ROUNDUP : Cruz Paces West Team to Baseball Gold

Jacob Cruz of Oxnard had three hits, including a two-run home run, to lead the West to the gold medal in baseball competition with a 13-1 rout of the East at USC’s Dedeaux Field on Saturday.

Cruz, who graduated last month from Channel Islands High, was three for four and scored three runs. In four Festival games, Cruz was seven for 14 and scored seven times.

TEAM SABRE

Despite an outstanding performance from 27-year-old Gherman Zilbershteyn of West Hills, the men’s West team placed fourth at the Shrine Auditorium.

Zilbershteyn won three of his four matches in the West’s 11-5 first-round loss to the East. He was 0-3 as West fell to the South, 15-1, but rebounded in the final team pairing of the day.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Despite 27 kills from Neil Coffman of Chatsworth, the East fell to the North, 15-6, 15-13, 10-15, 13-15, 15-10, in the bronze-medal match at Loyola Marymount.

Coffman’s kill total tied two others for the match high. Raphael Tulino of Canoga Park had 15 kills for the North. The West, with Ken Lynch, a former Crespi High standout, faces the South in the gold-medal match today at 3:30 p.m.

ROWING

Bart Nichols of Camarillo, competing for the East, won a bronze medal in the men’s quadruple sculls at Ballona Creek in Marina del Rey. The East finished in 6:14.12 to bury the West (6:32.47).

CYCLING

Dara Rogers of Chatsworth won a bronze medal in the women’s 3,000 meter individual pursuit at the Cal State Dominguez Hills velodrome.

Rogers, the younger sister of men’s cycling standout Thurlow Rogers, clocked 4:10.772 to defeat Jani Poh of Allentown, Pa., who finished in 4:11.527.

TRACK AND FIELD

Melanie Clarke of Northridge won a bronze medal as part of the women’s 4x100 relay at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

Clarke’s West team finished in 46.61 seconds, nearly two seconds behind the first-place South (44.66). The East team was disqualified for running outside its lane on the third baton pass.

TAEKWONDO

Elbert Kim of Canoga Park defeated Tuoi Nguyen of Federal Way, Wash., to win a bronze medal in the featherweight division at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

TEAM HANDBALL

James Hop of Camarillo scored four goals to help lead the West to a 24-19 victory over the East in the gold-medal game at UCLA’s Wooden Center.

Jeff Fruin of Reseda had three goals and Denny Fercho of Camarillo added two for the West.