Sports in Brief: Pacquiao dominates De La Hoya easily

Manny Pacquiao

(48-3-2, 35 knockouts) dominated his more famous opponent from the opening bell last night, giving

Oscar De La Hoya

(39-6, 30 KOs) a beating and closing his left eye before De La Hoya declined to come out of his corner after the eighth round at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The welterweight bout was so lopsided that it could spell the end for boxing's richest and most marketable star.

Alex Rodriguez

said he will play for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

The New York Yankees star made the announcement while playing in a charity golf tournament in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, hosted by friend

David Ortiz

of the Boston Red Sox.

Rodriguez played for the United States in the 2006 inaugural Classic and was largely criticized by fans in the Dominican Republic and across Latin America.

Southern Cal offensive coordinator

Steve Sarkisian

was hired as the 23d football coach in Washington's history after the Huskies finished with the first 0-12 season in the Pacific Ten Conference.

Sarkisian, 34, will become the third-youngest head coach in college football behind Tennessee's

Lane Kiffin

and Northwestern's

Pat Fitzgerald

- both 33.

Senior goalkeeper

Nick Blossey

stopped three Stevens Institute of Technology shots in Messiah College's 2-1 shoot-out victory in Greensboro, N.C. The win gave Messiah the sixth NCAA Division III men's soccer national championship in school history.

Nick Thompson

scored the game-winner.

The Messiah women's team captured the Division III title at the same site, beating two-time defending champion Wheaton, 5-0.

The Kixx (2-0) beat the host Massachusetts Twisters, 18-7, in Springfield in the National Indoor Soccer League. All-star goalkeeper

Peter Pappas

got the win playing in his 400th career game. The Twisters fell to 0-2.

Lisa Strom

of North Wales shot a 68 in the fourth round of the final LPGA qualifying tournament at the Legends Course in Daytona Beach, Fla., and is in a two-way tie for ninth place.

The graduate of Lansdale Catholic and Ohio State had a 72-hole score of 279. A top-20 finish today means she will earn full-time status on the 2009 LPGA Tour at the same exempt level as players who wound up 81st through 100th on the 2008 LPGA money list.

Stacy Lewis

held the lead after four rounds at 273, with

Michelle Wie

looming in second place, 1 stroke back.

Harrison Frazar

shot a 59 in the fourth round of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament in La Quinta, Calif., the first player in eight years to hit golf's magic number at Q-school, which is not considered in the PGA record books as an official event.

He has a 4-stroke lead at 24-under 264 with two rounds to go at the Nicklaus Tournament course at PGA West.

Atlanta Falcons rookie quarterback

Matt Ryan

, a Penn Charter graduate, has been named the 2009 NEXT star athlete in a vote of fans in ESPN the Magazine.