Cline, Beck lauded

Orange Coast College sophomores Matt Cline and Luke Beck were both

named first-team All-Southern California as voted by state baseball

coaches at last weekend’s state final four tournament, where the

Pirates were ousted in the elimination game Sunday.

Freshmen Daniel Cooper, Robbie Blauer and Stephen Schneider all

secured spots on the All-Southern California regional team.

Beck, the Orange Empire Conference Co-Most Valuable Player,

finished second in the Player of the Year voting for Southern

California to Eddie Baeza of Los Angeles Valley. Beck, who has

committed to Cal State Northridge, hit .344 with seven home runs and

40 RBIs while going 2-2 with a 2.42 ERA and eight saves this season.

In conference play, Beck hit .407 with a .669 slugging percentage

and posted six of his eight saves.

Cline, a two-time all-conference honoree, hit .344 with 12

doubles, three triples, 44 runs scored and a team-leading 18 stolen

bases this season. He committed just 11 errors in 272 chances for a

.960 fielding percentage at shortstop.

Cooper, drafted last June by the Montreal Expos [now the

Washington Nationals], led the Pirates with eight wins, all out of

the bullpen, to go with a pair of saves and a team-high 57 strikeouts

in 53 2/3 innings.

Blauer, a first baseman, tallied 71 hits, good for sixth on the

team’s all-time single-season list. He led the Pirates (29-18), who

made the program’s first state final four appearance since 1983, in

hitting at .362 and scored a team-high 45 runs with 37 RBIs. He

committed just five errors in mor than 450 chances.

Schneider shared team-high honors with Josh Banda after slamming

nine home runs and paced the Pirates with 44 RBIs while hitting .320.

Coast won a share of its first conference title since 1987 this

season.

The Pirates went 12-3 in 15 games leading into the state final

four, where it was eliminated in two games.

Mohs game Friday

* VOLLEYBALL: The 28th annual Dave Mohs Memorial Orange County

all-star volleyball matches will be played Friday at Newport Harbor

High, with the girls match at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30.

Both matches, for seniors only, will follow a three-game format.

There will be a silent auction for the Janna Klussmann Memorial Fund

in order to raise money for Andy Klussmann, whose wife, Janna, was

killed in an auto accident in June of 2004. The couple has four

children.

Newport-Mesa girls athletes included on the south team are Jordan

Smith, Lindsey Ensign and Tracy Lawson, all from CIF Southern Section

Division III-A champion Corona del Mar, as well as Newport Harbor’s

Kiley Hall. Local boys athletes playing on the south team include Tom

Welch, Kevin Welch and Ted Slaughter from Division II champion CdM,

Newport Harbor’s Brett Perrine, and Estancia’s Trevor Holmes.

Admission is $5.