Fishing and Hunting Contact Us Jobs at RGJ UNR athletics mini-caravan visit to Fernley canceled NDOW 'Big Game Status Report' now available Try out for Western Wildcats baseball team on June 10 Geddes hopes to continue hoops career in Montana McCurry to represent FHS at Sertoma Classic Two members of the state-champion Silver Stage High baseball team are looking to continue their playing careers at the collegiate level while two other members of the 2007 champions are playing this summer on a team based in Carson City with mainly college players. Brent Johnson, a four-year shortstop for the Nighthawks, is looking at a couple of schools in the Midwest, at the Division II or III levels, where he would play on the baseball teams while fellow senior Zach Clarke, also a four-year member of the SSHS baseball team, is looking to play at Western Nevada Community College. Clarke plans to attend tryouts Sunday at the WNCC baseball field where he hopes to be invited to join the Wildcats team, which qualified for the junior college World Series last month in only its second year fielding a baseball team.
In addition, juniors Billy Moss and Darren Boone are playing on the Nevada Bighorns, a team of mostly college players, including four from the University of Nevada, Reno baseball team (including one or two redshirts), a few others from WNCC and others who've played elsewhere. The Bighorns began play last weekend and won its first four games, including one last Sunday over the Carson Cardinals (a high school age team) by a 6-1 score, in which Boone, a lefty who won one game and saved another at the 2A State Tournament last month, pitched the first three innings for the Bighorns, allowed only two hits, and fellow junior Billy Moss, who was the winning pitcher in the title game (saved by Boone), pitched the next three innings, not allowing any hits. This is the first year of the Nevada Bighorns team, which is coached by Dennis Young, who is also president of the board for the new team.
Boone played outfield besides pitching for the Nighthawks while Moss was an infielder besides pitcher. Johnson on Sunday said six schools are looking at him, mostly from the Iowa and Nebraska area, to which he's been offered scholarships but he hasn't made a final decision yet. Johnson played third base as a freshman at SSHS, before manning the key shortstop position the next three seasons.
He said he's being looked at as a shortstop/infielder. Johnson was almost unstoppable as a basestealer and also had numerous infield hits and he fueled the SSHS offense from the leadoff position. He said he's been timed at 4.
1 seconds from home to first base, an impressive time as he noted 4.2 seconds is about average for a major leaguer. Clarke was a pitcher all four seasons for SSHS, although a shoulder injury seriously limited his pitching time as a sophomore, after striking out 96 batters as a freshman.
He also played third base for the SSHS and was a fine hitter, batting in the cleanup spot this season, usually behind Boone. He said a few other schools have contacted him, such as Olympic College, a junior college in Washington, and Presentation College, a private Catholic-Christian college in South Dakota which is in about its fifth year of baseball. However, he said both of those colleges didn't really offer scholarship aid so finances will be a key issue.
He is aiming to receive a Millennium Scholarship that could be used at WNCC. Clarke said his ultimate goal is to play professional baseball but after playing at a small school he knows he needs to play and succeed in college to continue on to that level. "I hope I impress the coach enough that he'll keep me," he said of the WNCC tryout.
"I'll give it my best shot." He knows he'll have tough competition from 4A players, but noted, "They breathe the same air as I do." Clarke and Johnson were repeat first-team All-Northern 2A players for the Nighthawks while Boone, in his first year playing baseball for the Nighthawks, after transferring to SSHS, also was named to the first-team, while Moss earned second-team honors for the second-straight season.
Back one page Email a friend Printer friendly version Try home delivery of the Reno Gazette-Journal get your FREE 20% off dining card.
News RSS