Sports in brief: RiverHawks to sit out 2010

Baseball: The Spokane RiverHawks will suspend West Coast League play for the 2010 summer collegiate wood-bat season in preparation for moving the team to Coeur d’Alene.

According to the WCL, RiverHawks owner Irv Zakheim is in the process of getting a new stadium built in Coeur d’Alene in hopes of resuming play in 2011.

“We’ve been working with city officials and local businessmen for almost two years, and we’re on the way to getting a stadium built that we think will be the finest in the West Coast League,” Zaheim said in a statement released by the league. “We believe the stadium will be ready for play in 2011, and no later than 2012.”

According to league president Ken Wilson, the absence of the RiverHawks will leave the WCL with nine teams next summer.

Eastern bids on title game

College football: The Spokane Regional Sports Commission and Eastern Washington University have submitted a bid to host the NCAA Division I Football Championship Game at Joe Albi Staium for three years, beginning in 2011.

Chattanooga, Tenn., has been the host city the past 10 years, and will again host the 2009 event on Dec. 18. But the NCAA, according Chris Frye, the SRSC director of marketing and research, has solicited bids for next year. At that time, the title game will be moved to the first Friday of January, prior to the Bowl Championship Subdivision title game.

Today is the deadline for submitting bids to host the 2010 championship game, which will again be televised by ESPN. Frye has heard that Chattanooga, Missoula, Mont., and Phoenix, Ariz., are among other cities expected to bid.

According to Frye, the NCAA likely won’t make a determination of a host city until the first week of March.

EWU athletic director Bill Chaves called the prospect “exciting for the entire region.”

Vandal reprimanded

College football: Idaho’s Tre’Shawn Robinson has been reprimanded by the Western Athletic Conference for throwing a punch late in the first half of the Vandals’ comeback win at San Jose State on Saturday.

Robinson was ejected, and WAC commissioner Karl Benson said “any further actions of this type may result in a one-game suspension.”

Injuries will impact Eagles

Men’s basketball: Eastern Washington will be shorthanded on Friday, when it officially opens practice for the 2009-10 season.

Senior center Brandon Moore, a three-year letterwinner, will be sidelined at least a month after undergoing minor knee surgery late last week. In addition, senior guard Gary Gibson will be unable to practice because of lingering knee problems, and junior college recruit Tremayne Johnson will not enroll until January, at the earliest, after failing to obtain his AA degree from Los Angeles Southwest College.