Top prospect Gausman to make Orioles debut on Thursday
BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles will recall 22-year-old Kevin Gausman on Thursday and send him to the mound in Toronto for his major league debut.
Gausman was the fourth overall pick in the 2012 amateur draft. The right-hander pitched for Louisiana State before being selected by the Orioles.
He pitched briefly in the minors last year and was 2-4 with a 3.11 ERA with Double-A Bowie this season. But he also had 49 strikeouts compared to only five walks in 46 1/3 innings.
Why now?
Dan Duquette, the team’s vice president of baseball operations, says Gausman “has the best stuff and the most consistent control of just about any pitcher that we have in the organization.”
Gausman joined the team Wednesday but won’t formally become part of the 25-man roster until Thursday.
Bryant’s 30-homer season with composite bat is epic
SAN DIEGO — With every prodigious drive over the fences, star third baseman Kris Bryant of the University of San Diego is adding to what could be considered the most prolific home-run hitting performance in NCAA history.
Bryant leads the nation with 30 home runs in 54 games, tied for the 11th-highest total in NCAA history.
Through Sunday, Bryant had outhomered 227 of 296 teams in Division I.
A USD graduate crunched numbers that suggest Bryant could have hit 49 home runs had he been using an aluminum bat rather than the toned-down composite bats introduced in 2011, his freshman season.
That would have been one more than Pete Incaviglia’s record of 48 homers in 75 games in 1985 at Oklahoma State.
Further, the numbers suggest that if Bryant played 75 games, he could have hit a staggering 68 homers.
Family ties: Jarrett, Petty enter NASCAR hall
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and master mechanic Maurice Petty headline the latest group of inductees in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Dale Jarrett Wednesday joined his father Ned in the hall while Maurice becomes the fourth member of the storied Petty family to get in.
Tim Flock won two NASCAR titles in the 1950s and was elected. Jack Ingram was a champion in NASCAR’s Late Model Sportsman division, the precursor to what’s now the Nationwide Series. The final Hall of Famer was Fireball Roberts, who won 33 times from 1950 until his death in 1964 that came weeks after a crash in Charlotte.
Roberts lost a tiebreaker for the fifth spot a year ago to Buck Baker.
The group will be inducted into the hall in January.
Jose Canseco accused of sexual assault in Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Former baseball slugger Jose Canseco Jr. has been accused of sexual assault in Las Vegas, in an investigation that the former baseball slugger made public with postings on a social media website claiming that a woman falsely accused him of rape.
No arrest was made and police said no charges were immediately filed against the 48-year-old former Oakland Athletics rookie of the year who played for six other teams from 1985 to 2001 and later wrote a tell-all book admitting that he used performance-enhancing steroids.
Officer Bill Cassell, a police department spokesman, wouldn’t say Wednesday where the alleged attack took place.
Word about the investigation became public after Canseco posted information about it on the social media network Twitter. He said Las Vegas police had just left his house.
Worley demoted after Twins fall to Braves 8-3
ATLANTA — The Minnesota Twins are mired in a terrible slump.
They won’t have Vance Worley to blame anymore.
The Twins dropped their eighth in a row, losing to the Atlanta Braves 8-3 on Wednesday, and immediately demoted Worley to the minors after another dismal outing.
The right-hander gave up three homers, including Evan Gattis’ grand slam, and left after just 3 2/3 innings. Worley’s record dropped to 1-5 and his ERA climbed to 7.21.
“The ball was coming out of his hand pretty good,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “But ultimately, he misfires too much over the plate and you see the ball flying. And that’s what happened today.
“When he gets the ball up, they whack it pretty good.”
Top-seeded Tipsarevic upset in Duesseldorf
DUESSELDORF, Germany — Top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic lost in the second round of the Power Horse Cup on Wednesday, falling 7-6 (1), 6-1 to Argentine qualifier Guido Pella.
It’s the biggest career win for the 101st-ranked Pella, knocking out the 10th-ranked Serb to reach the ATP World Tour quarterfinals for the first time.
Pella will play seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who defeated Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Third-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina topped Andre Ghem 6-4, 6-4 of Brazil to set up a quarterfinal with Tobias Kamke, who beat Aljaz Bedene 6-1, 6-4.
Second-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany rallied past Ivan Dodig 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. The German will next play Jarkko Nieminen, who defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
Igor Sijsling knocked out fourth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will play Jan Hajek. The Czech routed Daniel Brands 6-1, 6-0.
Querrey beats Stakhovsky to reach quarters in Nice
NICE, France — American Sam Querrey reached the quarterfinals of the Nice Open, beating Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday.
The third-seeded Querrey broke his opponent three times, while Stakhovsky converted only one of seven opportunities.
Querrey will play French wild-card Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who rallied to defeat Ricardas Berankis 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Albert Montanes advanced to the last eight by beating Victor Hanescu 7-5, 7-6 (2), and Pablo Andujar routed Lu Yen-hsun 6-2, 6-0.
Robin Haase beat fourth-seeded John Isner 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, and Gael Monfils topped Fabio Fognini 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the late match.
Canucks fire Alain Vigneault as coach
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Vancouver Canucks fired coach Alain Vigneault on Wednesday.
The Canucks also fired assistants Rick Bowness and Newell Brown.
Vigneault, the Canucks’ all-time leader in coaching wins, led the club to six Northwest Division titles, two Presidents’ Trophy titles and an appearance in the 2011 Stanley Cup final.
But Vancouver was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in the past two seasons, including getting swept by the San Jose Sharks this year.
It was the first time in 12 years that the Canucks were swept in the postseason.
Vigneault has a 313-170-57 record over seven seasons in Vancouver, with a 33-32 mark in the playoffs.
Inaugural tournament cut to 54 holes
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — The LPGA Tour’s first trip to Paradise Island is being cut short by rain.
Storms that dumped about a foot of rain on the Ocean Club wiped out the pro-am Wednesday and left the course under so much water that the first round Thursday also was canceled. The tournament now will start Friday and be played over 54 holes.
The field features the top three players in women’s golf, including Stacy Lewis. The American has a partnership with title sponsor Pure Silk, making this the second LPGA Tour event with title sponsors that have ties to Lewis.
The rain was so intense that the 18th fairway was under water, and turtles were swimming in water that washed into a bunker on the ninth hole.
From wire sources
