College Update: Surrey saves best for last at Irvine
The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.
Elliot Surrey (Crescenta Valley High, 2012) UC Irvine baseball senior: Surrey bids adieu to Irvine in fitting fashion.
His four seasons as an Anteater came to a close on Thursday night as Irvine defeated Cal State Northridge, 4-1, in Big West Conference play.
Surrey was dominant to the tune of a three-hitter in which he tied his career-high with 10 strikeouts. It was the fifth complete game of his career and the last in a season that saw him earn second-team All-Big West Conference honors as announced on Wednesday. It was Surrey’s first all-conference honor.
Surrey held the Matadors scoreless until the ninth, but ended the game and his career with an exclamation point in the form of a strikeout.
“It felt good to finish it with a strikeout and know that I finished on top,” Surrey told the Daily Pilot.
The conclusion of Surrey’s career, and the fine fashion in which it ended, brought plenty of praise.
“I shook his hand and I said it was a pleasure catching him this year,” Irvine catcher Matt Reitano told the Daily Pilot. “He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever caught in my life, pounding the zone, out, in, up, down. He’s just an all-out competitor and pitcher. Elliot is an amazing person in the clubhouse and a great competitor on the field. I knew I had to be a wall behind the plate tonight, because he has been pitching here four years and, in his last game, I had to give my all to him.”
Surrey went 4-6 with a 3.65 earned-run average, turned in a staff-high 91 1/3 innings with 65 strikeouts to 26 walks as Irvine’s “Friday starter.”
Surrey concluded his career with a 19-17 record across 49 starts and 320 2/3 innings. He put together a 3.31 earned-run average with 239 career strikeouts.
“He’s been a warrior for us and we’ll miss him,” UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said to the Daily Pilot. “He has been a favorite and there is nothing not to like about him. He was really good tonight and I’m glad this happened for him.”
Surrey’s greatest season with the Eaters was likely his second, as he had an 8-5 record with a 2.32 ERA and pitched magnificently in the postseason, one that saw UC Irvine advance all the way to the NCAA College World Series.
Alas, 2016 did not go as well as the Eaters came up short in their quest for the postseason for a second straight year, going 31-25 with an 11-13 Big West Conference mark.
“It feels good to finish strong, especially the way things have gone team-wise and personally the last few weeks. Things have not gone the way we wanted them this year,” Surrey told the Daily Pilot, “but to cap it off like this puts a good feeling in my heart, knowing I gave everything I had out there for this team. I’m proud of that.”
Jonah Jarrard (Glendale Community College, 2015) The Master’s College baseball sophomore: The Master’s College’s stellar postseason run came to a close three games into the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Id.
TMC fell against Sterling (Kansas) on Monday morning, 9-7, in an elimination game.
The Mustangs began their series run with a 7-1 loss on Friday against Lindsey Wilson (Kentucky) before staving off elimination on Saturday with a 6-1 victory over Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
Jarrard started in all three games, the first and third as a designated hitter and the second as a catcher.
In the 6-1 win, Jarrard was one for five with a run batted in. In the season finale, he was also one for five with a run.
Jarrard finished his season batting at a .314 (53 for 169) clip with 24 runs, 31 runs batted in, 10 doubles, five home runs and a .462 slugging percentage.
The Master’s finished the season at 42-19 and captured a Golden State Athletic Conference title.
Brandon Van Horn (St. Francis High, 2011) The Master’s College baseball senior: Van Horn’s days as a Mustang and The Master’s College’s NAIA World Series run came to a close on Monday with a 9-7 defeat to Sterling (Kansas) in Lewiston, Id.
The Master’s went 1-2 in the World Series, concluding its season, which saw it win the Golden State Athletic Conference before winning the Santa Barbara NAIA First Round Tournament, with a 42-19 record.
Van Horn started all three World Series games, notching hits in each of the last two, going a combined three for 13 over the three games with two runs and two runs batted in.
In TMC’s season-ending 9-7 loss to Sterling, Van Horn’s final collegiate hit came in the way of a two-run home run.
It was Van Horn’s 11th homer of the season.
The shortstop played in 41 games, all of them starts, and hit .280 (44 for 157) with 36 runs, 31 runs batted in, 21 extra-base hits, a .567 slugging percentage with 17 walks and a .352 on-base percentage.
Ted Boeke (Crescenta Valley High, 2013) Loyola Marymount baseball junior: Boeke wrapped up his third season with the Lions.
It was a season of struggles in large part for LMU, which went 26-27 with a 13-14 mark in the West Coast Conference.
Boeke, a former All-Area Baseball Player of the Year, hit .205 (18 for 88) in 31 games with 25 starts.
Boeke had 15 runs, 13 runs batted in and three home runs.
Ray Barsemian (Crescenta Valley High, 2015) L.A. Pierce volleyball freshman: A former All-Area and All-Pacific League selection, Barsemian made an instant impact with the Brahmas.
The former Falcon was the Brahmas’ kill leader on the season, totaling 276 (3.68 per game) to go along with 69 digs and 16 blocks. Barsemian had a season-high 27 kills twice, coming in back-to-back matches on March 4 at El Camino in a four-game loss and on March 9 in a four-game loss at home against Long Beach. Barsemian tallied more than 20 kills on two other occasions.
Another Crescenta Valley product, Noah Klotthor, played in all 20 matches, as well. The freshman libero led the Brahmas with 163 digs and added 14 assists and 11 kills. Klotthor tallied double-digit digs in nine matches, with four straight matches of double-digit digs during one span, including a season-high 18.
Pierce finished in a tie for fourth place in the Western State Conference with a 5-7 conference mark and had a 7-13 record on the season.
