Sports

GOING, GOING GONE

Professional baseball players Bobby Holley and Nikco Riesgo had been toying with the idea for several few years.

They wanted to stage a competition similar to the “Home Run Derby” television series of the 1950s, which matched baseball greats such as Mickey Mantle and Ernie Banks.

Saturday, their dreams will come true.

The players, who are products of Long Beach youth baseball programs, have organized a home run derby at 2 p.m. at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Holley, who played for the Seattle Mariner triple-A affiliate in Calgary of the Pacific Coast League, and Riesgo, who plays in the Detroit Tiger farm system, will compete against each other. Both players are graduates of Hughes Junior High in Long Beach and Long Beach Poly High.

Admission is $10 and proceeds will go toward youth baseball in the Long Beach area and also help to promote youth baseball awareness. During the competition, the players will each take nine pitches an inning in a nine-inning contest.

There will also be entertainment, including musical performers, between innings.

Riesgo said they are hoping to stage the competition as an annual event.

“The idea is to keep it going,” he said. “Back in the old days, it was good fun for America and good for baseball. It’s also something that’s good for the kids growing up, so it should be a fun event once a year.”

They are hoping the event grows next year and are optimistic they can attract two major league standouts to compete against each other.

“We have verbal interest from David Justice (of the Atlanta Braves) and Frank Thomas (of the Chicago White Sox), and if we could get them to come out that would really get this going,” Riesgo said.

SECOND BEST

With its chances of winning the Big West Conference having nearly vanished, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team will set its sights on second place when it plays two conference home games this week.

The first is at 9 tonight against Big West leader New Mexico State. On Saturday at 8 p.m., the 49ers play host to traditional conference power Nevada Las Vegas. New Mexico State is 19-3 and 11-2 in the Big West and UNLV is 11-11 and 7-7.

Long Beach (14-8, 8-6) is tied for third in the conference with San Jose State. The teams trail second-place Pacific by a game.

The 49ers lost to New Mexico State, 94-76, and UNLV, 68-61, in the first round of conference play.

Long Beach was led by guard Rod Hannibal in the first game against New Mexico State. Hannibal and forward Mike Atkinson have been the team’s top offensive players.

The 49ers are coming off a surprisingly easy 80-58 nonconference win over Memphis State on Monday. They lost to Utah State and defeated Nevada in Big West road games last week.

PREPS

The official opening of the Southern Section track and field season is not until Monday, but many Southeast/Long Beach athletes appeared in midseason form in the high school portion of the 35th annual Sunkist Invitational indoor track meet on Saturday at the Sports Arena.

The most impressive team was the Long Beach Poly girls, the two-time defending state champions, who sparkled in the sprint events. Leading the way was Andrea Anderson, one of the top sprinters in the state last season. She won the 50-meter dash with a time of 6.54 seconds. Teammate Aisha Washington won her heat of the 500-yard run in 1 minute 11.7 seconds.

Also finishing among the leaders in their events were Poly’s Pam Simpson in the 500, Sherron Rhetta in the 880, Erin O’Keefe in the rated mile, Aminah Haddad in the 50 and Savant Williams in the high jump. The Jackrabbits also posted the fastest time of 10:10.1 in three heats of the 4x880 relay.

Two other top finishers among the girls were Gahr’s Stacy Edwards in the 880 and Miesha McKelvey in the 50-meter hurdles. McKelvey won her race in 7.68 seconds, the fastest of three heats.

Perhaps the most impressive boy in the meet was Michael Granville of Bell Gardens, who established a meet record and a national record for a sophomore with his time of 57.7 seconds in the 500. He also came back to finish second in the seeded 880 in 2:00.70.

Akinya Taylor of Dominguez was another standout, winning his heat of the 50 in 6.04 seconds. He finished just ahead of Poly’s Damien Murphy (6.07).

*

Although their cross-town rivals were having a big day at the Sunkist Invitational, the Long Beach Wilson girls traveled to the Simplot Games at Pocatello, Ida., and didn’t leave disappointed.

The Bruins, who could be one of Poly’s chief obstacles in its path toward another title, were strong as usual in the sprints. Lakiesha Backus, one of the state’s top sprinters last year, was fourth in the 55 meters with a time of 7.22 seconds and was among a foursome from Wilson who ran the 800-meter relay in 1:43.07--third fastest time in the nation this year.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Long Beach City and Cerritos colleges have been seeded among the top 10 teams in the community college men’s basketball Southern California regionals that start at 7 p.m. Friday.

Long Beach (26-6), which won its third South Coast Conference title in the past four seasons last week, is seeded No. 2 in the 32-team regional and will play host to No. 31 Mt. San Jacinto (15-15). The Vikings clinched the conference title with a 112-74 win over El Camino last week.

Cerritos (25-6), which finished second in the South Coast, is seeded ninth and will play host to No. 24 Santa Monica (20-10).

Ventura (31-2) is the top-seeded team in the regionals.

BRIEFLY

The Cerritos Artesia Little League’s Challenger Division, which enables physically and mentally handicapped youths to play baseball, will receive a $5,000 grant from the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles during the league’s opening day ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Cerritos Park East in Cerritos.

The funds will be used to purchase new uniforms and equipment for Challenger Division players. The grant was among $1,049,956 in funds that was awarded by the foundation’s board of directors in January.

Information: Ken Bodger at (310) 924-3456.

*

The Slam-N-Jam Basketball Development League will conduct tryouts for its Earnest Killum Blue Chip Division for high school players starting at 11 a.m. Saturday at Dominguez High.

Tryouts will be Saturday and Sunday and March 6-7 at Dominguez. There will be leagues for freshmen and sophomores, juniors and seniors, and players who are graduating this year.

The cost is $110 a player. Top players from the league will compete in the top 200 showdown tournament April 9-10.

Information: Issy Washington at (310) 532-0622.