By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
LA PUENTE — Bishop Amat baseball coach Andy Nieto, one of the winningest baseball coaches in Southern California over the last decade, announced Thursday he is resigning less than a week after earning his fourth championship in eight years at the school.
Bishop Amat started the season with four losses and was on the verge of not making the playoffs, but ended with ten straight victories culminating with last week’s stunning come-from-behind 4-3 victory over top-seed Palm Desert for the CIF-SS Division 3 title at Dodger Stadium.

Who will be the next baseball coach at Bishop Amat following Andy Nieto's resignation today?

— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) June 12, 2014

There was speculation for weeks that Nieto was considering leaving, and Thursday he told his team he was resigning both as coach and teacher at the school to pursue other opportunities.
“For me, I’m always seeking new challenges and new experiences,” Nieto said. “After a lot of thinking for me personally and my family, there couldn’t be a better time in terms of the timing.
“Things are at a very high level in where the program is and how I’m leaving it, and I wish everyone at Amat all the success in the future.
“In terms of what’s next for me, God willing, everything will work out.”
Whether Nieto is eyeing openings at St. John Bosco or Servite, which both compete in the tough Trinity league or a return to college remains to be seen.
“There are things out there, but for me nothing is concrete and nothing is on the table,” Nieto said.
Nieto was asked a few times during the playoffs if he was considering leaving, but said on multiple occasions he had no intention of resigning, repeating it again soon after the championship, but also noting that he never says never.
Continue reading “Breaking News: Bishop Amat baseball coach Andy Nieto resigns a week after winning his fourth CIF championship” »

Bishop Amat boys basketball and football camps are both this month.
HIT AND HUSTLE: Bishop Amat’s Hit and Hustle Football camp with head coach Steve Hagerty and crew is Saturday, June 21, from 9-3 p.m. (forcing you to miss World Cup Football, I know, I know). Applications for the camp can be found a bishopamat.org under boys athletics/football. $75 gets you six hours of instruction, lunch, a group photo, shirt and a camp certificate.
BOYS BASKETBALL: Coach Brandon Ertle, his staff and members of the Lancers varsity basketball team is conducting their annual boys basketball camp from June 16-19 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., at Bishop Amat. The camp is open to anyone entering grades 5-9. The camp is for both the experienced and inexperienced player, provided you’ve got the $100 bucks to cover the four days. For more info contact coach Ertyle at (626) 962-2495 ext. 5822, bertle@bishopamat.org

MLB TRADE RUMORS: The Indians have reached an agreement with second-round pick Grant Hockin on an above-slot $1.1MM bonus, according to MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter). The 61st overall selection in the draft had been assigned a value of $928.7K, according to Baseball America.

Opinions on the 6’3″, 195-pound Hockin varied, as ESPN’s Keith Law ranked him 49th among draft prospects, while MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo ranked Hockin 91st and Baseball America ranked him 109th in the draft. Law feels that Hockin, a client of MVP Sports Group, flashes four above-average pitches with a clean arm slot. BA feels that only three of his pitches have above-average potential, also noting that he doesn’t have a wipeout offering.

Sources: #Indians have agreement with 2nd-rounder (61) Grant Hockin. He gets a $1.1M bonus, more than $928.7K slot value.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) June 10, 2014

CIF-SS chief Rob Wigod sent out his year-end message to all schools, basically congratulating the teams on a great year, but there was also this interesting tidbit:
“Playoff Groupings – With the completion of this most recent Playoff Groupings process, we would like to begin exploring a new format for divisional placement for all of our sports. This potential new format would emphasize placing individual schools into playoff divisions based on their performance in each particular sport, not placing entire leagues into specific divisions, as we are doing now. Our staff is committed to examining this concept this year, so stay tuned for updates as we get more information on the possibilities of changes for the 2016-2018 Playoff Groupings Cycle.”

