Fast Break

Baseball

Sandberg will manage Peoria

Spokane native Ryne Sandberg is bringing his Hall of Fame credentials back to the minor leagues.

The former Chicago Cubs second baseman was hired Tuesday as the manager of the team’s Class A affiliate at Peoria of the Midwest League. It will be Sandberg’s first managerial assignment and he hopes it will lead to one in the majors.

“I haven’t ridden a bus in quite a while. I’m totally up for it. It’s all part of it, part of the fun,” said Sandberg, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

“I just look at it as a great opportunity to help the Cubs and work with their prospects. I will learn along the way and they will learn. And I think we will all have fun doing it and also win some games along the way.”

Sandberg has been working with the Cubs as a special instructor since 1999.

Hockey

USA Hockey picks Zimmerman

Spokane Chiefs defenseman Sean Zimmerman was named to the 2007 U.S. National Junior Team by USA Hockey.

Zimmerman, a Colorado native who resides in Spokane, will compete with Team USA in Leksand and Mora, Sweden, beginning Dec. 26, with four preliminary-round games through Dec. 31.

Zimmerman is a draft pick of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

Men’s basketball

Whitworth moves up in poll

Whitworth College rocketed up 10 spots to eighth in this week’s D3hoops.com poll, the school’s highest rating as an NCAA Division III member.

The Pirates (9-0 overall, 2-0 in Northwest Conference play) won three games last week and are off to their best start since opening the 2002-03 season with 12 victories.

Golf

Venturi receives good prognosis

Former U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi was expected to have a full recovery after undergoing heart surgery last Friday. Venturi, 76, remained hospitalized and a release date wasn’t set.