Sports briefs
Pirates sign catcher
The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed veteran catcher Tony Wolters to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to spring training.
The team announced the signing Thursday. Pittsburgh is looking for an experienced backup to Jacob Stallings, a Gold Glove finalist in 2020.
Wolters, 28, spent the first five seasons of his big-league career in Colorado, He hit .238 with seven home runs and 123 RBIs in 391 games with the Rockies. His best season came in 2019, when he hit .262 with a home run and 42 RBIs in a career-high 121 appearances.
Pittsburgh opens spring training when pitchers and catchers report Wednesday, with the first full-squad workout set for Feb. 22.
WVU opens season at Maryland
West Virginia will open the 2021 football season with a road game at Maryland.
The meeting with the Terrapins will be followed by home games with Long Island Sept. 11 and against Virginia Tech Sept. 18.
It will mark the first meeting between the Mountaineers and Terrapins since 2015. The teams were supposed to meet last season in Morgantown, but the game was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Big 12 announced the league portion of the schedule Thursday.
West Virginia opens conference play Sept. 25 at Oklahoma, followed by its league home opener Oct. 2 at home against Texas Tech.
The Mountaineers will play Oct. 9 at Baylor and Oct. 23 at TCU, followed by home games Oct. 30 against Iowa State and Nov. 6 against Oklahoma State.
West Virginia will travel to play Kansas State Nov. 13, play Texas at home Nov. 20 and finish the regular season at Kansas Nov. 27.
Olympic wrestling trials moved to Texas
The U.S. Olympic wrestling trials will be held April 2-3 in Fort Worth, Texas, where a limited number of spectators will be allowed at Dickies Arena.
The trials, originally scheduled for April 2020 before the Tokyo Olympics were postponed a year, had been planned for the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State. USA Wrestling had to move the trials because of COVID-19 restrictions on capacity that spokesman Gary Abbott said wouldn’t accommodate participants, let alone spectators.
The trials will determine who becomes eligible to represent the United States in the Olympics now scheduled to begin in late July.
Capacity at the Bryce Jordan Center would have been capped at 500 in the arena and 150 in the practice gym because of current COVID-19 restrictions. USA Wrestling plans to hold its 2024 trials there.
In the NBA
The Toronto Raptors aren’t going back to Toronto this season.
Ongoing challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic and how that affects the process of crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada will keep the Raptors in their adopted Tampa, Florida, home for the remainder of the regular season, the team said Thursday.
In college basketball
For more than 38 minutes of action, Purdue had held Minnesota’s leading scorer in check. But Marcus Carr ended the game in style, giving the Golden Gophers a dramatic comeback victory.
Carr finished with 19 points, including eight in the final 1:08, to lift Minnesota past No. 24 Purdue 71-68 on Thursday.
Trevion Williams led Purdue with 24 points and 10 rebounds.