Sports digest for Saturday, June 15

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SOUTHEAST'S DOBBINS ELECTED OVC PRESIDENT

The Ohio Valley Conference Board of Presidents has elected Southeast Missouri State University president Kenneth Dobbins as the conference's president for the 2002-2003 academic year.

Dobbins was also the OVC's president last school year, but the recent elections were the first since the league presidents voted to discontinue the traditional practice of alphabetical rotation of the conference presidency.

Yankees earn split in Babe Ruth doubleheader

The Cape Girardeau Senior Babe Ruth Yankees lost the first game of Thursday's doubleheader with Oran 9-4 but rebounded for a split by prevailing 13-3 in five innings.

In the opener, the Yankees (6-2) made five errors in the first three innings. Pitcher Jared Jinkerson only gave up one earned run in seven innings of work. He struck out seven and scattered 13 hits.

Chris Honey led the Yankees in the second game, going 3-for-3 with a home run, three runs scored and three runs batted in. Kyle Wilson was 2-for-2 with a single, double and two RBIs.

Adam Ralls went the distance and gave up three runs on six hits.

Jackson Legion sweeps doubleheader at Chaffee

Jackson's American Legion baseball team swept a doubleheader late Thursday against Chaffee and improved to 5-5 overall, 2-1 in its district.

In a 7-3 nine-inning district win, Tim Davis pitched seven innings for the win. He gave up two hits. Trevor Thompson was 3-for-5 and Brenna Gibson was 1-for-4 with two RBIs for Jackson.

In an 8-4 five-inning win, Josh Parham got the victory in 2 1/3 innings with no earned runs and a hit. Thompson and Jake Carter each were 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Bryan Austin was 2-for-2.

ELSEWHERE

BASKETBALL

The Lakers celebrated their third consecutive NBA title with a triumphant parade and promises to thousands of fans that the team will top its "threepeat" with a fourth championship next year. The Lakers swept the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals. The celebration kicked off at City Hall before the team rolled 10 blocks through downtown past a crowd that followed them to Staples for a rally. The crowd was estimated at 150,000.

Motorsports

Dale Jarrett, fresh off his first victory of the season, followed it by winning his first pole of the year. Jarrett, driving the same Ford Taurus he raced to victory at Pocono last week, ran a lap of 189.071 mph around Michigan International Speedway to earn the pole for Sunday's Sirius Satellite Radio 400. Michael Waltrip posted a 188.793 to earn the second starting spot. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start third after running a 188.744.

Cristiano da Matta won the provisional pole for Sunday's CART G.I. Joe's 200 and covered the 1.969-mile Portland (Ore.) Raceway course in 59.083 seconds. Kenny Brack was second-fastest (59.168), followed by Christian Fittipaldi (59.215), who finished third the past two years.

Tennis

Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt and Tim Henman advanced to the semifinals of the Queen's Club grass-court tournament in London. Hewitt edged ninth-seeded Todd Martin 7-6 (4), 7-5; Henman fought back from a set down to beat Hyung-Taik Lee 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Also, Wayne Ferreira pulled out with a back injury while trailing Raemon Sluiter 6-1, 5-4 and fifth-seeded Sjen Schalken beat Wayne Arthurs 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Martina Navratilova, who retired in 1994 after winning a record 167 singles titles, received a wild card to play in next week's Eastbourne tournament. Because she does not have a singles ranking, Navratilova, 45, had to be granted a wild card. Navratilova played doubles on the Sanex WTA Tour in 2000, and played doubles in 12 events last year.

-- From staff, wire reports