Top winter athletes revealed on Sunday

April 4, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

Winter is finally fading into spring and the area’s high school athletes and schools are making the transition from the indoors to the outdoors.

That means it’s time to recognize The Vindicator’s Winter Athletes of the Year, as selected by members of the newspaper’s sports department.

Check out Sunday’s Vindicator sports section to read about the area’s best basketball players, bowlers, swimmers, hockey player and wrestler. The stories also will be available online at Vindy.com, along with video interviews with each athletes.

Giuriceo to fight Postol on April 11

STRUTHERS

Campbell High graduate Jake Giuriceo will fight Viktor Postol in a 10-round super lightweight bout on April 11 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Giuriceo (17-2, 4 KOs), who trains with Keith Burnside out of the Burnside Boxing Club in Struthers, has not fought since defeating Travis Hartman by fourth-round TKO last July in Pittsburgh. Postol (26-0, 11 KOs), a native of Ukraine, has not fought since May of 2014. He is the WBC’s No. 1 ranked contender.

The fight will be on the undercard of the Danny Garcia-Lamont Peterson welterweight bout on NBC.

Zoldan horse racing in Blue Grass Stakes

YOUNGSTOWN

Unrivaled, a horse owned by Phantom Fireworks CEO Bruce Zoldan, is running in today’s Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. The horse’s odds are 12-1.

Zoldan said if Unrivaled finishes third or higher, it will qualify for the Kentucky Derby on May 2.

Report: Blaney signs on with new owner

Dale Blaney reportedly signed a new deal Friday that will keep him racing this season and moving forward, according to PennLive.

“We definitely knew this was going to happen as of Tuesday,” Blaney told PennLive. “I’m sure there are plenty of rumors out there, but we will release something in the next couple days. I will have a different car number, but everything will be the same.”

Blaney didn’t reveal the new owners name or sponsor, but said he expects that information to be released in the coming days. His prior car owner, Tony Kennedy, reportedly could no longer afford the expenses of owning a team.

Calipari, Kaminsky take top AP honors

John Calipari has been dealing with detractors for years. Perhaps that perception has finally started to change.

After molding a roster full of McDonald’s All-Americans into a 38-0 juggernaut that’s two wins shy of a championship, Calipari was voted AP coach of the year on Friday. He received 40 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. Tony Bennett of Virginia was runner-up with nine votes and Notre Dame’s Mike Brey got five.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky was honored as the AP player of the year. The senior was rewarded with 58 first-place votes. Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor received five, and Willie Cauley-Stein of Kentucky and Jerian Grant of Notre Dame each received one.

MLB fines Marlins P Cosart for illegal bets

Miami Marlins pitcher Jarred Cosart has been fined by Major League Baseball for placing illegal bets, but the sport said it found no evidence he bet on baseball.

The 24-year-old deleted his Twitter account last week after screen shots of comments he purportedly made appeared on the website of Miami New Times. Cosart denied betting on baseball. The commissioner’s office said Friday its inquiry “did not reveal any evidence to suggest that Cosart, who fully cooperated with the investigation, bet on baseball.”

MLB said Cosart was fined for violating a rule that “prohibits players from placing bets with illegal bookmakers or agents for illegal book makers. This rule is strictly enforced and applies to gambling with illegal bookmakers on any sport or event.”

Staff/Wire reports