NCAA Panel Seeks to Take Bite Out of Aluminum Bats

The NCAA baseball rules committee Thursday recommended changes to aluminum bats that would reduce their performance, a move it says would protect pitchers and preserve the integrity of the game.

The changes will take effect in the 1999 season if approved.

The committee has recommended that a bat can’t produce a batted-ball speed of more than 93 mph. Previously, there was no limit, allowing manufacturers to produce bats that could make a ball travel faster than 110 mph.

College Football

USC recruit Windrell Hayes will appear in court next week, an assistant to his attorney said, adding that the junior college transfer has struck a plea-bargain agreement with the San Joaquin County district attorney’s office.

Hayes, a receiver who is facing felony charges in a bad-check case, must meet with Lodi police Tuesday as part of the agreement and probably will be in court Wednesday to plead to a reduced misdemeanor charge, spokeswoman Niccole Kuntz said.

Under terms of the deal, he must make restitution of about $8,500 and cooperate with authorities. A judge then would determine Hayes’ sentence, but he probably would be able to join USC’s team shortly if he fulfills the terms of the agreement.

USC will begin full-squad workouts Monday at UC Irvine without Hayes, who led San Jose State in receiving in 1995 and ’96 and was projected as a backup at USC.

The NCAA has uncovered two unspecified violations involving a Notre Dame booster charged with embezzling more than $250,000 from her employer and using some of it on gifts and trips for Irish football players, a university spokesman said.

The NCAA ruled that Kimberly Ann Dunbar was acting as a representative of the university as a member of the Notre Dame Quarterback Club, a booster group that since has been disbanded.

Sports information director John Heisler said the problems revolve around a trip to a Chicago Bulls’ basketball game that involved one former player and five current players. He said other problems include gifts and trips that Dunbar purchased for former players.

Air Force quarterback Blane Morgan is recovering at his home in Carrollton, Texas, after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. He is not expected to miss significant playing time.

Tennis

Rod Laver remains in the intensive care unit at UCLA Medical Center, and probably will be hospitalized for months while recovering from a moderate stroke he suffered July 27.

Neil Martin, Laver’s neurosurgeon and co-director of the UCLA Stroke Center, said, “We still anticipate he’ll be in the intensive care unit for another few days.

“Physical therapy will be the next big step. He’ll be staying as an inpatient for physical therapy. . . . I think there’s a fighting chance he’ll be up and walking around. It’s going to take months.”

Laver will be 60 on Sunday.

Rain forced postponement of the day’s schedule in the du Maurier Open at Toronto. Some men might have to play third-round and quarterfinal matches today.

Boxing

Members of the New Jersey Athletic Control Board would not say when they will decide on awarding a boxing license to Mike Tyson. After emerging from a three-hour session in Trenton, Commissioner Larry Hazzard offered only a “no comment.”

Evander Holyfield told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he will put up some of the money it will take to stage his title fight against Vaughn Bean on Sept. 19 at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. Promoter Don King’s plan to have local businesses in Atlanta put up some of the money has not worked out.

Hockey

The Phoenix Coyotes avoided arbitration by re-signing free-agent center Bob Corkum but learned defenseman Jason Doig will be out three to four months after injuring a chest muscle during a workout with a personal trainer in Los Angeles last Friday. . . . The Edmonton Oilers avoided arbitration by re-signing center-left wing Todd Marchant to a two-year contract.

Soccer

Steve Ralston and Alan Prampin scored first-half goals as the Tampa Bay Mutiny defeated the Miami Fusion, 3-1, to end a five-game Major League Soccer home losing streak.

The start of the game was delayed 20 minutes by lightning.