IN BRIEF

BASEBALL

51s claim first victory in split with Salt Lake

It took six games, but the 51s finally cracked the win column with a 6-4 victory over the Salt Lake Bees in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday in Salt Lake City.

After getting routed 11-4 in the opener, Las Vegas (1-5) scored two runs in the first inning of the nightcap, then got a three-run homer from Brett Harper in the third inning.

Harper went 2-for-3 and drew a walk in the victory, and Jason Lane went 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI.

In the first game, the Bees bolted to an 8-0 lead after four innings and added three runs in the fifth to go up 11-2.

MEDIA

Longtime broadcaster Harmon dies at age 82

Broadcaster Merle Harmon, who in a career spanning more than 40 years called professional and college sports for NBC and ABC, died in Arlington, Texas, after a long illness.

Harmon died at Arlington Memorial Hospital. He was 82.

The broadcaster's son, Keith Harmon, who works with the Milwaukee Brewers radio network, told The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized for a couple of weeks and died from complications stemming from pneumonia.

"As good a broadcaster as he was, he was just a greater man," Keith Harmon said.

MISCELLANEOUS

Equestrian competition begins today at T&M

The Rolex FEI World Cup equestrian championships will begin today at the Thomas & Mack Center, with the 15 best dressage riders opening the competition at noon and the 45 best show jumpers starting at 7 p.m.

The world's best equestrian athletes are competing for a total purse of $805,000.

Ticket prices begin at $50 for each of today's and Friday's noon and 7 p.m. performances. Admission starts at $65 for Saturday's 7 p.m. dressage championship round and the jumping finals at noon Sunday.

For information, call 739-3267 or go to WorldCupLasVegas.com.

Also: Santa Anita Derby winner Pioneerof the Nile completed his final workout in California before heading to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.

Under exercise rider Joe Steiner, the colt ran four furlongs on Santa Anita's synthetic surface in 46.20 seconds, his fastest of 30 drills at the distance.

Trainer Jeff Mullins must wait another week before explaining to New York racing officials why he gave one of his horses medication before a stakes race at Aqueduct.

Mullins violated New York racing rules by administering medication to Gato Go Win while the horse was in a security barn before the Bay Shore Stakes on April 4. The horse was scratched by New York Racing Association stewards.

Second-seeded Venus Williams struggled to advance at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., beating Sania Mirza of India, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

It took the fifth-ranked Williams almost two hours to defeat the 100th-ranked Mirza on the green clay of stadium court at the tennis center on Daniel Island. Williams, who won the Family Circle five years ago, is 3-0 against Mirza.

Rafael Nadal beat Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco, a first step in his bid for a fifth straight title in this clay-court tuneup for the French Open.

Each time Nadal has won Monte Carlo, he has gone on to capture the French. The top-ranked Spaniard has won 17 straight matches on clay since losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round of the Rome Masters in May 2008.

Jury deliberations will stretch into a fifth day in the complex tax evasion case of Brazilian race-car driver Helio Castroneves and two co-defendants. The Miami jury finished work Wednesday without reaching a verdict.

Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson has a title no other American female gymnast has had.

Johnson beat out teammate Nastia Liukin and several others for the Sullivan Award, given to the country's top amateur athlete. She's only the third gymnast to win it, and the first female after Kurt Thomas (1979) and Paul Hamm (2004).

Former Olympic 100-meter champion Justin Gatlin is finalizing an out-of-court agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, USA Track & Field and the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Gatlin had sued those groups in federal court, saying his rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said he was discriminated against because his first of two doping violations, in 2001, was for taking prescribed medication to treat attention deficit disorder.

Welterweight champion Andre Berto will defend his WBC belt for the third time when he takes on junior welterweight titleholder Juan Urango next month.

The fight will be May 30 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.