in brief

BASEBALL

Padres GM Hoyer, assistant
to take same roles with Cubs

The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs jointly announced Wednesday that Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod are leaving San Diego to accept positions in Chicago's front office.

The Cubs have agreed to send the Padres a player to be named as compensation.

Both teams said they will hold news conferences after the World Series. The Padres will announce Josh Byrnes as Hoyer's successor as general manager. The Cubs will announce Hoyer as GM and McLeod, who was Hoyer's assistant in San Diego, as senior vice president of scouting and player development at a date to be determined.

The deals have been in the works since Theo Epstein left his job as Boston Red Sox GM and was hired by the Cubs as president of baseball operations.

Also: A Delaware judge postponed a bankruptcy court showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball that will determine the fate of the ballclub.

The judge issued an order without comment postponing a four-day evidentiary hearing that was to have begun Monday. According to the order, the hearing is now scheduled for Nov. 29 through Dec. 2.

In other Dodgers news, pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow on Friday. The team said the procedure, to be done in Los Angeles, will remove a loose body in Kuo's elbow. He should be able to begin throwing six to eight weeks afterward.

College football

Father of Oregon cornerback
disputes son's traffic citations

The father of Oregon cornerback Cliff Harris is disputing traffic citations that the cornerback received this week, saying his son is licensed and the car he was driving is insured.

The elder Cliff Harris was interviewed by The Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene a day after the younger Harris was pulled over and cited for driving on a suspended license, failure to wear a seatbelt and driving without insurance.

Hours after the traffic stop on Monday, Oregon coach Chip Kelly suspended Harris from the team. He is not allowed to participate in any football-related activities pending Oregon's review of the matter.

Also: Former North Carolina associate head football coach John Blake says he never worked to steer players to late NFL agent Gary Wichard.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Blake said he is "an honest and good man." He plans to attend the school's hearing Friday with the NCAA infractions committee in Indianapolis after being accused of trying to steer players to Wichard, a close friend who died of cancer earlier this year.

Blake's relationship with Wichard became a key part of the investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct within the football program. According to the notice of allegations, Blake received more than $31,000 in financial transfers from Wichard from 2007-09.

MISCELLANEOUS

UNLV women's golf team ties
for fifth in home tournament

The UNLV women's golf team finished in a three-way tie for fifth in the 17-team Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown at Boulder Creek Golf Club.

The Rebels shot a final-round 25-over-par 313 to finish at 27-over 891 and tie with Louisville and UC Irvine.

UC Davis captured the team title at 5-over 869, beating runners-up Pepperdine and San Diego State by 15 strokes. Pepperdine's Grace Na carded a final-round 2-over 74 to claim medalist honors at 7-under 209 in the three-round tournament.

UNLV was by paced Dana Finkelstein, who shot 5-over 77 to finish at 3-over 219 and in a five-way tie for eighth.

Also: Maria Sharapova pulled out of the WTA Championships in Istanbul with a sore ankle after losing her second straight match at the season-ending tournament.

The second-ranked Russian's withdrawal ensures that Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki will finish the year with the No. 1 ranking, despite losing her group-stage match against Russia's Vera Zvonareva.

Sharapova entered the tournament after sitting out since withdrawing in the quarterfinals in Tokyo last month because of an ankle injury.

Will Power said he's committed to IndyCar and believes the series will become much safer from the investigation into Dan Wheldon's fatal accident.

Power was involved in the 15-car accident that killed the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Power's car went airborne in the Oct. 16 accident and hit the wall that had an energy-absorbing SAFER barrier at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In the days after the accident, reports in Power's native Australia indicated he was reconsidering his future in IndyCar, which he said is not the case.

"I am committed, I am staying in IndyCar, simple as that," Power said.