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Jason Flowers, formerly an assistant at Long Beach State, will join the UCR women's basketball team in the same capacity. Flowers replaces Seton Sobolewski, who left to become the head women's coach at Idaho State.

Former UCR coach Jeff Pentland was hired as a hitting coach for the Dodgers' Class AAA team in Las Vegas. Pentland had been a hitting instructor for the Seattle Mariners organization.
Here's his bio from Seattle:

Jeffrey William Pentland...resides in Tempe, AZ...has two children: daughter Katie and son Josh...has both bachelors degree and a Masters degree from Arizona State University...was a member of the Sun Devils 1967 National Championship team; teammates included future big leaguers Reggie Jackson, Duffy Dyer and Gary Gentry...Jeff was inducted into the ASU Hall of Fame in October, 2002.
Managing/Coaching career:
Jeff is in his third season as the Mariners hitting coach, but his 12th season a big league coach overall...last season Seattle's batting average (+.015), on-base percentage (+.012) and slugging (+.001) all improved from 2006...that followed the Mariners average (+.016), slugging (+.033) and OBP (.008) all improving in 2006 from 2005...was Kansas City Royals hitting coach from Oct. 3, 2002 to May 29, 2005...Royals led Majors with .304 average with runners in scoring position, the sixth-highest mark in Major League history, in 2003...was hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs from July 14, 1997 through the 2002 season...began the 1997 season as the Minor League Hitting Coordinator for the New York Mets...spent the 1992-96 campaigns in the Florida Marlins organization...served as a scout (1992-93) and hitting coach at the Minor League level (1993-96) before joining the Major League club for the second half of the 1996 season...coached Elmirea (NY-Penn League) in 1993-94 and Portland (Eastern League) in 1995-96...began his coaching career as an assistant at Mesa (Ariz.) Community College in 1971...was the JV coach at Arizona State University in 1973 before spending the 1973-74 academic year as the assistant athletic director at Wichita State University...then began a nine-year career as assistant coach at the University of California-Riverside, where the teams won a pair of national championships...coached future big leaguers Barry Bonds, Mike Devereaux, Pat Listach, Fernando Vina and Ken Landreaux as collegians.

Playing career:
Spent three seasons (1969-71) in the San Diego Padres Minor League system...a true ballplayer saw time at first base, outfield, pitcher and catcher...played under Don Zimmer at Salt Lake City (AAA) in 1970, batting .302 in 98 games and appearing in 20 games as a reliever...despite being left-handed, Pentland was used as a catcher in 15 games for Lodi (A) in 1971.

UCR sophomore Brenda Martinez advanced to the 800-meter semifinals with a time of 2:04.11 at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.

Martinez finished fifth in her heat. The seminfinals are Saturday, with 16 runners competing for the final eight spots in Monday's final.

Several Highlanders will play in the Say No Classic league this summer. The league is divided into the Los Angeles and Pomona divisions.

Kyle Austin and Sean Cunningham will play for the team Entertainment Tonight in LA and Jalonni Diggs will play for Hank's Little Hoopers.

Cleavon Barlow and Aaron Scott will play for team 27&O in Pomona.

The LA games will be at the Hanger Athletic Xchange in Hawthorne and Cal Poly Pomona will host the Pomona teams. Games begin June 21 and the season ends Aug. 16.

For more information check: http://www.saynoclassic.com/index.html

UCR is holding several sports camps this summer. Here's the link for more information:
www.athletics.ucr.edu/administrative/camps.html

Outfielder Carl Uhl, drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 49th round, did not sign and is expected to return to UCR next season, coach Doug Smith said.

Uhl, a junior, led UCR in steals (23) and runs scored (54) and hit .272. He will play summer ball in Alaska. The deadline for signing a pro contract is Aug. 15.

The Highlanders' three incoming high school players that were drafted - Eddie Young (San Diego Christian), Matt Andriese (Redlands East Valley High), Robert Brantly (Temecula Chaparral) - did not sign pro contracts and are also expected to join the team this fall.

The UCR men's basketball team opens its season Nov. 15 at New Mexico State. The team also has confirmed road games at Colgate (Nov. 19), Loyola Marymount (Dec. 15), Hawaii (Dec. 23) and Denver (Dec. 28).

Nonconference home games include Southern Utah (Dec. 6) and Montana (Dec. 18). The schedule is not yet completed, but other home games could include Sacramento State and Northern Arizona.

