Sports Briefs March 6, 2012
Baseball
Dustin Ackley had three hits and the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres 13-7 on Monday in Peoria, Ariz.
Hitting in the leadoff spot, Ackley doubled to left-center against Dustin Moseley in the first inning. Ackley, who scored two runs, singled to right in the third and also tripled to center to start the fifth.
Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin doubled, singled and walked in his spring debut.
Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma allowed a run and three hits in one inning.
• The San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners have agreed to a 20-year lease extension with the city of Peoria, Ariz., that will keep both teams' spring training camps in the Phoenix suburb through 2034.
• Disgraced ex-New York Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra was sentenced to three years in a California state prison after pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement.
Football
The attorney for free agent linebacker Leroy Hill said charges of marijuana possession in Atlanta have been dropped.
Hill and a woman were arrested Feb. 25 at his condominium in Atlanta. Police with scent dogs were responding to calls of a marijuana smell. Officers said they confirmed the smell, obtained a search warrant and found partially smoked blunts and marijuana residue inside Hill's residence.
In a court hearing, Hill's charges were dropped.
Hill's lawyer, Edward T. M. Garland, says urine tests taken after the arrest came up negative.
Hill was also arrested in January 2009 on a marijuana-possession charge in Georgia and was given 12 months of probation. He also was arrested on a domestic violence charge in Seattle suburb in April 2010.
Basketball
California senior Jorge Gutierrez has pulled off an impressive Pac-12 double: He was named conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, as chosen by the league's coaches.
Gutierrez, with his remarkable journey of leaving Chihuahua, Mexico, as a teen to play basketball in Denver, averages 12.9 points and 5.3 rebounds.
Washington guard Tony Wroten earned Freshman of the Year honors, Washington State junior forward Brock Motum was named Most Improved Player of the Year and Washington's Lorenzo Romar is Coach of the Year.
• Top 25
Kentucky, Syracuse and Kansas are the top three teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll for a second straight week.
Kentucky, which finished unbeaten in the Southeastern Conference, is a runaway No. 1 for a seventh straight week, receiving 63 first-place votes Monday from the 65-member national media panel.
Big East champion Syracuse, which received two first-place votes, is second for the sixth consecutive week. Kansas, the Big 12 champion for an eighth straight season, is followed by North Carolina, Missouri, Duke, Ohio State, Michigan State, Marquette and Michigan.
Gonzaga, at No. 24, and Iowa State, at 25th, are the week's newcomers. Gonzaga was out the last two weeks, while Iowa State is ranked for the first time since the opening week of 2005-06.
Sled dog racing
Musher Ally Zirkle has taken an early lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, leaving the Rohn, Alaska, checkpoint after a stop of just nine minutes.
By Monday evening, nine mushers had reached Rohn, including defending champion John Baker.
- The Associated Press