Sports

300TH WIN

Fred Yanez showed little emotion March 30 after registering his 300th win as coach of Downey High’s baseball team.

“It’s done,” Yanez said after the Vikings edged Loyola, 3-2, in pool play at the St. Paul tournament at La Mirada High. “I kind of clapped my hands. I don’t jump up and down too much. I kept it pretty low-key. (The players) each shook my hand and congratulated me. It was nice. They were as much on edge as I was.”

Yanez, 50, in his 27th season as Viking skipper, has led his team to three San Gabriel Valley league titles and 12 playoff appearances.

“You just do it one year at a time,” he said. “All of a sudden it was 25 years. Now I’m coaching kids whose fathers played for me. In fact one of the fathers who was there (Wednesday) was on the team when we won our first game.”

Yanez said he was unaware of how many games he had won until two seasons ago when his wife, Kathleen, reminded him to check the records.

“I counted all the score books from all 25 years,” he said.

Now, Yanez said his goal is to win 301, which he isn’t taking for granted.

“We’ve kind of fallen on hard times the last couple of years,” Yanez said of the Vikings (6-7, 1-2 in league). “But I think we’re going to make a comeback. We’re playing really well right now.”

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How well Downey is playing will be tested Friday when the 49ers face Gahr, the No. 1 team in the area.

Gahr (10-2-1) played to a 4-4 tie with Diamond Bar in the final of the Santa Ana tournament March 30 when the game was called after 10 innings because of darkness. In the tournament, Gahr posted wins over Trabuco Hills, 8-2, Villa Park, 8-4, and Pacifica, 7-1. Gladiator junior Chuck Lopez was named the tournament’s most valuable player. In the four games, the right fielder went six for 12, with a homer, three runs batted in, two doubles, four stolen bases and two walks.

Several major league scouts have been taking a close look at Gahr senior left-hander George Castillo. Gladiator Coach Tom Bergeron said scouts from the Seattle Mariners and the Major League Scouting Bureau have watched Castillo pitch. This season, Castillo is 5-0 with 44 strikeouts, three walks, and has an 0.20 earned-run average in 34 2/3 innings.

Still, Bergeron thinks his ace hurler needs more development before turning pro.

“I expect him to go to college,” Bergeron said. “He’s a couple years away. He’s a good kid, but doesn’t have the grades to get a scholarship (to a four-year school). He knows he’s going to go to a JC. Cerritos and Fullerton want him. He’ll probably go to one of those two schools.”

In the San Gabriel Valley league opener this season, Castillo had 12 strikeouts and no walks in a two-hit 1-0 victory.

Since his first year as Gladiator coach in 1972, Bergeron, 55, has had five players make the major leagues: Danny Boone (San Diego Padres, Houston Astros), Tommy Nieto (World Series rings with St. Louis Cardinal and Minnesota Twins), Al Osuna (Astros, recently traded to Dodgers), Brett Barberie (Florida Marlins) and Shane Mack (Minnesota Twins).

Bergeron’s children are having their own baseball success. Greg plays second base for Loyola Marymount. Also playing second base, for New Mexico, is Renee. Sherri is a pitcher/first baseman for Los Alamitos High.

ANOTHER HONOR

Jelani Gardner, a 6-foot-6 guard from St. John Bosco, has been named to the All-Southern Section team. Gardner had already been selected as Southern Section Division II player of the year.

During his senior season, Gardner, a point guard, averaged 25.7 points and six assists and led the Braves to the I-AA championship over Dominguez. He has narrowed his college choices to UCLA, Arkansas and Cal and will announce his decision on April 15.

Joining Gardner on the Southern Section team are two members of the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits: senior forward Zerrick Campbell, who will attend the University of San Francisco, and James Brown, a junior guard and one of five underclassmen on the 15-member first team. Mater Dei senior Miles Simon was selected the Division I-A Player of the Year. Simon’s Monarch teammate and St. John Bosco transfer, Schea Cotton, was selected to the first team. Long Beach Wilson junior Michael Batiste was named to the second team. The teams are selected by a panel of sportswriters and is sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Foundation.

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Long Beach Poly basketball player Zarrick Campbell has given an unwritten commitment to the University of San Francisco.

LONG BEACH STATE

The Long Beach State baseball team will play a three-game series this weekend against No. 1 ranked Cal State Fullerton (26-6, 5-1 in the Big West Conference) at Blair Field. Game times are 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1:05 on Sunday.

