LOCAL

LOCAL
Sallaz advances in Golden Gloves
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. -- Fitch senior Derick Sallaz advanced to Monday night's finals of the Pittsburgh Golden Gloves with a sub-novice, 139-pound semifinal win over Erich Benedum from Brookline, Pa.
After Benedum, who was undefeated at 3-0, was decked for a third time, the referee halted the bout at 1:40 of the second round Friday night.
Sallaz, a 17-year-old battler from Austintown fighting for the Buckeye Elks, nailed Benedum early in the first round with solid right, part of a beautiful combination that began with a right to the body followed by a left jab, that put the Brookline fighter down for an eight count.
In the next round, Sallaz, who is able to fight orthodox and southpaw, set Benedum up with jabs from both sides and dropped him with a left hook for the second knockdown of the fight.
A minute later another combination, a left hook to the body and a right to the head, ended the fight.
Undefeated at 4-0 as an amateur, Sallaz has now stopped three opponents as he advances to Monday night's sub-novice finals against Bobby Thompson, a 3-0 battler from the Pittsburgh Third Street Gym, at the David Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh.
Canfield's John Hobart, Sallaz's veteran trainer, has become prouder of his young prot & eacute;g & eacute;.
"Derick is coming along fine," said Hobart. "He works good in the gym and he has reached a stage of being well conditioned, which, with his talent and his ability to listen, has made him a much better fighter."
About Friday's win, Sallaz said, "I was a little nervous at the start when this guy seemed to be nearly a head taller than me, so I decided to use power finesse and work to the body and it got the job done.
"Working from the right side most of the fight I caught him with a straight right to the body early in the first round and it seemed to take everything out of him," Sallaz added. "The nervousness was gone in what turned out to be my best fight yet."
Talking golf
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- One of the region's only golf talk shows returns Monday for its fourth season on radio station AM 790 WPIC.
The program "Talking Golf" returns avid amateur golfers Bob Greenburg and Lynn Saternow to the airwaves each Monday from 11 a.m. to noon.
The show has been a big hit since taking to the air back in 1999 as it provides area golfers an opportunity to discuss the weekend's pro tours, the upcoming big events, golf trivia, golf rules and local golf.
Previous guests to the program include PGA Tour players John Cook and Mark Brooks, LPGA Rookie of the Year Dorothy Delasin and a host of local pros.
The show emanates most weeks from the WPIC Studios but has traveled to such events as the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic, Greenville Business and Industry Day, Tri-State PGA Events and an occasional charity event held on Mondays.
New to "Talking Golf" this year is the "Talking Golf Tour." Area golfers are invited to sign up for one of the three qualifiers at courses to be announced. The top eight teams from each qualifier will then participate in the season ending "Tour Championship," with the opportunity to win thousands of dollars in prizes and golf. For details, listen to "Talking Golf" or e-mail bgreenburg@theradiocenter.com.
In addition, the show will be streaming its weekly broadcasts to the Internet to be heard worldwide on www.nsnsports.com. Finally, in conjunction with Adelphia Cable, "Talking Golf" will partner itself with the "Golf Channel" and their worldwide resources for weekly information.
The program will run through August, with two additional Ryder Cup programs scheduled for September.
Racing postponed
MERCER, Pa. -- The 2002 Mercer Raceway Park season opener scheduled for Saturday night was canceled due to the unseasonably cold weather conditions.
Snow showers on Friday and the prospects of the high temperatures struggling to get to 40 for Saturday forced the postponement of racing.
"We were all set to go and were looking forward to kicking off our season," said owner Vicki Emig. "But the weather and the forecast kept getting worse every day. We felt it was in the best interest of all to cancel."
The season opener will now be April 13, featuring the Luxaire Heating & amp; Cooling Sprint Cars, Big-Block Modifieds, New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds and the Butterfield's Pub Stock Cars. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., with racing at 7 p.m.
Milovich guestof Curbstoners
BOARDMAN -- Andy Milovich, general manager of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers baseball team, will be the guest speaker at the Curbstone Coaches weekly luncheon Monday at the Lockwood House.
Kohler is second
SALEM -- Boardman senior Ashley Kohler finished second in the shot put with a throw of 36 feet, 9 inches in Friday's F.E. Cope Invitational at Salem High School.
REGION
Aeros gain split
AKRON -- Scott Pratt hit a one-out RBI single for the go-ahead run in the seventh as the Akron Aeros beat the Erie SeaWolves 3-2 Saturday for a two-game split.
In the completion of a game suspended in the top of the fifth because of snow Friday night, Corey Richardson knocked in four runs with three singles as the SeaWolves won 8-5.
In the seven-inning nightcap, Billy Munoz had an RBI single in the third and Johnny Peralta had a one-run triple in the fifth for Akron.
NATION
Greene caught at finish line
AUSTIN, Texas -- Maurice Greene pulled another surprise at the Texas Relays. In 1995, he was an unknown who upset Carl Lewis. On Saturday, Greene was the star who lost.
Running his first outdoor race of 2002, the world record-holder and Olympic champion at 100 meters was overtaken by J.J. Johnson at the finish in a 400-meter relay.
Greene appeared to lose time by raising his hands in celebration too soon.
Johnson's quartet finished in 38.34 seconds, 0.01 faster than Greene's group. It's the fastest time in the world this year.
Vindicator staff/wire reports