College Update: Crescenta Valley High alum Boeke powers to All-West Conference freshman honors

The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.

Ted Boeke (Crescenta Valley High, 2013) Loyola Marymount baseball sophomore: Following a senior season at Crescenta Valley in which he was voted the 2013 All-Area Baseball Player of the Year, success and accolades followed the big-hitting Boeke into the college level.

Working his way into the everyday lineup for Loyola Marymount, Boeke was an All-West Coast Conference All-Freshman Team selection.

Boeke’s freshman season with LMU ended with a .289 average (35 for 121) as he scored 14 runs and knocked in 10 through 45 games and 35 starts for a Loyola squad that went 32-24 and 17-10 in conference.

Now, Boeke is playing for the Victoria Harbourcats of the West Coast League for the summer. He’s batting .229 (eight for 35) with five runs, two runs batted in and a .386 on-base percentage.

Erin Ashby (Crescenta Valley High, 2011) Stanford softball junior: Accolades are nothing new for Ashby after her decorated career at Crescenta Valley. She added another at Stanford when she was bestowed National Fastpitch Coaches Assn. All-West Region honors.

The former All-Area Softball Player of the Year posted a .342 average with 36 runs batted in, six home runs, seven doubles, a .533 slugging percentage and a .440 on-base percentage.

Against Pacific-12 Conference opposition, Ashby led Stanford with a .489 on-base percentage and .552 slugging and 18 walks. Her .343 conference average was second on the team, but she was an all-conference snub.

Nevertheless, it was a stellar season for Ashby, who helped the Cardinal to a 30-25 record.

Ashby, who played all around the infield, played in 53 of her team’s 55 games, getting starts in all of them with 52 hits, 32 runs and 27 walks. She hit safely in the last four games of the season, going five for 13.

Tei Vanderford (St. Francis High, 2012) Tennessee baseball junior: Vanderford redshirted his firs season at Tennessee, but is back on the diamond for the San Luis Obispo Blues this summer.

Vanderford, a standout at Glendale Community College after his All-Area days at St. Francis, is 1-1 with the California Collegiate League squad. Through 16 innings, he’s tallied a 1.69 earned-run average with 16 strikeouts to just three walks.

The 13-6 Blues were set to host the Menlo Park Legends on Friday.

Keaton Leach (Glendale Community College, 2014) UC Riverside baseball junior: Following another solid season for GCC, Leach, in between transferring to UC Riverside where he’ll play next spring, is turning in a solid summer so far with the Santa Paula Halos of the California Collegiate League.

Leach got the start Thursday and threw seven innings, allowing two runs, while striking out three and walking four. He didn’t factor in the decision, however, as the Halos lost to the San Luis Obispo Blues, 4-3.

Leach, who went 2-2 with six saves and a 2.30 ERA during his sophomore year with GCC, is 2-2 this summer thus far with 41 innings of work, having struck out 20, walked 18 and posted a 3.73 earned-run average.

Chris Whitmer (Glendale Community College, 2013) Cal Lutheran baseball junior: Whitmer held his own contributing for the Kingsmen during their banner season.

CalLu’s season concluded May 16 in the NCAA Division III playoffs with a 12-inning loss to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 9-7. Cal Lutheran ended its season at 36-10, with its most victories since 1992, and won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.

Whitmer, a catcher, saw time in 27 games, scoring 11 runs, driving in 15 and tallying a .271 average and .394 on-base percentage. Perhaps Whitmer’s best game for the season came in SCIAC action against Caltech in a 16-0 win on April 27. He went two for four with a run, a double, five runs batted in and his first home run with CalLu.

Jin Park (Glendale Community College, 2013) Bakersfield golf junior: Park shot a three-round 247 in Bakersfield’s season-ending eighth-place finish at the Western Athletic Conference on May 2. Park tied for 41st in the tournament.

It also concluded the first season for Bakersfield under Greg Osbourne, the former men’s and women’s golf coach at Glendale college. Osborne also coached Park at Glendale college.

Park’s average score of 79.78 was fourth-best on his team as he golfed a team-high eight events.

Michael Timpson (Crescenta Valley High, 2010) Cal State San Bernardino golf senior: The Glendale Community College transfer wrapped up his college career this past season.

Through 18 rounds played in the spring season, Timpson turned in a scoring average of 76, third-lowest on the team.

His best result of the season was his last, as he tied for 19th with a three-round score of 226 (77-73-76) on the part 72 Brookside Country Club course in Stockton for the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Championship. Timpson was the top finisher for his team.

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Follow Grant Gordon on Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon.