Casey Goes to Bat for Saugus Baseball

Saugus High has hired Casey Burrill as its new baseball coach.

Burrill, 29, played for Hart and just completed his second year as an assistant at Valencia.

He was an All-American catcher at USC and played one season in the Atlanta Braves’ organization.

Burrill replaces Doug Worley, who resigned after 25 years as coach at Saugus.

* Outfielder Jason Kubel of Highland High signed with the Minnesota Twins and will report to Fort Myers of the Class A Florida State League on Tuesday.

Kubel was selected by Minnesota in the 12th round of the amateur draft earlier this month.

* Charles Merricks of UCLA signed with the Colorado Rockies, who selected him in the 17th round .

The left-handed junior from Channel Islands High played center field for the Bruins, but he was drafted as a pitcher.

* Marshall Plouffe of Crespi, an All-Mission League pitcher, signed with Cal State Sacramento.

* The Jayhawks travel team, made up of 15 players from Pacoima, Arleta, Sylmar and San Fernando, is raising funds so it can travel to Tulsa, Okla., for the USSSA World Series July 16-22.

The team is comprised of 12- and 13-year-olds. Contributions should be made to the Jayhawks Baseball Travel Team, 13049 Gladstone Ave., Sylmar, CA, 91342.

* Pitcher Noah Lowry of Pepperdine is one of nearly 40 college freshmen and sophomores invited to trials for the USA National team.

Lowry, a left-handed pitcher from Nordhoff High, played at Ventura College for one season before transferring to Pepperdine.

TRACK AND FIELD

* Amy Thiel of Moorpark College, who won the women’s shotput, discus and hammer throw in the state junior college championships last month, has committed to USC.

Thiel, who has career bests of 49-6 in the shotput, 166-1 in the discus and 184-9 in the hammer, also considered Tennessee and Cal State Northridge.

Thiel set a national junior college record of 179 feet to win the hammer in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April, but teammate Angela Foster raised that mark to 185-0 in the Southern California championships last month.

* Erin Brzezinski of Thousand Oaks High, Southern Section Division II champion in the girls’ 200 meters, will attend Moorpark College.

Brzezinski has career bests of 12.50 in the 100 and 24.77 in the 200.

* Darren Quinn of Notre Dame High, the Southern Section Division III champion in the boys’ 800 meters, will attend Arizona but hasn’t decided if he’ll try to make the Wildcat track team as a walk-on.

* Senior Josh Spiker of Ventura High and junior Anita Siraki of Hoover will conclude their seasons in the National Scholastic outdoor championships at North Carolina State this weekend.

Spiker, who has signed with Wisconsin, will run in the boys’ mile Saturday night.

Siraki, who ran a school record of 10:18.50 to win the girls’ 3,200 meters in the state championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk on June 3, will run in the two-mile tonight and possibly the mile on Saturday.

GOLF

* Jeff Riddle of Camarillo High, the runner-up in the Pacific View League championships this year, is transferring to Royal.

BASKETBALL

* Kurt Keller, girls’ basketball coach at Kennedy for the last three seasons, has resigned.

* Benjy Taylor and Sean Farnham have been hired as assistant coaches at Pepperdine.

VOLLEYBALL

* Ryan Millar, former Highland High and Brigham Young All-American, has agreed to play in the Italian League once he completes his service on the U.S. Olympic team this fall.

* Doug Magorien of Taft High has resigned as girls’ coach, but will continue as boys’ coach.