OTHER SPORTS : Nicaragua to Bring Bats, Not Bombs, to Canyons for Exhibition Game

The Newhall Cats, made up mostly of College of the Canyons baseball players and coached by Canyons Coach Len Mohney, will play the Nicaraguan national team in an exhibition game Oct. 3 at Canyons.

“They just called and asked if we would play,” Mohney said.

The game was organized by Athletes United for Peace, a nonprofit group that has sponsored a 10-day tour called “Bats, Not Bombs.”

“We think sports can transcend politics and be a bridge to bring people together,” said Guy Benjamin, the former Monroe High, Stanford and San Francisco 49er quarterback who is executive director of the organization.

The Nicaraguans also will play Cerritos, UCLA, Cal State Long Beach, Stanford and Cal.

From the grapevine: For a while, rumor had it that former Canyons pitcher Frank Halcovich, the two-time state junior college player of the year, had suffered a career-ending injury.

That couldn’t be further from the truth, Halcovich said.

Contacted at his home in Tucson, he said: “I’m fine. In fact I just got back from practice.”

Halcovich is playing for the University of Arizona, where, he said, he will continue pitching and hitting for the Wildcats.

And the injury?

“I broke my right wrist in Alaska,” he said. “I got hit by a pitch. But it’s fine.