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Sports briefs

By BRIAN LANDMAN, CATHY WOS, Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 21, 2000

FSU baseball player suspended after DUI arrest

Police arrested Florida State baseball player Federico "Pichi" Balet early Friday and charged him with driving under the influence, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of no more than $500 and a maximum of six months in jail for a first-time offender.

Coach Mike Martin indefinitely suspended the 22-year-old senior.

"We are obviously disappointed, but we can not tolerate this kind of behavior," Martin said in a statement.

According to a Tallahassee Police report, at about 4:30 a.m., an officer watched as Balet drove his car into a parked car, made a left turn and crashed into the curb.

"He was belligerent, argumentative and cocky the entire time," the officer wrote.

Balet has no criminal record, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He played in 60 games last season at third base and designated hitter, batting .333 with seven home runs.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: South Carolina's Rolando Howell was approved for a Pre-Trial Intervention Program after being charged, with two accomplices, with cashing $1,560 in fake money orders in early August. Howell was cleared to practice last week. ... N.C. State forward Damon Thornton received 12 months of probation and must complete an alcohol treatment program after pleading guilty to driving while impaired and other charges.

COLLEGES: Florida sophomore Matt Vincent finished fifth in the high jump at 7-13/4 at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Santiago, Chile. ... Junior Olivier Levant was the lone Florida player to win a tennis match at the Bulldog Scramble in Athens, Ga. Players from Florida, Georgia, Duke and Illinois face off in a dual-match format, with only the individual results scored. ... The Miami women's golf team shot 312 for 14th place after the first day at the Paladin Invitational in Greenville, S.C. Auburn led at 291. Hurricanes senior Ashleigh Barrett-Hamilton shot 2-over 74 and was in a tie for 19th. Auburn's Celeste Troche led at 68. ... FSU's Rodrigo Laub and Joe Basset defeated Texas A&M's Jarin Skube and Khaled Eldorry 7-5, 6-1 in first-round doubles play at the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational men's tennis tournament in Midland, Texas. ... FSU's Alida Gallovits and Christina Denny advanced through the first two rounds of Flight A at the Yellow Jacket Invitational women's tennis tournament in Atlanta. ... Eckerd won its fourth consecutive volleyball match, topping Rollins 15-11, 13-15, 15-7, 15-8. ... Assumption beat Eckerd 4-0 in men's soccer. ... Freshman Mary Luke scored the winning goal for Miami in a 2-1 win against Rutgers in women's soccer. Roy Fink scored three goals, the last in the second overtime, as host Tampa came back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat Rollins 3-2 in men's soccer. Florida won its 10th consecutive volleyball match, 15-4, 15-3, 15-9 against LSU in Gainesville.

OLYMPICS: Valrico's Brooke Bennett will appear at 12:15 today at Adventure Island, 3605 Bougainvillea Ave. in Tampa. Bennett, who won two swimming gold medals in Sydney and one in Atlanta, will sign autographs, show off her medals and unveil a Wheaties box that features her.

PARALYMPICS: The U.S. men's sitting volleyball team lost 25-16, 25-6, 25-8 to Hungary in the first round in Sydney. Tampa's Bradley Johnson and Jim Kesler of Sabetha, Kan., led the team in attacks, with three each. Johnson and team captain Bill Demby led with two blocks each.

TENNIS: Venus Williams won her 34th consecutive match, beating unseeded Yelena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies Open in Linz, Austria. ... Top-seeded Kristina Brandi and second-seeded Jelena Dokic were upset in the quarterfinals of the Heineken Open in Shanghei. Pavlina Nola beat Brandi 6-4, 6-2 and Iroda Tulyaganova defeated Dokic 6-3, 6-4. ... Tina Hergold knocked out top seed Jana Nejedly 6-2, 6-2 in straight sets in a quarterfinal match at the Bardmoor Challenger, a USTA tournament in Largo. Also, Milagros Sequera upset No. 2 seed Rossana de los Rios 7-6 (7-4), 6-0. ... Max Mirnyi rallied to oust defending champion Nicolas Escude 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Toulouse Open in France.

SOCCER: Dave Dir, the Dallas Burn's only coach in its five-year history, was fired. ... The Miami Fusion is expected to retain the nickname Fusion, but replace "Miami" with "South Florida," the Miami Herald reported.

HORSE RACING: Two former Calumet Farm executives were sent to federal prison, more than eight months after they were convicted of bribery and fraud related to the demise of the celebrated Kentucky thoroughbred stable. Houston U.S. District Judge Sim Lake sentenced former Calumet president J.T. Lundy to 41/2 years in prison, and Gary Matthews, the stable's one-time chief financial officer, got 21 months. ... Retired thoroughbred trainer Roy T. McDonnel, for more than three decades a regular at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., died at age 80.

HIGH SCHOOLS: Cocoa running back Carlos Cole collapsed during a fotball game was in intensive care. He regained consciousness at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne after surgery to treat a head injury.

BOWLING: Mike Pullin won his first PBA Senior Tour title, beating Roger Workman 190-171 in the final of the Hammond (Ind.) Open.

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Gary Shelton