ARIZONA DIGEST
Cardinals retain Gardeck, Fitts
The Cardinals announced on Thursday restricted free agent linebacker Dennis Gardeck and exclusive rights free agent linebacker Kylie Fitts have signed their one-year tenders, and that the team has signed five former recently undrafted rookie free agents.
Gardeck had seven sacks, 10 quarterback hits and a fumble recovery in 14 games before suffering a torn ACL. Selected as a special teams captain, he also added nine tackles on special teams. Fitts had six tackles and one quarterback hit on defense and added three tackles on special teams in 13 games, including one start, in 2020.
Rookie free agents signed were running back Tavien Feaster, wide receivers Darece Roberson Jr. and Andre Baccellia, linebacker Jamell GarciaWilliams and defensive lineman Ryan Bee.
Feaster (6-0, 221) spent time on the practice squads of the Lions and Giants in 2020 after entering the league with the Jaguars as an undrafted rookie free agent out of South Carolina. He spent his first three college seasons at Clemson and finished with 2,002 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.
UA’s Barnes receives pay raise
The Arizona Board of Regents unanimously approved a contract extension that will give Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes an effective 34% raise to $580,000 next season. Barnes’ reworked five-year contract runs through 2025-26, with Barnes receiving higher salaries every season up to $770,000 in the final year. While leading UA to the NCAA title game this season, Barnes earned $407,000 plus an annual retention bonus of $25,000 and $125,000 in bonuses for the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament success. However, that amount will be reduced by a 20% pay cut of base salary ($81,500) since all UA coaches agreed to reductions paralleling the university’s pandemicprompted pay reduction plan in 202021.
ASU baseball Stanford
hosts
No.
18
Arizona State, which has been off since winning two of three at Washington last week, begins the second half of the season this weekend at home against No. 18 Stanford. Tyler Thornton (1-1, 3.60 ERA) is the projected starting pitcher for the Sun Devils (18-9, 7-5 Pac-12) in Friday’s 6:30 p.m. game 1, a role he moved into last week. Stanford (20-6, 6-3) won two of three last week vs. UCLA, then beat Pacific 2-0 on Wednesday. The Cardinal are averaging 6.81 runs, up from 2.94 in the abbreviated 2020 season, and have hit 39 home runs. The series at Phoenix Municipal Stadium continues with a 6:30 p.m. game on Saturday and the finale at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.