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NEW YORK -- The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks will bring their thunder Down Under. Major League Baseball will open the 2014 regular season in Australia, with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks playing a two-game series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The matchups March 22-23 mark baseballs first games in Australia that count. "Its going to be fantastic," Aussie-born Dodgers reliever Peter Moylan said Wednesday. "Ive been trying to preach the game back in Australia for years." MLB and the players union announced the international opening day just one day after Los Angeles and Arizona mixed it up in a big brawl at Dodger Stadium. The Diamondbacks and Dodgers already had a testy relationship before this scrape that resulted in six ejections. "I always wanted to go to Australia," Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp said. "Now I got a real reason to go and I get to play baseball." Baseball opened its season at Tokyo in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The 1999 opener was held at Monterrey, Mexico, and the 2001 season began in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The rest of the big league season next year is slated to resume on March 30. The Dodgers-Diamondbacks opener will come 100 years after the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants played exhibition games at the same cricket venue. On Jan. 2, 1914, the White Sox beat the Giants 5-4 before an estimated 10,000 fans. There also was an exhibition baseball game at the same site in December 1888 featuring Spaldings World Tourists. "Its cool. Its great the sport is going to get a big game like that down there," said Oakland Athletics closer Grant Balfour, who is from Australia. "We had the Sydney Olympics there and Intercontinental Cup games, but we havent had that kind of level of baseball there in a long, long time. Itll be fun to see." The Sydney Cricket Ground will be configured to MLB standards for the opening series. "Im sure people are going to fly from all over the country to see the game," Moylan said. "The presentation of the grounds is going to be fantastic." Moylan makes the grueling trip home to Melbourne in the off-season, and he expects the travel will take a toll on the players. "Coming back is going to be the worst," he said. Union head Michael Weiner said "the players are excited about opening the 2014 season in Sydney, and they view this series as an important step in furthering their commitment to help increase the global popularity of baseball." Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement, "The globalization of our game continues to be paramount to Major League Baseball, and Australia is an essential part of our long-term efforts to grow the sport. We look forward to writing an exciting new chapter in international baseball history at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground next March." Dodgers President Stan Kasten said the team was eager to begin the season "in one of the most exciting and rapidly developing baseball markets on earth." Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall said "being at the forefront of spreading international goodwill on this prominent stage is a feat that we enthusiastically embrace and accept." The Dodgers and Diamondbacks will play spring training games in Arizona on March 16, then leave for Australia and arrive on March 18. The teams will open the regular season on Saturday night, the 22nd, and meet again the next afternoon. Arizona will be the home team for both games. "It should be a little tiring, but a lot of fun, too," Kemp said. There have been 28 major leaguers born in Australia. The Dodgers have had five natives on their roster. Bill Barber Flyers Jersey . DAmigo scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the San Antonio Rampage 5-4 in American Hockey League action. Claude Giroux Flyers Jersey . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. http://www.nhlflyersproauthentic.com/scott-laughton-hockey-jersey/ . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Travis Sanheim Flyers Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Brian Propp Jersey . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Rodney Pryor had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Georgetown withstood a furious second-half rally to hold on for a 65-61 victory over No. 13 Oregon on Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational.Georgetown (1-2) led by 17 after a superb first half, capped by Pryors running 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Ducks (2-2) swarmed their way back, using pressure defense to create turnovers and easy baskets in transition.Unlike their loss to Maryland last week, the Hoyas weathered the Duck storm and will advance to the second round against No. 16 Wisconsin.LJ Peak added 17 points and hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds left to seal Georgetowns victory.Payton Pritchard led Oregon with 18 points. Dillon Brooks had eight points in his first game of the season, including a long 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds left to get the Ducks within 2.No. 5 KANSAS 83, UAB 63KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Josh Jackson had 22 points, Frank Mason III and Devonte Graham were nearly as productive and Kansas rolled to a victory over Alabama-Birmingham in the CBE Classic semifinals.Mason finished with 20 points and Graham had 16 for the Jayhawks (3-1), who advanced to play George for the title on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs beat George Washington 81-73 in the other semifinal.Kansas raced to a big early lead, weathered several runs by UAB, then relied on their backcourt of Jackson, Mason and Graham to pull away from the Blazers down the stretch.Dirk Williams led the Blazers (2-2) with 13 points. Tyler Madison had 12.No. 8 ARIZONA 71, NORTHERN COLORADO 55TUCSON, Ariz. -- Lauri Markkanen scored 17 points, Parker Jackson-Cartwright had 15 points and a career-high 11 assists and Arizona pulled away over the final 12+ minutes to beat Northern Colorado.Kadeem Allen added 10 for the Wildcats (4-0).Gerard Davis scored 20 for the Bears (1-3). Chaz Glotta, a transfer from Southern Illinois, made 5 of 11 3-pointers for 15 points.Jackson-Cartwright, whose previous career best was five assists, committed just one turnover. He had none in the previous game against Sacred Heart.The Wildcats outscored the Bears 34-16 over the final 12:15.But most of the night, Northern Colorado -- picked by coaches and the media to finish near the bottom of the Big Sky Conference -- gave the Wildcats all they could handle.No. 12 CREIGHTON 86, MISSISSIPPI 77ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands -- Marcus Foster scored 25 points, and Creighton had to rally in the second half to beat Mississippi in the championship game off the Paradise Jam tournament.ddddddddddddKhyri Thomas added 16 points, Toby Hegner had 12 and Justin Patton 11 for the Bluejays (5-0), who trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and were down 50-40 with 18:44 left in the game.But Creighton began its rally at that point, whittling down the Rebels lead until tying the score twice, the last at 74-74 with 5:45 left. Thomas then put the Bluejays ahead to stay with his three-point play with 3:40 remaining.That ignited a 12-3 Creighton run to close out the game, capped by a pair of free throws from Thomas with 40 seconds left.Deandre Burnett and Rasheed Brooks scored 22 points each, and Cullen Neal added 10 for Mississippi (4-1).No. 16 WISCONSIN 74, TENNESSEE 62Bronson Koenig scored 21 points, Nigel Hayes had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Wisconsin opened the Maui Invitational with a win over Tennessee.Wisconsin (3-1) built a big early lead and rallied after Tennessee made two runs to take the lead early in the second half. Hayes hit a couple of big 3-pointers and the Badgers pulled away late to earn a spot in the second round on Tuesday.Wisconsin, in its third Maui Invitational, shot 56 percent and used its size advantage inside to pull down 11 more rebounds. Ethan Happ added 16 points for the Badgers.Tennessee (1-2) trailed by 17 midway through the first half before finding its footing in Maui.Shembari Phillips led Tennessee with 16 points, and Detrick Mostella and Robert Hubbs III had 12 each.NORTHWESTERN 77, No. 22 TEXAS 58NEW YORK -- Bryant McIntosh had 20 points and five assists to lead Northwestern to a convincing victory over Texas in the semifinals of the Legends Classic at Barclays Center.The Wildcats (3-1) will play Notre Dame, which beat Colorado 89-81, in the championship game Tuesday night.Northwestern opened the game with an 11-0 run and closed the first on a 9-0 spurt to take a 34-26 lead.The Wildcats opened the second half on a 10-1 run to go up by 17 points and the Longhorns (3-1) were never closer than 14 points the rest of the way.Scottie Lindsey had 16 points and Dererk Pardon had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Northwestern which took advantage of an out-of-synch Texas offense for the easy win.Tavin Mack scored 18 points for the Longhorns, who finished with 14 turnovers and just seven assists. Texas didnt help itself at the free throw line going 13 for 27. ' ' '