YSU

YSU
Baseball
YOUNGSTOWN -- Juniors Justin Thomas and Charles Schultz were named to Baseball America's Preseason All-Horizon League team in the magazine's annual college preview issue.
The publication picked the Penguins to finish fifth in the Horizon League.
Thomas earned second-team all-conference honors last season after posting a 7-3 record and recording 82 strikeouts in a school-record 93 1/3 innings. The left-hander was also picked as the Horizon League's second-best major league prospect.
Schultz hit .296 with 32 runs scored and 29 RBIs last season after being named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team as a freshman. He also earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American honors.
Illinois-Chicago was picked to finish first ahead of UW-Milwaukee, Butler and Wright State. Cleveland State was predicted to finish sixth.
LOCAL
Philibin to signwith Ohio
YOUNGSTOWN -- Cardinal Mooney High senior Mike Philibin said Wednesday he will sign a letter of intent to play football at Ohio University.
Philibin, who helped the Cardinals to the Division IV state championship, will play offensive tackle at Ohio. The 6-foot-5, 285-pounder was All-Steel Valley Conference first team the past two years, and as a senior, was named first team All-Northeast Ohio Inland District and first team All-Ohio.
Collar named ECAC player of the week
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Grove City College senior guard J.D. Collar earned the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southern men's basketball player of the week award.
Collar averaged 25 points and six rebounds last week in helping the Wolverines (8-7, 1-0 Presidents' Athletic Conference) to a pair of come-from-behind wins.
Mineral Ridge coaches
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield board of education approved the following supplemental coaching positions for the 2004-05 school year: Eric Cameron, assistant baseball coach, and Tracy Willrich, assistant varsity track coach, both at $1,266; and for the 2005-06 school year: Ron Toth, cross country coach, $844; Shawn Brown, varsity football coach, $4,642; Matt Blair, seventh- and eighth-grade football coach, $2,532; Heather Florence, varsity volleyball coach, $3,587, and Kelly Hontula, seventh- and eighth-grade volleyball coach, $1,899.
Mountaineer trainerreceives award
CHESTER,W. Va. -- Mountaineer Racetrack trainer Dale Baird was awarded the Special Eclipse Award by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA).
Baird, who recently recorded his 9,021th career win, will receive the award which honors outstanding achievements or contributions to the sport of Thoroughbred racing, at the NTRA's 34th annual Eclipse Awards, Jan. 24 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
NATION
Miami hires Linehan
MINNEAPOLIS -- Scott Linehan agreed Wednesday to a three-year contract with the Miami Dolphins to be their offensive coordinator, leaving the Minnesota Vikings without one.
In three seasons in Minnesota, Linehan oversaw one of the league's best offenses. The Vikings ranked second in the NFL in 2002, first in 2003 and fourth in 2004 in total yardage.
Baseball roundup
* Carlos Delgado is to meet today in Puerto Rico with the New York Mets and on Friday with the Texas Rangers.
* Brian Jordan returned to Atlanta, where he starred for the Braves and the NFL's Falcons. The outfielder, who will be 38 by opening day, got a $600,000, one-year contract from Atlanta that allows him to earn an additional $400,000 in performance and roster bonuses.
* Esteban Loaiza agreed to a $2.9 million, one-year contract with the Washington Nationals, who also gave an $800,000, one-year deal to reliever Antonio Osuna.
* Milwaukee agreed to an $800,000, one-year contract with free-agent reliever Ricky Bottalico and settled its arbitration case with Brooks Kieschnick in a $550,000 deal that contains bonuses for pitching and hitting.
* Texas agreed to a $1.1 million contract with right-hander Carlos Almazer, leaving 37 players in arbitration among the 89 who filed last Friday.
* Pitcher Tony Saunders, who retired in 2000 after breaking his left arm for the second time, agreed to a minor league contract with Baltimore. On May 26, 1999, he broke the humerus bone in his left arm while throwing a pitch in a game at Tampa Bay.
Meeting setin soccer dispute
NEW YORK -- Negotiators from the U.S. Soccer Federation and its union are scheduled to meet with a federal mediator today in an effort to resolve the dispute threatening to keep the regular players off the field for a World Cup qualifier next month.
The sides, arguing over money and other issues, will meet at a hotel in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport along with a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
If an agreement is not reached by Feb. 1, the USSF says it will use replacement players selected from minor leagues for the Feb. 9 game at Trinidad and Tobago, the first of 10 in the final round of qualifying from the North and Central American and Caribbean region.
Vindicator staff/wire reports