in brief

BASEBALL

Nationals send prospect
Strasburg to Double-A

Stephen Strasburg was sent to the minor leagues on Saturday by the Washington Nationals, who told baseball's top pitching prospect he needed to slow down his delivery from the stretch in order to speed up his arrival in the majors.

"I'm not a believer that a player can come from amateur baseball and step right into the major leagues," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said. "I've seen terrific prospects attempt it, and the failure rate is too great. This is a prized asset."

The Nationals optioned the 21-year-old Strasburg, the top overall pick in June's draft, to Double-A Harrisburg (Pa.).

Also: Kerry Wood's second season with Cleveland already is in setback mode.

The Indians closer, who has a long history of medical issues, could miss two months with a strained muscle in his upper back, an injury that was not initially believed to be serious.

Trainer Lonnie Soloff said an MRI examination revealed a "moderate" strain. He said Wood will be out a minimum of six weeks.

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Dioner Navarro sustained what the team called a nerve contusion in his left leg during a home-plate collision.

Navarro, who was hurt when he tagged out Minnesota's Jacque Jones in the fourth inning of the Rays' 6-2 loss in Port Charlotte, Fla., was taken to a local clinic for X-rays, which came back negative.

Tigers left-handed reliever Bobby Seay will not be on the active roster when Detroit opens the regular season at Kansas City on April 5.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said Seay has had a setback and can't throw but didn't provide details.

Left-hander Alan Embree agreed to a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox, returning him to the team that he helped win the 2004 World Series.

HORSE RACING

Long shot Ice Box steals
victory in Florida Derby

Ice Box, a 20-1 long shot, rallied five-wide entering the stretch to win the $750,000 Florida Derby by a nose over Pleasant Prince, another long shot.

Race favorite Rule finished third in the Hallandale Beach, Fla., race. Lentenor, a full-brother to ill-fated 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, finished fourth.

Ice Box, trained by two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Nick Zito and ridden by Jose Lezcano, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.19. Ice Box returned $43.40, $24.40, $9.60.

Also: Hollywood Park in Arcadia, Calif., will reduce its racing schedule from five days to four during some weeks of its upcoming spring-summer meet because of a shortage of horses to run.

The Hollywood Park meet, which runs April 21 through July 18, will eliminate live racing on six Thursdays: April 22 and 29; June 3; and July 1, 8 and 15.

LOCAL COLLEGES

Cook, Bryce Harper lead
CSN to baseball sweep

Trent Cook had three hits and Bryce Harper added a pair of doubles as the No. 3-ranked College of Southern Nevada baseball team swept a Scenic West Athletic Association doubleheader from Colorado Northwestern Community College 4-0 and 10-2 at Morse Stadium in Henderson.

Bryan Harper and Taylor Jones combined on a two-hitter in the opener for the Coyotes (23-5, 10-2 SWAC).

Also: The CSN softball team was swept in a Scenic West doubleheader by 10th-ranked College of Southern Idaho 7-2 and 8-0 at the Russell Road Recreation Complex.

Berlynn Bagley had two hits for the Coyotes (17-12, 13-10 SWAC).

The UNLV baseball team lost to Long Beach State 10-1 at Wilson Stadium.

Nolan Clark had two hits for the Rebels (13-8).

The UNLV softball team was shut out by seventh-ranked Arizona State 10-0 in the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif.

Paige Emerson and Laura Briones had the only two hits for the Rebels (19-11).

The UNLV track and field team had 17 top-10 finishes, including two by jumper Deja Edwards, at the Trojan Invitational hosted by Southern California in Los Angeles.

Edwards placed second in both the long jump (17 feet, 7½ inches) and triple jump (38-9½).

miscellaneous

Roddick, Ljubicic to play
for Indian Wells crown

Andy Roddick outlasted Robin Soderling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to make the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., for the first time.

The American will play for the title today against Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who rode his big serve to a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory over defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Jelena Jankovic and U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki will play today for the women's title.

Also: Justin Allgaier grabbed the first win of his NASCAR career by passing teammate Brad Keselowski on a late restart and then holding him off over the closing laps of a Nationwide Series race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Allgaier, last year's series rookie of the year, had to hold his line over the final 27 laps to keep Keselowski from passing him.

Kyle Busch finished third and was followed by Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick.

Larry Pearson, the son of three-time NASCAR champion David Pearson, was hospitalized with a broken ankle, pelvis and right hand after being involved with Charlie Glotzbach in a frightening accident during a nonsanctioned exhibition race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Pearson spun into the outside wall with five laps remaining in the race won by Rick Wilson. As his car slid down the banking, Glotzbach rounded Turn 2 and ran directly into Pearson's driver-side door.

Glotzbach was listed in fair condition at Bristol Regional Medical Center.

Major League Soccer and its players signed an agreement in principle on a five-year labor contract that avoided a strike scheduled before next week's season opener.

MLS Players Union head Bob Foose said a majority of players will receive guaranteed contracts for the first time and there will be increased player rights within the league when contracts expire.

Former Southern California assistant coach Gib Arnold was named Hawaii's new men's basketball coach.

Arnold succeeds Bob Nash, who was fired after going 34-56 in three seasons with the Rainbow Warriors, including 10-20 in 2009-10.

Arnold is the son of former Hawaii coach Frank Arnold.

Jared Jenkins scored 12 of his 17 points in the final 11 minutes and Matt Moses scored 22 to lead Wisconsin-Stevens Point (29-4) to the NCAA Division III basketball title with a come-from-behind 78-73 win over Williams College (30-2) in Salem, Va.

Florida won its first women's swimming and diving NCAA championship since 1982, holding off Stanford by two points in West Lafayette, Ind.