The Brown varsity defeated England's Leander Club by half a length and will face a combined Leander & Molesey Boat Club eight in the finals. The Brown freshmen defeated Australia's Melbourne University by 2 1/4 lengths in Temple Cup competition and will face the Princeton lightweight varsity in Sunday's final. It will be the only all-American final at this year's regatta.

The Leander-Molesey crew eliminated the Brown Alumni crew in the semifinals of the Ladies Plate for intermediate eights.

In other results, Yale came from behind to beat England's Reading University by one length, qualifying for the final of the Prince Albert Cup for student coxed fours.

In the semifinal of the Queen Mother Cup for international quadruple scullers, the USA national squad, racing as California Rowing Club of Oakland, lost by a half-length to the British national squad, racing as Reading University and Leander Club. The British will face the Polish Olympic team, racing as Szczecin Gorzow. Mercyhurst College triumphed in one of the closest races of the day, beating England's Molesey by one-third of a length to qualify for Sunday's final of the Visitors' Cup for intermediate coxless fours against Isis of England.

Former world junior champion Emma Twigg of New Zealand beat Ellen Tomek of the New York Athletic Club by five lengths in one semifinal of the Princess Royal Cup for international single scullers. Gewie Stone from Cambridge Boat Club (Massachusetts) beat Juliette Haigh from New Zealand to gain the final against Twigg.

Brunswick School (Maine) lost by 2 1/2 lengths in its semifinal in the Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights against England's Abingdon School.

Yale beat England's Thames by five lengths in the semifinal of the Remenham Cup for international women's eights, and now faces the British national squad on Sunday.

-- JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Yale next faces a British squad crew -- racing as Thames -- in the semifinal.

In the Ladies' Plate for intermediate eights, Brown University defeated MIT to set up a semifinal encounter with local club Leander.

In the quarterfinal of the Thames Cup for club eights, Four Score and Four of Hartford, Conn., lost to local club Henley after hitting the booms that mark the perimeter of the course.

The National University of Ireland, Galway, beat a composite from New York Athletic Club and Camp Randall, Madison, Wis., by two lengths in the Visitors' Cup for intermediate coxless fours.

In the Prince Albert Cup for student coxed fours, Yale beat Imperial College, London, to set up a semifinal with Reading University of England.

Belmont Hill School, Mass., lost its quarterfinal in the Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights to Abingdon School, England.

In the Temple Cup for student eights, Kent School, Conn., lost by two lengths to Melbourne University. Melbourne will face Brown University in the semifinal.

An officer stopped Taurasi early Thursday for speeding, police spokesman Luis Samudio said. The officer smelled alcohol and gave the player several field sobriety tests, according to a police statement.

Taurasi, the WNBA's leading fan vote-getter for the July 25 All-Star game, was then driven to a mobile DUI van, where she gave a blood sample, then was cited and released. Authorities did not know her blood alcohol content.

The team said Friday that Taurasi notified the club immediately but would not comment further until it knows more of what happened.

But after Friday's practice, Taurasi told reporters that her DUI citation was "just something that's embarrassing and unfortunate for my family and the organization."

Taurasi said she couldn't comment on the specifics of the incident because it was a legal matter "but personally, I'm going to have to do some things to make it straight."

The former Connecticut star said she plans on playing in the Mercury's next game Sunday night in Los Angeles.

Taurasi scored 22 points and blocked four shots Wednesday night in the Mercury's 93-81 win over the Storm.

Target Field is the open-air facility being built to replace the Metrodome. According to AP, the Sox and Twins will play the first game there next April 12.

The season is slated to start a week earlier, and the Twins will play their opener in Anaheim against the Angels on April 5. There is no word as to where the Red Sox will open, but if teams are on the road in the season's second week they usually spend the first week at home.

The date was contained in a draft schedule for next season that recently was sent to teams and revealed Friday to The Associated Press. It was provided by a baseball official on condition of anonymity because Major League Baseball's central office asked that the schedule not be made public before it is finalized later this year.

The slugger's 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy ended Friday and he was set to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Diego Padres.

