Baseball
Beavers win season opener — Jake Rodriguez, Kavin Keyes and Michael Conforto all had two hits to pace the Oregon State baseball team to a 5-2 win over Utah Valley in the club’s 2013 season opener Friday in Palm Springs, Calif. Rodriguez drove in two runs on a two-out single to left field in the third inning that served as the game winner. Conforto had driven in the Beavers’ first run of the game earlier in the inning, and he and Danny Hayes scored when Rodriguez lined the first pitch he saw into left. The win marked the Beavers’ fourth consecutive season-opening win and improved head coach Pat Casey’s mark to 13-6 in the first game of a season during his tenure at OSU.
Basketball
Payton leads Hall list — Former Oregon State star and NBA All-Star Gary Payton, along with Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond, were among 12 finalists announced Friday for election into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Former Houston Cougars coach Guy Lewis, current Louisville coach Rick Pitino and former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian also are finalists for the 2013 class. The others include former NBA stars Maurice Cheeks, Spencer Haywood and Bernard King, longtime North Carolina women’s coach Sylvia Hatchell and five-time WNBA All-Star Dawn Staley. Boston Celtics great Tom Heinsohn, already inducted as a player, is a finalist in the coaching category.
No. 15 Georgetown gets win — Otto Porter Jr. scored 16 points while playing in foul trouble, and No. 15 Georgetown wasted a 12-point lead in the second half before rallying for its seventh straight win Friday night, 62-55 over Cincinnati in Cincinnati. Markel Starks hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5:35 left and made five free throws in the final minute, helping the Hoyas (19-4, 9-3) stay atop the Big East. They were tied with Syracuse and Marquette heading into the weekend games.
Winter sports
Ligety wins GS at worlds — Ted Ligety has become the first man in 45 years to earn three gold medals at the skiing world championships by winning the giant slalom in dominating style in Schladming, Austria. The American can match French great Jean-Claude Killy, who earned four golds in 1968, if he wins the slalom on Sunday. Marcel Hirscher of Austria was 0.81 seconds behind in second, and Manfred Moelgg of Italy took third, trailing Ligety by 1.75 seconds.
Motor Sports
Schumacher leads NHRA’s Top Fuel qualifying — Tony Schumacher raced to the Top Fuel qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA’s season-opening Winternationals with a 3.758-second run at a top speed of 328.14 mph in Pomona, Calif. Schumacher’s parachutes failed to deploy after the run and his car came to a stop in the sand trap at the end of the track. He wasn’t injured. Jack Beckman topped the Funny Car field, and Mike Edwards had the Pro Stock lead. Beckman had a pass of 4.045 at 316.67, and Edwards finished in 6.528 at 212.39. The final two rounds of qualifying are set for today.
Football
Goodell paid $29 million — Commissioner Roger Goodell was paid $29.49 million by NFL owners in 2011, nearly triple his compensation from the previous year. According to the league’s most recent tax return, most of Goodell’s pay comes in the form of a $22.3 million bonus. His base pay was $3.1 million. The NFL was scheduled to file the return Friday. While the league declined comment on specifics, it must, by law, make the return available upon request.
Packers release defensive back Charles Woodson — The Green Bay Packers have released veteran defensive back Charles Woodson. General manager Ted Thompson announced the move Friday, saying the team would not have won the 2010 Super Bowl without Woodson and saying the “once-in-a-generation talent" was an ambassador for the organization off the field. The 36-year-old Woodson has two years left on a five-year contract that was worth as much as $55 million.
— From wire reports