New Mexico State reached the WAC tournament title game last season, losing 107-102 to Boise State in triple overtime and just missing an automatic NCAA bid. The Aggies finished 21-14.

Brenda Martinez placed 14th in Saturday's NCAA 1500-meter final at Drake Stadium.

The sophomore finished in 4:24.99, more than seven seconds off her personal best. Hannah England of Florida State won the title in 4:06.19.

The Highlanders' Brenda Martinez finished third in her heat of the 1500 with a time of 4:17.91 to advance to the NCAA championship finals.

Martinez's time was sixth fastest on the day. The finals are Saturday and will be televised on CBS.

Former UC Riverside men's assistant basketball coach Mark Wade has been placed
on probation for three years and sentenced to 150 days of work release
for embezzling thousands of dollars in university money.

Wade can have his conviction for embezzlement reduced from
a felony to a misdemeanor if he completes his sentence and pays back the
money he took from the university.
Wade, 42, was charged in July with embezzling more than $15,000, some of
which was meant to cover team expenses during road games in the
2006-07 season.

by staff writer Jose Arballo

Highlander second baseman Drew Garcia is expected to sign a contract with the Chicago White Sox today.

Garcia hit .344 and led the team with 51 RBI.

Pitcher Stephen Penney (Mariners) and Rob Waite (Tigers) and outfielder Carl Uhl (Rockies) have yet sign. Waite could sign as soon as Thursday and Penney could sign by the end of the week UCR assistant coach Randy Betten said.

Four Highlander women were named to the track and field All-region team on Tuesday.
Sophomore Brenda Martinez (1500 meters), seniors Lisa Lopez (1500) and Melissa Genisauski (discus) join sophomore triple jumper Allison Wilder on the list.

All placed in the top eight at this past weekend's west regional meet. Martinez finished third in the 1500 to earn a spot in the NCAA championships beginning June 11.

The Highlanders' Drew Garcia and Aaron Wible were named to the all-Big West first team while Joey Gonzales was selected to the second team.

Garcia, a junior second baseman, hit .344 and led the team with 51 RBI. He also led the team in doubles (14), total bases (103), and multi-hit games (26), including seven three-hit games.

Wible, a senior who played left field and first base, finished second on the team with 45 RBI and led the Big West with 28 RBI in conference games. Wible led the team with eight home runs and also finished with a .303 batting average.

Gonzales, a sophomore right fielder, was the team's hottest hitter over the second half of the season, raising his average to .330. He hit 10 doubles, three triples, and recorded 29 RBI to go along with his 23 multi-hit games. Last year's conference freshman of the year raised his average 80 points during conference play.

Women's basketball assistant Seton Sobolewski was named the new head coach at Idaho State on Tuesday.

Sobolewski was the Highlanders' recruiting coordinator and has been with the program for six years. He takes over an Idaho State team that has five postseason berths in the past eight years.

Larry Cunningham was named offensive player of the year and Cleavon Barlow was named defensive player of the year at the UCR men's basketball team banquet.

Cunningham, the team's lone senior, led the Highlanders in scoring at 16.3 points and had a team-high free throw percentage of .824. His scoring average was fourth best in the Big West and his free throw percentage ranked seventh in the conference. Cunningham finished his career as the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,502 points.

Barlow started the season as a backup point guard, but was moved to the wing midway through the season and developed into one of the team's top defenders. He also contributed on the offensive end, shooting 54.2 percent and averaging 5.1 points.

Other award winners included:
Christian Soto was named as the Highlanders' Mark Hall Spirit Award winner. The award is given to the player who positively impacts the basketball program and the university as a whole through his academic achievement, character, leadership, attitude, work ethic and consistency of effort. The award is named for former UCR basketball player Mark Hall who lost his life in an automobile accident prior to the 2006-07 season. Soto was also earned Big West Academic All-Conference and Co-Big West Best Hustle Player honors.

Aaron Scott was named the recipient of the team's Highlander Award which is given to the individual who accumulates the most positive marks throughout a season in four areas - team success, individual academic success, strength and conditioning and individual game play. Scott was UCR's second leading scorer and leading rebounder this season and also connected on 54.1 percent of his field goal attempts.

Sean Cunningham took home the team's Lunch Pail Hustle Award which is given to the player who impacts the team throughout the season by making the most hustle plays.

