Sports briefs 7/1/05

Baseball

• Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly had his suspension for having pine tar on his glove during a game reduced to eight days Thursday by Major League Baseball.

Donnelly was ejected without throwing a pitch June 14 against the Washington Nationals and was suspended for 10 days. He appealed and received a two-day reduction, baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said.

Donnelly is 6-2 with a 3.65 ERA. He will begin serving the suspension Friday, when the Angels open a three-game series at Kansas City.

Colleges

* Michigan State receiver Agim Shabaj will miss the 2005 season after being declared academically ineligible.

Shabaj, who would be a senior this season, was the Spartans' third-leading receiver in 2004 with 29 catches for 308 yards and one touchdown. He was the team's leading receiver in 2003 with 57 catches for 692 yards and five touchdowns.

Football

n The New York Giants have claimed rookie tight end Victor Sesay, who had been cut by the Miami Dolphins, the team said Thursday.

Sesay, 6-foot-6 and 263 pounds, was not chosen in the 2005 NFL draft, but was signed April 29 by Miami, which released him June 24.

Sesay, 24, played for Missouri in his final two seasons, following two years at Ventura College in California.

* Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice was fined $100,000 by the NFL on Thursday for scalping his Super Bowl tickets.

Running backs coach Dean Dalton and special teams coach Rusty Tillman were also each fined $10,000 for scalping their tickets. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue notified the three coaches of their punishment in a letter.

Tice has acknowledged reselling some of his personal allotment of 12 Super Bowl tickets last season and had also resold his tickets as a Vikings assistant coach from 1996-2001.

-- From wire reports