Weekend Notebook

Each Sunday I re-cap a few items of interest I've kept in my reporting notebook over the past week. 

A couple former Elk Grove High School athletes are now assistant coaches at Monterey Trail. Former Herd running back Tyrece Daniels will be helping football coach T.J. Ewing this fall, according the Mustangs’ athletic director Rick Arcuri.

He also said that Nick Vartanian, who was part of Elk Grove’s 1-2 pitching lineup along with David Hernandez on the Herd’s 2003 Section baseball championship team, will help new Mustang varsity head coach James Therriault. Vartanian has a younger brother on the baseball team. ...

Congrats to the Herd wrestlers for finishing second in the Division I-North meet this weekend. The full results are attached in the posting below. ....

Elk Grove's varsity baseball team played two seven-inning scrimmages Saturday at Clovis West. I would evaluate their performance as mixed. Rowdy Tellez looks terrific at the plate, so does promising freshman second baseman Nick Madrigal but Clovis beat up on the Herd pitchers in the first game. The rest of the EG lineup needs to "bring it," frankly, if this team will compete for the Section title.

I didn't stick around and see game two. Tellez was going to start on the mound in that game. He's supposed to be the ace of the staff this year. Pitching coach Jason Jimenez needs to bring along the other guys. ...

Spring training for Major League Baseball starts this week. Watch in the Citizen for our "Down On The Farm" to resume with the stats of our locals in the minors and majors. Expect Brad Kilby to decide whether he can resume his pro career after a pair of surgeries on his throwing shoulder. I hope he gets a chance, he's a free agent. 

It will be a decisive year for Dwight Childs with the Indian organization, too. Not only will we be watching his rise through the ranks, but also his former EG teammate Raymond Hernandez with the Diamondback organization. 

...

Citizen Sports Editor Jon Gudel and I have talked about doing regular updates each week on our local collegiate baseball and softball players. There's a long list of locals competing at that level. Please help me out by sending me an email if we forget someone.