Steve Ramirez’s take: This is good news to here. I’ve never really understood why playoff groupings, for the most part, were based on league competitiveness. If this plan does go into effect, we could see where on those occasions were say Bishop Amat has a really good baseball team, the Lancers could be placed in Division 1, where second-place St. Paul, for sake of argument, is in Division 3, or even Division 4. In football, Monrovia could be placed in say the Southeast, while the other Rio Hondo League members, like San Marino or Temple City, could stay in the Mid-Valley. Yes, it would be confusing and make CIF-SS’ task much for difficult, but it would be more fair to the member schools.

Diamond Ranch’s John Picazo (#13) tries for a fly ball as they play in the annual San Gabriel Valley All-Star Game at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut on Monday June 9, 2014. (Photo by Keith Durflinger/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

By Stephen Ramirez
steve.ramirez@langnews.com
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter
WALNUT — The Red team has held the advantage over its Blue counterparts in the annual San Gabriel Valley All-Star baseball game.
Until now.
The Blue team, which hadn’t won since 2006, broke the streak Monday at Mt. San Antonio College.
Diamond Bar’s Alek Jimenez beat out a ground ball for an RBI single in the second inning and Charter OaK’s Kory Brown and Monrovia’s Nick Esparza had RBIs in a three-run sixth to lead the Blue to a 4-3 victory before an over-flow crowd at Mazmanian Field.
“We definitely were thinking (of the streak),” said Esparza, who was game MVP. “I came out here wanting to win, have fun.”

The Red team tied it at 1-1 in the sixth, but Blue scored three runs in the bottom of the inning for a 4-1 advantage. Los Altos’ James Mendez led off with a single and the Blue then loaded the bases on back-to-back fielding errors. Charter Oak’s Kory Brown hit a sacrifice fly to right for a 2-1 lead. Esparza singled with two outs for a 3-1 advantage and a wild pitch made it 4-1.
“I was just trying to get an RBI there and break the game open,” Esparza said. “I got it done.”
La Canada’s Johnny Selsor doubled in two runs with two outs in the top of the eighth to cut the lead to 4-3. Diamond Bar’s Chris Sanchez struck out Baldwin Park’s Christian Barraza to end the threat.
The Blue earlier took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Pasadena’s Alex Baer singled with one out, stole second and scored on an infield hit by Diamond Bar’s Alek Jimenez. Baer was running on the play and scored easily as Jimenez beat the throw to first.
The Red tied it in the sixth. La Canada’s Justin Lewis led off with a single and Shun Tsunoda followed with an infield single, but a three-base throwing error allowed Lewis to score, with Tsunoda taking third.
La Salle’s Jordan Rodgers got the next three batters to keep the game tied at 1-1.
Former area coaches Kevin Smith of South Hills and John Romano of Nogales were inducted into the San Gabriel Valley Coaches Hall of Honor before the game.
Smith, now head coach at Mt. SAC, won almost 500 games and two CIF-Southern Section titles in a 35-year career.
Romano, who retired at Nogales this season after 37 years in coaching, won 635 games, including 621 with the Nobles.
Game awards were received by Diamond Ranch’s John Picazo (Defensive MVP), La Verne Lutheran’s Layne Henderson (Pitching MVP), La Canada’s Selsor (Most valuable hitter) and Esparza (MVP).

UNDERCLASSMAN GAME
When, Sunday, June 8
Where: Alhambra High School, 2 p.m.
SENIOR GAME
When: Monday, June 9
Where: Mt. SAC, 7 p.m.

BELOW: Scott Hurst, center, will play in Monday’s all-star game after helping the Lancers to the Division 3 title on Friday.

