Overtime

College Baseball

Augusta State is ranked nationally

For the first time in school history, Augusta State is nationally ranked in a preseason baseball poll.

The Jaguars, who begin practice Monday and open the 2005 season Feb 4, are ranked 14th in NCAA Division II by Collegiate Baseball magazine.

Augusta State is coming off its winningest season in school history (38-18) and return all eight position players.

Thirteen of Augusta State's first 14 games will be at home, including the opener against Carson-Newman.

"We've got a chance to be a really solid ballclub this year," Augusta State coach Skip Fite said. "Hopefully, with our favorable schedule early on, we can get off to a good start, but we play in the toughest conference (the Peach Belt) in the nation. There aren't any days off in our league."

Hockey

NHL meeting with board is canceled

The NHL canceled next week's meeting with its board of governors because the league has nothing new to report in the stagnant collective bargaining process.

The board of governors, representing the 30 clubs, hadn't met since September when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman imposed the lockout that reached its 113th day Thursday and has already forced the cancellation of 571 regular-season games and the 2005 All-Star Game.

There was speculation that Bettman might emerge from next Friday's meeting either with an announcement that this season had been called off, or with a drop-dead date for saving the hockey year.

No North American sports league has lost an entire season to a labor dispute, but the NHL is moving dangerously close to becoming the first.

Auto Racing

Jourdain Jr. to run full Busch schedule

Champ Car driver Michel Jour­dain Jr. signed a deal with Ford Motorsports to switch to NASCAR and run the full Busch series schedule this season.

Jourdain plans to drive a Taurus for ppc Racing and will be the first Hispanic to race a full NASCAR schedule.

The 28-year-old Jourdain spent nine years in top open-wheel competition, and finished 12th in the Champ Car World Series last season in a Ford-powered car for RuSport.

The son of well-known Mexican racer Michel Jourdain Sr., he became the youngest Champ Car driver at age 19 in 1996 and was the former CART series' Most Improved Driver in 1997.

In 152 career Champ Car starts, Jourdain had two wins, 25 top-10s and nine podiums.

His best championship finish was third in 2003, when he raced for Team Rahal.

But Jourdain shifted to RuSport last season rather than go with Rahal to the IRL.

Olympics

Office Depot moves support to NASCAR

Office Depot has ended its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Committee and is moving its money to NASCAR.

Florida-based Office Depot provided both cash and office supplies to the USOC from 2001-2004 but decided the stock-car circuit was a better investment because of its 10-month season and broad fan base, spokeswoman Mindy Kramer said.

The value of Office Depot's USOC sponsorship wasn't immediately available.

Tennis

Federer cruises into Qatar semifinals

In Doha, Qatar, Roger Federer breezed into the semifinals of the $1 million Qatar Open with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Felciano Lopez.

The world's No. 1 player, preparing to defend his Australian Open title, was flawless in extending his winning streak to 20 matches.

The other semifinal matches Ivan Ljubicic against Albert Costa. Ljubicic advanced by beating Spanish teen Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, while Costa led Fabrice Santoro 6-2, 3-0 when Santoro retired due to fatigue.