Baseball Tournament Will Showcase Talent

Locke shortstop Harold Holbert, Hamilton infielder Avery Ware, Crenshaw first baseman Carl Johnson and Compton Centennial catcher Andrew Touissant are some of the players to watch in the sixth annual RBI/Chet Brewer baseball tournament that begins April 15 at several college sites.

The 16-team tournament, begun by the organization Reviving Baseball in Innercities (RBI), is underwritten by the Kevin Brown RBI Academy for Excellence, started by the Dodger pitcher with a $1-million donation after he signed with L.A. before the 1999 season.

Tournament games will be played at Pepperdine, USC, UCLA, Loyola Marymount, Long Beach State, Cal State Los Angeles and East Los Angeles College.

Teams participating are defending champion Venice, Locke, Compton Centennial, Crenshaw, Fremont, Dorsey, Wilson, Bell, Marshall, Garfield, Bell Gardens, Hollywood, Hamilton, Hawthorne Leuzinger, Van Nuys and University.

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Tommy Johnson of Crenshaw, the City Section boys’ basketball player of the year, is among the seniors from across the nation who will play in the fourth annual Dada All-Star Classic at the Pyramid on April 15.

Johnson, who has signed with Washington State, will be joined on the West roster by Andrew Zahn of Redondo Union, Travon Bryant of Long Beach Jordan, Robert Turner of Anaheim Western, Ellis Myles of Compton Centennial, Keith Brooks of Compton Dominguez and Wesley Stokes of Long Beach Poly.

The U.S. roster includes two UCLA signees--center Josh Moore of Jersey City (N.J.) and forward T.J. Cummings of Homewood-Flossmoor (Ill.)--and one USC signee, guard Desmon Farmer of Flint Northwestern (Mich.).

The All-American game will begin at 3 p.m.

A Southern California all-star game will precede it at 1 p.m.