Sports in brief

| New Mexican wire services

5/8/2008 - 5/9/08

Pitching plagues 'Topes in loss

For four innings, the Albuquerque Isotopes gave the appearance that their pitching woes might be in the past.

Then the Salt Lake Bees forced their return with seven runs in the fifth, which culminated in a 7-3 win in front of a crowd of 4,666 at Franklin Covey Field on Thursday night. It was only the second win in the last seven games for the Bees, who sport the best record in the Pacific Coast League at 26-7.

Down 2-0 heading into the fifth, Salt Lake used four walks, five hits and a sacrifice fly to drive in their runs. Kenny Baugh's walk — his sixth of the evening — brought in a run with the bases loaded to make it 2-1. It also led to his exit.

Marcos Carvajal was no better, giving up a run scoring single to Kendry Morales and a sacrifice to Matthew Brown for a 3-2 Bees lead.

The Isotopes (18-15) struck in the first with Andrew Beattie's RBI double and a run-scoring single by Dallas McPherson.

Pecos No. 6 in AA baseball tourney

Northern schools brought up the rear for the Class AA baseball seeding committee.

At No. 6, Pecos High School was given the highest seed for the eight-team AA State Baseball Tournament, which were released Thursday night. The District 2AA champion will play third-seeded Lordsburg in a AA quarterfinal at 10 a.m. on Monday at Albuquerque La Cueva.

Peñasco, the 2AA runner-up, earned the seventh seed and faces No. 2 Loving at 1 p.m. at La Cueva. Mesa Vista, the 1AA champion, is the eighth seed and plays top seed and two-time defending AA champion Estancia at 1 p.m. at Albuquerque Eldorado.

Pecos head coach Augustin Ruiz said he expected a low seed, but added that his team is capable of pulling off an upset.

"These guys are ready to compete physically with anyone," Ruiz said. "I think it's now a matter of them playing mentally at that level."

Cowboys clobber Metro State

C.J. Thornton had only 40 minutes to get ready for his start on Thursday afternoon.

It was all the emergency starter for the New Mexico Highlands University baseball team needed in an 11-3 win over Metro State in the loser's bracket of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Thursday.

NMHU, the sixth seed, plays the either No. 3 Regis or No. 5 Colorado School of Mines at 3:30 p.m. today in the double-elimination tournament.

Thornton (4-0) replaced Nick Toscani, who had soreness in his right arm, and lasted 61/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. The Cowboys (29-29) built an 8-3 lead at that point, with the help of a three-run fifth and a four-run seventh.

"At this point in time, we're just trying to patch things together and play good baseball," NMHU head coach Steve Jones said. Travon Jackson went 2-for-4 to tie the NMHU record for hits in a season with 104.

Wie misfires as Ochoa shoots 65

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Michelle Wie managed just one birdie in a zig-zagging 4-over 75 on a soggy day, even as the River Course yielded its fourth 8-under 63 in six years, 64s to Annika Sorenstam and Sun Young Yoo, and 65s to Lorena Ochoa and Diana D'Alessio.

Judge: Vick must repay bank

RICHMOND, Va. — A federal judge ordered imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick to repay more than $2.4 million to a Canadian bank for defaulting on a loan. The Royal Bank of Canada sued Vick in September, arguing his guilty plea to a federal dogfighting charge prevented him from repaying the loan.