Shawn Holcomb

School: El Dorado High

Sport: Baseball

Position: Pitcher/DH

Class: Senior

Holcomb, the designated hitter, helped Holcomb, the pitcher, in a dramatic way Thursday. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the score tied, Holcomb hit a three-run home run to give El Dorado a 5-2 victory over Cypress. Holcomb had taken over as pitcher in the top of the inning and retired the side in order, so he was directly responsible for his second victory of the week, improving his record to 9-1 this season. “It was a line drive that never got more than 10 feet off the ground,” El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. “He’s a strong boy.” That strength has also helped Holcomb improve as a pitcher, Gullotti said. Holcomb has two one-hitters this season. “He was a good pitcher last year, but he was 6-2 and 170 pounds then, and this year he’s 6-4, 205,” Gullotti said. “He’s much, much stronger now. It has made a major difference.” Tuesday, Holcomb limited Cypress to one hit and in five innings of a 15-0 victory. He also had four hits in four at-bats for the Empire League champion Golden Hawks (20-5, 13-2).

Other top performers:

Kevin Alexander, a Valencia sprinter who lowered his county-best 100-meter time to 10.72 seconds and qualified first at the Division 2-A preliminaries. Alexander also qualified in the 200, in 21.92.

Chad Carvin, a Laguna Hills swimmer who set Division 2-A records while winning the 200- and 500-yard freestyles in times of 1:37.80 and 4:21.10. His 500 time was the fastest in the nation a high school meet this season.

Charlie Davidson, a Saddleback hurdler who qualified first at the Division 3-A preliminaries in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles with times of 14.45 (wind aided) and 38.31.

Chau Nguyen, an Estancia badminton player who led a county sweep of the section individual championships, winning the boys’ singles title and joining Doan Nguyen to win the mixed doubles.