The Baltimore Ravens landed their star pass rusher in Trey Hendrickson, Maxx Crosby is back in Las Vegas for now and Daniel Jones is staying in Indianapolis as part of a busy start to the new league year. Wednesday's biggest move came when the Ravens agreed to a four-year, $112 million contract with Hendrickson, a four-time Pro Bowl defensive end. On Tuesday night, Baltimore backed out of a deal with the Raiders for Crosby over a failed physical, a person with knowledge of that deal told The Associated Press.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Bobby Hurley’s tenure as Arizona State’s coach is over after 11 up-and-down seasons. Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini announced on Wednesday that Hurley’s contract will not be renewed, just hours after the Sun Devils’ blowout loss to No. 7 Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament. Hurley will be placed on paid administrative leave through the remainder of his contract, which ends in June. Hurley led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament three times, including two straight in 2018-19, but needed to make another March Madness run if his contract was going to be extended. Arizona State fell well short, finishing 12th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 at 7-11 and 17-16 overall. Hurley finished 185-167 at Arizona State.
HOUSTON (AP) — A day later than expected, the United States has punched its ticket to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic. The Americans got the help they needed from Italy, which beat Mexico 9-1 on Wednesday night. Italy beat the U.S. 8-6 a night earlier, turning the Americans into spectators as they hoped to avoid elimination. The Italians won Group B with a 4-0 record. The U.S. was runner-up in the group at 3-1. Mexico was eliminated, having also lost to the U.S. The Americans will stay in Houston to meet Canada on Friday night. Italy will play Puerto Rico in the other quarterfinal at Daikin Park on Saturday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nneka Ogwumike and the other members of the WNBA players’ union executive committee feel that movement is being made toward a new collective bargaining agreement. Ogwumike spoke after nine hours of negotiations Wednesday night. That followed a 12-hour session that began Tuesday and finished at 5 a.m. EDT Wednesday. In proposals over the last 24 hours, the league has increased its salary cap offer for the first year to $6.2 million — up from $5.75 million in previous negotiations. That's according to a person familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Caitlin Clark made a triumphant return from an injury in her U.S. senior national team debut, finishing with 17 points and 12 assists as the Americans beat Senegal 110-46 on Wednesday in the FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament. Clark sustained a right groin injury in a WNBA game for the Indiana Fever in July and hadn’t played since then. The former Iowa star averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds in just 13 games in her short second season after starting her pro career by being named rookie of the year. She was back in rhythm Wednesday, helping the Americans shoot 58.7% from the field and 54.8% from 3-point range.
PHOENIX (AP) — A day of fun in the sun for a Major League Baseball spring training game in the Cactus League looks like it’s about to get toasty — even by Arizona standards. Record-setting heat is forecast over the next 10 days in central Arizona with temperatures that could rise into the 90s by the end of this week and top 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.6 degrees Celsius) late next week. National Weather Service meteorologist Katherine Berislavich in Phoenix said Wednesday that the current forecast shows a roughly 55% chance the temperature will top 105 by next Wednesday, March 18. That chance improves to 70% on March 19 and 85% on March 20.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s sports and youth minister says the country is in no position to take part in the World Cup after the United States killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in its ongoing war. Iran was expected to take part in the World Cup that will be held across North America in June, but Iranian Sports and Youth Minister Ahmad Donyamali told state television that his country’s soccer team players are not safe in the U.S., according to a video of the interview posted Tuesday.
Vinnie Pasquantino had the World Baseball Classic’s first three-homer game, leading Italy over Mexico 9-1 to win Pool B and advance the United States to the quarterfinals as group’s second-place team. Italy’s victory ended a day of uncertainty for the Americans, who needed help to reach the quarterfinals after losing to Italy 8-6 on Tuesday night. Pasquantino, who opened the tournament 0 for 12, homered leading off the second, sixth and eighth innings to propel Italy to the quarterfinals for a third time and second tournament in a row. Jon Berti also homered for Italy to help build a big lead early.
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Defending champion Jack Draper rallied from a set down and beat five-time champ Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) Wednesday night in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open. The 24-year-old Draper, who is coming back after missing eight months due to an arm injury, advanced to the quarterfinal round and will face Daniil Medvedev, who beat Alex Michelsen 6-2, 6-4 in the round of 16 to advance.
BODO, Norway (AP) — The Champions League’s Cinderella club Bodø/Glimt is writing another chapter in its fairytale run. The homely Norwegian club won 3-0 against Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of a round of 16 clash at its tiny Aspmyra Stadium. Sporting was the latest favored team to struggle inside the Arctic Circle. Manchester City and Inter Milan were each beaten 3-1. Bodø/Glimt led in the 32nd minute when Sondre Brunstad Fet scored with a penalty. Ole Blomberg scored in first-half stoppage time and Kasper Høgh in the 71st. The winner after the return game in Lisbon will play either Arsenal or Bayer Leverkusen.
Finals
MLB SPRING TRAINING
INTERLEAGUE
Final Houston 4 Miami 1
Final Atlanta 5 Tampa Bay 3
Final Baltimore 7 Pittsburgh 2
Final San Francisco 5 Kansas City 2
Final Chicago Cubs 9 Kansas City 8
Final Athletics 13 Arizona 3
Final Colorado 11 Seattle 7
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Minnesota 2 Detroit 1
Final L.A. Angels 8 Chicago White Sox 4
Final N.Y. Yankees 8 Toronto 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Washington 3 St. Louis 1
Final Cincinnati 6 Milwaukee 3
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Philadelphia 4 Washington 1
Final Montreal 3 Ottawa 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (7)Iowa State 91 Arizona State 42
Final (24)Louisville 62 SMU 58