DIGEST : Eby Voted Best in the West by WAC

Cal State Sacramento pitcher Mike Eby, a left-hander from Westlake High, has been named the Western Athletic Conference Western Division player of the year by a vote of coaches.

Eby, a senior who twice defeated Cal State Northridge this season, also played at Pierce College and UCLA. Eby was 9-4 with an earned-run average of 3.41 and struck out 119 batters in 105 2/3 innings.

For the second consecutive season, Eric Gillespie and Jason Shanahan of Northridge made the team, though at different positions. Gillespie, an outfielder, was selected at catcher last season while Shanahan, a third baseman, was named at first base.

Shanahan, a senior, batted .341 and led Northridge with 15 home runs and 59 runs batted in. Gillespie, a sophomore, batted .355 and had 50 RBIs.

Designated hitter Andy Shaw, who batted a team-high .371 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs, also made the team. He was joined by junior right-hander Rob Crabtree, who was 8-7 with an ERA of 4.43.

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Simi Valley High baseball Coach Mike Scyphers said Tuesday the Pioneers have filed an appeal with the Southern Section to gain a Division I playoff berth, but Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley said late Tuesday his office has not received the appeal.

Scyphers said he believes the Marmonte League misinterpreted the league by-laws by breaking the third-place tie between Simi Valley and Westlake with a coin toss, which Westlake won.

Simi Valley swept Westlake in two regular-season games, but the teams finished among four teams tied for second place. Royal took the No. 2 spot and league representatives voted twice, 5-3, to use a coin toss rather than head-to-head to break the third-place tie between the Pioneers (17-9, 9-5) and Warriors (19-6, 9-5).

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As expected, Cal Lutheran has been selected for a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III West regional baseball playoffs.

The Kingsmen (23-12) will face La Verne (32-8) in a best-of-five series starting at 3 p.m. Thursday. The series will continue with a doubleheader starting at noon Friday and a doubleheader beginning at noon Saturday, if necessary. All games will be at La Verne.

The series winner will advance to the Division III championships May 25-30 in Salem, Va.

Cal Lutheran was 0-3 against La Verne this season.

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Nevada Las Vegas freshman third baseman Ryan Hankins, a graduate of Simi Valley High, was named to the All-Big West Conference team.

Shane Slayton and Rico Lagattuta of Nevada were named to the second team. Slayton, a graduate of Royal, is an outfielder and Lagattuta, a graduate of Westlake, is a left-handed reliever. Both are juniors.

Golf

Jason Gore of Valencia, a two-time Pacific 10 Conference champion who played at Hart High, shot consecutive 70s to earn medalist honors during qualifying for the 84th State amateur championship at Rio Bravo Resort in Bakersfield.

Gore, who played at Arizona and has transferred to Pepperdine, won by nine shots. Andy Houlette of Saugus shot 150 and qualified by making a birdie on the first playoff hole.

Michael Turner of Van Nuys shot 145 and James Ashton of Woodland Hills shot 147 to advance in a qualifier held at Soboba Springs Golf Course in San Jacinto.

The American Golf Corporation has signed a long-term lease to operate the private Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley. American Golf runs several courses in the area, including Knollwood, Vista Valencia and Brookside.

Valencia Country Club, site of a U.S. Open sectional qualifier June 5, has been ranked the state’s 25th-best course by Golf Digest.

Miscellany

Cal State Northridge seniors Jason Shanahan and Kathy Blake-Small have been selected student-athletes of 1994-95 in a vote of Matador head coaches.

Shanahan, a senior third baseman from Missoula, Mont., set or tied school single-game records for homers in an inning (two), in a game (three) and runs batted in (eight) against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on April 22.

He led the team with 15 homers and 59 RBIs, and has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.41.

Blake-Small, a 1993 third-team All-American softball pitcher, became the third player in school history to win 20 games in a season with a 3-1 victory over Fresno State on May 5.

She is 85-25 in her Northridge career, the third-highest victory total in school history.

A dinner honoring retiring Grant High tennis and cross-country Coach Milt Nemiroff will be held at Barone’s Restaurant in North Hollywood on June 16 at 4 p.m.

Nemiroff has coached at Grant since the school opened in 1959 and led the Lancers to a City Section tennis title in 1974.

Information: Howard Levine at 818-781-1401, ext. 256.

Track and Field

Distance runner Ellen Muench of Temescal Canyon High in Lake Elsinore has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge.

Muench, fifth in the 1,600 and 3,200 in the 1994 Southern Section Division II championships, has bests of 5 minutes 2.11 seconds in the 1,600 and 11:09.00 in the 3,200.

Softball

Antelope Valley High was knocked out of the Southern Section Division III playoffs after being forced to forfeit a Golden League victory over Littlerock played last month.

League president Darrell Havens said the Antelopes used a player who was ejected from an earlier game before that player served a required one-game suspension.

The defeat dropped Antelope Valley into a third-place tie with Quartz Hill and Palmdale. The playoff berth went to Quartz Hill based on head-to-head record.

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Basketball

Monroe High selected former Oxnard assistant Allen Cavaness as boys’ coach. Cavaness will replace Paul Graber, who resigned after the Vikings finished 16-6 last season.

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Soccer

Grant Sawyer has been named boys’ coach at Chaminade High.

Sawyer, 24, played for England in the 1988 Olympics. He also played for Hamburg, a professional club in Germany.

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Diving

Ventura College diver Tannon Brown made the Junior College All-American team.

Brown, who will dive for UC Santa Barbara next year, placed third in the State in the three-meter event and fifth in the one-meter competition.

Contributing: Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Mike Lazarus, Bryan Rodgers.