SPORTS DIGEST || YSU baseball to host doubleheader

YSU baseball to host doubleheader

Due to unplayable conditions at Oakland, the Youngstown State baseball team will host the Golden Grizzlies in a doubleheader at Eastwood Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. The teams were originally scheduled to play a three-game series at the Oakland Baseball Field beginning on Friday. YSU will play as the away team in both games.

YSU volleyball to host postseason banquet

The Youngstown State volleyball team is inviting fans to its annual postseason banquet that will be at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Youngstown on Saturday, April 23.

The banquet will celebrate the 2015 season and the careers of seniors Jessie Gerig, Aly Ryan, Lauren Thompson and Nikki Thompson. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and dinner will be served at 7 p.m. The formal program will begin after dinner.

Tickets are $25 each and fans can also sponsor a student-athlete’s meal for $15. For more information or to reserve tickets, contact assistant coach Sarah Smith at slsmith11@ysu.edu.

Miller, Bell to appear at Eastwood Mall

NILES

Ex-Ohio State standouts Braxton Miller and Vonn Bell will be signing autographs at Everything Buckeyes in the Eastwood Mall on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Miller was two-time Big Ten MVP as a quarterback and Bell was a first-team All-American and first-team all-Big Ten at safety. Both players were members of the 2014 National Championship team.

Miller’s autograph will be $39 and $49 and $15 for inscriptions and Bell’s autograph will be $25 and $29 and $10 per inscriptions.

For more information, call Everything Buckeyes at 330-349-9014.

Summitt admits to relationship, resigns

Tyler Summitt resigned from his job as Louisiana Tech women’s basketball coach on Thursday and acknowledged having an inappropriate relationship.

“I am profoundly disappointed in myself for engaging in a relationship that has negatively affected the people I love, respect and care about the most,” Summitt said in a statement issued through Louisiana Tech.

Summitt is the son of Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt. He married his high school girlfriend AnDe Ragsdale on June 1, 2013, and Louisiana Tech hired Summitt in April 2014 after two seasons as assistant coach at Marquette. Now 25, Summitt went 16-15 in his first season and 14-16 this season.

Cops: Ex-champ threw woman, 63, to ground

CRAFTON, Pa.

Former International Boxing Federation lightweight champ Paul Spadafora has been charged with assault after authorities say he put a woman in a semi-headlock at a Pittsburgh-area bar, drank some of her beer and then threw her to the ground when she went outside to call police.

Spadafora, who was raised in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKees Rocks, calls himself “The Pittsburgh Kid.” He won the vacant IBF belt in August 1999, and suffered his only professional loss just two and a half years ago after struggling to mount a comeback since serving time in jail.

Witnesses told police that Spadafora, 40, appeared to be intoxicated when he arrived at the Redstone Tavern in Crafton on Wednesday. Shortly before 4 p.m., he started baiting other patrons, including the woman, challenging them to box before grabbing her in a semi-headlock while he drank from her beer, police said. When she went outside to call 911, Spadafora followed and threw her to the ground, leaving before police arrived, Chief Mark Sumpter said.

Venus Williams loses, misses Top 10 bid

CHARLESTON, S.C.

Venus Williams is out of the Volvo Car Open, losing to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakstan 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4.

Williams, seeded third and ranked 14th, had a chance to gain a place in the top 10 had she won this match. Instead, Putintseva won five of the final six games Thursday to advance.

Staff and wire reports