June 6 , 2007

Three Bears are awarded medical redshirts
Cal's Wilkes, Knezevic and Boykin will be listed as sophomores again

TIMES WIRE SERVICES

Three Cal basketball players -- center Jordan Wilkes, guard Nikola Knezevic and forward Jamal Boykin -- were granted medical hardship waivers by the Pac-10 and will be classified as sophomores for the 2007-08 season, coach Ben Braun said Tuesday.

Wilkes and Knezevic missed the entire 2006-07 season with knee injuries. Boykin had a severe case of mononucleosis that restricted his ability to practice with the squad after transferring from Duke mid-year.

Boykin will become eligible to play for the Bears after the fall term ends Dec. 21. He played in 26 games for the Blue Devils as a freshman, then saw action in three games last November before being diagnosed with mono.

With the medical hardship rulings, Cal will feature a seven-player sophomore class for the upcoming season. The other sophomores will be power forward Ryan Anderson, center Taylor Harrison, swingman Patrick Christopher and point guard Jerome Randle.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Pac-10: The site of the conference's postseason tournament will be the Galen Center on the campus of USC, starting with the 2008-09 season. "Playing it the same week as the men's tournament is conducted in nearby Staples Center will create synergy, which will benefit both of these premier Pac-10 events," commissioner Tom Hansen said.

HP Pavilion in San Jose has been the site since 2003 and will host the 2008 tournament on March 7-10 before it moves to Los Angeles. "We're disappointed that they've made the decision to leave," said Jim

Goddard, HP Pavilion's executive vice president/general manager. "But we understand that a lot of thought and factors went into their decision."

SOFTBALL

Arizona 1, Tennessee 0: Danielle Rodriguez beat the throw home on Adrienne Acton's grounder in the 10th inning as the Wildcats beat the Lady Vols in Oklahoma City, extending the Women's College World Series to a decisive third game tonight.

Sam Banister started Arizona's rally with single to left field and moved to second on a sacrifice before an error by second baseman Kenora Posey allowed Callista Balko to reach base and Rodriguez, who pinch ran for Banister, to get to third.

Acton slapped a grounder to shortstop Liane Horiuchi, who fired home. Rodriguez slid and dropped her left hand toward the tip of the plate.

Catcher Shannon Doepking was unable to tag Rodriguez before Rodriguez swept her hand down to break Monica Abbott's 43-inning scoreless streak in the postseason. Salinas' Abbott (50-4), who holds the NCAA records for wins, shutouts and strikeouts, fanned 11

. Arizona starter Taryne Mowatt (41-12) kept the defending national champions in the game until they scored off Abbott.

BASEBALL

Oregon St. 7, Virginia 3: Lonnie Lechelt's solo home sparked a three-run second inning and put the defending national champion Beavers ahead to stay in a win over the Cavaliers in the Charlottesville (Va.) regional. Oregon State (42-18) won for the third time in two days and beat Virginia (45-16) for the second straight time.

The Beavers advanced to a super regional, where it will host Michigan starting Saturday.

Other best-of-three super regionals include UC Irvine at Wichita State, Mississippi at Arizona State and UCLA at Cal State Fullerton.

FOOTBALL

Indiana: Athletic director Rick Greenspan said he had hoped ailing Terry Hoeppner would be back to work by now and is getting worried about the coach's ability to return to the job.

"The bottom line right now is that Hep is not back at work," Greenspan told the Indianapolis Star. "Obviously we're concerned." Hoeppner had brain surgery twice in a 10-month span and has now left the team three times since December 2005. Assistant coach Bill Lynch ran the team during the spring.

UCLA: John Wristen, the Bruins' tight ends/special teams coach, resigned to pursue an opportunity to become head coach at Colorado State/Pueblo, his alma mater. "John wants to put all of his efforts into trying to land that job," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said.

TRACK AND FIELD

NCAA Championships: The Florida State men and Arizona State women are the favorites to win team titles in a meet that begins a four-day run today in Sacramento.