Madison Brown named PAC pitcher of the week

Madison Brown named PAC pitcher of the week

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.

Westminster College freshman Madison Brown was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week.

Brown, an East Liverpool graduate, made four appearances in the circle last week, going 3-0 with a save. She yielded five earned runs over her 18 innings to finish the week with 1.94 ERA, limiting opposing hitters to a .233 batting average.

Brown allowed a pair of hits and with a career-high 13 strikeouts in Saturday’s 4-2 Game 1 win at Saint Vincent. She struck out four over the final 4.0 innings of Westminster’s 7-6, eight-inning victory in Game 2.

The third-seeded Titans (18-16) will play second-seed Thiel College (17-23) on Thursday at 10 a.m. in the opening round of the PAC Tournament in Latrobe, Pa.

Texas Tech hoops coach gets contract extension

LUBBOCK, Texas

Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Chris Beard has signed a new contract with an average annual salary of $4.575 million through the 2024-25 season after leading the Red Raiders to their first national championship game.

The deal was announced Monday, three weeks after the Big 12 co-champions lost in overtime to Virginia in the national title game.

It is the second year in a row that Beard, the AP national coach of the year, has been rewarded with a new contract. The Red Raiders won a school-record 31 games this season, a year after going to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time.

Beard has a 76-31 record in three seasons as head coach of the Red Raiders.

West Virginia WR Simms enters transfer portal

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.

West Virginia wide receiver Marcus Simms is looking to transfer.

The school confirmed Monday that Simms has put his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.

Rather than play for new head coach Neal Brown after Dana Holgorsen left for Houston, Simms wrote Sunday on Twitter, “On to another chapter.”

Simms had 46 catches for 699 yards and two touchdowns as a junior this past season.

The departure of Simms is another blow to a unit already reeling by the graduations of David Sills and Gary Jennings, who combined for 28 TDs in 2018.

The top returning receiver is junior T.J. Simmons, who was fourth on the team last season with 28 catches for 341 yards.

Popovich negotiating new deal with Spurs

SAN ANTONIO

Coach Gregg Popovich is negotiating a new deal with the San Antonio Spurs.

The 70-year-old Popovich just finished his 23rd season with the Spurs. The Spurs have made the playoffs in each of the last 22 seasons, a streak that ties for the longest in NBA history, and there was some speculation about whether he would return. He has won five NBA championships with San Antonio.

He said Monday that negotiations are under way.

Injuries piling up for Hurricanes in playoffs

RALEIGH, N.C.

Carolina Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek is day to day with a lower body injury while defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is out with an upper body injury.

Coach Rod Brind’Amour also said Monday forward Saku Maenalanen is expected to miss the rest of the second-round series with the New York Islanders with an upper body injury.

Brind’Amour spoke a day after the Hurricanes’ list of injuries grew considerably during a 2-1 victory in New York that gave Carolina a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 is Wednesday night.

Mrazek, who has 210 saves on 230 shots faced while going 5-3 in the playoffs, left Sunday’s game 6 1/2 minutes into the second period. He was replaced by Curtis McElhinney, who stopped all 17 shots he saw.

Brind’Amour described Mrazek’s status as “actually good news” because it means the injury doesn’t appear to be long term. Still, the team recalled goalie Alex Nedeljkovic from its AHL affiliate in Charlotte on an emergency basis.

Forwards Andrei Svechnikov (concussion protocol) and Micheal Ferland (upper body) have not played since Game 3 of the Washington series and have been characterized as day to day by Brind’Amour, who says their availability will be determined after practice Tuesday.

Additionally, forward Jordan Martinook — who left Game 4 against Washington with a lower body injury after his heel slammed into the boards while he attempted a hit — returned two games later. Brind’Amour says having three days between games will benefit Martinook, whose injury has “been nagging him for a long time.”

Staff/wire report