Four Cuban Baseball Players, Coach Are Feared Lost at Sea

Rough seas and windy weather dimmed rescue hopes Wednesday for four Cuban baseball players and a coach who left their homeland a week ago on a flimsy boat bound for the United States.

Members of the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue flew over the waters between the communist island and Florida, but found no sign of the missing players.

“If they haven’t made it to land, in these conditions, I doubt very seriously they’d be alive,” said Jose Basulto, who heads the group which flies regular missions looking for Cuban rafters.

The group of defectors, including four members of the national team, left Cuba on March 10. Government sports officials in Cuba had no comment.

Pro Football

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Pro Bowl defensive tackle Warren Sapp to a six-year contract.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but radio reports put the deal at $36 million, including an $8.6-million signing bonus. The package would put Sapp second in salary among defensive tackles to Minnesota’s John Randle, who received a five-year, $32.5-million deal. . . . The Carolina Panthers refused to match an offer sheet for safety Chad Cota, allowing their leading tackler to join the New Orleans Saints in a deal that will pay him $5.4 million over three years. New Orleans, however, must give Carolina a seventh-round draft pick as compensation for signing Cota. . . . The Indianapolis Colts matched the Chicago Bears’ offer to offensive tackle Tony Mandarich.

Auto Racing

Three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip is selling his race team and could end up out of the cockpit. The 51-year-old Waltrip, in his eighth season as an owner-driver, said he will sell the Charlotte, N.C.-based team after Sunday’s race at Darlington, S.C.

Waltrip, in the midst of the worst season of his 27-year career, said the new owner will determine if he remains as the team’s driver.

Jurisprudence

Four coaches and two doctors charged with harming young swimmers by secretly giving them steroids went on trial at Berlin. It is the first criminal case involving the drugging of athletes in the former East Germany.

Running back Corey Dillon, 23, of the Cincinnati Bengals has pleaded innocent to drunken driving and other charges in Seattle.

Rodney Johnson, 30, arrested after posing as Denver Bronco safety Tyrone Braxton during Super Bowl week, was sentenced to 16 months in prison in San Diego after pleading guilty Jan. 30 to one count of burglary and one count of credit card fraud.

Miscellany

Roy Jones Jr., the World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion, will meet former World Boxing Assn and International Boxing Federation light-heavyweight champion Virgil Hill in a 12-round nontitle bout April 25 at Biloxi, Miss. The fight will replace Pernell Whitaker’s challenge of WBA welterweight champion Ike Quartey in Las Vegas. That fight was canceled when Whitaker went into drug rehabilitation. . . . Filippo Inzaghi scored three goals to lead Juventus into the semifinals of soccer’s Champions Cup for the third straight year with a 4-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev. . . . Steve Owens resigned as Oklahoma’s athletic director, just a year and a half after taking the job. . . . The first high school football game at Edison International Field of Anaheim will feature two of the most prominent teams in the country. Mater Dei and De La Salle of Concord have agreed to play their Sept. 26 game at Edison Field. . . . Michigan received permission from Seton Hall to talk to basketball Coach Tommy Amaker about the Wolverines coaching job. Michigan Athletic Director Tom Goss said he has five candidates for the job, including Brian Ellerbe, who took over as interim coach after Steve Fisher was fired before the season. He would not identify the other candidates. . . . The USC women begin defense of their title today at the NCAA swimming and diving championships in Minneapolis. . . . Contrary to statements out of Alabama, the NCAA says there is no gag order preventing the school from commenting on botched officiating in the final seconds of last weekend’s game that allowed the Crimson Tide to prevail over UCLA on a last-second shot in the NCAA women’s tournament. . . . Undefeated Favorite Trick will race one more time before the Kentucky Derby on May 2, but trainer Bill Mott is uncertain if that race will be the Blue Grass Stakes or Arkansas Derby. A decision is expected by April 1. . . . UC Riverside baseball coach Jack Smitheran got his 900th career victory in his team’s 10-6 win over Southern California College.