Sports briefs
Wild Things add ex-major leaguer
The Washington Wild Things have signed another former major league pitcher.
The Wild Things signed righthander Adonis Rosa to a contract for the 2022 Frontier League season, making him the second former big leaguer to sign a contract with the organization.
Rosa made his major-league debut with the New York Yankees in 2019, pitching two innings against the Baltimore Orioles. It is the only major-league game of Rosa’s career.
“We’re very excited to add Adonis Rosa to our pitching staff. Any time you can get a guy who has reached the big-league level you have greatly improved your ball club,” said Wild Things manager Tom Vaeth. “He was kind of a Swiss Army knife type guy with the Yankees that could pitch in any situation and was always incredibly durable. He … should be one of the top arms in our league.”
Rosa spent six seasons in the Yankees’ farm system from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, Rosa pitched in 13 games for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and 12 for Class AA Trenton. He was 9-1 in the minors that year with a 4.18 ERA over 25 games.
He pitched in the Mexican League in 2021.
WVU’s Huggins is Hall of Fame finalist
Manu Ginobili, a four-time NBA champion who spent his entire career with the San Antonio Spurs, headlines this year’s group of finalists for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Ginobili was one of 11 finalists announced Friday.
Former players Michael Cooper, Tim Hardaway and Marques Johnson will also be voted on for possible induction along with NBA coach George Karl and WNBA stars Swin Cash and Lindsay Whalen.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins also is up for induction along with Old Dominion and WNBA coach Marianne Staley, longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans and Texas high school coach Leta Andrews.
In college football
What started last summer with the enthusiastic unveiling of a plan for a 12-team College Football Playoff has come to a halt with the cold, hard reality that expansion will not happen until at least 2026 — if at all.
The CFP is set to remain a four-team format through the 2025 season after the administrators who manage the postseason failed to agree on a plan to expand before the current contracts run out.
The CFP management committee, comprised of 10 conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, met this week. Unable to break an impasse, the commissioners decided to abandon efforts to implement a 12-team format for the 2024 season and recommended staying with the current model.
In auto racing
Michael Andretti has filed an application to field a Formula One team starting in 2024.
The filing to the FIA, the governing body of F1, was revealed Friday on Twitter by Andretti’s father, Mario. The 1978 F1 champion wrote “Andretti Global has the resources and checks every box. He is awaiting the FIA’s determination.”
Andretti Autosport confirmed an application had been submitted to the FIA.
In golf
Three-time champion Bernhard Langer shot his age Friday to take the first-round lead in the Champions Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla.
Langer, the 64-year-old German star who has 42 victories on the 50-and-over tour, had five straight birdies on the back nine in a bogey-free 8-under 64. He has bettered his age once and matched it one other time on the tour.