BASEBALL Rays, Escobar in agreement
Shortstop Yunel Escobar and the Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a two-year contract extension covering 2015 and 2016 worth a guaranteed $13 million. The deal announced Saturday also includes a club option for 2017. The extension replaces a 2015 club option. The 31-year Escobar played in a career-high 153 games and made 149 starts last season for the Rays. After establishing club records with a .989 fielding percentage and 53 consecutive errorless games at shortstop, he was a finalist for the American League Gold Glove Award.
Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt signed one-day contracts and officially retired as Astros on Saturday. Berkman and Oswalt were drafted by the Astros a year apart and came up through the minors together before Berkman made his major league debut in 1999 and Oswalt followed less than two years later. Both players were given multiple standing ovations by the crowd at Minute Maid Park and presented with their framed 2005 World Series jerseys along with personalized rocking chairs and Stetson hats. Oswalt, the MVP of the 2005 NLCS, ranks second in victories and strikeouts in franchise history. Oswalt went 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in the Astros six-game series win over St. Louis and was the starter and winner of the Astros’ Game Six series-clinching victory at Busch Stadium. Berkman spent 12 of his 15 seasons in the majors with the Astros after being Houston’s first pick in the 1997 draft out of Rice. For his career, he hit .293 in 1,879 games with 366 home runs and 1,234 RBI with a .406 on-base percentage and a .537 slugging percentage. Oswalt finished his 13-season career with a 163-102 record in 365 appearances - 341 starts - with a 3.36 ERA.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed General Manager Neal Huntington and Manager Clint Hurdle through the 2017 season, with a club option for 2018. Hurdle and Huntington have orchestrated a dramatic turnaround in Pittsburgh. The Pirates had the worst record in the majors in 2010 but have improved in each of Hurdle’s three seasons at the helm. Pittsburgh won 94 games in 2013 and advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 1992, and Hurdle was honored as the manager of the year in the National League.
TENNIS Family Circle upsets continue
No matter how the final match goes, there will be a surprise champion at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C. No. 14 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany and Jana Cepelova of Slovakia advanced to the finals Saturday, both rallying late in their matches to set up an unlikely championship today. Petkovic rallied in the final two sets to defeat sixth-seeded Eugenie Bouchard 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, while Cepelova came back from 4-1 down in a third-set tiebreaker to oust 17-year-old Swiss qualifier Belinda Bencic 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7). Petkovic appeared overwhelmed by the 20-year-old Canadian early on, losing seven consecutive games and trailing 3-2 in the second set. That’s when the German took control, winning four consecutive games to force a decisive set. Petkovic was trailing 4-2 in that one before digging in a final time and breaking Bouchard’s serve twice down the stretch to advance to her first championship since Washington, D.C., last August where she fell to Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets.
HORSE RACING
Trainer Small dead at 68
Richard “Dickie” Small, who trained 1994 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Concern and helped launch the careers of several female jockeys, has died of cancer. He was 68. He died Friday night, according to a statement from Pimlico Race Course. Small won 36 graded stakes races during his career, including Grade 1 wins by Caesar’s Wish, Broad Brush and Concern. He finished his career with 1,199 wins and purse earnings of $38.9 million, according to Equibase. He was known for helping female riders such as Rosie Napravnik, Andrea Seefeldt, Jerilyn Brown and Forest Boyce get started in the business.
BOXING
Braehmer keeps WBA belt
Juergen Braehmer of Germany defeated Enzo Maccarinelli of Wales by technical knockout after five rounds Saturday in Rostock, Germany, to keep his WBA light heavyweight belt. Maccarinelli’s right eye was swollen shut by the end of the second round, when he said he wanted to continue despite being unable to see “anything” with it. A doctor examined the eye in the third and fifth rounds, declaring the 33-year-old fit to continue both times. The 35-year-old Braehmer improved to 43-2 (32 KOs) with the first successful defense of the title he won by beating American Marcus Oliveira in December. Maccarinelli dropped to 38-7 (30 KOs).
COLLEGE BASKETBALL Scaife lifts Rutgers to WNIT championship
EL PASO, Texas - Tyler Scaife (Little Rock Hall) went coast-to coast and scored with 2 seconds left to give Rutgers the Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship with a 56-54 victory over UTEP on Saturday.
Rutgers (28-9), which led 30-16 at the half, withstood a furious second-half rally by UTEP (29-8), which tied it at 54-54 with 7 seconds to play on a put back by Chrishauna Parker.
Scaife took the inbounds pass and raced down court to score the winning points to quiet UTEP’s home sellout crowd of 12,222.
“I just knew we had to get down the floor and score,” said Scaife, a freshman who was named the tournament MVP. “I’m happy it went in.
“I’m just happy we finished the season off like this.”
Rutgers Hall of Fame Coach C. Vivian Stringer, who won her 929th game, said her team did well to win in a tough environment - and for the third consecutive time on the road.
“First of all, I think give credit to UTEP,” she said. “Great crowd, outstanding team and a great coaching job. They really truly are an outstanding team. I think that, easily, UTEP could’ve been an NCAA [Tournament] team.
“But what’s most important - I thought that we probably got the greatest experience of them all, because I don’t think it could be rougher than that. I know it can’t be rougher than that in the Final Four.”
Rutgers was led by Kahleah Cooper and Scaife, who each finished with 18 points, and Briyona Canty with 12. UTEP got 16 points from Kristine Vitola and 11 from Jenzel Nash.
Both teams were playing in the 64-team WNIT for the first time and both entered on a five-game tournament win streak. Yet despite outscoring the Knights 28-26 in the second half, it was UTEP that came up one play short.
“The game was great. There are great kids on that team,” UTEP Coach Keitha Adams said. “It stings because we were so close.”
Sports, Pages 22 on 04/06/2014