Amaris Hinton of the Baltimore Rowing Club is one of four recipients of an America Rows Junior National Team Grant. The grants were established to increase and encourage athletes from ethnically, racially and economically underrepresented populations to be involved in the junior national team selection process through USRowing’s camps. Hinton, a student at Poly, will join the women’s development camp at Connecticut College. “Our goals are to empower and invite America Rows athletes to become more competitive in the sport of rowing,” said Richard Butler, USRowing’s diversity and inclusion manager. “By demonstrating the viability of having multicultural rowers, we can be the positive leaders and role models that others from multicultural backgrounds can emulate.”
NHL
Caps get U.S. Olympic hero Oshie from Blues
Less than 24 hours after acquiring one of the top free-agent forwards on the open market, the Washington Capitals made a blockbuster trade Thursday with the St. Louis Blues, acquiring forward T.J. Oshie in exchange for forward Troy Brouwer, goaltending prospect Pheonix Copley and a third-round pick in the 2016 draft. Wednesday night, Washington landed right wing Justin Williams, a three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Los Angeles Kings and Carolina Hurricanes, for two years and $6.5 million. Oshie, 28, a hero for the United States during their 3-2 shootout victory over Russia during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, has accumulated at least 50 points in each of his past three full NHL seasons and figures to slide into Washington’s top-six forward corps alongside Williams, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and one more forward. His 36 assists in 2014-15 would have ranked third on the Capitals, behind Backstrom and defenseman John Carlson, and his 2.25 even-strength points per 60 minutes would have put him far ahead of Backstrom for the team lead.
—Alex Prewitt, The Washington Post
Et cetera
Terps give baseball coach Szefc extension
Maryland baseball coach John Szefc, who has led the Terps to consecutive NCAA super regionals, has signed a five-year contact extension. Before last year, the baseball team had not made the NCAA tournament since 1971. Szefc has won 112 games in his three seasons as coach. The Terps won a school-record 42 games this past season before losing to eventual College World Series champion Virginia. Maryland also lost to Virginia in the 2014 super-regional game. Szefc has a 324-209-3 record in 10 seasons as a college baseball coach.
NBA: Twenty-four hours after losing out in the Paul Pierce sweepstakes, the Washington Wizards found someone who can help replace the shooting forward by acquiring Jared Dudley from the Milwaukee Bucks for a protected future second-round pick, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The Wizards will use a trade exception to execute the transaction. Like Pierce, the 6-foot-7 Dudley provides wing depth and a stretch-four option but is eight years younger, nearly $2.4 million cheaper ($4.25 million as opposed to $6.6 million), and a better defender.
WNBA: Shenise Johnson scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds as the host Indiana Fever (5-6) rolled to a 70-53 victory over the Washington Mystics (6-4). Washington scored just 16 points in the second half.
NFL: Dallas Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain has been suspended for the first four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. He was released by the Oakland Raiders in 2013 and picked up by the Ravens, who traded him to the Cowboys for a draft pick before training camp last summer. He never played for the Ravens.
For more about McClain, read Aaron Wilson’s blog post at baltimoresun.com/ravensinsider. Wilson also writes about Ravens wide receiver Michael Campanaro donating cleats to Douglass.
Baseball: The Toronto Blue Jays signed Dominican outfielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 16, for $3.9 million. Guerrero, whose father played for the Orioles, is ranked No. 4 on MLB.com’s list of the 30 top international prospects.
