St. Francis grad Nick Gentili garners more honors with Pomona-Pitzer
The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.
Nick Gentili (St. Francis High, 2009) junior, Pomona-Pitzer baseball: Gentili put himself in the conversation as one of the best offensive players in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this year, as he cracked the league’s leader board in several statistics.
Gentili was named to the All-West Region second team by the American Baseball Coaches Assn. on June 4 after he posted a team-high .401 batting average (59 for 147) to go along with seven homers, 41 runs batted in and 55 runs scored.
It’s the latest accolade in a season filled with them for the former Golden Knight, who was named to the conference’s first team and Capital One Academic All-American’s third team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Gentili’s runs scored and on-base percentage (.514) were conference highs this year. He placed second in slugging percentage (.707), doubles (16) and total bases (104) and was a standout in home runs (third), RBI (fourth), batting average (fourth) and hits (third, 59).
The Sagehens matched Gentili’s strong performance this season, as they finished 25-12-1, 19-9 in conference.
Matt Quintero (St. Francis High, 2008) senior, San Francisco State baseball: The former Golden Knight received the Dr. Hal E. Charnofsky Award at the San Francisco State Student-Athlete Awards Banquet in May. The award is given to the Gators’ outstanding male and female student-athletes in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. sport.
Quintero was also named to the 2011-12 Capital One Academic All-District VIII team, as the kinesiology major posted a 3.36 grade-point average and shined on the field with a .306 batting average (45 for 147) with three home runs, 13 doubles and 21 RBI in 43 games. The catcher also slugged .456 and posted a .363 on-base percentage for the Gators, who finished 17-33 and 14-26 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.
Quintero’s playing days aren’t behind him, though, as he signed with the Arizona Centennials, an independent professional baseball team in the Freedom Baseball League.
Anna Edwards (La Cañada High, 2011) freshman, Northwestern University softball: The Wildcats needed one more win against the University of Texas — a team it had defeated two days earlier — to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.
The Longhorns ended Northwestern’s season, though, with a pair of 5-0 wins in the double-elimination NCAA Austin Regional Championship May 20. Texas entered the loser’s bracket after it lost its opener to the Wildcats, 2-0, March 18.
While Edwards went hitless in the four-game regional tournament, the freshman started 57 and played all 58 games this season for Northwestern. She batted .207 (31 for 150) with 22 runs batted in, five home runs, four doubles and a .347 slugging percentage.
The freshman improved in the Big Ten Conference, as she started all 24 conference games and posted a .245 batting average (12 for 49) in that span with 10 RBI, 10 runs, three doubles, two homers and a triple that amounted to a .469 slugging percentage.
Northwestern finished the year with an even 29-29 record, 14-10 in the Big Ten to take fifth in the conference.
A.J. Kim (La Cañada High, 2009) junior, Vassar College baseball: Kim anchored the Brewers behind the plate all season, as the catcher maintained a .970 fielding percentage with five errors in 168 chances and caught 14 of the 25 runners who attempted to base on him.
The former Spartan also batted .245 (23 for 94) with 15 runs, 13 runs batted in and put together a .349 on-base percentage in his junior campaign.
Vassar College struggled this season with a 12-24, 10-16 in the Liberty League record.