Sports Briefly

Giants lose Sandoval to broken left hand

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The San Francisco Giants are suddenly without their best hitter.

Pablo Sandoval has a broken hamate bone in his left hand that will require surgery, and the free-swinging slugger is expected to miss four to six weeks - the same injury he had last year on the other hand.

Conor Gillaspie was recalled from Triple-A Fresno to start at third base Thursday.

The switch-hitter broke his right hamate bone in late April last year and had surgery. It happened again to the other hand in recent days and he aggravated it swinging left-handed in Wednesday's 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Marlins and had to leave the game in the sixth inning. An X-ray Tuesday did not reveal the break, but Sandoval then underwent an MRI exam and CT scan that showed the fracture. He will undergo surgery Friday at Stanford, performed by Dr. Tim McAdams.

WNC visits SLCC in key SWAC series

The stakes are usually high when Western Nevada College and Salt Lake meet on the baseball diamond.

That definitely will be the case today and Saturday when the Scenic West Athletic Conference rivals conclude the regular season with a four-game series in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake (29-4) brings a one-game edge over WNC (29-6) into a series that will determine the conference champion and host of the Region XVIII Tournament May 9-12.

The 18th-rated Wildcats (40-11 overall) are seeking their third SWAC title in four years, while fifth-ranked Salt Lake (38-6) pursues its second regular-season title.

WNC will need to win three games in Salt Lake to capture its second straight conference championship for coach D.J. Whittemore.

"We can't worry about winning three games until we win two, and we can't worry about winning two until we win one," Whittemore said. "Our focus is the first game Friday."

Both teams are surging coming into the series: WNC has won seven straight and 11 of its past 12 games, while the Bruins have reeled off five consecutive victories and have won 15 of their past 16 games.