WSU’s Grove Picks Up Weekly Honor

Washington State’s Jason Grove has been named the Pac-10 North baseball player of the week after hitting at a .471 clip last week.

The freshman started four of the five games last week in right field and the fifth game on the mound. Grove was 8 for 17 with three doubles, three home runs, and six RBIs. He also scored six runs. In his pitching start against Gonzaga he gave up three runs in three innings.

Grove leads the Cougars with a .384 batting average and .740 slugging percentage.

He leads the team with nine doubles and is second with five home runs. The player of the week honor is the first in Grove’s short career.

Utility player Scott Randall also enjoyed a solid week, hitting 13 for 22 with two home runs and a double. In the series finale against Cal on March 16, Randall was 5 for 7, including his first home run of the year.

The Cougars are in Spokane today for a 2 p.m. game at Gonzaga.

Prep softball

Sophomore Katie Hirst threw a no-hitter as East Valley (4-0) defeated visiting Sandpoint 12-0 in a non-league game.

Hirst (2-0) allowed two baserunners, both on walks.

Becky Musgrave had four of the Knights’ 13 hits.

College basketball

University of Idaho men’s assistant basketball coach Mark Bernsen has resigned to pursue a private business opportunity in St. Louis.

Bernsen grew up in St. Louis. He’s been coaching for 26 years.

Ben Howland, who guided Northern Arizona to its first NCAA Tournament appearance, is a finalist for the head coaching position at UC Santa Barbara, sources said.

Howland, who grew up in Santa Barbara and was an assistant at the Division I school for 12 seasons before taking the NAU job in 1994, was in the Los Angeles area over the weekend. Sources close to UCSB said Howland interviewed for the job Sunday.

Howland declined to say whether he is interested.

“It’s a good job,” he said. “But I have a good job.”

Sources said that Bob Williams, who led UC Davis to the NCAA Division II championship last weekend, also is a finalist, as is Portland State coach Ritchie McKay, who led the Big Sky school to a 15-12 record in the first year the program was reinstated.

Howland nearly had the 15th-seeded Lumberjacks pull an upset in the first round, losing by two points to second-seeded Cincinnati in the West Regional in Boise.

Howland, 40, has become one of the country’s promising young coaches after leading NAU to a 41-16 record the past two seasons.

NAU athletic director Steve Holton said Monday he had not been contacted by UC Santa Barbara athletic director Jerry Cunningham for permission to talk to Howland.

, DataTimes