Baseball

There was free-agent action in baseball, with reliever Doug Jones signing with Oakland, catcher Brian Johnson joining Cincinnati, starting pitcher Pat Rapp signing with Boston and outfielder Rich Becker joining Milwaukee. All signed one-year deals.

Several teams also made one-year deals to avoid salary arbitration. Florida closer Matt Mantei re-signed with the Marlins, and the Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to terms with relievers Jeff Tabaka, Marc Wilkins and Mike Williams. The New York Yankees signed pitcher Dan Naulty.

Jim Dyck, an outfielder-third baseman who had a .246 batting average in 330 games with four teams in the late 1940s and ‘50s, died of cancer at his Cheney, Wash., home. He was 76.

College Football

Dennis Erickson, who won two national titles at Miami but was fired after four disappointing seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, will be hired as the new coach at Oregon State.

Erickson will replace Mike Riley, who last week was named the new coach of the San Diego Chargers, a source told the Associated Press on condition he not be identified.

Oregon State has scheduled a news conference for today.

Erickson, 51, was fired Dec. 28, one day after the Seahawks ended their season 8-8. He has one year remaining on his contract for next season, for which Seahawk owner Paul Allen will pay him $1 million. If Erickson took another NFL job, he would not receive the final year’s salary, but he would be paid the $1 million if hired by a college program.

Rick Neuheisel, 33-14 in four years as Colorado’s coach, signed a seven-year contract worth about $1 million a year to replace Jim Lambright at Washington. Neuheisel, 37, was earning $650,000 on a one-year contract at Colorado. . . . Brad Jones, a freshman linebacker at Penn State, was in serious condition after being shot in the neck at point-blank range at Monessen, Pa. Police said Jones, 21, was shot Sunday around 2:30 a.m., after arguing with two people at a club. The suspects were arrested.

Tennis

Petr Korda says he will defend his Australian Open title because he has proven his innocence on drug charges and has no reason to hide from his fellow players.

Player backlash against Korda, who tested positive for a steroid at Wimbledon in July, resulted in the International Tennis Federation’s appeal against its appeals commission ruling.

Korda was stripped of ranking points and prize money won at Wimbledon, but the committee ruled against imposing the maximum one-year ban. Korda maintains he took the steroid unwittingly.

South African Wayne Ferreira dropped a 6-1, 6-4 first-round decision to New Zealand’s Brett Steven in the Auckland Open at New Zealand. . . . Top-seeded Alex Corretja defeated German qualifier Hendrik Dreekmann, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the first round of the Sydney International.

Miscellany

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has subpoenaed the NBA as part of an investigation into the collapse of the women’s American Basketball League, which filed for bankruptcy court protection late last month. Blumenthal said he was investigating whether the folding of the ABL might have been hastened by the NBA, which sponsors the competing WNBA.