It's down to a matter of days before the 2009 All-State Baseball Teams are released. Our list of nominees has been updated since the first time it was posted, but it's not too late to make sure we know about a certain someone in your midst.

The all-state teams honors program at CalHiSports.com and Cal-Hi Sports has been ongoing for 30 years and are selected currently for the sports of football, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball.

Nominations are always welcome, but don't wait until it's too late and the teams are released. They won't be changed at that point, unless it's a simple error.

Please send any nomination with each athlete's height, weight, position, year in school, significant statistics. Comparing a player not on the board yet to one who already is can be very important toward eventual selection. Limit each nomination to one page please. Send to:

mark@studentsports.com or FAX (209) 463-1219 or call (209) 608-1317.

Be aware that not all sophomores or juniors we are considering for all-state underclass may be on this list. We also usually end up selecting players who aren't on this list for medium school or small school squads. These players will emerge when all of the various major newspaper-based honor squads are released.

The format for all-state baseball will be to continue with a 30-player overall all-state first team with 30 more on second team. Instead of utility, we may designate as many as eight players as multi-purpose. This accounts for the many who are both top hitters and top pitchers. Each first team player is written up and then becomes eligible for selection to the EA SPORTS All-American Team.

There also will be 30 players for medium schools (Div. III traditional state rankings division), 30 for small schools (Div. IV and Division V traditional state rankings divisions) and 30 more for all-state underclass (non-seniors).

(Read full post)

Written by Ronnie Flores

Long Beach, Calif. -- There was a combination of good, great and not so good play on Wednesday at the 2008 Area Code Games. Some teams were dealt a good hand while others had to pick for the winning combination. Read below for game recaps for the two games that involved California teams known as Milwaukee Brewers Blue and Milwaukee Brewers Gray. Note: Player in photo taken last spring is Mark Appel (Monte Vista, Danville, Calif.). For complete Area Code Games average, go to the new ESPN high school baseball site.

Milwaukee Brewers Blue 3, Oakland Athletics 0

Entering Wednesday's noon game, everybody in attendance at Blair Field knew the Brewers Blue club yielded heavy lumber. So it wasn't a surprise that they drew first blood.

Designated hitter John Altobelli (Woodbridge, Irvine, Calif.) led off the game with a single. Outfielder Jake Marisnick (Poly, Riverside, Calif.) was up next and drove in the leadoff hitter with a triple to the gap in left centerfield. With one out, Cameron Garfield (Murrieta Valley, Murrieta, Calif.) lined a single to right to score Marisnick as the Brewers were quickly in business.

The Blue club (a team with a heavy Southern California contingent) gave southpaw pitcher Tyler Skaggs (Santa Monica, Calif.) more cushon in the second inning as Matt Moynihan (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego, Calif.) scored on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Gelalich (Bonita, La Verne, Calif.). Skaggs did his job on the mound, as he hurled two innings and faced only one batter over the minimum.

The Brewers' second pitcher, righty Kurt Heyer (Edison, Huntington Beach, Calif.), also impressed as he threw two scoreless innings. David Armendariz (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks, Calif.), also a righty, came in and threw a scoreless fifth for the Brewers.

In the top of the sixth of a seven-inning affair, it looked like the Oakland A's (made of primarily of players from the Southeast region of the country) would put something together when Nicholas Lockwood (Tampa Jesuit, Tampa, Fla.) got on board with a single. He then advanced to third on a throwing error with one out. The Brewers Blue worked out of the jam, however, as Lockwood was nearly picked off on a screamer down the line. He got back on the bag just in time, but the inning ended on a cleanly fielded grounder.

Lockwood was the only Oakland A's base runner to reach third base, as the Milwaukee Brewers Blue pitchers allowed three scattered hits over seven innings. Garfield, a catcher, ended an A's mini-rally in the top of the third when he threw out a would-be base stealer at second base to end the inning.

