DURHAM — Wolfpack’s Rodon named top freshman

N.C. State baseball landed three players on the Baseball America Freshman All-America team, led by freshman of the year Carlos Rodon, it was announced Wednesday.

Rodon was joined by teammate Trea Turner on the first team, and Jake Fincher made the second team, giving the Wolfpack three selections, more than any other school.

North Carolina pitcher Benton Moss also made the first team.

Rodon, of Holly Springs, was previously named ACC Pitcher of the Year.

Golf

Pepper to assist Solheim team: Dottie Pepper has been appointed assistant captain for the 2013 U.S. Solheim Cup team. U.S. captain Meg Mallon announced the selection at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis., which is hosting the U.S Women’s Open this week.

It’s a sign that Pepper and the U.S. team have moved past a controversial comment she made on air while working as a television analyst at the 2007 Solheim Cup. Pepper referred to the U.S. team as “chokin’ freakin’ dogs,” believing she wasn’t on the air.

She said there “was definitely a lot of hurt” and she still regrets it. Mallon said Pepper needs to “stop carrying this burden around.”

The 2013 Solheim Cup will be at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo. Mallon said the course has not been affected by recent wildfires.

NFL

Former Raider charged in murders: Three additional murder counts have been filed against former Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders lineman Anthony Wayne Smith who is awaiting retrial in another murder case, the death of Maurilio Ponce in 2008.

The Los Angeles Times reported Smith was charged Monday in the November 1999 slayings of brothers Kevin and Ricky Nettles, and the June 2001 death of Dennis Henderson. Smith also faces other charges, including kidnapping and robbery.

Smith was a defensive end with the Raiders from 1991 to 1998.

Motorsports

Driver loses eye in crash: Formula One test driver Maria de Villota of Spain lost her right eye in a crash during a testing session and remains hospitalized in Britain, with teammates describing her condition as critical but stable.

She sustained serious injuries to her head and face after colliding with a team vehicle at the end of one of her straight-line test runs at Duxford Airfield in Cambridgeshire, north of London. She had a lengthy procedure by neurological and plastic surgery teams, her team said, adding that de Villota, 32, was in the operating room from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday morning.

De Villota was testing the team’s racing car for the first time Tuesday after joining Marussia in March. She is the sport’s first full-time female driver since Italy’s Giovanna Amati raced with the Brabham team in 1992.

She was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital after the accident with what an emergency team’s spokesman described as life-threatening injuries.

Her head apparently took much of the impact from the collision with the Marussia team truck, which was used to transport the racing car to the airfield for a week of testing ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Sunday.

It was unclear why the car suddenly accelerated, and hit the truck as De Villota slowed at the end of the run.

Tennis

Accuser speaks against Hewitt: The man she accuses of raping her when she was his 9-year-old protege has no place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a South African woman said.

Suellen Sheehan, now 43 and a businesswoman in Johannesburg, said it took years to overcome feelings of shame, guilt and fear she would not be believed. She and other accusers came forward last year to ask the Hall of Fame to remove Bob Hewitt from its ranks.

The Newport, R.I.,-based Hall said Tuesday it had hired an attorney to investigate the allegations against Hewitt, an Australian-born former doubles champion who now lives in the southeastern South African town of Addo. The investigation could result in the first expulsion from the Hall.

A man who answered Hewitt’s mobile phone Wednesday said Hewitt was unavailable for comment.

Soccer

Italy climbs rankings: Spain’s successful defense of the European Championship extended its lead atop FIFA’s world rankings, and runner-up Italy climbed six places to No. 6.

The United States fell eight places to No. 36.

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