The Record's Sports Blog

Held pitches out of jam

Stephen Roberson — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:47:40 +0000

Updated 5:58 p.m.

Ballgame!

9-1 St. Mary’s.

The Rams will play a best-of-three series on June 1 and 2 at Pacific’s Klein Family Field for the Division 1 championship. A win will make St. Mary’s just the second team — and first from the south side of the section — to win three in a row. Elk Grove did it in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Updated 5:42 p.m.

Ferdun’s two-run single in the fifth gave the Rams an 8-1 lead.

Not sure if he ran through a stop sign or if the third-base coach waved him, but BC’s Bradley Bertuccio just got thrown out at the plate to end the top of the sixth … with his team trailing by seven runs. Oops.

Updated 5:20 p.m.

St. Mary’s just added three runs and now leads Buhach Colony 6-0 in the top of the fifth.

Buhach Colony loaded the bases with one out in the third, but St. Mary’s pitcher Sam Held struck out Robbie Dallas and got Bradley Bertuccio to fly out to right to end the threat.

Rams up 3-0 in third

Stephen Roberson — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:44:54 +0000

Sam Held had an RBI triple with nobody out in the bottom of the second to start a three-run rally for St. Mary’s, which leads Buhach Colony 3-0 in the third inning of the Sac-Joaquin Section southern championship. A win sends the Rams to next week’s section championship. Because the Thunder advanced through the loser’s bracket, BC has to beat St. Mary’s twice today.

Justin Davis: Man of Troy

Stephen Roberson — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:25:34 +0000

Lincoln coach Brian Gray and running back Justin Davis

Lincoln High junior running back Justin Davis, The Record’s 2011 Player of the Year, has made his college choice: USC.
Davis announced his decision today. I talked to Justin at the Division I section track championships, and he told me the decision wasn’t a difficult one.
“I knew it as soon as I visited there,” Davis said. “I had a feeling I didn’t need to go anywhere else. The other visits were just to make sure I was making the right decision.”
Davis’ first visit was to USC. He followed with trips to Cal, Stanford and Washington to see if any other school could match what USC had to offer. None could.
“They’re doing special things down there and I want to be a part of it. They want me to be the power back that they’ve been missing. … Every California kid’s dream growing up is to play for USC. That’s what I wanted.”

Lincoln product to announce college choice

Bob Highfill — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:35:28 +0000

On Wednesday, Eric McKinney wrote on We Are SC, powered by ESPN, Lincoln High junior standout running back Justin Davis has narrowed his college choices to Washington, Cal and USC and will announce his choice today (Thursday).
McKinney wrote: “The 6-foot, 195-pound back is the first in-state tailback and offensive player offered by USC in this class. … If USC can gain a commitment from Davis, it’s tough to overstate how important he would be to this class.”
Davis finished the 2011 season with 311 carries for 2,599 yards, fourth in California among those whose stats are posted on MaxPreps.com, and the most at Lincoln in records that date to the late 1970s. He ran for 39 touchdowns.

Hamilton talks about Junior

Bob Highfill — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:12:16 +0000

Edison High graduate Lynell Hamilton played college football at San Diego State. So, the 26-year-old former member of the New Orleans Saints witnessed first-hand the iconic status former Chargers linebacker Junior Seau had in the city.
Hamilton’s favorite restaurant in San Diego is Seau’s, a Polynesian surfer sports bar. I’ve been there. It’s great.
Seau committed suicide on May 2, just two years removed from his splendid 21-year career in the NFL. Seau didn’t leave a note, so we don’t know the state of Seau’s mind when he shot himself in the chest. We can only speculate.
“He was Mr. San Diego,” Hamilton said. “He was a loveable guy, too. He was one of those guys you could walk up and talk to. He would accept anyone.
“It’s a scary feeling of what do you do now when you’re out of football. It takes time to really shake it off. The NFL is such a business. You don’t know what’s going to happen one day to the next. You always have to have a Plan B. I have no problems. I just always say it was a blessing. Everybody’s different. I’m just thankful I could play and get to the NFL.”
Hamilton is a free agent, having played for the New Orleans Saints from 2008-10. He soon will move to San Diego where he will be an assistant football coach at San Diego State.

