Huskies Absorb 12-5 Loss At Ucla
UCLA smacked five home runs in clubbing Washington 12-5 Monday in Los Angeles to earn a 2-1 series win in the opening weekend of Pacific-10 Conference baseball play.
Senior first baseman Ed Erickson had a double and solo home run to spark the offense for UW (8-13, 1-2). UCLA (16-11, 2-1) produced just five runs with its homers, but outhit the Huskies 15-8.
Wheelchair basketball
For the first time in three years, the Spokane Cyclones will not represent the Northwest in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Final Four.
That honor this year will go to the ninth-ranked Denver Rollin’ Nuggets, who held off the No. 3 Lakeshore (Alaska) Storm 70-65 Sunday at Spokane Community College in the regional finals.
Spokane, ranked 15th nationally, which had lost to Lakeshore in Saturday’s semifinals, landed David Mollers and Paul Hill on the all-tournament team. Other all-tournament picks were Mark Shepard of Denver, the MVP; Akil Mauta, Lakeshore; and Sal Diaz, Pasadena, Calif.
The Cyclones will take on a new look next season. Three veterans of the program - Lew Tomlinson, a 20-year guy and Spokane’s all-time leading scorer with a career average of about 20 points a game; Frank Traver; and Orin Pierce, both 15-year players - announced their retirement.
Track and field
Two 1999 Big Sky Conference champions from Eastern Washington, juniors Ryan Cole and Johnnie Williams, had impressive early-season performances Sunday at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
Cole placed second in the javelin with a throw of 222 feet, 1 inch to finish behind Stanford’s Chad Wassink (226-7). Cole’s mark at Stanford exceeded the NCAA provisional qualifying standard of 220-9.
Williams placed third in his heat and 18th overall in the 100 with a time of 10.78. He also had a time of 22.24 in the 200 and placed 29th overall after stumbling out of the starting blocks.
Motor sports
Even without points on the line, defending Street Stock champion Rob Vest showed no sign of slowing down as he won a multi-class main at Stateline Speedway’s Racer’s Jamboree Sunday afternoon. Vest also won a heat race. Joel Schrader scored wins in the A trophy dash and main for the Bump-to-Pass class. Sheri Howard scored a clean sweep in a limited field of Columbia River Sprint Cars, setting fast time (12.86), plus winning the trophy dash, heat and main. Pat Norris picked up wins in the Fever 4 Hobby main and A trophy dash.
The race was a warm-up for the season opener Saturday.
Spokane Raceway Park will open its drag and stock car season Sunday.