Six Northridge Reserves Are Off Baseball Squad

Five Cal State Northridge baseball players were informed by Coach Mike Batesole that they no longer are on the team and another has decided not to return. All played sparingly this season.

Three are pitchers: sophomore right-hander Britt Cornwell, a transfer from The Master’s who had a team-high 8.64 earned-run average in 8 2/3 innings; junior left-hander Carey Novits, a transfer from Citrus College who was 3-0 with a 5.85 ERA in 20 innings; and junior left-hander Brian Downing, a transfer from Oxnard College who had a 6.88 ERA in 17 innings.

Also no longer on the team are junior infielder Mike McNeely, who batted .237 in 38 at-bats and served mainly as a late-inning defensive replacement, and Ramon Ricabal, a junior first baseman who appeared in one game.

Junior outfielder Jeremy Conrad, who hit .238 in 42 at-bats after batting .268 in 112 at-bats as a sophomore, has decided not to play his senior year. Conrad has had ongoing shoulder problems and is unable to throw well.

Coffman is top Knight: Two-time All-American Neil Coffman has been named the new boys’ and girls’ volleyball coach at Notre Dame High.

Coffman, an outside hitter at Cal State Northridge from 1989-91, replaces Shaney Fink.

Fink resigned after three seasons with the boys and two with the girls in order to pursue a beach volleyball career.

Coffman ranks among the Matadors’ top five leaders in career kills, attempts, digs and block solos.

The former Chatsworth High standout was an assistant with the Knights the past two years.

Jun leaps in: Wonmeen Jun has been hired to coach the Valley College women’s water polo team that will start play in the fall.

Jun, 24, last season coached the Alemany High swim team and is a former water polo coach at Crespi.

He played water polo at Valley in 1991-92 and also swam, holding the school record of 54.8 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke.

New Bulldog boss: Danny Young has been named Highland High boys’ soccer coach, replacing Lem Galvao, who resigned after the Bulldogs struggled to a 7-13-4 record last season.

Young, a former player at Half Moon Bay High and Santa Clara University, was a Highland assistant last season. Galvao will remain as the program’s junior varsity coach.

College bound: Bryan Green of Littlerock High, who finished third in the 1995 and ’96 Southern Section Division III cross-country championships, will attend UCLA in the fall and try to walk on to the cross-country and track teams.

Green will run in the Division I races of the 1,600 and 3,200 meters in the Southern Section divisional track and field championships at Cerritos College on Saturday.

Antelope Valley pitcher Jeremy Holiday has signed with the University of San Francisco.

La Reina High setter/outside hitter Alyssa Hain has committed to Cal State Northridge.

The 5-foot-8 Hain was a two-time member of The Times’ All-Area team and a four-time All-Tri-Valley League selection.

Carlton Frasier, a 6-foot-6 center at Valley College, accepted a scholarship to Panhandle State in Goodwell, Okla.

On to Utah: The Valley United Blast under 17 boys club soccer team has been granted a wild-card berth in the 16-team Western Regional, June 23-28, in Salt Lake City.

The regional’s winner will advance to the four-team national tournament in July in Arizona. The team is comprised of standout area players, including midfielders Marvin Quijano (Reseda High) and Chad Schutt (Camarillo), goalkeeper Juan Plascencia, forwards Miro Bilavar (Grant) and defenders Zach Schwartz (Harvard-Westlake) and Justin Canel (Crespi).