June 7, 2007

South rises at Inland Valley All-Star Game
By John Murphy, Staff Writer

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - The South rose again Wednesday at The Epicenter.
It wasn't quite as devastating as General Sherman marching through Georgia, but the South raised a ruckus of its own with an eight-run third inning en route to a 12-6 victory against the North before an estimated 1,900 in attendance.

The South victory came in the Inland Valley High School All-Star Baseball Game, presented by the Daily Bulletin and the City of Rancho Cucamonga.

The South had two key hits during a seven-hit third inning during which it sent 12 batters to the plate against North reliever J.J. Costantino of Miller.

Diamond Bar's Gary Brown (three hits, two RBI) had a run-scoring triple and Norco's Brendon McQuillan (two hits, three RBI) had a three-run triple.

It was a nice way for Brown to cap his prep career. He graduates today and also will be watching the Major League Baseball draft with much anticipation. Brown, who has signed a letter-of-intent to play at Cal State Fullerton, may elect to go pro if he is selected in an upper round and receives his education thrown in.

The Brahma slugger said he's been contacted by nearly every major league team and has had scouts from 15 teams visit with him.

"(Today) is going to be a big day," he said. "It's almost here, so I'm not going to worry about it. I was just happy to be able to put on my Diamond Bar uniform and play one last high school game."

Brown showed his impressive speed on his triple. He has been timed in 6.4 seconds in the 60 and 3.85 running to first base.

That big third inning sucked the suspense out of this one, although the North did rally for some runs to make the outcome respectable.

Trailing 8-0, the North scored a run on a fielder's choice in the fourth and on an RBI single by Alta Loma's Garrett Adams in the sixth.

"I was glad we could score a few runs at the end," North coach Anthony Vasquez of Los Osos said. "But I think the kids had a good time."

"It was nice to play on a professional field," added Carter's Billy Hamilton of the North, who had a double. "I had fun."

But the South bounced right back in the sixth to re-establish control, 12-2, on a two-run home run about 350 feet over the fence in left field by Chino's Anthony Simmons.

A highlight for the North was the relief pitching of Alta Loma's Nick Hoover, who struck out the side in the eighth, prompting chants of "Hoo-ver, Hoo-ver" from his legion of fans.

"Our first and our last pitcher (Los Osos' Addison Reed and Hoover) pitched very well," Vasquez said.

Reed pitched two shutout innings to start the game.

Miller's Costantino endured a rough outing on the mound, but managed a run-scoring double in the ninth.

South coach Bob Sheehan of Chino recognized there wasn't a lot of edge-of-your-seat tension to this one, but thought the game overall was a success.

"It was supposed to be a good game, but we kind of pounded them in that one inning," Sheehan said. "We got some hits and they made one error that was unfortunate. But I think our kids had fun."