By Scott Craig

Despite overcast weather conditions, baseballs were flying around Russell Carr Field July 6 as about 100 of the best high school baseball players from the Los Angeles County and San Fernando Valley regions took part in an exclusive tryout. Nearly 90 major league scouts and college coaches evaluated the prospects during the first day of Area Code Tryouts, which are free and open to public viewing.

In the morning, players went through a typical pro-style workout, including timed running, infield and outfield evaluations and batting practice. In the afternoon, the top players were invited to a simulated game to face some of the nation’s best pitching.

Tryouts for players from Orange County, Riverside, the Inland Empire and San Diego regions will be held Wednesday, July 7, beginning at 9 a.m. The final tryout, which will feature the best of the players from the initial rounds, will be Thursday, July 15, at Carr Field.

Many of the best high school baseball prospects will be making their way to Russ Carr Field on the campus of Westmont College next month to participate in the Area Code Tryouts.

“The Area Code Tryouts are run as a typical pro-style workout and evaluation that attracts a large number of college coaches and major league scouts,” said Westmont Baseball Head Coach Robert Ruiz. “It’s a consolidated workout with some of the best talent in the state. Since California is such a great baseball state, it’s a pretty exciting event.”

First established in 1987 as a showcase for California high school students, the Area Code Tryouts have become a premier national event for the evaluation of high school baseball players. Over the course of the summer, major league teams conduct regional tryouts across the country with the aim of putting together a team to compete in the Area Code Games in August. This year’s games will be held August 5-10 at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Head Coach Robert Ruiz has announced the first Westmont College Baseball Prospect Camp to be held July 8-10 at Russ Carr Field. The camp is designed to integrate instruction, evaluation and live game competition while exposing prospective students-athletes to the Westmont College community. Participants can choose to stay on campus overnight or attend as a day camper.

The Westmont coaching staff and local college coaches will handle instruction and evaluation. The camp includes intense training and conditioning with written performance evaluation and video analysis. Strength training will also be provided.

For additional information, please download the camp information and registration form or contact the Westmont Baseball office by phone (805-565-6779) or email (rruiz@westmont.edu).

Westmont center fielder Terrell Wong has been named to the 2010 Rawlings® – NAIA Gold Glove Team. The award recognizes nine individuals, one at each defensive position, based on their fielding success. The recipients are selected by the NAIA-American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-America Selection Committee.

“We are really excited for TK and proud of him,” said Westmont Head Coach Robert Ruiz. “It is nice to see him receive recognition on a national scale for the great job he did all year.”

Wong, who hails from Burbank, produced an error-free season while recording 143 putouts and six assists. Due to a strong and accurate throwing arm, Wong threw out several runners attempting to score from third and kept many more from making the attempt. Wong started all 47 games for the Warriors this season.

“It is really important to have a guy in center field, especially at our field, that can cover ground in both gaps and be a vocal leader in the outfield,” said Ruiz. “He made some real outstanding plays but probably more importantly he made the routine plays, got the ball into cuts quickly and kept runners from advancing. Those things don’t necessarily show up in the statistics or the highlights, but he did them consistently well all year.”

In a ceremony held outside the new Westmont Observatory, Westmont President Gayle Beebe presided over the dedication of four new facilities on the Westmont Campus – Westmont Observatory, Westmont Track, Thorrington Field and Russ Carr Field.

Athletic Director Dave Odell and Associate Athletic Director Kirsten Moore participated in the ceremonies, as did Track and Field Coach Russell Smelley and Men’s Soccer Coach Dave Wolf. Women’s Soccer Coach Kristi Kiely and Baseball Coach Robert Ruiz were also on hand to participate in the ribbon cutting to the new facilities.

Odell shared a conversation which he had regarding the new facilities with his son, Walker. The seventh-grader described the new fields as Westmont’s renaissance.

Tim Leary earned a complete game victory and hit a game winning home run as Westmont Baseball (13-34, 9-26 GSAC) split with Azusa Pacific (20-29, 13-23) in the final day of the season for both teams. Azusa Pacific pounded out 18 hits in the first game to claim an 18-4 victory before Leary took the mound in game two and led the Warriors to a 2-1 win.

Hits were hard to come by for both teams in the second game. Through four innings Leary had given up just one hit and Azusa Pacific’s Garrett Hodges allowed only one walk. Both pitchers threw complete games.

Asked how the pitching dual affected him, Leary responded, “It made me want to battle more. It motivated me and gave me the fire to make sure I don’t give up runs and don’t give up hits. I felt like everything was working and that I was throwing everything for strikes.”

Due to Santa Barbara’s extended rainy season, Tuesday’s tennis matches and Wednesday’s baseball games have been postponed.

Westmont men’s and women’s tennis will make up their schedule matches with Vanguard on Monday, April 26. The men will begin at noon with the women starting at two o’clock. Both matches will be played at the Abbott Tennis Courts.

Baseball has moved its doubleheader with Point Loma Nazarene back one day. The two teams will square off on Thursday, April 22 at Russ Carr Field. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.

The Warriors collected all six of their hits in the fifth inning and posted seven runs as Westmont Baseball (11-28, 7-21 GSAC) earn a 7-1 Golden State Athletic Conference victory over Concordia (22-19, 12-16 GSAC) in the second game of a doubleheader at Russ Carr Field. The Warriors dropped the first game 8-1.

Tim Leary pitched a complete seven-inning game, allowing just one run on four hits. The big right-hander allowed two walks and struck out four. With the win, Leary improves his record to 2-2.

Right fielder Coby Cress led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk and then advanced to third on a double down the right field line by first baseman Colten Christianson. That brought up center fielder Terrell Wong who put the Warriors up 3-1 with a home run to left.

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