Master’s Beck Is Back With the JetHawks

The 1997 Lancaster JetHawk roster, released Friday by the Seattle Mariners, includes two local players and nine who spent at least part of last season with the team.

Right-hander Chris Beck, who pitched at the Master’s College, returns to the JetHawks after spending last season in Lancaster, half the time on the disabled list.

Catcher David Skeels, a graduate of Thousand Oaks High, will be the third member of his family to play in the California League, following brothers Mark and Andy.

The team’s top prospect is right-handed pitcher Jeff Farnsworth, the Mariners’ second-round pick in 1996 draft and the No. 7 prospect in the organization, as judged by Baseball America.

Left-handed pitcher Damaso Marte, whom the Mariners protected on their 40-man roster in the off-season, also is a player to watch.

The JetHawks are scheduled to arrive in Lancaster today and play an exhibition game against the Mariners on Sunday. The regular season begins Thursday with a home game against the High Desert Mavericks.

The 25-man roster:

Pitchers--Beck, Jason Bond, Denny Bonilla, Farnsworth, Kevin Gryboski, Rob Luce, Marte, Eric Morgan, Rafael Rivera, Aaron Scheffer, John Thompson, Allen Westfall.

Catchers--Mike Martin, Skeels, Dusty Wathan.

Infielders--first baseman Shawn Buhner, first baseman James Clifford, second baseman Chris Dean, shortstop Luis Molina, middle infielder Joel Ramirez, third baseman Carlos Villalobos.

Outfielders--Tarrik Brock, Yuni Kim, Joe Mathis, Luis Tinoco.

On the air: All 140 JetHawks regular-season games will be broadcast on radio station KHJ, whose frequency is moving to 1470 in April, the team announced.

Last season the games were carried on KLOA, an FM station whose signal could not be heard outside of the Antelope Valley.

Sunday’s exhibition against the Mariners will be heard on KHJ at 1380.

Out of its league: Paraclete High will leave the High Desert League to join the Alpha League this fall. Paraclete is the only Los Angeles County school in the High Desert League and administrators decided to make the change because High Desert officials want to move to the Central Section.

Paraclete will fill a vacancy in the Alpha League to be left by Maranatha, which is moving to the Olympic League.

“It’s going to be different,” athletic director Margaret Neill said. “No one thinks it, but it’s more travel for us. If you take away Bishop and Kern Valley, the High Desert League was not so bad. But the Alpha is good competition.”