Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Goeddel, Blair in Aflac All-American Classic

By Dick Sparrer

The high school baseball season ended last May when Los Gatos and Bellarmine won Central Coast Section championships at San Jose Municipal Stadium--or at least it did for most of the Wildcats and Bells.

Two of them--Kyle Blair of Los Gatos and Erik Goeddel of Bellarmine--have at least one game left to play, and it's a big one.

Blair and Goeddel were each named to the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic team, and they'll be on the field Aug. 12 when the fourth annual All-Star Classic game is played at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The East-West game, which will be nationally televised over Fox Sports Net (noon), features the nation's top 38 2006-07 seniors. Hall of Famer and former Oakland A's great Reggie Jackson is the game's honorary chairman.

Blair and Goeddel were announced as Aflac All-Americans last May during an on field, pregame ceremony at SBC Park. San Francisco Giants catcher Mike Matheny presented them with their team jerseys.

Blair, already a three-year varsity veteran for the Wildcats, has helped Los Gatos win back-to-back championships in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and led the Cats to a CCS Division II title last spring.

His pitching numbers were unbelievable. He posted a 13-1 record and a microscopic 0.16 earned run average. He struck out 140 over 89 2/3 innings, allowing just two earned runs. He walked only 16. He had five shutouts among his eight complete games and opened the year by throwing a perfect game against Capuchino.

Goeddel has impressive numbers as both a pitcher and hitter for the Bells, who won the regular season title in the West Catholic Athletic League and took the CCS Division I crown.

Goeddel notched a 5-1 mound record with a low 1.98 ERA for the Bells, striking out 49 in 35 1/3 innings while walking just 13. In 34 games, he hit .416 with nine doubles, eight home runs and 37 runs-batted-in.