In Brief

local colleges

Coyotes unable to hold leads, ousted from Region 18 tourney

The College of Southern Nevada's baseball season came to an end Thursday when the Coyotes lost twice in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 18 Tournament in Carson City.

The fourth-seeded Coyotes (32-27) dropped the first game to top-seeded and fourth-ranked Western Nevada, 4-3. The Coyotes took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning on a two-run homer by Cameron Harper.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Wildcats rallied after the first two batters struck out to push the tying and winning runs across on two walks and three singles.

Chipper Smith pitched 7 2/3 innings for CSN and took the loss. John Pustay homered for the Coyotes.

The College of Eastern Utah scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning in Thursday's second game to win 14-12 and eliminate the Coyotes.

A seven-run seventh inning, highlighted by home runs by Kris Kaplan, Colby Croft, Dalton Gust and Pustay, gave CSN a 10-7 lead, but the Coyotes were unable to hold on.

Matt Dunbar took the loss.

Also: Monet Ormsby and Samantha Powell pitched the third-seeded CSN softball team to victories in the NJCAA Region 18 tournament in Salt Lake City.

In the first game, Ormsby (19-10) pitched a complete game as the Coyotes defeated sixth-seeded Western Nevada, 4-1. Andi Felise went 2-for-3 for CSN.

In the second game, the Coyotes upset No. 2 seed Southern Idaho 5-2 behind a solid effort from Powell (12-13) and reliever Ormsby, who pitched 2 1/3 innings for the save.

A.J. Woodward belted her 26th home run of the season for CSN (38-26), and Alicia Firelein went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs.

The Coyotes will play top-seeded and second-ranked Salt Lake Community College at 1:30 p.m. today.

UNLV's season-opening football game Sept. 1 at Wisconsin will be broadcast on ESPN, the Rebels' first appearance on that network since 2004.

The Thursday game begins at 5 p.m. PDT.

The UNLV softball team scored in the first and second innings and held on for a 2-1 win over New Mexico in Mountain West Conference play at Eller Media Stadium.

The Lobos (19-24, 5-8 MWC) opened the scoring with an unearned run in the first on a dropped fly ball. The Rebels (25-18, 7-5 MWC) answered in their half of the inning with an RBI single by Tayler Aleman.

Kylie Wagner scored the decisive run for UNLV after leading off the second inning with a double. Paige Emerson laced a single up the middle, which New Mexico center fielder Kerry Hodgins overran.

UNLV's Taylar Mills posted 4,219 points in the heptathlon to finish seventh in the women's Mountain West Conference Track and Field Championships at Fort Collins, Colo. The Rebels' Talyah Polee finished eighth with 4,072 points.

San Diego State leads the field with 10 points. UNLV is sixth with three.

tennis

Federer loses at Italian Open; Djokovic's win streak at 36

Roger Federer's French Open preparation hit a roadblock with a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) loss to Richard Gasquet in the third round of the Italian Open in Rome.

Federer had won his past eight meetings against Gasquet, but his uncharacteristic errors from the baseline allowed the 16th-seeded Frenchman to take control.

That hasn't been an issue for Novak Djokovic, who extended his winning streak to 36 matches with a 6-4, 6-1 win over 14th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka.

Djokovic has won all 34 of his matches this year, trailing only John McEnroe's 42-0 start in 1984 in the Open era. The Serb can claim the top ranking from Rafael Nadal if he wins this tournament and Nadal fails to reach the semifinals.

Nadal overcame a virus to beat fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 6-4, 6-2. The start of the match was delayed by about 20 minutes because Nadal considered withdrawing.

Also: Serena Williams pulled out of the French Open, a decision that was expected because the 13-time Grand Slam singles champion has been off the tour for more than 10 months.

Williams, who won the 2002 French Open, hasn't competed since early July, sidelined by two foot operations and blood clots in her lung.

Her older sister Venus, a seven-time major singles champion, is doubtful for the clay-court French Open, which starts May 22. Tournament organizers said they have not heard from Venus, who hasn't played since January because of a hip injury.

basketball

Oklahoma regents approve Kruger's $16.6 million contract

The University of Oklahoma's Board of Regents voted to approve a seven-year, $16.6 million contract for new basketball coach Lon Kruger, who left UNLV for the school on April 1.

