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MIAMI -- The former clinic owner accused of selling performance-enhancing drugs to Alex Rodriguez has agreed to plead guilty in what prosecutors called a wide-ranging conspiracy to distribute steroids to both major league ballplayers and high school athletes. The charges filed Tuesday against former Biogenesis of America owner Anthony Bosch and six others marked one of the biggest salvos yet in a case that has dragged on for nearly two years. The case has sparked lawsuits, mudslinging and suspensions against numerous major leaguers, including Rodriguez. Also charged was Yuri Sucart, 52, a cousin of Rodriguez who the New York Yankees third baseman has said provided him with steroids from 2000 to 2003 when he played for the Texas Rangers. Sucart and the others are accused of acting as recruiters, setting up meetings between the athletes and Bosch, who introduced himself as "Dr. T," authorities said. Professional athletes paid up to $12,000 a month for the drugs provided by Biogenesis, while high schoolers paid up to $600 a month. All the clients were promised that the substances would not be found through drug testing, prosecutors said. "He is not a doctor," Mark R. Trouville, chief of the Miami Drug Enforcement Administration office, said of Bosch. "He is a drug dealer." U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said Bosch did not have a medical license, making what happened all the more dangerous. "As with many drug cases, these defendants were motivated by one thing -- by money," Ferrer said. Major League Baseball was not part of the criminal investigation and declined comment. No athletes were charged nor named in court documents, and it is unclear how many may have been involved. However, authorities said Bosch admitted to providing performance-enhancing drugs to 18 high schoolers. For now, Bosch has pleaded not guilty and his bond was set at $100,000. He faces up to 10 years in prison. "In terms of an agreement to co-operate and plead guilty, Bosch has agreed to do that," Ferrer said. Michael McCann, director of the sports and entertainment law centre at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, said its unlikely that the players involved in this scandal will face criminal charges, unless theres any evidence that a player went beyond using drugs and into distributing them. "They could lose an endorsement contract because of a morals clause in their contract, but if that were to happen I think it would have already happened," McCann said. "In terms of punishment from baseball, baseball has punished them." The prosecution may have taken so long because investigators might have wanted to confirm the information they were getting from Bosch, even if he was co-operating, McCann said. "Hes not somebody with a great track record, there are reasons to doubt him in terms of his credibility," he said. Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for Rodriguez, said the arrests Tuesday represent a degree of closure for Rodriguez and will enable him to focus on an eventual return to baseball. "It sort of reinforces the notion that Alex committed no crime, number one," Tacopina said. "And number two, quite frankly, this really signified the beginning of the end of the whole Biogenesis saga and allows Alex to focus on the future going forward." Rodriguez is currently serving a season-long suspension, the longest penalty in the sports history related to performance-enhancing drugs. He was the only one 14 players involved in the scandal to contest his penalty. However, since the investigation is ongoing, it remains possible that more players could eventually face sanctions as a result of the Biogenesis probe. Rodriguez denied taking steroids while playing for the Yankees, though his cousin was banned from the teams clubhouse, charter flights and other activities after Rodriguez said Sucart obtained the steroids he used while playing for the Rangers. Bosch was charged with conspiracy to distribute testosterone, as was Sucart, Carlos Javier Acevedo, Jorge Augustine Velazquez, Christopher Benjamin Engroba, Juan Carlos Nunez and Lazaro Daniel Collazo -- a well-known youth and college baseball coach who has worked at schools including Miami, Louisville, Florida State and South Florida. Acevedo pleaded not guilty and his bond was set at $100,000. Engroba pleaded not guilty and his bond was $50,000. No other pleas were entered Tuesday. Court documents say that from October 2008 through December 2012, Bosch wilfully conspired to distribute the anabolic steroid testosterone. Prosecutors also announced the arrest of three others in a drug ring discovered during the course of the investigation into Biogenesis. However, that case, which centred around the stimulant known as "molly," was not directly connected to Bosch. A Miami New Times report from January 2013, which sparked MLBs investigation, said Rodriguez had bought human growth hormone and other substances from 2009 to 2012 from Boschs clinic. The newspaper said it had obtained records detailing the purchases by Rodriguez and other ballplayers. MLB had sued Bosch and his clinic but withdrew the lawsuit in February. The lawsuit had accused them of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned substances. Dwight Howard Jersey . Grilli hasnt pitched since straining his left oblique in late April. Manager Clint Hurdle says the right-hander will make a couple of appearances in middle relief before the team determines whether to return Grilli to the back end of the bullpen. 