Hankins Will Sign With UNLV

SIMI VALLEY — Third baseman Ryan Hankins of Simi Valley High, a preseason All-American, will sign a letter of intent to play college baseball at Nevada Las Vegas, he said Tuesday night.

Hankins chose UNLV over UC Santa Barbara. He will join his Pioneer teammate Bill Scheffels, who signed with the Rebels during the NCAA early signing period in November, but Hankins said that wasn’t a factor in his decision.

“(UNLV) has a young team and I can go right in and play,” said Hankins, who has met the NCAA-required minimum score of 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Hankins is second in the Marmonte League in batting with a .482 average. He has scored a league-leading 26 runs and he is tied for the league lead in home runs with five. He has 14 runs batted in.

Hankins hit .500 with 12 home runs and 57 RBIs last year for the Pioneers (27-4), who lost in the Southern Section’s Division I championship game. Baseball America magazine named him a second-team All-American in the preseason.