By Stephen Ramirez
steve.ramirez@langnews.com
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter
Rosters for the annual San Gabriel Valley senior and underclassmen all-star games have been released.
The senior game is scheduled for Mt. San Antonio College at 7 p.m. on June 9, with the underclassmen game slated for Alhambra High School at 2 p.m. on June 8.
The Senior Blue Team will be led by pitchers Andrew Eppenbach, of Bishop Amat, and Grant Hockin, of Damien. Eppenbach has been a key for the Lancers reaching Friday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 3 quarterfinals. He’s 4-5 with a 2.92 ERA and has 47 strikeouts in 56 innings. Hockin was 9-3 with a 1.49 ERA for Damien.
Other key players on the Senior Blue team are Amat’s Scott Hurst, Charter Oak’s Kory Brown, Damien’s David Banuelos, Pasadena’s Sergio Rey and La Salle’s Jordan Rodgers.
The Senior Red team, which has won the past seven games, including 5-4 last season, is also pitching deep with Alhambra’s Marco Briones, Glendora’s Kale Morton and Sierra Vista’s Erik Gutierrez. Briones was arguably the top pitcher in the West Valley, with a 9-0 record and 0.40 ERA for the Moors. Morton topped East Valley pitchers with a school-record 12-0 mark, with a 1.58 ERA to help the Tartans win the Baseline League title. Gutierrez is 9-1 with a 1.22 ERA for the Dons, who are in the CIF-SS quarterfinals for the first time in two decades.
Other players for the Red team are Bonita’s Joe Quire, Glendora’s D.J. Peters, Northview’s Alex Labor and San Dimas’ Elias Orona and Daniel Millwee.
The Underclassmen Blue team features Bonita’s Danny Gelaclich, Glendora’s Alex Briggs, Pasadena Poly’s Griffen Carter; Rosemead’s Angel Lopez; San Dimas’ Peter Lambert and South Hills’ Gavin Velasquez.
The Underclassmen Red Team features Arcadia’s Ryan Tuck, Amat’s Christian Moya; La Salle’s Ryan Garcia, Monrovia’s Isaiah Ramos and Nogalez’ Chris Lopez.
The coaches for the games are Alhambra’s Steve Gewicke (Senior Red); West Covina’s Drew Lorenger (Senior Blue); Schurr’s Houston Hernandez (Underclassmen Red) and Walnut’s Paul Acosta (Underclassmen Blue).
Former area head coaches John Romano, of Nogales, and Kevin Smith, of South Hills, will be inducted in the the Coaches Hall of Honor at the Senior game.
Here are the complete rosters:
SENIOR BLUE TEAM: Joey Harmon (Arcadia), Alex Garcia (Bishop Amat), Andrew Eppenbach (Bishop Amat), Scott Hurst (Bishop Amat); Kory Brown (Charter Oak), Ian Evans (Charter Oak), Anthony Moreno (Covina), Grant Hockin (Damien), Davide Banuelos (Damien), Johnny Alvarez (El Monte), Alex Jimenez (Diamond Bar), Chris Sanchez (Diamond Bar), John Picazo (Diamond Ranch), Matt Arguello (La Puente), George Medina (La Salle), Jordan Rodgers (La Salle), Esteban Ortega (Los Altos), James Mendez (Los Altos), Jeffry Oki (Maranatha), Nick Esparza (Monrovia), Nicholas Carino (Monrovia), Calvin Christiansen (Pasadena), Alex Baer (Pasadena), Sergio Rey (Pasadena), Ryan Arias (San Gabriel), Cameron Legrand (Temple City), Ryan Viramontes (West Covina).
SENIOR RED TEAM: Marco Briones (Alhambra), Jordan Palacio (Alhambra), Christian Barraza (Baldwin Park), Jordan Palacio (Baldwin Park), Joe Quire (Bonita), Koty Redielbach (Bonita), Drew Valdez (Duarte), Justin Cage (Glendora), D.J. Peters (Glendora), Kale Morton (Glendora), Johnny Selsor (La Canada), Justin Lewis (La Canada), Layne Henderson (La Verne Lutheran), James Ward (La Verne Lutheran), Alex Labor (Northview), Kyle Beerman (Pasadena Poly), Zach Bern (Pasadena Poly), David Orndorf (Pasadena Poly), Armani Garcia (Rosemead), Elias Orona (San Dimas), Daniel Millwee (San Dimas), Larsen Cobb (San Marino), Eric Gutierrez (Sierra Vista), Erik Hernandez (Sierra Vista), Jon Ayala (South Hills), Shun Tsunoda (Wilson).
UNDERCLASSMEN BLUE TEAM: Danny Gelalich (Bonita), Justin Gomez (Bonita), Alex Gonzlaez (Bonita), Nicholas Hernandez (Charter Oak), Gerardo Ramirez (Diamond Bar), Adrian Rodriguez (Diamond Ranch), Alex Briggs (Glendora), Gavin Coppin (Glendora), Griffen Herrera (Glendora), Zach Scrademeir (Maranatha), Frankie Garriola (Pasadena), Sumner Smith (Pasadena), Griffen Carter (Pasadena Poly), Angel Lopez (Rosemead), Brandon Buna (Rosemead), Jacob Castillo (San Dimas), Jonathan Longtin (San Dimas), Peter Lambert (San Dimas), Ryan Mauch (South Hills), Gavin Velasquez (South Hills), Francisco Ramirez (South Hills), Cody Dye (Walnut), Christian Longoria (Walnut), Alex Carrillo (West Covina), Anthony Deeter (West Covina).
UNDERCLASSMEN RED TEAM: Ryan Tuck (Arcadia), Christian Maciel (Alhambra), Andrew Prieto (Alhambra), Michael Guzman (Baldwin Park), Isaac Archer (Bishop Amat), Christian Moya (Bishop Amat), Sergio Robles (Bishop Amat), Isaiah Carranza (Damien), Ryan Franco (La Puente), Ryan Garcia (La Salle), Jake Gaudet (La Salle), Brandon Jenkins (La Salle), Brandy Lange (La Verne Lutheran), Anthony Cuevas (Los Altos), Isaiah Ramos (Monrovia), Juan Quionez (Monrovia), Adam Rubio (Montebello), Manny Armendariz (Northview), Jacob Amaya (Northview), Anthony Guadardo (Nogales), Chris Lopez (Nogales), Miles Glazier (San Marino), Tyler Spitzer (San Marino).