The 49ers (23-7, 4-2 in the Big West Conference), who are ranked No. 7 nationally by Collegiate Baseball Magazine, completed a three-game Big West home sweep of New Mexico on Saturday.

Highlighting Long Beach State’s 6-5 victory Saturday was Rolondo Avila’s steal of home in the sixth inning that gave the 49ers a 6-4 lead. Avila leads the Big West with 25 stolen bases.

On Monday, Avila, a 5-foot-8, 170-pound junior center fielder, was named Big West player of the week. During the week he had three triples, reached base seven times in 13 plate appearances, scored five runs and stole five bases in five attempts. Avila, who came from Harbor College and Paramount High, leads the team in runs scored with 28.

Before the close game on Saturday, the 49ers had easily handled the Aggies.

In the 5-0 victory Thursday, senior right-hander Mike Fontana (7-0, 2.22 ERA) gave up two hits, struck out eight and walked four in pitching a complete game. Senior second baseman Eric Martins scored two runs and right fielder Ramon Smith went 3-for-4 with an RBI. On Friday, right-hander Scott Rivette and Andrew Wise combined for a five-hitter to lead Long Beach to a 7-3 victory. Rivette (6-1) pitched five innings, gave up four hits, three runs, one earned, and struck out four. Normally the setup man for 49er reliever Gabe Gonzalez, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Wise came on with a runner on base in the sixth and gave up only one hit and struck out two the rest of the way. First baseman Kirk Pierce went 3-for-4 with an RBI, Martins got two hits and drove in two, and shortstop Ryan Miller continued his hot hitting with a two-run home run.

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The Long Beach State women’s softball team swept a doubleheader Saturday against Pacific in a Big West matchup. In the opener, senior right-hander Stacy Van Essen (6-8) pitched a three-hitter in a 1-0 win. Kristin Frady’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth accounted for all the scoring. In the second game, the 49ers had 13 hits in a 14-5 victory. Freshman right-hander Christy Tucker (4-2) gave up eight hits to earn the victory. The 18th-ranked 49ers (19-15, 6-6 in Big West) will play a doubleheader Saturday at New Mexico State beginning at noon.

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Danielle Scott, the 1993 Division I volleyball player of the year and an All-Big West first-team basketball player, participated in her first collegiate track meet at the UC Irvine Quadrangular on Saturday.

Unlike another famous athlete trying to play a new sport, Scott had immediate success. The 6-2 senior took first place in the long jump with a leap of 17-3 3/4. She also came in third in the high jump at 5 feet.

The 49er women’s team won the meet with 72 points. Irvine and Santa Barbara had 45 and Cal State Fullerton had six. Long Beach State senior Stacy Pando stood out by winning the 1,500 meters at 4 minutes 39.51 seconds, and the 800 meters at 2:15.66. Teammate Laite Pale won the discus competition with a toss of 131-3. She also won the shotput with a put of 40-1 1/2. Le’Gretta Hinds of Long Beach State won the 100-meter hurdles in 13.88 and the 400 hurdles in 1:00.14.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Cerritos’ baseball team advanced to the final of the Allan Hancock tournament in Santa Maria last weekend before losing to the host school, 5-2. On the road to the championship game, Cerritos beat Cuesta, 4-3, in the first round and Harbor, 9-5, in the second round.

MISCELLANY

Some 6,000 athletes from around the world, including elite cyclists, duathletes, 5K road racers and in-line skaters, will take part in the inaugural Ride, Run & Roll Grand Prix Sports Festival on Friday through Sunday at the Grand Prix of Long Beach race circuit and Long Beach Convention Center. The events come a week before the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The festival includes 18 competitive events beginning with dual slalom mountain bike races Friday at 6 p.m. in the Long Beach Arena. The schedule resumes Saturday at 7:30 a.m. with events such as amateur and professional duathalon (run/bike/run) competition and 5K races for men, women and pros. Amateur and professional cyclists will race at the Grand Prix course on Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. Expected to take part is Chris Huber of Scotts Valley, Calif., the world’s fastest cyclist. Entry forms for all open events can be obtained by calling the hot line at (310) 451-4654 or at various cycling and sporting goods retailers in Southern California.

Also featured will be the largest consumer sports expo in the United States at the Long Beach Arena. Admission to the Expo is $7.