The regents voted unanimously to approve the deal, which pays Kruger $2 million over the course of the next year.

Kruger will receive a base salary of $250,000, a $1.45 million annual payment for personal services and fundraising and a $300,000 bonus each May for staying another full season with the Sooners.

The contract includes an automatic $100,000 raise each year and a $500,000 bonus if Kruger completes five seasons and is still at Oklahoma at the end of June 2016.

Kruger is 479-304 in 25 seasons as a college coach, rebuilding the programs at Kansas State, Illinois, Florida and UNLV and taking each to the NCAA Tournament.

Also: Several Texas senators criticized the recent $200,000 raise for Texas coach Rick Barnes, calling it "nuts" and "tone deaf" during a state budget crisis that threatens deep cuts to higher education.

The state is facing a budget shortfall that some estimates put as high as $27 billion. Current spending proposals would cut money for universities and tuition programs for poor students.

Kent State is suing former men's coach Geno Ford for more than $1.2 million in damages over his recent departure for Bradley.

"Kent State honors its agreements, and it expects others to do the same," said Rodd Sanders, an attorney representing the Ohio school.

Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said no one from Texas A&M has called him or associate athletic director Marc Boehm seeking permission to speak with Doc Sadler about the Aggies' basketball coaching job.

The Aggies are looking to replace Mark Turgeon, who was hired at Maryland this week, and Sadler's name has been listed among possible candidates.

Sadler is 89-71 in five seasons with the Cornhuskers, 30-50 in Big 12 games.

miscellaneous

Ex-Cowboys tailback Springs dies after four years in coma

Former Dallas Cowboys running back Ron Springs, who spent the past four years in a coma after losing oxygen during a 2007 operation, has died at age 54 without ever regaining consciousness.

Former Cowboys teammate Everson Walls, who donated a kidney to Springs for a transplant, said the Springs family informed him that his friend died about 4:30 p.m. at Medical City Dallas hospital.

The hospital is where Springs, who played in college at Ohio State, first slipped into the coma in 2007 after undergoing surgery to remove a cyst from his forearm.

Springs had suffered from diabetes for 20 years, a disease that not only caused his kidney failure but also led to the amputation of his right foot and the big and middle toes on his left foot, and caused his hands to curl into knots.

"He was such a worldly person who touched so many lives in every area code," Walls said.

Also: Alabama offensive lineman Aaron Douglas, a junior college transfer and one-time Tennessee starter, was found dead on the second floor balcony of a home in Fernandina Beach, Fla., after attending a party, according to police.

Witnesses said Douglas, 21, was taking a taxi to Jacksonville, Fla., on Wednesday after dinner with friends when two women apparently approached the cab and invited him to a party.

He arrived between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Douglas was seen at the residence as late as 2 a.m. before a male resident and others discovered him "apparently dead" on the balcony Thursday morning.

An Arizona Senate Ethics Committee review found some lawmakers might have violated state law by improperly accepting free football game tickets from the Fiesta Bowl, chairman Ron Gould said.

Dialed In has a chance to become The Six Million Dollar Horse.

A win in the $1 million Preakness Stakes on May 21 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore would net Dialed In a $5.5 million bonus, in addition to the $600,000 winner's share.

Dialed In is eligible for the bonus thanks to victories in the Holy Bull Stakes and the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. MI Developments, parent company of Pimlico and Gulfstream, put up the bonus.

The potential $6.1 million in single-race earnings for Dialed In would set a North American record, eclipsing the $5.884 million earned by Smarty Jones in the 2004 Kentucky Derby.

Russia eliminated Olympic champion Canada 2-1 to reach the semifinals of the ice hockey world championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Russia will play Finland today, and the Czech Republic will meet Sweden.

It was the first loss for Canada at the tournament. Russia lost to Germany, Finland and the Czech Republic in the group stage before reaching the playoffs.

"That's tough," Canada captain Rick Nash said. "It takes one game, one period, couple minutes here and there and you could be out of it.

Gregory Bourdy shot a course-record 7-under-par 63 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Iberdrola Open at Son Servera, Spain.

England's Danny Willett was second, and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke and England's Matthew Nixon opened with 65s.