ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit two of Atlanta's five home runs, Matt Olson increased his major league-leading total to 47 and the Braves beat slumping Adam Wainwright and the St. Louis Cardinals 8-5 on Thursday night. Acuña raised his season total to 34 homers with his third multihomer game this season and the 12th of his big league career.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Carolina Panthers begin a new era with Bryce Young as the face of the franchise. Just the sort of hype one would expect for the NFL's No. 1 draft pick. There's far less hoopla surrounding Atlanta's quarterback, though the Falcons have equally high hopes for Desmond Ridder in his first full year as the starter.

ATLANTA (AP) — Former All-Star Michael Soroka is out for the season but did receive a bit of good news: His latest injury apparently won't require surgery. The Atlanta Braves placed Soroka on the 15-day injured list Wednesday in another setback for the right-hander whose once-promising career was sidetracked by a pair of major leg injuries.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — No. 1 Georgia was supposed to be hitting the road for a most intriguing matchup. Instead, the Bulldogs will be facing another overmatched opponent between the hedges on Saturday. Coming off a 48-7 victory over FCS opponent Tennessee-Martin in a season opener that was little more than a glorified scrimmage, Georgia is a 43.5-point favorite against Ball State.

ATLANTA (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt, Masyn Winn, Willson Contreras and Nolan Gorman went deep as the St. Louis Cardinals hit four home runs for the second straight game and beat the MLB-leading Atlanta Braves 11-6 Wednesday night to take the first two games of the three-game series. Gorman hit his 27th homer of the season, one day after hitting two home runs as the NL Central-worst Cards beat the Braves 10-6.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference was sort of a no-show in Week 1. The powerhouse league, which boasts 13 of the last 17 national championships, went 0-3 in marquee matchups. Florida (at No. 14 Utah), South Carolina (vs. No. 21 North Carolina) and then-No. 5 LSU (against eighth-ranked Florida State) each lost by double digits in primetime, non-conference games. The trio got dumped by a combined 48 points and showed significant flaws in their season openers.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves placed pitcher Michael Soroka on the 15-day injured list Wednesday in another potentially devasting setback for the former All-Star whose once-promising career was sidetracked by a pair of major leg injuries. Reliever Collin McHugh also went on the 15-day IL after getting roughed up Tuesday night in a 10-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

BOSTON (AP) — Clemson fired offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter after just one full season as the offensive play-caller and hired Garrett Riley away from Texas Christian, where he helped the Horned Frogs reach the national championship game. Coach Dabo Swinney didn’t get the improvement he hoped for in a 28-7 loss to Duke that dropped the Tigers from No. 9 to No. 25 in The Associated Press Top 25.

ATLANTA (AP) — Tyler O'Neill and Nolan Gorman hit two-run homers to spoil Michael Soroka's promotion to Atlanta and the St. Louis Cardinals held on to beat the Braves 10-6 on Tuesday night. O'Neill's homer to left field drove in Jordan Walker in the second inning. Gorman added a 426-foot blast off Soroka in the third and a ninth-inning homer, his 26th, off Michael Tonkin.

No. 21 Duke and No. 22 Colorado moved into the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll Tuesday after scoring the biggest upsets of the opening weekend of the season and No. 4 Florida State jumped into the top five after its resounding victory over LSU in Week 1's marquee game.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The numerous injuries across the Dodgers' pitching staff sometimes seem to be an insurmountable barrier to playoff success. Los Angeles' inferior arm quality was glaring while the Atlanta Braves took the first three games in this showdown series between the NL's top two teams. And then Bobby Miller stepped up in the finale and pitched a gem that reminded the Dodgers anything is possible if these teams meet again in October.

Ronald Acuña Jr. homered for the third straight night at Dodger Stadium and Orlando Arcia hit a three-run shot in the 10th inning that sent the streaking Atlanta Braves to a 4-2 victory over Los Angeles on Saturday.

Duke coach Mike Elko sees an opportunity and a challenge in the opener against No. 9 Clemson. But not an easy one.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Carson Beck said “of course” he battled nerves in his first start for No. 1 Georgia. Coach Kirby Smart insisted he saw no sign Beck lacked the composure that has become his trademark even while having to patiently wait behind Stetson Bennett for his opportunity to play. Beck overcame a sluggish first half to throw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Mekhi Mews and No. 1 Georgia, the two-time defending national champion, leaned on its defense to overwhelm Tennessee-Martin 48-7 on Saturday night.

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Jaxson Dart threw four touchdown passes, including three to Tre Harris in the opening four minutes as No. 22 Mississippi rolled to a 73-7 rout of Mercer on Saturday. “I felt we were really prepared coming in,” Dart said. “I really like our confidence and being able to execute what was called.”

STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Davis Brin threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns and Jalen White ran for 125 yards and a score and Georgia Southern beat The Citadel 34-0 in the season-opener for both schools Saturday. After holding The Citadel to a three-and-out on its first possession Georgia Southern marched 40 yards in 11 plays with OJ Arnold scoring from the 1. After another punt, the Eagles moved 71 yards in 11 plays with White's 2-yard run at the end for a 14-0 lead after a quarter.

ATLANTA (AP) — Jeff Brohm's coaching debut at his alma mater wasn't nearly as smooth as he would've liked. That's OK. Louisville found a way to win after falling behind by 15 points at halftime. Transfer quarterback Jack Plummer rallied his new team with three touchdown passes, Dezmond Tell made a huge defensive play and the Cardinals knocked off Georgia Tech 39-34 Friday night.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Atlanta Braves haven't had much regular-season success at Dodger Stadium since 2014. They turned to local product Max Fried to change that. Fried tossed seven shutout innings in the stadium located about 15 miles from his old high school, and the Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 on Friday night for their fifth straight win.

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Kennesaw State staked Division II Tusculum to the first touchdown, then Jonathan Murphy engineered 38 straight points as the Owls opened the season with a 38-7 win on Thursday night. Kennesaw State opens the season with new offensive and defensive coordinators under coach Brian Bohannon and will be an FCS independent after leaving the Atlantic Sun Conference and will officially join Conference USA in July, 2024.

ATLANTA (AP) — Gavin Pringle's 21-yard pick-6 gave Georgia State the go-ahead touchdown, Marcus Carroll ran for three scores and the Panthers held on to beat Rhode Island 42-35 in a season opener Thursday night. Carroll rushed for a career-high 184 yards on 23 carries.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Michael Hiers threw four of his five touchdown passes in the first half as Samford rolled to a 69-14 victory over Division II-member Shorter on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. had a full day: The Atlanta Braves star got married in the morning, hit a landmark grand slam and ended the night beating NL MVP rival Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hopes to postpone the honeymoon until November.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Kirby Smart shrugs off any talk about making history. Despite the Georgia coach's protestations, that storyline is impossible to ignore between the hedges. The No. 1 Bulldogs, who open the season Saturday against overmatched Tennessee-Martin, have a chance to do something that's never been accomplished in The Associated Press poll era. Three straight national championships.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska's fight song begins, “There is no place like Nebraska.” When it comes to volleyball, those words never rang more true than Wednesday night. The Cornhuskers laid claim to the world record for largest attendance at a women's sporting event with 92,003 filling Memorial Stadium for their volleyball match against Omaha.

DENVER (AP) — Darius Vines pitched six strong innings to win in his major league debut and Marcell Ozuna homered for the second time in as many games as the Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 7-3 on Wednesday night to complete a season sweep. Kevin Pillar and Orlando Arcia also homered for the Braves, who finished 7-0 against the Rockies for their third season sweep of Colorado. Atlanta outscored Colorado 64-20 over the season sweep.