Major League Baseball
SANDOVAL SLAMS CUBS: Pablo Sandoval hit a grand slam off Carlos Zambrano and Jonathan Sanchez pitched three scoreless innings, leading San Francisco to a 5-1 win over the Cubs.
Zambrano had given up only one hit in four spring innings before the Giants scored five times in the third.
WHITE SOX DROP ATHLETICS: Andruw Jones, Brent Morel and A.J. Pierzynski each drove in two runs for the White Sox in a 9-5 win over the Athletics.
A's pitcher Ben Sheets, who missed all of 2009 recovering from elbow surgery, allowed six runs, five earned, and five hits over 2 2/3 innings in his second spring start.
GRANDERSON TORCHES TIGERS: T.F. South grad Curtis Granderson, playing against Detroit for the first time since being traded to New York, had two hits and made a spectacular one-handed catch against the center-field wall to help the Yankees beat the Tigers 9-8 on Wednesday.
Granderson's catch against the center-field wall robbed Miguel Cabrera of at least an RBI double in the fourth inning, keeping the Yankees in the game before Greg Golson hit a two-run home run in the ninth off Phil Dumatrait.
"That catch was a dandy, or should I say that was a Grandy?" said Tigers manager Jim Leyland.
Detroit's center fielder for six seasons before he was traded to the Yankees on Dec. 9, Granderson singled in his first two at-bats and also walked.
"On the bus ride over here, I was just wondering how it was going to go, and everything went pretty good," Granderson said. "I wasn't really sure what to expect. In spring training they kind of cheer everybody. I'm thankful for it."
Pro hockey
CHELIOS HEADS BACK TO NHL: The Atlanta Thrashers have a newcomer in 48-year-old defenseman Chris Chelios, an 11-time All-Star.
The former Mt. Carmel student joins the Thrashers after getting five goals and 17 assists in 46 games with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. The team recalled Chelios on Wednesday.
Chelios, who in 25 NHL seasons has three Stanley Cups and three Norris Trophies, is the second-oldest to play in the NHL. Only Gordie Howe, who played at 52, was older.
Local bowling
L.C. GRAD WINS AT GCABA: Calumet College freshman Brett Wagner won the Actual Singles championship of the 86th annual Greater Calumet Area USBC Bowling Association Championships at Stardust Bowl III in Dyer. The 18-year-old Lake Central grad recorded games of 285, 253 and 279 for his 817 series on the last day of the event to upend Lan-Oak Lanes bowler Mark Hansen, who rolled a 777 series on Feb. 14, the first day of the tourney.
Cal College teammate Kevin Zatorski, of Hammond, rolled a 794 and claimed the Actual All-Events title with a 2,231, nipping Timm Sieber, of St. John, by two pins.
Calumet College also won the Team Actual event at Lynwood Lanes with two clutch strikes by anchorman John Verbich, of Griffith, in the 10th frame of the final game. The team, led by longtime PBA pro Eugene McCune, of Munster, with a 760, consisted of Calumet College head coach Mike Kubacki (725), of Griffith, Portage's Chris Cundiff (701) and Verbich (734).
In the Team Pins Over Average division, the Olympia Lanes No. 4 team claimed the top prize with a plus-139 effort. Team members were James Raschke, Harold Raschke, Julio Santiago and Jeremy Turley.
Raschke, 24, of Hammond, rolled an 801 in the Doubles Pins Over Average event to power his team, which included Turley, to that division's championship at plus-195. Raschke, a 205-average bowler, also claimed the Pins Over Average All-Events prize with a plus-312 effort.
In the Doubles Actual division, Jerry Brann and Eric Martin teamed for 786 and 752 series, respectively, for a 1,538 total to win that division by 40 pins, the widest margin in any division this year.
In Singles Pins Over Average, Marshall Wesley, coming in with a 181-average, rolled a 668 series to take the championship with a plus-125 score.
Around the horn
Andrean High School will have tickets for the boys basketball team's Saturday appearance in the Class 3A Chesterton Regional, along with T-shirts, available during school hours today and Friday in the main office. ... Fullback Eddie Williams has signed a one-year contract with the Bears. Drafted in the seventh round by Washington last year out of Idaho, he spent most of the season on the Redskins' practice squad before being placed on injured reserve with a broken leg in late November. ... Mishawaka girls basketball player Madison Gervais has signed to play the sport for Purdue Calumet in the fall. ... Several local players made the NJCAA Division II All-Region IV teams. South Suburban's Tremell Adams made the District A first team and was an All-America nominee. Bulldogs teammate Jack Houpt (Chesterton) made the second team. In District B, Prairie State's Jermaine Love-Roberts was a first-teamer and All-America nominee. Teammate Rapheal Oglesby made the second team.
