Pitcher LaMarr Hoyt denied in a San...

Pitcher LaMarr Hoyt denied in a San Diego court that he used cocaine and violated his probation. A federal probation report filed last month said Hoyt tested positive for cocaine three times this fall.

U.S. Magistrate Roger C. McKee scheduled a Jan. 15 hearing on the matter.

Hoyt, 32, was arrested last Saturday in Columbia, S.C., by narcotics agents who allegedly found two grams of cocaine and several plastic bags containing small quantities of marijuana in his apartment. He is free on $20,000 bond in that case.

Hoyt served 45 days of a one-year sentence in federal prison earlier this year after being arrested in October by customs agents at the Mexican border while trying to smuggle tranquilizers into the United States.

The San Diego Padres released Hoyt while he was in prison. He later signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox, the team with which he won the Cy Young Award in 1983.