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Josh Willingham drove in the lone run for the Nationals, who had just four hits.Dayton, OH - The 2014 NCAA Tournament tips off tonight at the University of Dayton Arena, as No. 16 seeds the Albany Great Danes and the Mount St. Marys Mountaineers face off in South Regions first round, with the winner advancing to play No. 1 seed Florida on Thursday. In the Midwest Region of the bracket, the ACCs NC State Wolfpack and Big Easts Xavier Musketeers will battle it out for the vacant position at UD Arena in Dayton. The winner advances through the first round and will clash with the fifth- seeded Saint Louis Billikens. You can watch live streaming coverage of both games tonight beginning at 6:40pm et/3:40pm pt, exclusively on TSN GO. Albany finished the regular season in fourth place in the American East Conference, but it blazed through the conference tournament with three straight wins, beating both top-seeded Vermont (67-58 in the semifinals) and second-seeded Stony Brook (69-60 in the championship) en route to the automatic bid. The Great Danes have played in the NCAA Tournament three previous times (2006, 2007, 2013) but have yet to earn a win. Mount Saint Marys also played the spoiler in its conference tournament. After entering the Northeast Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed at just 13-16 overall, it pieced together three straight wins over St. Francis-Brooklyn (72-71), Wagner (77-72) and Robert Morris (88-71). The Mountaineers have also qualified for the Big Dance on three other occasions, having previously defeated Coppin State in the 2008 play-in game (69-60) before losing to top- seeded North Carolina (113-74). This marks the first-ever meeting between Albany and Mount St. Marys on the hardwood. The Great Danes lost control of a halftime lead in the America East Tournament title game but finished the game on a 23-8 run over the final 6:47 to punch their ticket. Sam Rowley led the way with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. DJ Evans and Peter Hooley netted 16 and 15 points, respectively, while Gary Johnson tallied eight points and 10 rebounds. Scoring points hasnt been Albanys speciality this season, as it scores a mere 66.0 ppg on less than 44 percent shooting from the field, but it has excelled on the defensive end of the floor in yielding just 63.8 ppg on 41.9 percent shooting. Hooley pours in a team-best 15.7 ppg on 69-of-172 shooting from beyond the arc (.401). Rowley (11.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg) is a mainstay in the paint, while Evans (11.2 ppg) and Johnson (10.9 ppg) have also been solid. The Mountaineers made easy work of Robert Morris in the NEC championship bout, running out to a commanding 16-point lead at intermission before cruising to the easy double-digit victory. They shot a blistering 60.4 percent from the field in the triumph and had five players register in double figures, paced by Rashad Whacks 20 points. Julian Norfleet had 17 points, Taylor Danaher and Sam Prescott netted 15 apiece and Will Miller scored 11 off the bench. Mount St. Marys plays an opposite style of basketball as Albany, as it rarely has trouble filling up the scoreboard (76.2 ppg) yet leaves itself vulnerable on the defensive end of the court (78.0 ppg). The squad has a dynamic scoring duo in Whack (17.7 ppg) and Norfleet (17.5 ppg), with Norfleet also finding time to dish out 5.4 apg. Prescott rounds out the double-digit scorers by putting up 11.0 ppg. NC State made some waves in the ACC Tournament ovver the weekend by defeating Miami-Florida and then Syracuse to advance to the conferences semifinal round.ddddddddddddThe Wolfpack were taken down by Duke, 75-67, and were considered one of the most on-the-fence teams when it came to the tournaments selection. Xavier narrowly edged out Marquette in the Big East Tournaments quarterfinal round, but lost to Creighton, 86-78, in the semifinals. The Musketeers will need to prove their way into the field of 64. This will be the first-ever meeting between NC State and Xavier. Each team has a deep history in the NCAA Tournament, however. The Wolfpack own a 34-21 all-time record in the tournament, and were present in last seasons round of 64. Xavier comes in at 21-23 all-time, and made it to the Sweet 16 back in 2012. NC State and Duke had quite the battle going in Saturdays ACC Tournament semifinal, as the Blue Devils had just a one-point lead over the Wolfpack at the end of the first half. But Dukes defense stepped it up in the second frame by holding the Wolfpack to 35.5 percent shooting from the floor as the Blue Devils ended NC States quest for a conference title. T.J. Warren has been spectacular this season, and is now the programs all-time leader in a single season with 29 20-plus point contests. He had 21 with eight rebounds to lead the Wolfpack against Duke (his 17th consecutive 20-point game), while Lennard Freeman chipped in 13 points with nine boards and Anthony Barber scored 12 in the loss. N.C. State couldnt keep Duke from netting 57.1 percent of the teams shot attempts in the game. Warrens beastly season has led to much acclaim as he could very well enter the NBA after this season, earning ACC Player of the Year. The athletic forward is averaging an astounding 24.8 ppg for the Wolfpack, proving to be the go-to scorer when a basket is needed. He also leads the team with a 7.2 rpg average, and adds 57 steals to his season resume. Ralston Turner is the only other player on the Wolfpack roster to average a double-digit point total, netting 10.2 ppg. Barber tops the squad with 124 assists, and BeeJay Anya leads with 40 blocked shots. NC State averages 70.8 ppg through 33 games played, and gives up 69.5 ppg to opponents. Things looked bad for Xavier early on against Creighton in the Big East Tournament semifinals, as the Bluejays took a 45-33 lead into the intermission. But the Musketeers formed a comeback attempt in the second period, and started to cut into the lead as time went on. However, Creighton, behind the nations leading scorer Doug McDermott and his 32-point effort, was able to fend off Xavier down the stretch. Forward Isaiah Philmore scored a career-high 23 points for Xavier, while Semaj Christon chipped in 18 points with six assists in the loss. Justin Martin added 12 points before he fouled out of the contest. Christon, who has had his name mentioned in NBA talks as well, leads the Musketeers in scoring on the season with a 17.1 ppg average, netting 47.7 percent of his shots from the floor. He adds 138 assists on the year (second to Dee Daviss 147), and leads the team with 44 steals. Martin contributes 11.8 ppg for the Musketeers, and center Matt Stainbrook, who missed some time at the beginning of the conference tournament with a strained calf, adds 10.4 ppg with a team-leading 7.3 rpg mark. Xavier averages 72.2 ppg and allows 67.9 ppg to opponents ' ' '
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