Colleges

Virginia's ace manhandles Seminoles in ACC tournament

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 25, 2006

JACKSONVILLE - Sean Doolittle allowed one run in six innings and Brandon Guyer drove in three with a homer and single to lead Virginia to a 6-2 win over Florida State on Wednesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Doolittle, named ACC pitcher of the year Monday, allowed four hits and one walk while striking out nine, seven in the first three innings. He was lifted after walking the leadoff batter in the seventh.

Michael Schwimer and Casey Lambert held the Seminoles (39-18) to one run and two hits the last three innings. Virginia led the nation with a team-record 2.56 ERA this season.

Virginia (46-11) scored in four of the first five innings. Doolittle hit a first-inning sacrifice fly and Brandon Marsh hit another in the third. Guyer hit his team-leading seventh homer of the season in the fourth.

Mike Trapani hit a two-out, eighth-inning home run well over the leftfield wall to lift the Yellow Jackets in the ACC tournament.

Florida State forward Alexander Johnson closed the door on returning for his senior year by signing with an agent and having NBA teams pay to bring him in for workouts.

"I'm really excited to be working with him, and there's been strong interest," Miami agent Jason Levien said.

The 6-9, 230-pound Johnson, training in the bay area with David Thorpe for the past couple of weeks, has impressed the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards and, Wednesday, the New Jersey Nets by showing a good medium-range jumper as well as a 40.5-inch vertical. He plans to work out in Los Angeles for the Lakers today.

"I'm getting very strong feedback (from the teams)," Levien said. "He's doing great."

Though some questioned the wisdom of Johnson declaring for the draft, he could be playing himself into the first round and a guaranteed contract. ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford has Johnson going to the Nets at No. 23, the second of consecutive picks the team has in the June 28 draft.

The school plans to announce this morning that it has agreed to a 10-year contract extension for coach George O'Leary that will pay him $1-million a year, the Orlando Sentinel reported. With annual incentives, O'Leary could push his compensation up to nearly $1.5-million, more than double his original contract, the Sentinel reported.

DURHAM, N.C. - In a show of solidarity with Duke's beleaguered men's lacrosse team, members of the women's team plan to wear sweatbands with the word "Innocent" written on them. The university canceled the rest of the men's season because of a woman's complaint she was raped in March at a team party where she had been hired to strip. The women plan to wear the sweatbands when they play defending national champion Northwestern in the NCAA semifinals Friday.

FLORIDA: Sophomore Greg Ouellette won in three sets over Washington's Alex Slovic, and senior Vladimir Obradovic lost in two sets to UCLA's top-ranked Benjamin Kohlloeffel in the NCAA men's singles draw at Stanford. All three UF women lost in the first round of the NCAA championships. Sophomore Diana Srebrovic lost 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to William & Mary's Megan Moulton-Levy, senior Boglarka Berecz lost to Southern California's Amanda Fink 6-0, 6-1 and senior Alexis Gordon fell 6-4, 6-3 to California's Suzi Babos.

WOMEN: Pepperdine's Eileen Vargas shot 1-under 71 to extend her lead to four shots, and Arizona State had a three-stroke edge on defending champion Duke after the second round of the NCAA championships in Upper Arlington, Ohio. Florida is eighth with 600, 14 strokes back. Gators sophomore Tiffany Chudy shot 3-over 75 and finished the day tied for third.

BROADCASTING: Brent Musburger will team with analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Bob Davie for ABC's Saturday night games this fall, and Brad Nessler will team with Paul Maguire and Bob Griese on ESPN.

The Motor City Bowl announced a four-year extension with the Big Ten to send a bowl-eligible team to face a Mid-American Conference team for the game at Ford Field.

SOFTBALL: USF's super regional series with UCLA in Los Angeles will be broadcast live on radio stations 570-AM, 910-AM, 860-AM and 930-AM.

Former Florida star Ryan Lochte, who won a school-record seven NCAA titles, signed a deal with Speedo.

[Last modified May 25, 2006, 00:55:15]