SportsScope : Bronco Slugger Goldbach Named 2nd-Team All-American

The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team didn’t win the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title or reach the NCAA Division II playoffs.

But the Broncos have the most players among CCAA teams on the Division II All-American team.

The Broncos, who finished second in the CCAA at 17-13 and 24-28 overall, placed catcher Chris Goldbach on the second team and outfielder Chris Butterfield and third baseman Dave Hajek on the third squad.

Outfielder Rex De La Nuez of Cal State Los Angeles was named to the second team.

For Goldbach, the selection caps a brilliant senior season. Selected CCAA Most Valuable Player, Goldbach led the conference with a .387 batting average, 53 runs batted in, 79 hits and 19 doubles and was second with seven home runs.

Butterfield, a junior, finished with a conference-leading nine home runs, a .361 batting average and 36 RBIs. Senior Hajek led the Broncos in runs with 56 and stolen bases with 16 and batted .354.

De La Nuez, a junior, topped the Golden Eagles with a .361 average, 17 doubles, 44 RBIs and 22 stolen bases and was second with seven home runs.

Karen Hecox of South Hills High in West Covina, considered one of the top prep distance runners in the state, has been invited to compete in the high school girls mile at the Jack in the Box Invitational Track Meet on Aug. 6 at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

Hecox, a junior, finished third in the 1,600 meters in a swift 4:55.48 at the CIF state track meet last week. Hecox won the state title in the 3,200 as a sophomore and posted the fastest time of 10:41.23 in the 3,200 at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet two weeks ago.

Among the other top milers expected to compete are Becky Spies of Livermore, Deena Drossin of Agoura, Reyna Cervantes of Montebello and Ashley Black of Palos Verdes.

Two high school teams from the San Gabriel Valley have been honored as academic champions as part of the CIF Southern Section’s annual Angels/Ford Academic Awards Program.

Pasadena Poly’s baseball team, which posted a combined grade-point average of 3.29, and the San Marino girls basketball squad, which compiled an average of 3.59, received awards along with teams from 19 other sports.

Seven boys and 11 girls from the valley were listed among student athletes of the year in the Southern Section.

The boys are Erik Bars of Azusa, Frank Sarver of Charter Oak, Art Gilliland of Claremont, John Akerboom of El Monte, Winston Chamberlain of Maranatha, Harry Joe of Rio Hondo Prep and Brian Sax of San Marino.

The girls are Menaka Vasudev of Azusa, Elizabeth Klatt of Bonita, Danielle Allen of Claremont, Patricia Perez of El Monte, Gloria Wang of Mark Keppel, Britta Jeromin of Maranatha, Carol Cho of Northview, Karen Miyake of Rio Hondo Prep, Roxy Protasovicki of San Marino, Amy Schroeder of Western Christian and Grace Moon of Wilson.

All posted a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and Chamberlain, Allen and Jeromin posted perfect averages of 4.0.

Four players have been added to the East roster for the 10th annual National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame All-Star Game on July 21 at Citrus College in Glendora.

The players are defensive linemen Tom Bell of Azusa and Eddie Andrade of Baldwin Park, wide receiver Walter Pittman of Workman and linebacker Jeff Parness of Wilson.

The game matches many of the top graduated high school seniors in the San Gabriel Valley.