Sports briefs 6/21/06

Baseball

• The Kansas City Royals sent left-hander J.P. Howell, their best minor league pitching prospect, to Tampa Bay Tuesday for outfielder Joey Gathright and infielder Fernando Cortez.

Royals' manager Buddy Bell said Gathright would play center field and current center fielder David DeJesus would shift to left field when both are in the lineup, which could happen as soon as today.

It's the first deal engineered by Dayton Moore since he took over as Royals general manager on June 8.

Howell was 3-5 with a 6.19 ERA in 15 games for Kansas City last season.

Gathright is the key to the deal for the Royals. He started the season with the Devil Rays, hitting .201 with 12 stolen bases in 55 games before being optioned to Durham on June 6. Cortez had a .222 batting average in 60 games with Durham this season and will probably be groomed as a utility infielder for the Royals, who began play this week with a major league-worst 19-49 record.

Colleges

n Boyd Epley -- a strength and conditioning pioneer who helped turn Nebraska into a national football power -- is leaving the university to take a position with the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Epley became college athletics' first strength and conditioning coach in 1969 when he was hired to make Nebraska's football players stronger.

During Epley's tenure Nebraska won five national titles in football, and the school's strength and conditioning program became a model for others around the country.

Epley, whose last day at Nebraska will be July 28, will be director of coaching performance for the National Strength and Conditioning Association. The association is based in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Tennis

• Mary Pierce pulled out of Wimbledon with a foot injury Tuesday, joining Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport as former Grand Slam winners out of the tournament that begins Monday.

Pierce, 31, has been struggling with tendinitis in her right foot since February.

-- The Associated Press