Photo gallery of Bishop Amat’s 4-3 victory over Palm Desert

Bishop Amat rallied to beat Palm Desert, 4-3, to give Amat its fourth championship under coach Andy Nieto in eight years, and ninth title all-time. Steve Ramirez’s story is below.

By Stephen Ramirez
steve.ramirez@langnews.com
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter
LOS ANGELES >> A little more than a month ago, the Bishop Amat High School baseball team looked all but dead, losing three consecutive games and was in danger of missing the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.
Today, the Lancers are champions.
Michael Palos had a RBI double to tie it and Bryan Menendez followed with an RBI single for the lead and the Lancers rallied late for the fourth consecutive game to win the school’s ninth CIF-SS championship with a 4-3 victory over top seed Palm Desert in the Division 3 title game Friday at Dodger Stadium.
Christian Moya and Palos had two hits each for the Lancers, who finished 21-11, closing the season with a 10-game winning streak and its fourth CIF-SS title since 2007.
Andrew Clark, Gil Sauceda and Kyle Kabeary had two hits each for Palm Desert, which finished 27-7. It was also the Aztecs second loss to Amat in a championship game, losing 7-0 here in 2011.
“Winning a CIF championship is sweet, but winning it this way is even better,” Palos said. “It speaks volumes of the character of our team. We had our backs against the wall the whole time (during the playoffs), but we never gave up on ourselves.
“We always believed we could come back. We just picked each other up, rallied around each other. It just makes the victory that much more sweeter.”

Continue reading “Bishop Amat rallies and stuns Palm Desert, 4-3, to claim CIF-SS Division 3 title” »