"Well, I want to say I'm sorry to the fans and to my teammates," Ramirez said at a news conference about four hours before the first pitch.

He refused to talk about the reason for his suspension.

"I don't want to get into my medical record," said Ramirez, who wore sunglasses and had his dreadlocks back in a ponytail.

"Showtime tonight!" he said as he walked off the dias.

According to Heyman, Iglesias compares to Ozzie Smith defensively.

"His hands and arm are deluxe,'' one American League executive said. "The question is how much he'll hit.''

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Hnidy, 33, tallied 12 points in 2008-09 with the Boston Bruins, with 45 penalty minutes.

Hnidy has played 477 games over nine NHL seasons with Ottawa, Nashville, Atlanta, Anaheim and Boston, totaling 57 points and 565 PIM.

The All-Star game, which pits the International League's best against the top players from the Pacific Coast League, will be held July 15th in Portland, Ore.

Buchholz, 24, goes into Thursday night's game against Scranton/Wilkes Barre as the IL leader in earned run average, at 1.90. He has a 5-1 record in 14 appearances. At one point, he went 24 consecutive innings without allowing a run,

Cabrera, 27, has been perfect in save opportunities for the PawSox, 16-for-16. The 16 saves tie him for the league lead in that department. Cabrera is 0-1 with a 1.09 ERA in 29 appearances. He was signed by Boston as a free agent over the winter. He spent most of last year with Baltimore.

The All-Star game will be televised by ESPN2 and broadcast on the PawSox radio network beginning at 10:05 p.m. Eastern time.

Reich had 21 goals and 161 penalty minutes last season. Scott Gordon, the Islanders head coach who formerly coached in Providence, obviously knows all about Reich.

St. Pierre, 25, was acquired by the Bruins from the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade for Pascal Pelletier last July.

He was recalled to Boston three times in 2008-09 and recorded two goals and two assists in 14 NHL games.

In Providence, he tied for the lead in team scoring with 15 goals and 51 assists for 66 points in 61 games. He added 5 goals and 11 assists for 16 points in the post-season.

The 30-year-old from Canada becomes a U.S. citizen Thursday afternoon in a ceremony at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall.

The Trail, British Columbia, native is the first Red Sox player to be naturalized since Dominican Republic-born David Ortiz was sworn in last summer in Fenway Park.

Bay has been batting .262 so far this year and finished last season with 31 homers. He came to Boston from the Pittsburgh Pirates last season as part a three-team trade that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bay was 2004 National League Rookie of the Year with the Pirates.

The Friar fans will see the likes of Connecticut, Louisville and Syracuse, all at the Dunkin Donuts Center this season.

PC's home opponents: Marquette, South Florida, Syracuse, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Rutgers, Seton Hall, West Virginia.

Road opponents: Marquette, South Florida, Syracuse, Cincinnati, DePaul, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, St. John's, Villanova.

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Standing-room tickets are still available.

A fireworks show is scheduled to follow each game. The games, against the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees, are scheduled to start at 6:15 p.m. on both nights.

Standing-room tickets, which cost $6 for adults and $4 for children and seniors, are available at the box office and by phone at (401) 724-7300. They are not available online.

Fans with standing-room tickets aren't allowed into McCoy Stadium until about 15 minutes after the start of the game.

PROVIDENCE - Brown University should have a new men's hockey coach by the end of this month.

"We're hoping sooner rather than later," athletics director Michael Goldberger said Thursday.

Forty-four candidates have applied to succeed Roger Grillo, who resigned after 12 seasons to accept a position with USA Hockey. Among them is Digit Murphy, the 20-year coach of the Brown women's team. She confirmed Wednesday that she had applied.

Goldberger would not comment on Murphy or any other applicant.

"It's a great group," he said, adding that the application period remains open.

An 11-member search committee comprising faculty, administrators, coaches and athletes is winnowing the pool and expects to begin interviewing candidates by mid-July.

Finalists will visit the campus.

Goldberger wants to finish the process as soon as possible so the new coach can begin recruiting and hire a staff, but he stressed that the search committee will not act in haste.

"We want to do it right. We'll do our due diligence and hire someone we can be proud of," he said.