Redondo Volleyball Players Suspended

Several members of the Redondo High boys’ volleyball team have been suspended for using alcohol and marijuana Friday night during their stay in Poway for a weekend competition, players and an administrator said.

Principal Bob Paulson said about 10 players on the varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams were suspended after they were caught with beer in their room. Players said marijuana was also used by some of those suspended.

Because of the incident, Redondo pulled out of a junior varsity tournament Saturday at Poway High in San Diego County and returned home. The varsity team played Poway in a nonleague match Friday.

“Some young kids did wrong and now they are being punished,” Paulson said. “To turn our heads the other way would be wrong. But to make these kids pay for this the rest of their lives would be wrong too.”

Paulson said the severity of the suspensions varied, depending on the degree of participation in the incident. He said several varsity players were not allowed to play in Tuesday night’s Ocean League match against Mira Costa and might be held out of future matches.

Redondo was without two starters in a 15-4, 15-4, 10-15, 15-1 loss to visiting Mira Costa. It was the Sea Hawks’ first defeat in four league matches, dropping their overall record to 6-5.

Paulson said seniors would be punished more severely than underclassmen because of a “behavior regulations” contract every senior was required to sign prior to the start of the spring semester. He said suspended seniors would have to give up a privilege such as senior excursion day or the prom, which is Saturday night.

Suspended players will also be required to undergo counseling, Paulson said.

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How good a season is West Torrance infielder Derek Nicholson having?

Entering Wednesday’s Pioneer League game against North Torrance, the junior was leading the South Bay with a .556 batting average (30 for 54) and tied for the area lead with nine doubles and 23 runs batted in.

“He’s having a player-of-the-year type of season,” West Coach Harry Jenkins said. “The best thing about him is that he’s been consistent all year. If he goes zero for two or zero for three, he’ll come back (the next game) and hit three for three or four for four.”

Nicholson, an All-Pioneer League second-team selection as a sophomore, has played second base and shortstop this season and bats third in the lineup.

“He’s a classic-looking hitter,” Jenkins said of Nicholson, who bats left and throws right. “Scouts say they like his approach to the ball.”

Nicholson’s grand slam in the fourth inning Saturday lifted West to a 9-5 victory over South Gate in the quarterfinals of the Redondo tournament. It was the third home run of the season for the 6-foot, 185-pounder.

In two of his most impressive outings, Nicholson went three for three in a loss against nationally ranked Simi Valley and five for five and hit for the cycle in a league victory over Centennial.

“I think he has a pretty good future,” Jenkins said. “All the scouts like him, but we’re a long way from that. It’s going to be neat to have him back for another season. He can really swing the bat.”

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Jenkins calls West pitcher Jason McMinn a “little, funny side-arm guy.”

But there’s nothing laughable about the way McMinn has pitched. The senior right-hander appeared in 13 of West’s first 16 games, mostly in relief, and has a 3-0 record with three saves and an 0.84 earned-run average.

“He’s been a real pleasant surprise,” Jenkins said. “He comes in long relief and he closes out a lot of games.

“I’ve had some pretty good pitchers in the past. Usually you give the ball to those kids and say, ‘See you in the seventh inning.’ It’s unusual to see a successful high school pitcher who’s an all-purpose reliever.”

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Basketball standouts Sean Harris of Morningside and Givon Hester of Inglewood have been expelled along with an Inglewood freshman for bringing two handguns on school grounds.

The juveniles were arrested March 15 after Inglewood police found a loaded 9-millimeter handgun and a .25-caliber handgun in the car Hester was driving, police said. Harris, 17, and the 14-year-old freshman were passengers in the car, which police stopped in a rear parking lot at Inglewood High after receiving an anonymous report of a suspicious vehicle with armed individuals.

Harris and Hester, who are seniors, must try to find another school district to accept them so they can graduate. Harris, a straight-A student, was a candidate for class valedictorian at Morningside.

The students were suspended by their respective schools after their arrests. Harris’ suspension prevented him from playing in the State Division III championship game March 20 in Oakland. Playing without their starting point guard, the Monarchs were beaten by Palo Alto, 79-59.

Charges of carrying a loaded firearm and carrying a concealed firearm are pending against the youths. Harris will be 18 on Saturday.

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El Segundo’s baseball team had an 11-game winning streak snapped Saturday night in a 4-0 loss to visiting Gahr of Cerritos in the quarterfinals of the Redondo tournament.

The defeat negated a fine pitching effort by El Segundo juniors Bill Brown, Dan Croxall and David Reed, who combined on a four-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk. But the Eagles had only four hits.

“We were a little flat,” said Craig Cousins, an El Segundo assistant coach. “It was our only game last week.”

Traditionally the Eagles have played in the San Luis Obispo tournament during spring break. But Cousins said the team did not compete in the tournament this season because of the demands of a 15-game Pioneer League schedule. This is El Segundo’s first season in the Pioneer League after several years of competing in parochial leagues.

Notes

West Torrance will play Lakewood at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Redondo in the semifinals of the Redondo baseball tournament. South Torrance plays Gahr in the other semifinal. The winners advance to the final May 1 at Redondo. . . . Hawthorne track Coach Kye Courtney, who guided the Cougars to seven state championships in the 1980s, has announced he will resign at the end of the season. Courtney, 51, who has guided the track program since 1979, will remain as Hawthorne’s athletic director. . . . Former Banning standout Tawan Hall, a defensive lineman, was one of two Nevada football players who were suspended after being arrested in connection with a campus incident. Hall was booked on a charge of battery. . . . The North Torrance boys’ volleyball team, ranked No. 3 in the Southern Section Division II coaches’ poll, improved to 8-1 on Tuesday with a 15-12, 15-12, 15-6 nonleague victory over visiting Peninsula. Robert Morgan led the Saxons with 18 kills.

South Bay Boys’ Baseball Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters

Rank, School, League: Record 1 El Segundo (Pioneer): 12-4 2 Peninsula (Bay): 12-5 3 West Torrance (Pioneer): 11-5-1 4 Westchester (Western): 14-5 5 Mira Costa (Ocean): 11-5 6 Redondo (Ocean): 9-7 7 Banning (Pacific): 9-5 8 Carson (Pacific): 12-8 9 San Pedro (Pacific): 8-7 10 St. Bernard (Mission): 8-7