THE HOT CORNER

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BASEBALL: Major League Baseball is increasing its monitoring of baseballs in an attempt to suppress any use of foreign substances by pitchers. Mike Hill, newly hired as executive vice president of baseball operations and disciplinarian, wrote in a memorandum to team officials on Tuesday that “players are subject to discipline ... regardless of whether evidence of the violation has been discovered during or following a game,” and outlined several enhanced enforcement methods.

SOCCER: Sepp Blatter was banned for a second time by FIFA on Wednesday for financial wrongdoing, seven months before the 85-year-old former president’s first ban expires. FIFA said its ethics committee banned both Blatter and former secretary general Jérôme Valcke for six years and eight months for self-dealing in awarding themselves contractual bonuses worth millions of dollars, mostly linked to staging World Cups.

SNOWBOARDING: Julie Pomagalski, a former Olympic snowboarder from France, died Tuesday in an avalanche in the Swiss Alps. She was 40. Pomagalski competed in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and the 2006 Turin Games. She won gold in the snowboard cross at the world championships in 1999.

SURFING: Katherine Diaz, 22, El Salvador’s top surfer, died after she was struck by lightning while training in the country. Diaz was training for a qualifier for the Tokyo Games, where the sport will make its Olympic debut.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Former Penn State and Minnesota offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca has been hired as an offensive analyst at West Virginia, Mountaineers coach Neal Brown announced Tuesday.