Skaggs was credited with the win and Evan Brock (Ayala, Chino Hills, Calif.) picked up the save for the Blue club. In the top of the seventh, Brock retired the side on a strikeout and two soft grounders.

The Brewers actually scored three runs in the bottom half of the seventh, but those runs were not part of the official box as the home team is allowed to take its hacks in the bottom half of the final inning even if it had already won the game. After all, the Area Code Games are designed to showcase the players and a combination of solid hitters, pitchers and fielders highlighted this contest.

New York Yankees 8, Milwaukee Brewers Gray 3

In the final contest on Wednesday evening, the Milwaukee Brewers were trying to win their second game of the day. The Yankees had other plans, however, as they used some timely hitting and poor Milwaukee fielding to win the game.

Starting pitcher Mark Appel (Monta Vista, Danville, Calif.) retired the side in the first inning for Milwaukee, but ran into some trouble in the second frame. Patrick Stover (Rocklin, Calif.) got on by an infield single, but he was promptly caught stealing by Brewers Gray catcher Geno Escalante (Rodriguez, Fairfield, Calif.).

The Bronx Bombers still manufactured a run as Appel loaded the bases with two outs courtesy of a base on balls to Mike Yastrzemski (St. John's Prep, Andover, Mass.). Regan Flaherty (Deering, Portland, Maine) was the next batter and he came up with a single that scored Shane Rowland (Tampa Catholic, Tampa, Fla.), but Brewers Gray leftfielder Joe Lewis (Pittsburg, Calif.) threw out Stephen Bruno (Gloucester Catholic, Audubon, N.J.) at home trying to score the second run.

The Brewers Gray got a gift run in the bottom of the second inning when Yastrzemski, the grandson of Major League Baseball's last Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski, lost a high Danny Hayes (Jesuit, Carmichael, Calif.) popup in the sun that allowed Escalante to score from third base.

The run that Lewis saved with his outfield assist, the Yankees (made up primarily of players from the Northeast United States) got it right back in the top of the third inning. Mike Trout (Millville, N.J.) scored on a single to rightfield by Jake Mayers (Hanover, Mechanicsville, Va.) where he barely beat the throw. Escalante then prevented any further damage when he gunned down Marcus Stroman (Patchogue, Medford, N.Y.) leading off from third base with the sacs full. Escalante's play saved a run because the Yankees' Stetson Allie (St. Edward, Lakewood, Ohio) walked on the next pitch.

Escalante's fine defensive play was offset by a poor one in the next inning that cost the Brewers three runs after standing two runners of their own in the bottom of the third. With two outs and the bases loaded, an errant throw by the third baseman that the Brewers Gray first baseman could not cleanly field allowed the Yankees' Rowland and Yastrzemski to score. Trout then hit a bloop single that scored Tony Italiano (St. Anthony's, West Sayville, N.Y.) to make the score 5-1 heading into the fourth inning.

The Brewers Gray couldn't get anything on the board in the bottom of the fourth and the wheels started to fall off in top of the fifth. Milwaukee hurler Nicholas Berhel (De La Salle, Concord, Calif.) loaded the bases with one out by giving up a walk to Nelfi Zapata (Boston English, Dorchester, Mass.). Things got worse when Berhel beaned Jimmy Brennan (Suffern, N.Y.) in the back to walk in a run. The next batter, Christian Walker (Kennedy-Kenrick, Limerick, Pa.), then stroked a single up the middle to score two more runs and make the score 8-1.

The Brewers Gray (a team which consists of prospects from both Northern and Southern California) chipped away at the deficit with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, highlighted by a run scoring double by Mitchell Haniger (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose, Calif.) that ricocheted off the top of the left field wall. The Brewers Gray could get no closer, however, as they went quietly in the bottom of the seventh. Mayers finished the game by retiring the side on a flyout, groundout and popup. Kyle Hansen (St. Dominick, Glen Cove, N.Y.) was credited with the win for the New York Yankees.

Corrections or comments? Email mark@studentsports.com and be sure to leave a comment so others can check it out.