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Long Beach State junior shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has been named a third team pre-season All-American by College Baseball News. Tulowitzki, who played baseball and basketball locally at Fremont High School, spent last summer helping Team USA win a gold medal at the World Championships in Taiwan.
Sophomore Robert Perry (Mitty), a teammate of Tulowitzki over the years on several successful Sunnyvale National Little League all-star teams, will be the starting centerfielder for Santa Clara University. Perry, who last year was the first freshman in 22 years to start for the Broncos, earned second-team All-West Coast Conference honors last spring. He played in all but one of SCU's 56 games, batting .300 with eight home runs and 27 RBIs.
Tyler Duran, a Mitty and Sunnyvale youth league teammate of Perry, will be a redshirt freshman for the Broncos. He hopes to break into the line-up as a pitcher or infielder.
Other area players on head coach Mark O'Brien's Santa Clara roster in 2005 include senior first baseman Sean Epidendio (Mitty) of San Jose, junior infielders Dustin Realini (Monta Vista/Valley Christian) of Cupertino and Kyle Newton (Leland) and freshmen Kyle Jensen (Los Gatos), Ryan Conan (Mitty) and Jason Matteucci (Bellarmine).
Rollin meets Ryan
Former Los Gatos football and baseball star Alex Rollin, now a standout pitcher on the baseball team at UC Berkeley, was named the Pitcher of the Year in the Texas Collegiate League after a sensational fall season for the Graham Roughnecks.
Rollin was presented with his award at the first annual Texas Collegiate League Legends Dinner in November, the same night that Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan was honored with a Texas Legends Award. The Legends Award will be presented annually to a native Texan who has excelled in the world of baseball.
Cal defenders
Greg Van Hoesen, a two-way starter for three years (200002) at Saratoga High School, is wrapping up the season as a redshirt freshman for the California Golden Bears. Van Hoesen was a back-up linebacker and a special teams player for Cal this fall. Heading into the Dec. 30 Holiday Bowl, the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder had played in seven games this season. He had three tackles, a pass deflection and a blocked kick to his credit.
Freshman defensive tackle John Allen, a former Los Gatos standout, is finishing his second year in the Cal program.
Erickson a Card
Lyndsay Erickson, Los Gatos High School's female athlete of the year for 200001, started all 20 of Stanford's field hockey games as a junior this fall. Erickson, a 2002 Los Gatos graduate, was a key defensive player for the Cardinal, after playing the midfield much of her first two seasons. Erickson scored one goal and assisted on four others during 2004, raising her career totals to seven goals and 10 assists. She twice has been named to the All-Academic team by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association.
Locals at Cal
Prospect graduate Amber Madsen was a starting forward on the field hockey team at UC Berkeley this fall. Madsen tallied career highs in goals (eight) and assists (five).
Cal, which finished this fall as the nation's 13th-ranked team with a team-record 17 wins, had a host of former area high school stars on its roster. Juniors Alexandra Harkins (Prospect) and Kiely Schmidt (Archbishop Mitty), sophomore Jamie Nance (Leigh), and freshmen Jamie Sibilia (Monta Vista), Annie Smith (Los Gatos), Veronica Sykes (Del Mar), Christina McGrath (St. Francis) and Jenny and Missy Crane (St. Francis) of Los Gatos.
Jenny Crane was the Bears' top scoring threat off the bench this season, scoring goals on five of her eight shot attempts.
Crooks a Wonder Boy
As a senior, Michael Crooks of Leigh was selected as a first team all-league wide receiver in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. After playing two years at West Valley Community College, Crooks moved a long way from sunny California to join the Wonder Boys of Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Ark.
The 5-foot-11, 191-pound Crooks was a regular for the Wonder Boys this past season, playing in all 12 games and pulling in 49 catches for 766 yards. He averaged 15.6 yards per catch and scored eight touchdowns. He led the team in number of catches and total receiving yards and was second in touchdown receptions.
Arkansas Tech is a NCAA Division II school that plays in the Gulf South Conference. The Wonder Boys finished second in the conference in 2004 and advanced to the second round of the Division II playoffs, finishing 16th nationally in the Division II Coach's Poll.
Donohue a top freshman
Freshman outside hitter Michaela Donohue of Los Gatos was a standout starter on the women's volleyball team at Lafayette University in Easton, Pa. The Archbishop Mitty grad won Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors three times and set a single-season record for digs.
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