AREA

AREA
Scrapper Backersset meeting
WARREN -- The Mahoning Valley Professional Baseball Association -- Scrapper Backers -- will meet Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Cafe 83 on North River Road.
The fifth annual scholarship committee will be selected.
Opening day at Cafaro Field in June 20. For more information, call Pat McBride (330) 399-3770 or Gail Drushel (330) 847-6488.
Correction
David Koval had three hits and Rick DiMuzio had two for Poland's baseball team in Thursday's 8-0 win over Mooney. Incorrect names were reported to The Vindicator and were printed in Friday's editions.
REGION
Aeros win
NORWICH, Conn. -- Luis Gonzalez had three hits and three RBIs as the Akron Aeros beat the Norwich Navigators 11-1 in the Eastern League.
Gonzalez hit a two-run home run in the third inning and added an RBI infield single in the eighth.
The Aeros (16-12) sent 13 batters to the plate in the eighth and scored seven runs, all with two outs off reliever R.D. Spiehs. Tyler Minges hit a solo home run in the inning, and Gonzalez, Brian Luderer and Grady Sizemore had RBI singles.
Akron starter Jeremy Guthrie (4-0) gave up one run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Noah Lowry (1-1) allowed four runs on five hits in seven innings for Norwich.
NATION
Harvick winsHardee's 250
RICHMOND, Va. -- Kevin Harvick took the lead with 51 laps to go, but needed a late caution to hold off Scott Riggs and win the crash-filled Busch series event at Richmond International Raceway.
An event-record 14 cautions slowed the Hardee's 250 for 93 laps, including a crash by Mike Bliss that brought out the 13th yellow flag after 241 laps.
After a brief red flag delay while the track was cleaned, Harvick had trouble pulling away from Riggs in a single-file restart.
But Ron Hornaday's crash with four laps to go ended the suspense. Busch races end under yellow if it comes in the final five laps.
"Scott Riggs probably had the best car," said Harvick, who pancaked his Chevrolet against an outside wall out of a turn late in the race. "We felt we had the second- or third-best car, but I was trying too hard."
Riggs thought he had a chance before the crash.
"When I got to his bumper, I was trying to get it out of my windshield and put it in my rearview mirror," he said. "We were trying to make the pass and the caution came when I thought I had a pretty good run on him."
The victory was Harvick's 10th in the Busch series, where he won the championship in 2001, and his second on a short track this season.
Stockton to retire
SALT LAKE CITY -- NBA career assists leader John Stockton plans to retire after 19 seasons, and he met with Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and owner Larry Miller to tell them.
"I think I'm finished," Stockton said. "I informed those guys and that's the direction I'm headed. I just said, 'I think it's time to move on.' "
The 41-year-old point guard's 15,806 assists and 3,265 steals both rank first in league history. And all came with the Jazz.
Utah's season ended Wednesday with a 111-91 loss to the Sacramento Kings, who won their first-round playoff series 4-1.
Iowa State penalized
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Larry Eustachy, already suspended by Iowa State for his behavior at late-night parties, was suspended for one game by the NCAA for a secondary rules violation.
The NCAA found Iowa State guilty because Eustachy twice paid players for making free throws. The university was ordered to suspend Eustachy for one game, but that might become moot because athletic director Bruce Van De Velde has recommended Eustachy be fired.
Iowa State had reported the violations to the NCAA and will not appeal the ruling, said associate athletic director Bill Smith, the university's compliance coordinator.
Van De Velde's recommendation to fire Eustachy followed newspaper reports that he drank and partied with students after games in Columbia, Mo., and Manhattan, Kan.
Photos from the Columbia party show Eustachy kissing young women and being kissed by them on the cheek. Eustachy disclosed this week that he is an alcoholic and is seeking treatment.
Florida Stateinvestigated
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State will investigate allegations that football players might have been paid for autographs and football-related items through a booster-owned business, a school spokeswoman said Friday.
The allegations were first made by an attorney representing former Seminoles quarterback Adrian McPherson on misdemeanor gambling and felony theft charges.
Staff/wire reports