Thompson Re-Signs With Giants

The San Francisco Giants signed second baseman Robby Thompson to a three-year contract Saturday. Thompson, 31, batted .312 with 19 home runs and had 65 runs batted in while earning $1.9 million last season.

The Giants’ signing of Thompson may indicate free-agent first baseman Will Clark will be allowed to sign elsewhere. On Thursday, Giant General Manager Bob Quinn said the Giants have offered Clark a three-year deal worth less than $15 million. Clark made $4.25 million in 1993 but batted only .283 with 14 homers and 73 RBIs.

Pro Football

New England Patriot punter Mike Saxon and his girlfriend were mugged Friday in downtown Boston by about 10 young men, who also kicked center Bill Lewis when he tried to help. Four men were caught and charged with assault and robbery.

It was the second attack upon Patriot players in the last five months. In June, running back Leonard Russell and defensive end Tim Edwards were stabbed outside a Boston nightclub.

Saxon was treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for a gash over his right eye that required 17 stitches. The cut apparently was caused when Saxon was kicked while on the ground. His girlfriend, model Paige Langton, suffered a broken left wrist. Lewis was not injured.

After being awarded more time by the NFL to raise money, the St. Louis NFL Partnership’s bid suffered a blow when an attorney for Jerry Clinton, the lead investor for the franchise, said that Clinton had ended his search for more investors. Two other groups still are bidding for a St. Louis franchise.

Tennis

Pete Sampras defeated Cedric Pioline, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, at Antwerp, Belgium, to reach the European Community Championship final and give Goran Ivanisevic the final spot in next week’s ATP Tour World Championships. Sampras will play Sweden’s Magnus Gustafsson, who denied Boris Becker a chance to defend his ATP title with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory.

Conchita Martinez defeated Amy Frazier, 6-2, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Virginia Slims of Philadelphia. Martinez will play in today’s final against the No. 1 ranked Steffi Graf, who defeated Kimberly Po, 6-3, 6-1.

Defending Kremlin Cup champion Marc Rosset of Switzerland defeated Dmitry Polyakov of Ukraine, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, to advance to the final of the Moscow tournament. He will play Patrik Kuhnen of Germany.

Auto Racing

Ken Schrader came back from a crash Friday to lead second-round qualifying for today’s Hooters 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Dale Earnhardt needs only to finish 34th or better to clinch his sixth Winston Cup championship.

Golf

Americans Davis Love III and Fred Couples combined to shoot 141 to expand their lead to three shots with a 418 total through three rounds in the World Cup of Golf at Orlando. Zimbabwe, featuring Mark McNulty and American PGA player of the year and leading money-winner Nick Price, is second at 422.

Boxing

Jose Luis Bueno of Mexico outpunched South Korea’s Moon Sung-kil to become the new World Boxing Council super-flyweight champion with a 12-round split decision at Seoul, South Korea.

Terry Norris will defend his WBC super-welterweight title against Simon Brown, a former International Boxing Federation and WBC welterweight champion, Dec. 18 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum, with Michael Nunn defending his World Boxing Assn. super-middleweight title against Merqui Sosa. Julio Cesar Chavez will defend his WBC super-lightweight title against Frankie Randall on the same card.

Miscellany

Bill Laimbeer of the Detroit Pistons was suspended for one game without pay and fined $5,000 by the NBA for flagrantly fouling Utah’s Karl Malone on Friday night. . . . Karen Hecox and Beth Bartholomew of UCLA finished 1-2 in the NCAA District 8 cross-country meet at Woodland, Wash. Josephat Kapkory of Washington State won the men’s competition. . . . With seven players scoring, the U.S. national hockey team extended its unbeaten streak to 13 games with a 7-2 victory over host France at Albertville. . . . The United States defeated the Czech Republic, 15-7, 11-15, 11-15, 15-11, 16-14, at Paris to stay in contention in the Group C qualifying for the 1994 World Men’s Volleyball Championship. . . . UC Irvine upset top-seeded Stanford, 9-8, and beat UCLA, 8-7, in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo tournament at Long Beach State. Second-seeded USC beat Long Beach State, 12-7.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s soccer team beat Franklin Pierce, 3-2, in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II tournament at Miami Shores, Fla. . . . New Zealand Endeavor, skippered by Grant Dalton, led a group of 14 yachts that set sail on the second leg of the Whitbread round-the-world race from Punta Del Este, Uruguay. Winstone, the American yacht skippered by Dennis Conner, is in sixth place. . . . Gunfire and running battles between rival supporters erupted after a match between longtime National Soccer League rivals in Johannesburg, South Africa.