UPI NewsTrack Sports

Cousin: Beaten fan texted he was 'scared'

LOS ANGELES, April 5 (UPI) -- A San Francisco Giants fan who was severely beaten at Dodger Stadium texted before the incident he was "scared," his cousin said Tuesday.

Bryan Stow, 42, of Santa Clara, Calif., was attacked in the stadium's parking lot following last week's season-opening game between the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, sustaining brain injuries after being kicked repeatedly in the head.

His cousin, John Stow, told the Los Angeles Times he had received a text message from Bryan moments before the attack saying he was "scared inside the stadium."

"He doesn't use that term loosely," Stow added.

Los Angeles authorities say they are looking for two assailants in connection with the incident.

The paramedic and father of two was put into a medically induced coma after sustaining a severely fractured skull and damage to the frontal lobe of his brain, the Times said.

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday authorized a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attackers, bringing the total of various rewards being offered to $100,000.

Prosecution rests in Barry Bonds trial

SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (UPI) -- The prosecution rested its case Tuesday in the federal perjury trial of former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds.

Before resting, prosecutors read statements Bonds made in 2003 to a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative Laboratory (BALCO), which had been supplying steroids to athletes, MLB.com reported.

Bonds, baseball's all-time, home run king, is accused of lying to that panel when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

Prosecutors Tuesday called as witnesses three employees of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, who testified about how urine samples taken from Bonds in 2003 were handled.

The samples tested positive for the steroid THG and other banned substances.

Judge Susan Illston denied a government motion to allow a recently discovered tape recording made by previous prosecution witness Steve Hoskins, a boyhood friend and former business partner of Bonds, MLB.com reported.

Peer, Wickmayer advance to 3rd round

CHARLESTON, S.C., April 5 (UPI) -- Israel's Shahar Peer and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium were among the winners in second-round action Tuesday at the Family Circle Cup tennis event.

The fifth-seeded Peer breezed into the third round, posting a 6-1, 6-3 decision over Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson.

Wickmayer likewise had little trouble advancing, downing China's Jie Zheng in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, on the green clay courts in Charleston, S.C.

Also moving on in Tuesday's play were No. 11 Peng Shuai of China, who bested Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-2, 6-1, and Chanelle Scheepers, who got past Jill Craybas by a 6-3, 6-2 score.

Twelfth-seeded Julia Goerges moved on when Czech qualifier Eva Birnerova retired in the third set while leading 1-6, 7-5, 2-0.

No. 8 Russian Alisa Kleybanova, meanwhile, fell to 18-year-old American Christina McHale 6-1, 6-0.

Steroid evidence barred in palimony trial

SAN DIEGO, April 5 (UPI) -- A judge in San Diego has ruled evidence that former Padres outfielder Brian Giles used steroids cannot be brought into his former girlfriend's palimony trial.

Cheri Olvera is suing Giles for $10 million, arguing he broke a promise to take care of her and her daughter financially if they ever broke up. His lawyers argued Olvera's lawyers have no evidence Giles used the amphetamine Adderall or steroids, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

"I've represented Brian since 2003," lawyer James Scott said Monday. "He was never involved in it."

Judge Jeffrey Barton agreed to exclude any allegations of steroid use.

Olvera says Giles was abusive on at least four occasions, and steroids and Adderall might have contributed to that.

A recording was played for the jury of a call from Olvera to Giles. She left a voice mail telling him "game on" with several obscenities intermingled.

Olvera testified last week she is now engaged to Chuck Knoblauch, who played 12 seasons in the major leagues. Giles spent 14 seasons in the Majors as an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and for the last six years with the Padres.