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John Zant: Red-Hot Foresters Posing Extreme Fire Danger |
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By John Zant
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Monday, June 11 2007 |
Extreme Fire Danger -- that's a concern of the Forest Service earlier than usual this year because of the dry winter season, and it's also a concern of the baseball teams facing the Santa Barbara Foresters.
 John Zant
Manager Bill Pintard did not expect his team to do so well before his roster is fully loaded with players who are still due to arrive in Santa Barbara. One of those is Texas outfielder Kyle Russell, who is likely to join the Foresters despite being chosen by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth round of the major league amateur draft.
Texas coach Augie Garrido said he's optimistic that Russell, who led the nation with 28 home runs, will return to the Longhorns next year. The 21-year-old sophomore's asking price would force the Cardinals to exceed the spending limit for fourth-rounders. They have until Aug. 15 to sign him. In the meantime, he could swing wooden bats with the Foresters. Pintard said Russell will probably join the Foresters next week.
The Foresters already have a slugger in their outfield, and he comes from their own backyard. Jon DeAlba, a Dos Pueblos High grad who helped power SBCC into the state playoffs, hit a mammoth home run Saturday in San Luis Obispo and went deep again Sunday with a blast that proved to be the winning run. DeAlba will be going to UCSB on a scholarship in the fall.
Major league teams are staking their claims to several would-be Foresters, including infielders Justin Baum (Pacific) and Justin Snyder (USD), and pitchers Evan Reed (Cal Poly) and Chuckie Fick (Cal State Northridge). Another pitcher sought by Pintard is UC Irvine's Wes Etheridge, who was outstanding in a 3-2 victory over Wichita State that sent the Anteaters into the College World Series. The Brewers selected Etheridge in the 12th round.
Still, Pintard said this year's Foresters are going to be deep in talent as they make a run at their second straight National Baseball Congress World Series title. "I'm going to have a hell of a job keeping everybody happy with their playing time," he said. "If you're winning, it makes it easier. Anybody who complains is going to be told, 'Are you for the team or not?'"
So far, the club is taking care of the winning part. The Foresters play their next six games on the road. They will return to the UCSB diamond on June 19 against the Blues.
Speaking of hot teams, the Santa Barbara Breakers have won four consecutive games in the International Basketball League. They lit up the scoreboard in Las Vegas like the neon signs on the Strip, winning a pair of games over the Vegas Stars over the weekend by tallies of 155-127 and 141-130.
Congratulations to:
--Carpinteria's Noah Bryant, a USC senior who added the NCAA outdoor championship in the shot put to his indoor title. His winning throw as 65 feet, 9 inches.
--UCSB's trio of NCAA track and field All-Americans -- Stephanie Rothstein, fifth in the women's 10,000-meter run, her second top-eight finish; Eugene Bradley, seventh in the men's hammer with a throw of 213-6, topping his own Big West Conference record; and Amy Haapanen, eighth in the women's hammer (204-2). Also earning All-America honors was former Dos Pueblos high jumper Kaylene Wagner of Kansas State, who went out at 6 feet but managed to place eighth.
--Don Ford, who astutely summed up this year's NBA playoffs when he said the true championship series was San Antonio vs. Phoenix. The Spurs are overwhelming the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals.
Good luck to:
--Four spirited cyclists representing the Kalyra Women's Racing Team and their support crew. Denise Clark, Jill Gass, Sonia Ross and Lisa Tonello will shove off from the Oceanside pier on Tuesday afternoon. Their destination: Atlantic City. They will be pedaling around-the-clock in a continuous relay, trying to break the four-woman team record in the Race Across America (RAAM). Their goal is to finish the 3,043-mile race in a little over six days. They have already achieved success in another mission: Raising money for Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara. |
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