Montez Lands on Feet at Arkansas

Pitching coach Tim Montez, who lost his job when Cal State Northridge dropped baseball last month, accepted a job at Arkansas on Friday.

“What a relief to get this over with,” Montez said. “Professionally, there is no doubt it’s the right move for me. But for my wife and two kids, it will be tough to leave the home we bought two years ago in Newbury Park.”

Montez was pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for three years at UC Santa Barbara and was pitching coach in 1988 at Pepperdine, where he pitched from 1980-84. He also was an assistant at Montclair Prep, Esperanza High and St. Paul High.

“I feel like [Tim] is the right man for the job,” Arkansas Coach Norm DeBryn said. “He has developed a reputation for being a good teacher and an outstanding recruiter. . . . His rapport with players has always been one of his strengths.”

*

Hired hand: Frozena Jerro has been hired as a women’s basketball assistant by Cal State Northridge.

Jerro, a former Arizona State standout, was a graduate assistant at Houston from 1993-95 and coached at King Junior High in Berkeley last year.

*

Malin upset: Top-seeded Gene Malin of Woodland Hills was upset, 6-3, 6-2, Friday by Jim Rombeau of Houston in the quarterfinals of the United States Tennis Assn. National 45 Men’s Hardcourt Championships at Westlake Tennis & Swim Club.

In other quarterfinals, Tom Wire of Westlake Village advanced when Dar Walters of Boise, Idaho, couldn’t continue after two sets. Walters won the first set, 4-6, Wire the second, 7-6.

In another match, Rick Rozen of Woodland Hills lost to Peter Bronson of Scottsdale, Ariz., 5-7, 6-2, 7-6.

Out of contention: Russell Surber of Flintridge shot a two-over-par 73 in the final round of the Rolex Tournament of Champions at Hilton Head Island, S.C., and finished in a tie for 20th place, 14 strokes behind the winner, David Gossett of Germantown, Tenn.

Surber, The Times’ All-Region high school golfer of the year at Flintridge Prep, had previous rounds of 72, 72 and 77, and finished with a 72-hole total of 294.

*

Infiniti qualifying: Roberto Rodriguez of Sherman Oaks defeated Noah Newman of Los Angeles, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals in a wild-card tournament for qualifying for the Infiniti Open.

Also advancing to the semifinals, which begin at 10:30 a.m. today at the Racquet Centre in Studio City, were Charles Hoeveler of Ross, Geoff Abrams of Newport Beach and Otis Smith of Los Angeles.

The winner of Sunday’s 11 a.m. final earns a berth into the qualifying tournament for the Infiniti Open.