Giant runner

Bob Highfill — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:49:20 +0000

Stockton resident Mike Rowerdink, 60, will compete in his record 38th consecutive Avenue of Giants marathon on Sunday at Redwoods National Park in Humboldt County.
Rowerdink trains at Victory Park in Stockton and ran in 35 consecutive Cal 10 races in the 1970s and 90s.

Seau’s passing a sad tragedy

Bob Highfill — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:52:15 +0000

Junior Seau was one of my favorite football players at my alma mater USC. He was one of the best linebackers in the NFL in his era. Word that he committed suicide was a shock. He seemed to have so much going for him. But we never really know the story behind the scenes of someone’s life.
Seau’s connection to Stockton is through Stockton resident and San Diego Chargers owner Alex G. Spanos and his son, Dean, who is president of the team. Seau’s brother, Savaii, lived in Stockton with his wife and children for a brief time. Savaii now lives in La Jolla and teaches at a school in the area. Savaii is a brilliant artist. Savaii and the Seaus always will have a special place in my family’s heart. Savaii met my mother Barbara some time ago and agreed to do a portrait in pencil of my niece, Brooke, off a photograph my mom provided him. It’s beautiful and still hangs in my parents’ home. Rest in peace Junior.

Franco backs Paterno

Bob Highfill — Wed, 02 May 2012 21:07:33 +0000

NFL Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris visited Lottie Grunsky Elementary School on May 1 to receive students’ feedback from a taste test of some of the products from his company, Super Bakery, which provides about 10 food and snack items to Stockton Unified School District. The items are compliant with government nutritional guidelines. An article about Harris’ visit was in the May 2 edition of The Record and an accompanying video is available for view at Recordnet.com.

Aside from speaking about his company and the importance of nutrition, Harris spoke in defense of his former college football coach at Penn State, Joe Paterno, and was critical of the university’s board of trustees in wake of the recent scandal involving former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who was indicted on 42 counts of child molestation from 1994 to 2009 and is awaiting trial.

The Sandusky scandal led to Paterno being fired by the university after nearly 46 years as head coach for “failure of leadership.” Paterno was alerted of possible wrongdoing by a Penn State assistant coach in 2002. Paterno reported the incident to his superiors but the information was not reported to law enforcement. Paterno died on Jan. 22, just more than two months after he was dismissed.

“I talked to Mike McQueary and what he told Joe Paterno there’s no way that Joe should have called the police that night. He had no information or not enough information to call the police,” Harris said. “He did the right thing in telling his superior and then his superior was meeting with Mike McQueary, who forgot who actually saw it, five days later. And so why was Joe even involved in that because he didn’t see it. He was just told and now they’re dealing directly with the guy who saw it, so that was all misleading and that was all to redirect the focus.”

Harris hopes Paterno’s name and legacy eventually are cleared.

“Right now, the Penn State community still is deeply divided,” he said. “We have the board of trustees and their position and then we have everybody else.”

Harris said Sandusky’s guilt or innocence is for a jury to decide. But he is steadfast in his support of Paterno.

“We want to right the wrong that was committed that night when Joe Paterno was terminated,” Harris said. “What we need now are new people on the board of trustees. The people that are there now haven’t really demonstrated the leadership that was needed during a very trying and troubling time.”

Thunder just ran into a better team

Scott Linesburgh — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 05:56:33 +0000

The Stockton Thunder is hurting right now, and so is its fans. But this wasn’t a bad playoff run, all things considered.

It swept Colorado in the first round, and was eliminated in five games by the best team in the ECHL. And make no mistake, the Alaska Aces should a heavy favorite to defend the ECHL Kelly Cup title.

Stockton is a good but sometimes inconsistent team, and Alaska is a veteran squad which feasts on mistakes. It seemed every time Stockton did something wrong, the Aces were there.

They had the best recond in the league for a reason, and the Thunder just couldn’t play at that level enough to pull off the upset.

It’s gut check time for the Thunder

Scott Linesburgh — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:49:31 +0000

There’s no way to put a good spin on this.

Th Stockton Thunder trailed the Alaska Aces 3-1 in the best-of-seven ECHL Western Conference semifinals, and could be playing its last game of the season on Saturday at Stockton Arena. The Thunder has been an odd team this season, fluctuatiing between great and awful at times, and there’s no way to predict what we’ll see in Game 5.

The guess is that Stockton will start strong, but the key is sustaining the level of play. Perhaps the players will relax and just give everything they have, since they have little to lose.

It’s gut check time, Thunder.