In Brief
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Baylor teams get three years'
probation for phone violations
The NCAA put Baylor on three years of probation Wednesday after an investigation turned up hundreds of impermissible telephone calls and text messages sent to prep recruits by coaches and assistants on the basketball teams.
The violations were considered to be major infractions, and they were announced less than a week after the Lady Bears won the national championship with the first 40-0 season in NCAA history.
Still, it could have been much worse for Baylor. All of the penalties were proposed by the school and accepted by the NCAA after a review of nearly 900,000 phone and text message records found that 738 texts and 528 calls were against the rules.
The NCAA said men's coach Scott Drew failed to monitor his program and will be suspended for two Big 12 games next season, in addition to recruiting restrictions. Women's coach Kim Mulkey also received recruiting restrictions.
"I believe strongly in following NCAA rules and will always try to do so in the future," Mulkey said in a statement. "I do nothing without permission from our compliance office and will continue to ask questions to assure that things are done right. Any compliance-related mistakes, even those that are secondary, are disappointing. The majority of mistakes in this matter were errors in sending text messages and failure to accurately document our phone calls."
Also: Larry Eustachy is set to take over as Colorado State's basketball coach, according to a person familiar with the decision. The once-embattled coach takes over for Tim Miles, who left for Nebraska last month after leading the Rams to the NCAA Tournament.
Eustachy is coming off a season in which he guided Southern Mississippi to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991.
It has been a long road for Eustachy, who has rebuilt and restored his career in eight seasons at Southern Miss. Eustachy coached at Iowa State more than a decade ago before his dramatic downfall. He resigned in 2003, shortly after photos of him partying with students surfaced.
BASEBALL
Rays right-hander Hellickson
OK after getting hit in head
Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Jeremy Hellickson has been released from a hospital after he was hit in the head by a ball during batting practice before a 4-2 victory at Detroit.
Manager Joe Maddon said after the game Hellickson was doing fine. Maddon had been optimistic earlier, saying Hellickson was not bleeding and did not lose consciousness.
Hellickson is scheduled to start Saturday at Boston, and the team plans to wait and see how he responds to a night's sleep before deciding whether he'll pitch. He was throwing a bullpen session while the Tigers were taking batting practice when he was hit.
Also: Scott Baker, struggling with pain in his pitching elbow for more than a year, finally will have surgery to fix the problem.
Baker will have surgery to repair the flexor pronator tendon in his right elbow. He will miss the entire season while rehabbing.
Los Angeles Angels right-hander Michael Kohn needs elbow ligament replacement surgery and will miss the rest of the season. He is scheduled to have the surgery today.
Kohn was shut down with elbow discomfort in spring training, but started a throwing program last week in hopes of making a prompt return.
San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey has shingles and sat out Wednesday's game at Colorado.
Ian Kinsler and the Texas Rangers finalized a $75 million, five-year contract through 2017 that locks up another one of the team's key players and makes the leadoff hitter one of the best-paid second basemen.
Kinsler's new deal begins in 2013 and includes a club option for 2018.
MISCELLANEOUS
Lack of sponsor forces Bayne
out of Nationwide Series race
A lack of sponsorship forced Roush Fenway Racing to sideline Trevor Bayne for this week's Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, even though he's ranked fourth in the standings.
Bayne went into the season knowing the organization could sit the No. 60 team at any time. Roush president Steve Newmark said the organization had hoped to lure a sponsor by running Bayne in the first five races of the season.
Bayne is scheduled to race in Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race for the Wood Brothers, the team he drove for last year when he won the Daytona 500.
Also: Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and racing on a New Mexico freeway in September.
The retired racer entered the plea in Albuquerque, a day before he was set to go to trial on aggravated DWI, drag racing and reckless driving charges. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but a judge deferred that in favor of 364 days of supervised probation.
Kentucky Derby hopeful Hansen leads a field of 13 3-year-olds for Saturday's $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
The near-white colt, trained by Michael Maker and ridden by Ramon Dominguez, will start from the No. 4 post as the 6-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/8th-mile race over Polytrack.
Two Bob Baffert-trained horses top the field for the $1 million Arkansas Derby, with Bodemeister the favorite and Secret Circle the second choice in a field of 11 3-year-olds at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.
Rebel Stakes winner Secret Circle was made the 5-2 second choice behind 9-5 favorite Bodemeister at the draw for Saturday's race.
Tiger Woods is taking a three-week break before returning to golf at the PGA Tour's Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C. Woods announced he will resume an up-and-down season May 3 at Quail Hollow, where he won in 2007. He also committed to The Players Championship the following week.
Manchester United blew open the English Premier League title race by slumping to a surprise 1-0 loss at lowly Wigan, allowing second-place Manchester City to close the gap to five points with a 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
The UNLV softball team (19-18) dropped a doubleheader to Southern Utah, losing 8-4 in the opener, then rallying for three seventh-inning runs before falling short 11-10 at Eller Media Stadium.
