Mar 22, 2022 4 min read

McCloud signs with 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers signed free agent wide receiver and return specialist Ray-Ray McCloud to a two-year deal on Tuesday.

McCloud has been one of the more productive returners since entering the NFL as a sixth-round pick by Buffalo in 2018. He led the league in yards on punt returns with 367 last season and had the most combined yards on punt and kick returns with 1,143 for Pittsburgh.

The Niners had been seeking to upgrade their return game this offseason after ranking as the least efficient team on kick returns last season, according to Football Outsiders, and finishing below average in punt return efficiency.

In four seasons with Buffalo, Carolina and Pittsburgh, McCloud has 64 catches for 390 yards and eight carries for 84 yards on offense and averages 22.4 yards per kick return and 9.5 yards per punt return.

MLB to keep tiebreaker runner

Automatic runners in extra innings are sticking around for a third straight season.

Despite an easing of pandemic restrictions, Major League Baseball and the players’ association reached a tentative agreement to keep the controversial rule starting each team with a runner on second base during extra innings for the 2022 regular season.

The deal is subject to approval by baseball owners, which likely will take place next week, a person familiar with the agreement said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement was authorized.

The agreement regarding on-field rules modifications also includes expanding active rosters from 26 players to 28 from opening day on April 7 through May 1 this year, because of the delayed start of spring training.

Another new rule will benefit Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani. With the designated hitter adopted in both leagues, pitchers who start games in the batting order can remain in the game as a DH after leaving the mound. A DH can also enter the game to pitch. That change will apply to multiple seasons.

College baseball

California ran its winning streak to eight with an 8-4 win over Salem on Tuesday at Wild Things Park.

Louden Conte with 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI for the Vulcans (13-3). Jacob Mccaskey had a triple and two RBI and Adam Crawford went 3-for-4.

Winning pitcher Roman Gill threw five innings.

n Washington & Jefferson suffered a 3-0 loss to a strong Wisconsin Stevens Point team at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.

The loss drops W&J to 6-6 overall. Wisconsin Stevens Point improves to 6-1.

Three Stevens Point pitchers combined for an eight-hit shutout. Peters kalinski and Evan Sante each had two hits for W&J, and Tyler Horvat and Jason Gregovits both doubled.

In college basketball

Missouri has hired wildly successful Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates to help rebuild a long-floundering program that has churned through seven head and interim coaches since Norm Stewart prowled the sidelines in Columbia.

The 42-year-old Gates took over Cleveland State’s program in 2019 and, after winning just 11 games in his first season, engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in Division I basketball. The Vikings went 19-8 and made the NCAA Tournament last season, then went 20-11 and lost in the first round of the NIT this season.

n SMU coach Tim Jankovich announced his retirement after six seasons as head coach of the Mustangs, and nearly four decades in a coaching career that included stints as an assistant for Larry Brown and Bill Self.

n Tulsa has named Eric Konkol its new men’s basketball coach.

Konkol compiled a 153-75 record in seven seasons at Louisiana Tech. He had six seasons with at least 20 wins and finished in the top three in the Conference USA standings five times.