Eleven games on heavy baseball schedule
By United Press International
Eleven major league baseball games were on tap Thursday and Thursday night.
In the National League, Pittsburgh was at the New York Mets, St. Louis hosted Colorado and Milwaukee was at Houston in day games. Night contests had Florida at Montreal, the Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, Philadelphia at Atlanta and San Francisco at Los Angeles.
Afternoon games in the American League had Texas at Oakland and Toronto hosting Minnesota. At night, the new York Yankees were at Baltimore and Detroit was at Tampa Bay.
Mississippi St. star may turn pro
BRISTOL, Conn., April 4 (UPI) -- It appears Mario Austin, Mississippi State's leading scorer and rebounder this past season, is headed to the NBA draft.
ESPN reported Thursday that Austin, a 6-9, 255-pound forward, plans to drop out of school and work out in Philadelphia in preparation for the NBA-sponsored draft workouts in Chicago.
Austin had said last week that he would remain in school for his junior season, but now feels he is ready for the NBA and is expected to be a mid-to-late first-round pick in the June 26 draft.
Underclassmen have until May 12 to declare for the draft, but can withdraw as late as June 19.
Dakich named West Virginia hoops coach
MORGANTOWN, W.Va., April 4 (UPI) -- Dan Dakich, a Bob Knight disciple, was named head basketball coach at West Virginia Thursday, succeeding Gale Catlett.
Catlett retired in February with 565 wins after 24 years at the school. But his final college season was not a memorable one as the Mountaineers finished 8-20 overall and 1-15 in the Big East in 2001-02.
West Virginia courted alum Bob Huggins but he opted to remain at Cincinnati where he said he had "unfinished business." The Bearcats were a top seed in the NCAA tournament but lost in the second round to UCLA.
Dakich failed to lead Bowling Green to the NCAA tournament in five years at the Mid-American Conference school, but compiled an 89-57 record, including two trips to the National Invitation
Tournament.
The Falcons finished 24-9 this past season and lost in the first round of the NIT to Butler.
Montolio reaches Porto quarterfinals
PORTO, Portugal, April 4 (UPI) -- Top seed Angeles Montolio of Spain recorded her second straight-sets victory in as many days at the $140,000 Porto Ladies Open Thursday.
Montolio defeated Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 6-4, 6-1, and will face sixth-seeded Frenchwoman Eleni Daniilidou in the quarterfinals.
After rain halted her first-round match Tuesday, Montolio defeated countrywoman Eva Bess, 6-3, 6-2, on Wednesday.
Daniilidou advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 rout of France's Emile Loit on Thursday. Fourth seed Martina Sucha of Slovakia completed a rain delayed match Thursday and notched a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win over Jelena Kostanic of Croatia.
Eighth seed Maja Matevzic breezed past Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 6-2, and will meet Sucha in the quarterfinals.
Slovakian Ludmilla Ceranova upset seventh seed Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-3, and meets Spain's Magui Serna.
Serna, the third seed, became the first quarterfinalist on Wednesday when she battled past Anca Barna of Germany, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
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Falcons re-sign TE Kozlowski
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga., April 4 (UPI) -- The Atlanta Falcons Thursday re-signed free agent tight end Brian Kozlowski, a favorite of Coach Dan Reeves.
Kozlowski, 31, has been a solid contributor on special teams and as a backup at both tight end and H-back in his five years with the Falcons. He had 15 catches for a career-high 270 yards last season.
Kozlowski followed Reeves to Atlanta in 1997 after spending his first three seasons under Reeves with the New York Giants.
During Atlanta's run to the Super Bowl in 1998, Kozlowski filled in at fullback for the injured Bob Christian with starting assignments in the final three regular season games and the three postseason games, including Super Bowl XXXIII.
WUSA tabs Atlanta for title game
ATLANTA, April 4 (UPI) -- Atlanta has been chosen by the Women's United Soccer Association as the site for the second Founders Cup championship Aug. 24.
WUSA President Lynn Morgan said Atlanta's bid was chosen over San Jose, Calif., and Washington because of attendance, the venue -- which served as the site for Olympic field hockey in 1996 -- and the city's history of hosting major sports events.
Atlanta's team, the Beat, averaged 11,092 in attendance last year.
Seniors gather for Legends of Golf
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., April 4 (UPI) -- The Legends of Golf spawned a new tour. This week,it takes on a new format.
The tournament celebrates its 25th anniversary with a
new individual format and begins Friday at the King & Bear course at World Golf Village.
Aimed at bringing together the sport's elder statesmen, the Legends of Golf debuted in 1978 at Austin, Texas. It gave birth to the Senior PGA Tour, which began play less than two years later.
This year's Legends of Golf also includes a team event involving players between the ages of 50-69 and others 70 or older.
Among those entered is Don January, who won the inaugural Senior Tour event in June 1980.
Missing from this week's field are Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus -- the "King" and "Bear" in the course's name. It's the second year at this layout, which is steps from the World Golf Hall of Fame.
This is Irwin's first trip to the course and first appearance in the event, which offers a $306,000 top prize -- the largest on the Senior Tour so far this season.
Irwin, 56, who has won two titles in six starts to increase his record Senior total to 34.
