New Canaan Scores and Standings, June 24

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Weston's Bernie D'Amato and Norwalk's Tommy McDonagh played a match worthy of former Connecticut Amateur champions, but there was one problem -- they weren't able to finish.

Their quarterfinal match in the 109th amateur championship on Thursday was all square after 18 holes when it was suspended following a lengthy delay for lightning and heavy rain. It will be completed Friday morning at 7:30 at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Wilton with the semifinals to immediately follow.

The 36-hole final, initially scheduled for Friday, was postponed until Saturday

Only two of the four quarterfinal matches were completed. Greg Reilly of the Country Club of Darien defeated Twin Hills' Tom McCarthy, 4 and 2, and Matt Smith of Quinnatisset ousted Devon O'Rourke, also of the Country Club of Darien, 3 and 2.

New Canaan's Curtis Loop maintained a 1-up lead over Yale's Sam Bernstein when their match was suspended after 17 holes.

Perhaps the best match of the day was the battle between D'Amato, last year's Amateur champion, and McDonagh, who won this tournament as a 17-year-old in 2006 to become the youngest champion ever. Current PGA Tour memeber J.J. Henry was 19 when he captured the first of his three Amateur crowns.

D'Amato, who will be a junior at Princeton in the fall, held a 2-up advantage through eight holes. McDonagh, a fifth-year senior-to-be at Penn State, won four of next seven holes to go 1-up after 15.

D'Amato answered with a birdie to win the par-3 16th hole and the players parred Nos. 17 and 18 to go to extra holes. D'Amato is looking to become the first repeat winner in the Amateur since Will Strickler, who currently plays on the PGA Tour, won in 2007-2008.

D'Amato played out of Wheeler Park in Bridgeport while McDonagh's home course is the Shorehaven Golf Club in Norwalk.

Reilly was in control of his match throughout, winning the second, fourth and seventh holes to grab a 3-up lead. McCarthy never got close than 2-down and Reilly closed out his opponent with a birdie on the par-4 16th.

A 2009 graduate of New Canaan, Reilly is headed to Florida's Eckerd College in the fall to play golf.

Loop, who earned All-Big East honors at Georgetown this past season after transferring from California, couldn't close out his match despite a sizzling five-hole stretch midway through his round.

Loop played Nos. 8 through 12 in 6-under with four birdies and an eagle to take a 4-hole advantage with only six to play. However, Bernstein stormed back with birdies on 14, 15 and 17 to keep the match alive.

O'Rourke, who will begin his senior year at Fordham in the fall, may still have been exhausted after a grueling day on Wednesday when he forced to play 40 holes.

He won only one hole Thursday with a birdie on the par-3 sixth. After Smith birdied the par-5 10th to go 3-up, O'Rourke couldn't make up any ground as the next six holes were halved, ending the match.

Casali, Vanderbilt to face Florida again in CWS

The Vanderbilt baseball team will face Florida in the bracket one finals Friday (2 p.m.) in the College World Series.

The Commodores (54-11) stayed alive with a 5-1 win over North Carolina on Wednesday. New Canaan's Curt Casali hit a solo home run in the game.

Vanderbilt, which has matched a school record for wins in a season set in 2007, has not had a great deal of success against Florida this year, losing four of five meetings with the Gators.

Vanderbilt was blanked by Florida 5-0 in the SEC title game, then lost to the Gators 3-1 earlier in the CWS, which means the Commodores will have to beat Florida twice to advance to next week's championship series. If Vanderbilt wins Friday, the teams will play again on Saturday.

"We're not thinking how the heck can we beat Florida," Casali said. "It's not really in the back of our minds at all.  We feel we can compete with them. We feel we match up with them well, but we'll see what happens on Friday. We're going to come in confident, I guarantee that."

For the first time in College World Series history, three SEC teams have reached the final four in the tournament, and all are from the SEC East. Defending national champion South Carolina will face Virginia on Friday at 7 p.m. in the bracket two final.

The Gamecocks have tied an NCAA record by winning 13 consecutive national tournament games.  They equalled the mark held by Southern California (1972-74) and LSU (1997-98).

American Legion Baseball

THURSDAY'S RESULTS

Darien/NC Jr. vs. Ridgefield Jr.

Darien/NC Sr. vs. Fairfield Sr.

FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE

Greenwich Sr. vs. Darien/NC Sr., 5:45 p.m. , at Julian Curtis School, Greenwich

SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE

Darien/NC Jr. vs. Fairfield Jr., 1 p.m, at Darien High School

Darien/NC Sr. vs. Wilton Sr., 12 p.m, at Darien High School

SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE

Fairfield Jr. vs. Darien/NC Jr., 9 p.m., at Notre Dame of Fairfield High School

Darien/NC Sr. vs. Stamford Sr., 10 a.m. at Darien High School

 AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL STANDINGS