October 27, 2007

National exposure for Memorial grad
By Lisa Houk / The Fresno Bee

Former Memorial High standout Anessa Patton and the eighth-ranked Santa Clara women's soccer team will play on national TV for the first time this season.

Patton, a two-time Fresno Bee All-Star, is a freshman starting defender for the Broncos, who will face the No. 6 Portland Pilots at 2 p.m. Sunday at Merlo Field in Portland, Ore. The West Coast Conference match will be aired live on ESPNU.

Patton has played in 16 games, and made her first college assist on Kiki Bosio's winning goal against then-No. 2 Notre Dame in the Broncos' 7-1 victory Sept. 7. Santa Clara (10-4-3, 2-2) is coming off a 2-1 conference loss to Gonzaga (10-5-1, 2-2), which earned its first-ever win against the Broncos.

John Spurgeon was hired last month as the Buchanan boys soccer coach.

He replaces Ahmad Tousi, who left Buchanan after one season to return to Iran to help coach the men's national team. Spurgeon, in his 20th year of coaching, led the Bears junior varsity team to a third-place finish in the Tri-River Athletic Conference and a 16-6-2 overall mark.

Spurgeon coached soccer at Hoover for seven years and then moved to North Carolina from 1998-2004. He played soccer at DeAnza College in Cupertino and also competed in an amateur league in the Netherlands for six months.

The high school soccer teams start practice Nov. 5.

College baseball

Former Clovis High pitcher Ben Whitmore has orally committed to play at Oregon.

Whitmore, a left-hander, is a sophomore at Fresno City College after playing one season at Fresno Pacific. He will play for former Cal State-Fullerton coach George Horton, who was hired by Oregon in September to restart its varsity program. The Ducks had not fielded a varsity baseball team in 26 years and was the only Pac-10 school without one.

Whitmore, who pitched just 202/3 innings for the Sunbirds (22-28) last season, made 12 appearances with a 1-0 record and an 11.32 ERA.