shorts and shoulder pads.

Cody Johnson's two hits spelled disaster for the Charleston RiverDogs as he hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a grand slam in the second to pace the Rome Braves to a 12-9 win in front of 3,065 fans at Riley Park on Thursday.

BEIJING — Roger Federer is thinking more about the number eight than the No. 1 ranking he will lose after the Olympics. The 12-time Grand Slam champion's birthday coincides with today's opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, which are being staged on one of the luckiest days in the Chinese calendar.

Blaine, Minn. — The Charleston Battery lost to the Minnesota Thunder, 2-1, Thursday night at the National Sports Center.

CLINTON — Will Oldham of Spartanburg, a rising senior at Virginia Tech, fired a 6-under-par 66 Thursday to take the first-round lead in the S.C. Golf Association Amateur Championship being played at Musgrove Mill Golf Club.

When Jacob Bryant arrived at The Citadel as a defensive lineman in 2004, some Bulldogs were skeptical. "The offensive linemen all said, 'Yeah, right, he'll be an offensive guard in no time,' " recalled offensive line coach Kevin Olecki. It took four years and a knee injury, but the 6-0, 275-pound Bryant has finally made the move from defense to offense.