Sundown for Area Trio

Three of the final five players cut by the Pacific Suns have ties to the region: Right-handed pitchers Derron Spiller and Trevor Leppard and infielder Derrick Swafford. Spiller, from Rio Mesa High, spent several seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals organization and Swafford, from Ventura High, played second base in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. Both were released last year. Leppard, a former Simi Valley High star, is injured.

Among the 22 players making the roster are left-handed pitcher Tighe Curran, who pitched at Newbury Park High and Ventura College, Eric King, a former major-league pitcher from Moorpark College and Royal High, and Dennis Moeller, a former major-league pitcher from Valley College and Cleveland High.

Scanning Sunday’s box scores:

Triple-A--Jacob Cruz (Channel Islands High) hit his fifth home run and went two for four to boost his batting average to .267 for Fresno. . . . Calgary’s John Snyder (Westlake) improved to 4-2 by allowing one run and four hits in eight innings of an 8-1 victory over Tacoma. . . . Roland De La Maza (St. Genevieve) allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings but had no decision in Omaha’s 5-2 loss to New Orleans.

Double-A--Gabe Kapler (Moorpark College, Taft) had four hits to improve his average to .296 and Robert Fick (Cal State Northridge, Ventura College, Newbury Park High) had two hits including his third home run to lead Jacksonville past Birmingham, 12-9. . . . Mike Mitchell (Rio Mesa) and David Newhan (Pepperdine) each homered in Mobile’s 10-5 victory over Orlando.

Class-A--David Skeels (Thousand Oaks) went three for four for Visalia and Robert Crabtree (Northridge) of San Jose pitched three shutout innings in Visalia’s 2-1 win.