Baseball

OSU wins — Michael Conforto hit a three-run home run to pace the Oregon State baseball team to a 6-2 win over Arizona to open Pac-12 play Friday night in Tucson, Ariz. OSU starter Matt Boyd limited Arizona to two hits and two runs — one earned — in seven innings on the mound. The win pushed Oregon State to a 17-1 mark, while Arizona dropped to 15-6. Conforto staked the Beavers to the 3-0 lead before Arizona could register an out in the first inning. Max Gordon reached on a single, and Tyler Smith was hit by a pitch, setting the table for Conforto. The sophomore hit a towering fly that cleared the fence in left for his fifth home run of the season. The three-game series continues today at 6 p.m.

UO tops USC — Jake Reed pitched seven innings and allowed just two earned runs to lead the Oregon baseball team to a 5-2 win over Southern Cal in Los Angeles in the Pac-12 opener for both teams. Brett Thomas, Scott Heineman and J.J. Altobelli all had a pair hits for the Ducks, which improved to 14-5 on the season. Trailing 2-1 through five innings, the Ducks scored four runs in the next three frames for the victory. Oregon and USC play game two of their three-game set today at 2 p.m.

Motor sports

Kyle Busch leads qualifying — Kyle Busch won his first career pole at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., with a track record qualifying lap. Busch turned a lap at 129.535 mph in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to take the top starting spot for Sunday’s race. It beat the record of 128.709 set by Ryan Newman in 2003. Busch’s lap was 14.813 seconds, besting Newman’s lap of 14.908. Kasey Kahne qualified second in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motor- sports with a lap at 128.995, and Busch’s teammate Denny Hamlin was third at 128.960.

Pedregon takes qualifying lead — Cruz Pedregon raced to the qualifying lead in Funny Car at the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals on Friday in Gainesville, Fla. Pedregon powered his Toyota Camry to the provisional No. 1 position with a performance of 4.047 seconds at 296.05 mph. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were qualifying leaders in their categories at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Football

Arizona cuts Kolb — The Arizona Cardinals released Kevin Kolb, ending the quarterback’s two injury-filled seasons with the team. The team’s move on Friday came just ahead of the deadline for paying Kolb a $2 million roster bonus. The team paid Kolb some $20 million over two seasons after acquiring him in a trade that sent a second-round draft pick and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to the Philadelphia Eagles. The move reportedly saved $7 million in salary cap space.

Winter sports

Russians win pairs title — Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov completed their perfect season Friday, winning their first pairs title at the World Figure Skating Championships in London, Ontario. The timing couldn’t be better, too. With the Sochi Olympics a year away, it is Russia’s first pairs title since 2005. The Russians scored 225.71 points, almost 20 more than Germans Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy. Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won the bronze medal. Americans Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim were ninth, an impressive debut for a pair that’s been together not even a year. U.S. champions Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir were 13th.

— From wire reports