in brief

motor sports

Keselowski dominates, then
rallies to win Nationwide race

Brad Keselowski raced to his second straight NASCAR Nationwide Series victory, dominating all night and then rallying from fourth in a green-white-checker finish Friday at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va.

Keselowski began rebuilding his series points lead, cut to 10 points after he won at Talladega last week and then failed post-race inspection and was docked 50 points. The victory gave Keselowski a 59-point advantage over Kevin Harvick.

Greg Biffle rallied from fifth on the restart to finish second, followed by Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. Busch, who swept the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Richmond a year ago and then won both pole positions in qualifying Friday, led the first 58 laps.

Also: Hendrick Motorsports locked crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson into long-term contract extensions that keep two of the sport's top innovators at NASCAR's top organization. Knaus has led Jimmie Johnson to the last four Cup championships.

Australian Ryan Briscoe was the fastest qualifier at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, ending Will Power's bid for a record-tying fourth consecutive pole in the IndyCar Series.

Briscoe had a four-lap average of 212.145 mph and will start on the front row today with defending champion Scott Dixon in the 300-mile race on the 1½-mile oval. Power qualified seventh and Danica Patrick ninth.

John Force drove to a 4.103-second pass at 307.23 mph to become the provisional top qualifier in Funny Car as rain washed out most of qualifying in the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Madison, Ill. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Craig Treble (Pro Stock Motorcycle) led their divisions.

local colleges

Robinson, Roach pitch No. 4
CSN baseball team to sweep

Joe Robinson and Donn Roach turned in strong pitching performances to lead the College of Southern Nevada baseball team to 5-3 and 8-1 victories over Eastern Utah at Morse Stadium.

Robinson (9-1) pitched a four-hitter in a seven-inning complete game in the opener. Roach (10-2) struck out 15 in eight innings, allowing six hits and no walks, in a nine-inning second game.

Daniel Higa had two hits, Bryce Harper had two RBIs and Tomo Delp homered in the first game for fourth-ranked CSN (40-10, 27-7 Scenic West Athletic Conference). Delp had three hits and Higa, Gabe Weidenaar and Ryan Thomas two each in the second game.

Also: Shelbie Medrano had two hits and two RBIs and pitched the final two innings of CSN's 5-1 softball victory over Snow College in the second game of a doubleheader at Russell Road Recreation Complex. Kayla Bundy and Evelyn Terrazas also had two hits apiece for the Coyotes.

CSN lost the first game, 3-1. The Coyotes (30-17, 26-15 SWAC) struck out 10 times and had only three hits, with Berlynn Bagley getting two.

R.J. Arnold's bases-loaded triple keyed a six-run fifth inning and lifted UNLV to a 9-4 baseball victory over Air Force at Wilson Stadium.

Tanner Peters (5-3) got the victory, striking out 10 and giving up three runs on six hits in eight innings, as the Rebels snapped a six-game losing streak. Nolan Clark had four hits and Kyle Kretchmer three for UNLV (22-19, 6-7 Mountain West Conference), which finished with 15.

UNLV senior reserve defensive tackle Malo Taumua faces six to nine months of recovery from potential season-ending knee surgery Wednesday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He was injured in an April 14 practice.

Taumua, who used an injury redshirt in 2006 after hurting his knee, could redshirt and return in 2011. A starter the previous three seasons, Taumua was dropped off the two-deep roster before the injury.

miscellaneous

Wie fires 68, takes one-stroke lead in Mexico LPGA Tour event

Michelle Wie shot a 5-under-par 68 to take the second-round lead in the Tres Marias Championship at Morelia, Mexico.

Wie is at 12-under 134, one stroke ahead of Brittany Lincicome (67) and first-round leader Ai Miyazato (72). Lorena Ochoa, who is retiring after the tournament, shot a 73 and trails Wie by five strokes.

Wie birdied seven of the first 12 holes without dropping a shot, overcoming swirling afternoon wind.

Also: Bob Tway and Leonard Thompson shot 5-under 67s to share the first-round lead in the Champions Tour's inaugural Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic at Saucier, Miss. They lead a group of four by one stroke.

Johan Edfors of Sweden shot an 8-under 64 to take a one-shot lead after the second round of the Spanish Open in Seville. He is at 10-under 134.

Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start and defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-1 to reach the Rome Masters semifinals and improve to 8-0 on clay this season. Nadal will play Latvia's Ernests Gulbis, who prevented an all-Spanish quartet in the semifinals by beating Feliciano Lopez, 7-6 (6), 6-1. Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer will meet in the other semifinal.

Justine Henin defeated Jelena Jankovic 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, raising her record to 10-0 against the Serb. Henin will play Shahar Peer, who beat Dinara Safina, 6-3, 6-2. Samantha Stosur and Anna Lapushchenkova will meet in the other semifinal.

U.S. viewership of the NHL playoffs increased 24 percent from 2009, the league's highest average first-round audience in 10 years. The NHL said NBC and Versus combined to average 742,000 viewers per telecast, the most since ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 had 750,000 in 2000.

Mississippi sophomore forward Murphy Holloway, who averaged 10.1 points and 7.6 rebounds last season, is leaving the team for personal reasons.

Former Olympian Sherali Dostiev improved to 6-0 with a unanimous decision over featherweight Orlando Rizo (9-1) in Miami. The card was supposed to feature another Olympian, John Jackson of the U.S. Virgin Islands, but he withdrew hours before his bout against George Parra because of an undisclosed illness.