Friday, May. 01, 2009

Small-school standouts shine on area diamonds

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

With all the talent floating around the Tri-Cities, it's easy to overlook some real gems on the diamond in the surrounding area.

In the Central Washington Athletic Conference, Lee Gomez leads a triumvirate of four-year starting seniors for the Huskies by hitting .472 with three home runs and 20 RBIs. Marc Garza (.408, 4 HR, 18 RBIs) and David Garza (.362, 2 HR, 15 RBIs) also are having big years.

In the South Central Athletic Conference East, Kiona-Benton's Corey Brundridge is up to his old tricks. The Bears ace, who struck out 85 in 61 1/3 innings last season, has K'd 76 in 44 innings thus far. With a 1.43 ERA and 5-1 record, he has been miserable on opposing hitters and has five starts with 10 or more strikeouts. Oh, and he's almost as harsh on opposing pitchers, hitting .483.

The SCAC, of course, has its share of incredible hitting numbers --Connell's Nate Eppich (.600, 19 RBIs), Ki-Be's Grant Pierce (.586), and River View's Nate Remillard (.513, 3 HR, 17 RBIs) and Gage Nicholson (.488, 15 RBIs) among them.

But the league also gets lights-out pitching from Brundridge, Nicholson (1.64 ERA), River View's Dennin Harding (1.64 ERA) and Warden's Arty Reyes.

Still, it's tough to top the season that Southridge's Tyler Roberts is putting together in the 4A ranks: tops in the Columbia Basin Big Nine's Columbia Division with a .660 batting average and 28 RBIs, and he has solid numbers on the mound (3.23 ERA, 2-0, 30 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings).

-- It doesn't take long looking down Othello's list of top producers to notice a trend: Ric Garza, Marc Garza, David Garza, Mike Garza, CJ Garza -- all hitting .362 or better, three of them over .400.

Huskies coach Larry Gonzalez said they are all members of a massively tangled family tree.

"This group has been playing together since they were little," Gonzalez said. "They've played a lot of baseball together."

Another name that pops out on the list is Chris Brunetti, who is hitting .400 and has a 2.15 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 13 innings.

Not to fear, Gonzalez said -- Brunetti still gets invited to family dinners. Though he transferred last season from Texas, Brunetti is related to Marc Garza.

When it comes to Othello baseball, it's all in the family.