Sports digest 5/9/02

AREA

ORAN SHUTS OUT HAYTI; EAGLES ROLL TOWARD DISTRICT

ORAN, Mo. -- Oran (12-4) maintained its momentum heading into the baseball district playoffs behind Ryne Wood's six-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over Hayti.

The Eagles (12-4), the host and top seed in next week's Class 1A, District 2 tournament, have one regular season game left. Wood (4-1), who struck out six and walked none, also led the Oran offense with two hits.

St. Vincent soccer team ends season with 9-0 win

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Seven players scored goals in St. Vincent's 9-0 girls' soccer team win over Sikeston in its final game of the regular season.

Caitlin Hoeh had three goals for St. Vincent and teammates Kindle Ernst, Amy Wengert, Jean Brown, Whitney Guth, Keshia Clubb and Dani Emmendorfer had one apiece.

Ernst had two assists, and Wengert, Brown, Emmendorfer, Clubb, Jessica Berhle, Becky Kirn and Amanda Carron had one each.

St. Vincent is 7-10-1.

ELSEWHERE

BASEBALL

Darryl Strawberry has started serving his prison sentence for violating probation, and officials are considering putting him in a substance abuse program. The former baseball star arrived at Gainesville Correctional Institution, and Florida's prison system set a tentative release date for June 29, 2003. Strawberry was sentenced to 18 months in prison for violating probation on cocaine possession charges, but will get credit for the time he spent in the county jail.

Boxing

Mike Tyson's PR agency evidently quit this week, a month before his lucrative title fight with Lennox Lewis. Tyson's profanity-laced tirades in a series of interviews arranged by New York-based Dan Klores Communications in Hawaii last week apparently prompted the company to sever its ties. The agency's name no longer appears on Tyson news releases, and former Tyson spokesman Adam Grant confirmed he was hired by Showtime to handle PR for the boxer. Grant worked for Klores before leaving the company several months ago. Klores and Tyson public relations representative Scott Miranda didn't return phone calls from The Associated Press.

Colleges

Attorney General John Cornyn's office ordered Midland police to release a more detailed report on Texas running back Cedric Benson's April 27 arrest on misdemeanor drug and alcohol charges. Shortly afterward, city officials released information on drugs and paraphernalia found and a one-paragraph "circumstance of arrest" statement that provides few new details of what led officers to arrest Benson, 19, and Melanie Robinson, 20, at her apartment when police responded to a 911 call about loud music.

Both defendants were charged with possession of less than two ounces of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and being a minor in possession of alcohol.

Scotty Kessler, who has more than 20 years of high school and college coaching experience, was hired as the football coach at Greenville (Ill.) College near St. Louis. Kessler, 44, succeeds Rob Harley, who resigned in March after guiding the Panthers to an 18-23 record in four seasons at a Christian school 45 miles northeast of St. Louis.

Terrell Taylor, who helped Creighton upset Florida in the NCAA basketball tournament with a last-second shot in double overtime, won't return to the Bluejays for his senior season. Creighton men's basketball coach Dana Altman announced that Taylor and Ismael Caro, a reserve guard in his two seasons as a Bluejay, plan to transfer to other schools.

Running

Deena Drossin, the world record holder in the 5,000 meters, said she will run this year's Chicago Marathon. Drossin, who also holds the U.S. records in the 10,000 and 15,000 meters, made her marathon debut last fall at New York, finishing seventh in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 58 seconds. It was the fastest debut by a U.S. woman, and the fourth-best time ever by an American female marathoner.

Swimming

Olympic gold medalist Daniel Kowalski, plagued by neck and shoulder injuries for five years, retired from swimming. The 26-year-old Aussie won gold in Sydney as part of the 800-meter freestyle relay team, despite swimming only in the heat and not the final. He also won three medals at the Atlanta Olympics, including silver in the 1,500 meters.

Tennis

Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and James Blake became the first trio of Americans in the round of 16 at the Italian Open since 1995. In second-round action, Blake beat Andrea Gaudenzi 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, Roddick overcame Andrei Pavel 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, and Agassi breezed past Michel Kratochvil 6-0, 6-1 in 43 minutes -- the fastest match on the ATP Tour this year. Other top players had a much rougher time on the red clay at this Tennis Masters Series event, a major tuneup for the French Open. No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten -- a three-time winner of the French Open -- and 2001 Italian Open champ Juan Carlos Ferrero lost in the second round.

-- From staff, wire reports