LOCAL NOTES

Eric Valent and David Matranga were among the first 13 players to be invited to the USA Baseball National Team camp, which will open June 4.

Valent, a sophomore outfielder at UCLA, is a graduate of Canyon High, where he was a two-time selection to The Times All-Orange County team. Matranga, a sophomore infielder at Pepperdine, was a standout baseball and basketball player at Orange High.

Approximately 40 players will be invited to the camp, from which 24 will be selected for the national team, which begins its 25-game tour in mid-June in preparation for the International Baseball Assn.’s XII Intercontinental Cup Aug. 1-10 in Barcelona, Spain.

*

The Piranhas of the Arena Football League have acquired quarterback Ron Lopez from the Iowa Barnstormers in exchange for wide receiver/linebacker Nathan Burchette.

Lopez, 6 feet 5, 215 pounds, played for Glendale College and Utah State and spent the last two years as a backup in Iowa to All-Arena quarterback Kurt Warner. Lopez will battle James Guidry for the backup job. Guidry was acquired from Florida for quarterback Scooter Molander. Burchette was the Piranhas’ third-leading receiver last year.

*

Fullerton’s David Brookman, an All-Southern Section Division VII tight end and two-year All-Freeway League player, has committed to attend Brown, where he plans to play football, Fullerton Coach Julian Smilowitz said.