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Updated at 4:09 p.m., Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Nationals wear Virginia Tech hats in tribute to victims

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals wore Virginia Tech baseball caps during tonight's game against the Atlanta Braves as a tribute to the victims of the shooting rampage at the school.

Nationals players wore the burgundy hats with "VT" in orange when they took the field for the top of the second inning, and the team said they'd keep them on for the rest of the game.

Manager Manny Acta, pitching coach Randy St. Claire and other coaches wore white "VT" caps with burgundy stitching.

The Nationals said the idea of wearing the Virginia Tech caps came from a fan from Calvert County, Md., who e-mailed team president Stan Kasten. The plan was to wear the caps from the beginning of the game, but a truck bringing them from Virginia got stuck in traffic.

The Nationals held moments of silence for the victims of Monday's shooting before their home games Monday and Tuesday. Washington's RFK Stadium is about 4 hours away from the university's Blacksburg campus.

Miami baseball will travel to Virginia Tech with extra security

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami's baseball team will travel to Virginia Tech this weekend as scheduled, though it'll be with additional security.

Speaking one day after a gunman killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus before shooting himself — the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history — Miami coach Jim Morris said today that he doesn't believe his team will be in an unsafe environment, but is adding extra protection to put his players' minds at ease.

"I just want our guys to feel comfortable," Morris said.

Morris called Virginia Tech coach Peter Hughes on Tuesday to offer his condolences.

"They want to try to get everything back to normalcy as soon as possible on campus," Morris said. "There is more security on campus than the rest of state of Virginia right now."

Miami's players aren't certain what to expect on this trip.

"It could be a down game or they could want to lift up the school and want to play hard," said Scott Maine, who's expected to be the Hurricanes' starting pitcher when the series opens Friday. "Who knows? It is so soon from that event,"

The shootings were especially horrifying for Miami outfielder Jonathan Weislow, a freshman from Vienna, Va., who knows several Virginia Tech students.

"All of my friends from high school went there so I immediately starting thinking if my friends were OK," Weislow said. "Everyone that I talked to was just panicking and said it was just unreal."

The Hurricanes will be wearing black armbands in memory of the victims.

"Everyone will be thinking about it," Morris said. "There is no question about that."

Wright's brother safe after Virginia Tech massacre

PHILADELPHIA — David Wright quickly reached for his cell phone when he heard about the Virginia Tech massacre. It took a while before the All-Star third baseman knew his younger brother was safe.

"Never in your wildest dreams do you expect something this cruel and this senseless to happen, especially in the United States at a college campus in such a nice community," Wright said before the New York Mets played the Philadelphia Phillies last night.

"You wonder what goes through someone's mind to do that. You can't fathom something like this. You get angry. You question what goes through his mind. My heart goes out to all the families."

Stephen Wright is a 21-year-old engineering major at Virginia Tech. David Wright was with the Mets in Philadelphia when he heard about the shootings Monday morning. Phone lines were tied up so it wasn't until 2 p.m. EDT that David spoke to his brother. He learned shortly before from another brother, Matthew, that Stephen was unharmed.

"He was shaken up seeing his classmates murdered," Wright said. "It's tough. It could've been anybody. These kids were in the wrong place at the wrong time."