FanFare 1/17/03

Briefly

Baseball

Right-hander Brett Tomko avoided arbitration and agreed to a one-year, $3.3 million contract on Thursday with the Cardinals. Tomko, 29, was acquired in a December trade with the Padres for reliever Luther Hackman. He came to terms one day before the deadline for exchanging salary figures. The signing leaves the Cardinals with one arbitration-eligible player, outfielder J.D. Drew. Tomko was 10-10 with a 4.49 ERA last season, his only year with San Diego, and is projected to be the No. 3 starter in a revamped rotation behind Matt Morris and Woody Williams.

The Seattle Mariners reached agreement with shortstop Carlos Guillen on a one-year contract worth $2.5 million. The agreement means the team and Guillen will not go to salary arbitration.

Colleges

St. Louis coach Brad Soderberg was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, a day after seeking treatment and missing Wednesday night's loss to Cincinnati. Soderberg's availability for Saturday's game at Houston is in doubt, the school said.

Jim Tressel, who led Ohio State to the national championship, won the Bear Bryant Award as the college football coach of the year.

Football

The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Panthers defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio as their coach, two sources within the NFL told The Associated Press. The 39-year-old former NFL linebacker will be introduced at a news conference today, according to a team source who spoke on condition of anonymity. Contract details haven't been fully worked out, that source said.

Golf

Retief Goosen and Kenny Perry finished strong in their own way and shot 6-under 64 to share the lead after the first round of the Sony Open. Chris Riley missed a 12-foot eagle putt on his final hole but still wound up at 65. It was the third straight time he opened with a 65 at a PGA Tour event in Hawaii, and it left him in a tie for third with Chris DiMarco.

Skating

The International Skating Union is going to take its time with its new high-tech, computer-based judging system. Contrary to talk it's already a done deal, the points system is still very much a work in progress, said Phyllis Howard, president of the U.S. Figure Skating Association. It might be used for next year's Grand Prix series as a further test, but Howard said it can't be used at a world championships or an Olympics until the ISU congress approves it.

Tennis

Venus Williams, winner of four Grand Slam events and runner-up to sister Serena in the last three, trailed 1-4, 0-40 in the second set before beating Anca Barna 6-1, 6-4 to reach the Australian Open's fourth round. Davenport hit winners even off-balance as she kept Tatiana Panova on the run and won 6-2, 6-2 in 53 minutes. Among other highlights, men's No. 12 Sebastien Grosjean, a semifinalist here in 2001, beat No. 24 Nicolas Lapentti 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

Area digest

Perryville back to .500 after win

Perryville's girls basketball team overcame a sluggish first half to even its season record with a 39-27 conference victory over St. Pius on Thursday.

Perryville, which scored just 12 points in the first half, improved to 7-7 overall and 2-1 in the Jefferson County Conference.

April Lorenz led Perryville with 20 points.

On the air

Billiards

WPBA Nationals, First Semifinal, 3 p.m., ESPN2

Figure Skating State Farm U.S. Championships, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2

Golf

Dunhill Championship, 8 a.m., GOLF

New Zealand Open, 7 p.m., GOLF

Sony Open, 6 p.m., ESPN

High school boys basketballNew Madrid Co. Central at Central, 7 p.m., KGIR-1220

Scott City at Notre Dame, 7:15 p.m., KAPE-1550

Advance at Richland, 7:15 p.m., KYRX-97.3

Holcomb at Oran, 7:15 p.m., KBHI-107.1

NBA

Milwaukee at Philadelphia, 6 p.m., ESPN2

L.A. Lakers at Houston, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Tennis

Australian Open, early round, at Melbourne, Australia (same-day tape), 1 p.m.,

11:30 p.m., ESPN; 3:30 a.m., ESPN2

CHARTER CABLE SPORTS KEY --CNBC (ch. 53), ESPN (42), ESPN2 (43), Lifetime (49)Fox-Midwest (45), Fox-Central (352), Fox-Pacific (353), Fox-Sunshine (351), Fox-World (350), FX(50), Golf Channel (46), MSNBC (55), Outdoors (38), Outdoor Life Network (74), Oxygen (75), Speed Channel (44), TNT (48). Listings and times are provided by the networks and individual stations and are subject to change.

Area events

College indoor trackSoutheast at Southern Illinois Invitational, 5 p.m.

High school boys' basketballNew Madrid County Central at Central, 7:30 p.m.

Kelly at Chaffee, 7:30 p.m.

Crystal City at Perryville, 7:30 p.m.

St. Vincent at St. Pius, 7:30 p.m.

Advance at Richland, 7:30 p.m.

Leopold at Marquand, 7:30 p.m.

Meadow Heights at Woodland, 7:30 p.m.

Charleston at Scott County Central, 7:30 p.m.

New Salem Baptist at Hillsboro Christian Outreach, 7:30 p.m.

Scott City at Notre Dame, 8 p.m.

Delta at East Prairie, 8 p.m.

Greenville at Oak Ridge, 8 p.m.

Holcomb at Oran, 8 p.m.

High school girls' basketballNew Salem Baptist at Hillsboro Christian Outreach, 6 p.m.

High school wrestling

Central, Jackson at St. Charles Tournament