Off the wire

BASEBALL Bama hires Maryland coach

Rob Vaughn, who revitalized Maryland’s baseball program and turned the Terps into one of the Big Ten Conference’s best, has left after six seasons to fill the head-coaching vacancy at Alabama. Vaughn succeeds Brad Bohannon, who was fired May 4 “for, among other things, violating the standards, duties and responsibilities expected of University employees,” the university announced. The dismissal occurred on the heels of “alleged suspicious activity” on April 28 at a sportsbook in Cincinnati, according to an Ohio Casino Control Commission investigation cited by ESPN. Vaughn inherits a Crimson Tide squad that won 40 games for the first time since 2010 and was the No. 16 seed in the NCAA Regional, hosted a regional for the first time since 2006 and advanced to the super regionals for the first time since 2010. They were swept in a best-of-three series by No. 1 seed Wake Forest this weekend. Maryland moved quickly to find his replacement and named Matt Swope, a 2003 graduate who had been an assistant at Maryland for the past 11 years and Vaughn’s associate head coach for the past two seasons, the new coach. Swope will be the program’s ninth head coach since it began competition in 1893. Vaughn, 35, won 183 games, fifthmost in school history. His winning percentage of .610 (183-117) trails only John Szefc’s .696 rate (180122) from 2013 to 2017.

Successful surgery for deGrom

Jacob deGrom had reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow Monday, and Texas Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy said the procedure went well. The typical recovery time after the operation, commonly known as Tommy John surgery, is at least 1214 months. Rangers team physician Dr. Keith Meister performed the surgery, which came a week before deGrom’s 35th birthday. Texas signed deGrom to a $185 million, five-year deal in free agency last winter when the right-hander was coming off two injury-plagued seasons with the New York Mets. Before deGrom (2-0, 2.67 ERA) got hurt, the American League West-leading Rangers won all six games the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner started. He last pitched against the New York Yankees on April 28, when he exited early because of injury concerns for the second time in three starts. The four-time All-Star had 45 strikeouts with 4 walks in 30 1/3 innings.

Cardinals’ reliever on IL

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Ryan Helsley was placed on the 15-day injured list Monday because of a strained right forearm. Right-hander Jake Woodford was recalled from Class AAA Memphis. He began the season in the rotation, then was shifted into a relief role. Helsley, a 28-year-old righthander, is 3-4 with a 3.24 ERA with seven saves in 11 chances. St. Louis has given closing opportunities to Giovanny Gallegos, who has five of the Cardinals’ past seven saves.

HOCKEY Flames hire Huska

The Calgary Flames have promoted from within for their next head coach, hiring Ryan Huska on Monday after five years as a Flames assistant. The 47-year-old replaces Darryl Sutter, who was fired in May. Calgary has changed head coaches five times in eight years. The hiring of Huska is new General Manager Craig Conroy’s first major move. Huska previously coached Calgary’s AHL affiliate for four seasons and was behind the bench of the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets for seven.

BASKETBALL Delay penalty altered

The NCAA is changing its penalty for delay-of-game violations in women’s basketball and adding a new rule on flopping. Players will no longer get charged a technical foul for certain delay-of-game violations, including the one Iowa star guard Caitlin Clark got called for in the Hawkeyes’ NCAA championship game loss to LSU. The All-American received a technical foul, according to a pool report after the game, because she didn’t pass the ball to an official after a foul was called late in the third quarter. That was deemed to be a delay of game by the officials. Since it was the second delay-of-game violation for Iowa, Clark was charged with a technical foul. Players receive a personal foul when they are assessed a technical foul in college basketball, and the foul was Clark’s fourth of the game. Under the new rule, that play would have resulted in the team getting a technical foul instead of Clark. As for flopping, players will be issued a warning on the first offense and a technical foul will be charged for each subsequent infraction.

SOFTBALL OU star transfers to Nebraska

Just days after leading Oklahoma to its third straight national title, pitcher Jordy Bahl announced Monday on social media that she is transferring and heading back to her home state of Nebraska. Bahl is from Papillion, a suburb of Omaha. She said in the post that she’s homesick and wants to help grow the sport in a state she feels is overlooked at all levels of softball. “For the last 2 years, despite the amazing opportunities and accomplishments, my love for home and the acknowledgement of my foundation have grown,” she wrote. “Being away from these things has been very tough.” Bahl was a first-team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American this season and a finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. She finished this season with a 22-1 record and an 0.90 ERA. In 2022, she was NFCA Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-American. In her two years at Oklahoma, she won two national titles and finished with a 44-2 record. She pitched 24 2/3 scoreless innings at the Women’s College World Series and was named its Most Outstanding Player. She went 4-0 at the World Series in Oklahoma City and earned the save in the decisive championship series victory in Game 2 against Florida State.