Catching up with Tri-Cities athletes excelling with college and semi-pro teams

Playing catch up with Mid-Columbia sports notes from around the region, starting with some baseball.

• Senior Kyle Harvey (Southridge) transferred this past spring to Georgia Gwinnett and was excelling there when the season was stopped.

He spent the 2018-19 college baseball at Indiana Tech after two seasons at Yakima Valley Community College before transferring.

Harvey was batting .321 (25 for 78) at the NAIA school. He already had scored 20 times, had five doubles and a home run, drover in 15 runs, and stole 10 bases.

The Grizzlies were already 23-2.

• Boise State University’s baseball team started its new program with a 9-5 record before the season ended.

Richland High grad Travis Buck, who played in the major leagues, is the Broncos hitting coach and outfielder coach.

• Walla Walla Community College’s Gabby Beckstrom (Spanish Fork, Utah) was the final NWAC Softball Player of the Week back in mid-March.

Beckstrom hit an astounding .610 (25 for 41) for the 10-2 Warriors, with 5 home runs and 23 RBIs.

“Gabby has been a great leader for our team since Day 1,” said WWCC coach Logan Parker. “Her style of play on the field is only a small part of what makes her an amazing all-around athlete.”

• The Bellingham Bells lost their season Friday when the city of Bellingham’s mayor announced postponements and cancellations through the end of August on all activities at all city facilities.

The Bells, who play in the West Coast League (the Northwest’s top summer college baseball league), play their home games at city-owned Joe Martin Field.

The West Coast League is now down to 11 teams (including the Walla Walla Sweets and Yakima Pippins) for the 2020 season.

Rob Neyer, WCL commissioner, says the league still has high hopes of playing this summer.

• The Cape Cod League has canceled the upcoming 2020 season because of COVID-19. Considered the most prestigious summer college baseball league, the New England-based league was set to begin June 13.

• The Central Washington Chapter of the PGA has postponed all events through May 10.

The next scheduled event is set for May 11 at Meadow Springs Country Club.

• Former major leaguer Jeff Cirillo will manage the Walla Walla Sweets this summer.

Cirillo also is a part-owner of the Sweets, a team in the West Coast League.

Larry Price will be an assistant coach, and the pitching coach will be Jarrod Molnaa.

Molnaa is a Kennewick High grad who also played at Walla Walla Community College and for the Sweets.

Track and field and more

• Andraya Conger (Pasco) placed fifth among 20 competitors in the women’s 200 meters at the Ed Boitano Invitational outdoor track and field meet at University of Puget Sound on March 7.

Conger, competing for the Pacific Lutheran University women’s track team, finished in 27.89 seconds.

Conger, a senior, also finished seventh among 21 competitors in the women’s 100 meters, clocking in at 13.25 seconds.

• Brianna Esvelt (Kamiakin/CBC) averaged 79.36 strokes over 11 rounds this women’s golf season at Western Washington University. Esvelt’s highest placing in a tournament was tied for 21st. It happened twice.

• Clare Eubanks (Chiawana) started in 28 games for the 22-7 Northwest Nazarene University women’s basketball team this season.

Eubanks averaged 6.1 points and 4.2 rebounds for NNU. She was also the team’s leading shot blocker with 25.

Meanwhile, fellow true freshman Nicole Gall (Richland) came off the bench to average 6.4 points and 2.2 rebounds.

• Paige Gardner (Walla Walla), who swims for the Washington State University women, was named to the Pac-12 winter academic honor roll. Gardner is majoring in Biology at WSU.

• Anthony Gordon, last season’s starting quarterback for Washington State University, was signed Sunday as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks.

• Carson Green (Kamiakin) was the early star for the Walla Walla Community College baseball team, which was 4-4 before the season was stopped.

Green led the Warriors in four offensive categories: 19 runs scored, 2 home runs, 8 stolen bases, and a .538 batting average (14 for 26).

Brody Woods (Stanfield) was the top pitcher so far, going 2-0 with 16 strikeouts.

Other highlights: Lane Hailey (Southridge) leading the team with 12 RBIs, and being third in both batting average at .357 (10 for 28) and runs scored (8).

Pitcher Spencer Schwehr (Boise) led the team with 19 strikeouts and had a 2.13 ERA.

Pitcher Summit Neil (Kuna, Idaho) leads the team with a 0.00 ERA in 7.2 innings pitched.

Elliott Marks (Asotin) in second on the team in hitting with a .429 batting average (6 for 14); Christian Berry (Richland) has 7 RBIs; Zac Berryman (Ephrata) has scored 11 times; and Connor Ferguson (Boise) has struck out 11 batters.

• McKenzie Gunter (Walla Walla Community College) led the Montana State University Northern women’s basketball team this season in scoring, averaging 11.4 points a game.

Gunter also averaged 3.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists for the 15-16 Northern Lights.

For her efforts, Gunter was an honorable mention selection for the Frontier Conference team.

• Senior Lauren Hall (Richland) had strong showings at the Western Athletic Conference women’s swimming and diving championships in February for the University of Idaho.

Hall completed the women’s 100 backstroke in 1:00.24, giving her the sixth best time of 14 Idaho swimmers in that event this season among all Vandals.

Her 50 backstroke time of 29.04 seconds ranks the seventh best this season among all Idaho swimmers in that event.

• Nick Hopkins (Connell) averaged 6.4 points and 5.9 rebounds this season for the 24-5 Wenatchee Valley Community College men’s basketball team.

• Western Oregon University’s Logan Jackson (Richland) had a personal best women’s 60 meters time of 8.24 seconds this winter at a meet in Portland.

Jackson was also named to the GNAC’s all-academic team. The Political Science major carries a 3.20 grade point average as a sophomore.

• Noelia Juarez (Royal) ran a leg for the winning Central Washington University women’s 4x400 relay team at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor track championships in late February.

Juarez also finished sixth in the women’s 400 meters, crossing the finish line in 57.65 seconds.

In the same meet, Western Washington University’s Porter McMichael (Hanford) helped the Vikings’ men’s 4000 meet distance medley relay team finish third in a time of 10:23.37.