State Sports Roundup: Kenseth wins at Las Vegas on his birthday

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Wisconsin’s top NASCAR driver celebrated his 41st birthday yesterday by winning the Sprint Cup race in Las Vegas. Matt Kenseth of Cambridge won the Kobalt Tools-400 in a final 30-lap duel with Kasey Kahne. The difference was a late pit stop during a caution, in which Kenseth only took fuel for his Number-20 Toyota. That pushed him into first place out of pit road, while most of the other leaders took two tires. It was Kenseth’s third career victory in Las Vegas and his first since 2004. He also became the third driver in NASCAR’s top circuit to win on his birthday, joining Kyle Busch and Cale Yarborough. Kenseth now has a pair of Top-10 finishes in his three races this year, putting him 12th in the Sprint Cup point standings. Paul Menard of Eau Claire finished 10th yesterday, and he’s 12th in the point totals. Beloit-born Danica Patrick was 33rd in the race and 30th in the standings. And Travis Kvapil of Janesville placed 39th at Vegas with engine trouble 50 laps before the finish. He’s 32nd in the early standings.

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Team U-S-A advanced to the second round of the World Baseball Classic with a 9-to-4 victory over Canada yesterday in Phoenix. Former Wisconsin Timber Rattler Adam Jones put the Americans in front for good with a go-ahead double in the eighth off Milwaukee Brewers’ reliever Jim Henderson. The U-S then scored four runs in the ninth, with the help of an R-B-I single from Brewers’ catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Henderson took the loss, giving up three runs in just two-thirds of an inning. Milwaukee closer John Axford gave up a run on two hits in mop-up duty for Canada, which was eliminated. Brewers’ infielder Taylor Green started for the Canadians and went 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts. Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun singled in five at-bats for Team U-S-A, which won Pool-“D” and will face Puerto Rico tomorrow in Miami. Axford and Henderson will now return to the Brewers. Milwaukee starters Yovani Gallardo and Marco Estrada returned to camp yesterday, after their Mexican team was eliminated on Saturday.

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The Brewers lost an exhibition game to San Francisco yesterday, 6-to-1 in Phoenix. Milwaukee starter Chris Narveson gave up two runs on five hits in three innings. Both those runs came in the first inning as Hector Sanchez, Brett Pill, and Cole Gillespie hit consecutive two-out singles. Carlos Gomez went 2-for-2 with a walk for the Brewers. He’s hitting a torrid .533 this spring. Alex Gonzalez drove in the Crew’s only run with a sacrifice fly, as they dropped to 6-and-8 in Cactus League play. The Brewers will play the Los Angeles Dodgers this afternoon. Mike Fiers is scheduled to start for Milwaukee.

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The Brewers released veteran right-hander Kelvim Escobar yesterday, after he couldn’t get over his latest injury. The 36-year-old Venezuelan pitched only one game for Milwaukee, and lasted just two-thirds of an inning before having control problems due to a pinched nerve. Escobar has not appeared in a Major League regular season game since 2009 with the Angels. He’s had numerous shoulder operations the past few years.

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Steve Stricker of Madison rallied to take second place at the World Golf Championships’ Cadillac tournament at Trump Doral in South Florida. Stricker shot a four-under-par 68 in his final round yesterday, to finish at 17-under-271. That was two strokes behind Tiger Woods, who bogeyed two of his final three holes but hung on to win his seventh Cadillac tournament.

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Former Green Bay Packers’ defensive end Cullen Jenkins has reportedly agreed to a contract with the New York Giants. N-F-L Network said the 32-year-old Jenkins signed a three-year deal worth eight-million-dollars. And three-million of it is guaranteed. The deal won’t be finalized until at least tomorrow, when the league’s free-agent signing period begins. The Packers never showed much of an interest in re-acquiring Jenkins – who met with five other teams, including the Giants. Green Bay needs help on the defensive line. They reportedly brought in Giants’ free-agent Chris Canty last week. Meanwhile, Packers’ free agent linebacker Brad Jones apparently has a lot of interest. His agent says eight teams have inquired about him.

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For only the second time in nine years, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team failed to get an N-C-A-A tournament berth. The Badgers – which made the national title game a year ago – was not part of an eight-team field announced last night. The Badgers had the ninth-highest R-P-I score in the country, and the top-eight made the field. Wisconsin ended its season at 23-10-and-2, after falling to North Dakota last Friday in the W-C-H-A semi-finals. The last time the Badgers failed to make the national women’s tournament was in 2010, when coach Mark Johnson was away coaching the Americans in the Winter Olympics. Before that, 2004 was the last time Wisconsin didn’t make the nationals. Undefeated Minnesota was given the top seed in this year’s tournament. The Gophers – with Madison area native and W-C-H-A player-of-the-year Amanda Kessel – will play North Dakota in the quarter-finals.

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The Wisconsin men’s hockey team will host Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the W-C-H-A playoffs. The Badgers will open a best-of-three series against the Bulldogs on Friday night at the Kohl Center in Madison. It’s the first time in three years the Badgers have earned a first-round playoff series. The winner will advance to the W-C-H-A’s Final Five next week in Saint Paul. Wisconsin finished its regular season this past weekend in a three-way tie for fourth place, with 33 points. But the Badgers earned the tie-breaker over both Denver and Minnesota for the Number-four playoff seed. Duluth comes in with the ninth-seed and an overall record of 14-17-and-5. The 14th-ranked Badgers are 17-12-and-7, after splitting their final regular season series with Saint Cloud State.

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The Milwaukee Wave will not be in the Major Indoor Soccer League title series for the first time in three years. The Wave lost its first-round series to Missouri yesterday. After winning Game-One in overtime last week, Milwaukee dropped Game-Two at home 9-to-8. And then they lost 5-to-4 in a 15-minute mini-game which decided the series. Byron Alvarez scored the series-winning goal for Missouri, which now faces Baltimore for the league crown.

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