BASEBALL
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels agreed Friday night to a $144.5 million, six-year contract, keeping baseball’s brightest young star under club control through 2020.
The Angels said the 22-year-old outfielder and his family will be at a news conference Saturday in Anaheim to formally announce the contract along with owner Arte Moreno, manager Mike Scioscia and general manager Jerry Dipoto.
Few players in major league history have approached Trout’s accomplishments in his first two full major league seasons. The speedy center fielder is both a spectacular five-tool player and the darling of baseball’s sabermetrics crowd, putting up old-fashioned highlights and statistical superlatives on a weekly basis.
NEW YORK (AP) - In the wake of the Biogenesis scandal that led to 14 suspensions last summer, Major League Baseball and its players’ union announced they are toughening penalties and increasing the frequency of testing in the most substantial revisions to their drug agreement in eight years.
Players suspended during the season for a performance-enhancing drug violation will not be eligible for that year’s postseason. In addition, discipline will increase from 50 games to 80 for a first testing violation and from 100 games to a season-long 162 for a second. A third violation remains a lifetime ban.
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TENNIS
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) - No. 1-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic advanced to the Sony Open final without playing a point.
Both received walkovers when their semifinal opponents withdrew for health reasons. That left Nadal and Djokovic to play for the title Sunday in their 40th career meeting and their first of 2014.
It was the first time since at least 1968 that an ATP Tour event had two walkovers in the semifinals.
Djokovic was given a walkover for the second time in the tournament when Kei Nishikori withdrew because of a left groin injury. Four hours later, Tomas Berdych pulled out before his match against Nadal due to gastroenteritis.
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GOLF
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Phil Mickelson made the cut on the number in the Texas Open, blasting out of a greenside water hazard to 5 feet to set up a birdie on the final hole.
Mickelson shot a 2-under 70 after opening with a 77 at TPC San Antonio’s AT&T Oaks Course. Lefty was 11 strokes behind leader Steven Bowditch, the Australian who had a 67 to reach 8-under 136.
Mickelson was in the stream that runs in front of the 18th green after attempting to reach the par 5 in two from 288 yards with a 3-wood.
Bowditch holed out from 83 yards for an eagle on the par-4. The 30-year-old topped the leaderboard at the end of a round for the first time in his PGA Tour career.
CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) - Dori Carter might have gotten a bit ahead of herself late in the second round of the Kia Classic. She still left everyone else behind.
After birdieing six of the first seven holes on the back nine, Carter bogeyed the final two holes for an 8-under 64. The round was her lowest in competition and broke the Aviara course record.
Winless on the LPGA Tour, the former University of Mississippi player had 11 birdies and three bogeys. At 10-under 134, she had a two-stroke lead over Stacy Lewis and Cristie Kerr.
Carter tied for 68th in the season-opening event in the Bahamas and tied for 28th in the Women’s Australian Open, then played three Symetra Tour events. Last week, she failed to Monday qualify for the Phoenix event, flew to Florida for the Symetra Tour event, then made another cross-country trip to California.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng and South Korea’s Kim Hyung-sung helped Asia cut Europe’s lead to 7-3 in the EurAsia Cup, beating Danes Thomas Bjorn and Thorjorn Olesen 4 and 3 in foursomes play.
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OLYMPICS
French ski great Jean-Claude Killy has resigned as a member of the International Olympic Committee, declaring it’s time to move on after spending the past seven years heading the oversight panel for the Winter Games in Sochi.
The 70-year-old Killy said he completed his mission of helping deliver successful Olympics in Russia and defended his close working relationship with President Vladimir Putin, calling him “a good man.”
Winner of three gold medals at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics, Killy is leaving the IOC after 19 years as a member. While he could have remained until the age of 80, he said months ago he planned to step down after Sochi.
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FIGURE SKATING
SAITAMA, Japan (AP) - Japanese teenager Yuzuru Hanyu came back with a brilliant free skate to become the first man in 12 years on Friday to win the Olympic and world figure skating titles in the same year.
The 19-year-old Hanyu, who trailed compatriot Tatsuki Machida by nearly seven points after the world championships short program, produced a near-flawless free skate to finish with 282.59 points, just three-tenths of a point ahead of Machida.
Javier Fernandez of Spain was third with 275.93.
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WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota has fired basketball coach Pam Borton a day after a loss to South Dakota State in the women’s NIT, ending the Golden Gophers’ fifth straight season without an NCAA tournament appearance.
Ten years ago, Borton guided the Gophers to their only Final Four. She led the school to NCAA tournament appearances in six of her first seven seasons. But a program she helped revive has not made the NCAAs since 2009.
Borton is the winningest coach in program history with a 236-152 record in 12 seasons at the school. The Gophers went 22-13 this season, their most victories since 2004-05.
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PISTORIUS TRIAL
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius has been delayed until April 7 because one of the legal experts who will assist the judge in reaching a verdict is sick, abruptly ending expectations Friday that the double-amputee athlete was about to testify on his fatal shooting of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Thokozile Masipa announced the delay in court on the day Pistorius’ defense lawyers were due to begin presenting their case after four weeks of prosecution-led testimony and a two-day adjournment.
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