Purtell picked
for All-WAC squad

Matt Purtell was the lone University of Hawaii player on the All-Western Athletic Conference baseball first team, which was announced yesterday.

Purtell, a senior who batted .304 and led the conference with 25 stolen bases, was selected as the utility player.

UH freshman Cortland Wilson was named to the second team as the designated hitter. He finished with a .306 batting average.

Ryan Petersen, who topped the University of Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans with a .308 batting average, was named to the second team for the second consecutive season. Petersen played right field for Hilo.

Josh Labandeira, Fresno State's senior shortstop who hit .366, was named WAC Player of the Year.

Right-hander Kenny Baugh, a senior from Rice who was 12-2 with a 1.82 earned run average, was selected WAC Pitcher of the Year.

Freshman of the Year honors went to Rice outfielder Austin Davis and Bob Bennett of Fresno State was named WAC Coach of the Year.

All selections are based on voting by the league coaches.

Also yesterday, UH designated hitter Gregg Omori was named the WAC Player of the Week after hitting .714 in the three games against UH-Hilo.

Omori, a junior, was 10-for-14 with six doubles. He scored five runs and had 11 runs batted in to help UH end the season with a six-game winning streak.

Fresno State right-handed pitcher Bob Runyon was named Pitcher of the Week.

Hawaii’s own

Benny Agbayani, Mets: The St. Louis School and Hawaii Pacific University alumnus was 1-for-3 in New York's 6-3 win over Montreal. Agbayani doubled in the second and was hit by a pitch and scored in the sixth. He is now hitting .305.

Mike Fetters, Dodgers: The Iolani graduate did not pitch in Los Angeles' 6-3 loss to Colorado.

Kern earns NCAA postgraduate scholarship

Punahou School graduate Sean Kern, a two-time national water polo player of the year at UCLA, was awarded one of 26 NCAA postgraduate scholarships yesterday.

Kern, who led the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1999 and 2000, was the MVP of the NCAA Tournament the past two years, the 2000 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year and a three-time first-team MPSF selection. He was also a member of the U.S. Olympic water polo team this past summer in Sydney.

Huskers' Komine named Big 12 Pitcher of Year

Former Kalani High baseball star Shane Komine, a junior at Nebraska, yesterday was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.

Komine, 12-1 with a 3.63 ERA, led the conference with 127 strikeouts.

Strickland headed to Gonzaga University

Kyle Strickland, a midfielder/striker from Kapaa High School, plans to continue his soccer career at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.

Strickland was a Kauai Interscholastic Federation all-star selection his sophomore and senior seasons. He spent his junior season as an exchange student in Japan playing soccer for Moriyama High School.

"Kyle is a very talented player who can be a scoring threat with his speed and quickness," said Gonzaga head coach Einar Thorarinsson.

Taylor chooses Washington State

Tiffany Taylor, a co-captain at Punahou her senior season, has decided to play soccer for Washington State University.

Taylor, who plays left back or left outside midfield, also was recruited by Syracuse and Boston University.

"She has a very good left foot. Her strength is her sense of team, everything revolves around the team and Tiff is last," said Jorge Barbosa, Punahou girls head coach.