Despite a school best second-place finish at last week's Big West track and field championships, the Highlanders did not receive any of the postseason awards announced Wednesday.

Here are the winners:
Men
Track athlete of the year: Brent Gray, LBSU
Field athlete of the year: Chris Richardson, LBSU
Freshman of the year: Reindell Cole, CSUN
Coach of the year: Andy Sythe, LBSU

Women
Track athlete of the year: Sherrina Lofton, CSUN
Field athlete of the year: Sharon Day, Cal Poly
Freshman of the year: Phylicia Johnson, LBSU
Coach of the year: Don Strametz, CSUN

UC Riverside sophomore Marissa Alvidrez was named to the All-West Region Second Team Wednesday afternoon, one day after she and teammate Christin Songer earned Big West All-Conference honors. Alvidrez becomes just the second UCR softball player to be so honored joining Melissa Sanchez who was named All-West Region in 2006.

Alvidrez, a designated player and pitcher, led the Big West in hitting (.424) and slugging percentage (.722) while finishing second in on-base percentage (.517) and OPS (1.239) and third in home runs (11). Her 11 home runs set a school single-season record.

Songer, a senior pitcher, was named to the All-Big West second team after finishing third in the Big West with a 1.81 earned run average. She earned all five of the Highlanders' conference wins. Songer concluded her career at UCR as the program's all-time Division I leader in wins and strikeouts.

John Ramey is a sports anchor for KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO in Los Angeles. He also serves as the internet play-by-play voice for the UCR baseball team and contributed this blog from Sunday's win over UC Davis.

Can we start calling him Walkoff Wible? That's two huge Sunday conference wins that have been sealed by the clutch hitting of the Highlander cleanup man. Today, it was a majestic, no-doubt-about-it bomb to left field that gave the game and the series to UCR, beating Davis 7-6.
Riverside took two of three from the Aggies in a series where all three games were decided by one run. The win also further solidified their sole grasp on second place in the conference. Davis could have pulled into a tie with Riverside had they won Sunday. Instead of both teams being 11-7, UCR is now 12-6, trailing only 15-6 Cal State Fullerton.

UCR will undoubtedly need more heroics like Aaron Wible's if they are to travel either of the two most likely paths to the post season: catch and pass Cal State Fullerton and win the Big West outright (and defend their 2007 title, let's not forget), or finish at .500 and receive an at-large birth.

Want of heroism dogged UCR in darker days of 2008. Not so now, as they come down the stretch. And, not matter how this schizophrenic season is ultimately resolved, the unadulterated joy reverberating around the Riverside Sports Complex as Wible was mobbed at home plate is something we will all take with us as one of the unfortgettable moments of this season.

With such a poor nonconference and overall record (18-27) the Highlander baseball team has all but stopped worrying about an at-large berth to the postseason.

Even with Sunday's dramatic win over UC Davis, the math is not in UCR's favor. Teams must have at least a .500 record to earn an at-large berth, meaning the Highlanders would have to win all nine of their remaining games just to be eligible. Even then, a 6-21 nonconference mark (with three games to play) will likely take them out of consideration for an at-large bid.

The more realistic path to the postseason is as conference champion. Even as well as the Highlanders have played in the Big West - winning 9 of their past 11- their playoff hopes are essentially out of their hands. With Cal State Fullerton also winning on Sunday, the Titans maintain their three-game edge in the win column and hold the tiebreaker over UCR should the teams finish tied for first. The Titans have just three conference games remaining. They conclude the Big West season with a series at Long Beach State in two weeks.

Here are the remaining key Big West series:
UCR at UCSB next wekend
Long Beach State at Cal Poly next weekend
UC Irvine at UC Davis next weekend

UCR hosts Cal Poly in two weeks (May 23-25)
Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State
UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine

John Ramey is a sports anchor for KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO in Los Angeles. He also serves as the internet play-by-play voice for the UCR baseball team and contributed this blog from Saturday's loss to UC Davis.

UC Davis pitcher Brad McAtee did a funny thing. Despite looking altogether average through the first three innings, he was quietly masterful. Baseball is funny that way; the Aggie starter hardly looked like a world-beater in giving up two runs through the first three innings. However, form was pretty much a secondary consideration when he shut the Highlanders out through the next four innings, and ultimately left with his 7th win of the season. Great starts are not needed for wins, but good ones tend to be.