Sports briefs for May 14, 2004

Friday, May 14, 2004 | 10:33 a.m.

First-place UNLV to entertain Utes

The league-leading UNLV baseball team (29-19, 16-7 MWC) will close out the home portion of the 2004 season this weekend with four games against Utah (20-28, 10-13 MWC).

Today's game begin at 6:30 p.m., while Saturday will feature a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday's game, which will feature a pre-game ceremony honoring the 13 seniors, begins at 1 p.m. All four games will be broadcast live on KSHP 1400-AM.

The Rebels will conclude their Mountain West Conference schedule on the road May 20-22 with three games at New Mexico. The MWC tournament will be May 26-29 on UNLV's campus.

Rain hits tournament

Rain forced the postponement of the Rebels' first-round Mountain West Conference tournament game Thursday in Fort Collins, Colo. The fifth-seeded Rebels were scheduled to meet the No. 4 Utes this morning. The tournament will now be single elimination.

Spence takes second

UNLV's Christine Spence fell just short of claiming her first Mountain West Conference title, as San Diego State's Janine Polischuk claimed the heptathlon in the closest margin in conference history after the second day of competition Thursday at the 2004 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at UNLV.

The meet continues through Saturday afternoon.

Dallas cuts Hambrick

Troy Hambrick was released by the Dallas Cowboys, a move that likely clears the way for top draft pick Julius Jones to be the starting running back.

UNLV inks Anthony

Joel Anthony, a 6-9 sophomore center from Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College, has signed a national letter of intent to enroll at UNLV and play basketball for the Rebels this fall, head coach Lon Kruger announced Thursday. Anthony averaged nine points, seven rebounds and 3.5 blocks for Pensacola this past season.

Navratilova plays on

Martina Navratilova will play at the French Open, a decade after her last Grand Slam singles match.

Navratilova, 47, received a wild card for the clay-court major she last won 20 years ago, tournament spokesman Christophe Proust said.

Another past champion, Monica Seles, pulled out of the event, which would have been her first in a year.

Navratilova has said she will retire from all competitive tennis at the end of 2004. She requested the wild card Wednesday.

The French Open starts May 24.

Navratilova plans to play women's and mixed doubles at Roland Garros, too.

In other action, top-ranked Roger Federer beat Fernando Gonzalez 7-5, 6-1 to improve to 29-3 in 2004, his best start to a season, and defending champion Guillermo Coria defeated Tommy Robredo 7-6 (2), 6-4 for his 29th straight win on clay.