Cycling

Horner fifth — Bend’s Chris Horner finished fifth in Saturday’s fourth stage of the weeklong Tirreno-Adriatico race Saturday. Tour de France runner-up Chris Froome won the stage, which featured a difficult uphill finish. After his Sky teammates led him up most of the climb, Froome attacked in the final mile and finished six seconds ahead of Mauro Santambrogio of Italy. Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali was third. Polish rider Mikhal Kwiatkowski finished fourth and took the overall lead from Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammate Mark Cavendish, a sprinter who finished far back. Horner was 15 seconds back and finished in the same time as Alberto Contador. Horner is sixth in the overall standings, 40 seconds behind, while Contador is fourth, 30 seconds back.

Chavanel wins stage — Sylvain Chavanel of France won a bunch sprint to take the sixth stage of the Paris-Nice race on Saturday in France, while Richie Porte of Australia retained the leader’s yellow jersey. Chavanel edged out Philippe Gilbert of Belgium to complete the 136-mile trek from Manosque to Nice in 5 hours, 14 minutes, 23 seconds. Porte leads the overall standings, 32 seconds ahead of Andrew Talansky of the United States ahead of today’s final stage, and is looking to become the first Australian to win the weeklong race.

Baseball

Beavers now 14-0 — Jake Rodriguez went three for four with two runs driven in and Brandon Jackson held Texas State scoreless in 3 1⁄3 innings of relief to send the fourth-ranked Oregon State baseball team to a 6-3 win at Goss Stadium in Corvallis on Saturday. The win pushed Oregon State’s record to 14-0. The Beavers’ 14-game win streak is the team’s longest since the 1986 club won 15 straight. Jackson finished the game for the Beavers and picked up his first save, allowing just one hit while striking out five. Moore improved to 4-0 after going 5 2⁄3 innings. He struck out six, walked two and allowed five hits and three runs — two earned. The teams finish the series today at 1:05 p.m.

Ducks lose again — Oregon starting pitcher Tommy Thorpe held No. 2 Vanderbilt to two runs over six innings, but it wasn’t enough as the No. 15 Ducks dropped a 4-2 decision at PK Park in Eugene on Saturday. Thorpe (2-2) gave up single runs in the second and third, while striking out five. Oregon (10-5) got within 2-1 with a run in the sixth inning before the Commodores tacked on runs in the seventh and eighth. Connor Hofmann had an RBI double for Oregon, one of just five hits in the game for the Ducks after they were held to two by Vanderbilt on Friday. The teams conclude their series today at noon.

U.S. wins — David Wright hit a two-out grand slam in the fifth inning and the United States beat Italy 6-2 Saturday night in the World Baseball Classic in Phoenix. The U.S. (1-1) meets Canada (1-1) in the final game of Pool D play today, with the winner advancing to the second round. Ryan Vogelsong settled down after a shaky start to get the victory. The San Francisco right-hander went four-plus innings, allowing two runs and six hits, striking out four. The U.S., bouncing back from Friday night’s 5-2 loss to Mexico, fell behind 2-0 after two innings but shut the Italian squad down on two hits the rest of the way. Italy (2-1) clinched a second-round berth for the first time in its WBC history when Mexico lost to Canada earlier Saturday.

Canada, Mexico brawl — A fierce brawl that saw Alfredo Aceves and several players throw nasty punches erupted Saturday in the ninth inning of Canada’s 10-3 romp over Mexico in the World Baseball Classic in Phoenix in a melee that also involved fans. The fights broke out after Canada’s Rene Tosoni was hit by a pitch from Arnold Leon with Canada leading 9-3 at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It turned into a wild scene, as chaotic as any on a major league field in recent years. Even when the fisticuffs ended, a full water bottle thrown from the crowd struck the face of a Canadian coach. Canada shortstop Cale Iorg angrily threw the bottle back into the crowd. Several police officers came onto the field trying to restore order, and there were a few skirmishes in the seats. Seven players were ejected.

Rivera announces retirement — New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera says this will be his final season. Rivera made the announcement Saturday at the team’s spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. There was word this week that he would retire after the season, and he made it official at a news conference. The 43-year-old Rivera holds the career saves record with 608 and has helped the Yankees win five World Series titles.

Football

Steelers release Harrison — The Pittsburgh Steelers have released linebacker James Harrison after the team and the hard-hitting defensive star who played on two Super Bowl champions failed to agree on a new contract. The Steelers made the announcement Saturday. Harrison was voted the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2008 after setting a team record with 16 sacks.

Soccer

Timbers lose — Hassoun Camara scored on a bicycle kick and the Montreal Impact won their second straight on the road to open the season, earning a 2-1 victory over the Portland Timbers on Saturday night in Portland. Felipe also scored for the Impact, who won their season opener 1-0 in Seattle last weekend. Ryan Johnson scored in the 80th minute for the Timbers.

U.S. goalie out — Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard has two broken bones in his back and likely will miss the Americans’ World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and Mexico this month. Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan is poised to take over in goal in what would be his first qualifiers in four years. Howard was hurt Feb. 26 in an FA Cup win over Oldham and missed last weekend’s English Premier League game against Reading. That ended his streak of consecutive league matches at 210, two shy of the Everton record set by goalkeeper Neville Southall from 1987-93.

Motor sports

Hornish takes Nationwide win — Sam Hornish Jr. survived two restarts in the final 15 laps and held off Kyle Busch to win the Nationwide Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. Hornish led 114 laps in his second career Nationwide victory, but needed a strong finish to outrun Busch, the hometown driver who won the Nationwide race last week in Phoenix. Hornish and Busch both went aggressively after the final restart with seven laps to go, with Busch briefly nudging ahead before Hornish reclaimed the lead with five laps left. Hornish got clear of Busch and finished comfortably in a caution-filled race.

Winter sports

Woman grabs Iditarod lead — An Alaskan woman who finished second in last year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race through Alaska grabbed the lead in the 1,000-mile race Saturday evening. Aliy Zirkle of Two Rivers was the first musher out of the checkpoint at Kaltag, which is about 346 miles from the finish. The front-runners are expected to reach the finish line in the old gold rush town of Nome on Alaska’s western coast early next week. Zirkle, 43, took the lead from four-time champion Martin Buser, who was the first out of the previous checkpoint at Eagle Island early Saturday. The 54-year-old veteran from Big Lake, Alaska, dropped two dogs at Eagle Island.

—From wire reports