The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 23

BASEBALLBASKETBALL Morning Briefing C2 Scoreboard C4 Baseball C5 Friday June 12 2009 The Modesto Bee modbeecom Leading Off Cubs surprise Kaepemick with selection Focus is on football but flattered to be drafted recting the spread attack accounting for 3979 yards and 39 touchdowns last fall same team and remaining said Loretelli Cal State power-hitting center fielder were both told by scouts that as seniors someone was likely going to pick us Both Warriors went late in Major League first-year player draft Thursday though their dream of suiting up for the same team is over: Loretelli the former Beyer High star who has CSU career home run SEE PAGE C-4 DRAFT CSU Stanislaus roommates chosen in the late rounds by Richard Estrada restradamodbeecom Kyle Loretelli and Eric Federico hatched their plan prior to the baseball season and despite its far-fetched conclusion they nearly pulled it off and I were roommates so we talked a lot about being drafted by the The Chicago Cubs though forgotten what Kaepernick can do on the mound: They selected him in the 43rd round of Major League first-year player draft Kaepernick By Richard Estrada BEE STAFF WRITER The last time Colin Kaepemick fired a fastball past a batter was in the spring of 2006 when the right-hander was still pitching at Pitman High The 6-foot 6-inch star tossed his glove aside though when he took a football scholarship at the University of Nevada Since his arrival he has become one of the most prolific quarterbacks while di- Kaepernick was one of the final-day surprises catching not only himself but Neva- THE MODESTO BEE SCOREBOARD Diamondbacks 2 Giants 1 Max Scherzer allowed three hits over 7 Innings Page C-5 Athletics 4 Twins 3 Davis singled to drive in the winning run in the 9th Page C-5 ALL-STAR GAMES SET Fifty-seven of the best baseball players will converge on John Thurman Field Saturday night for the Modesto Sunrise Rotary 20th Stanislaus County High School All-Star Baseball Game There will be two games one for small-school players and one for the large schools See Page C-4 COVRIG FIFTH IN LAS VEGAS TOURNEY Johansen High senior Daniel Covrig placed fifth at the Las Vegas Junior Open an American Junior Golf Association tournament Thursday at Henderson Nev Covrig shot rounds of 76 73 and 72 at Anthem Country Club and finished six strokes behind the winner among a field of 54 HE'S A CLASS ACT Turlock Sam Smith sinks a birdie at the Masters Tournament on May 11 DEBBIE N0DA dnodamodbeecom Watch a video interview with Sam Smith by clicking the player embedded in this story at wwwmodbee comsports Turlock Sam Smith the best golfer dwelling on a disappointing finish BY RON AGOSTINI ragostini modbee com Sam Smith announced to the world settle for nothing less than a state golf title After all he had accomplished everything else at Turlock High: Four straight Central California Conference championships three Sac-Joaquin Section titles and two straight Section Masters titles The script had been written but a funny thing about golf it doesn't always follow the script career end in state-title glory at Poppy Hills It ended last month in a wind tunnel at The Reserve at Spanos Park His 77 a decent score given the three-club gale blowing that day nevertheless gave him fourth place at the Section Masters and a ticket home for good Many teenagers would have thrown a fit So would more than a few ambition-driven parents To some he had set himself up to fail reaction? He shook the hand smiled and doffed his cap summarizes who Sam Turlock coach Ben Culala said he was disappointed but to him SEE PAGE C-3 ALL-DISTRICT Schedule for All-Stanislaus teams: Sunday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Today: Golf Saturday: Sunday: Softball The District Baseball Soccer Tennis Swimming Track SEE PAGE C-4 KAEPERNICK Nuts still too good for Ports Modesto continues recent dominance with 3-game sweep BY BRIAN VANDERBEEK bvanderbeekmodbeecom The best thing to happen for the fan-based baseball rivalry between Modesto and Stockton would for the Highway 99 Series to be competitive But through the last two seasons the Nuts-Ports rivalry has been lopsided in very extreme ways with the teams finding very little middle ground The trend continued Thursday night as Modesto behind six scoreless innings from starter Cory Riordan completed a three-game sweep of Stockton with a 4-2 victory in front of 2624 fans at John Thurman Field The Nuts now 12 games over 500 for the first time this season pulled within a game of idle Visalia in the race for the California League North Division first-)ialf title with 10 games re- SEE PAGE C-3 NUTS top golfers vying for City title bee Staff Reports Modestans Jim Atchison and Jane Irwin will defend their respective and titles as the 27th Modesto City Golf Championship tees off with a field of 170 this weekend at Creekside and Dryden Park Atchison a graduate of pair-ngS-Ceres High is Pagc4 paired with Jamie Looper for first round at Creekside The twosome and Ryan Carter tied after 36 holes last year before Atchison prevailed in the playoff Atchison reached par-5 first hole with a 5-iron and carefully three-putted for the victory Also in the 43-man championship flight are former winners Jeff Thomas (1991 and Peter Canevari and Ken Webb of Turlock The field features six-time winner Marsha Lutz of Walnut Creek two-time winner Katy Joslin of Waterford and Irwin Lutz won the City in 2007 and Joslin a former State Amateur finalist and a graduate of Hughson High won in and Irwin is a former Stanislaus County sheriffs deputy The championship first flight and division begin Saturday at Creekside while the senior championship second third and fourth flights start at Dryden The players rotate courses for second and finaL round IV MAN AGREES TO TRANSFER RONALDO Manchester United accepted a world-record transfer offer for Cristiano Ronaldo (pictured) from Real Madrid on Thursday clearing the FIFA player of the year to negotiate terms with the Spanish club The Premier League champions said it received an unconditional offer of 80 million pounds or $131 million for the 24-year-old midfielder Unlike last off-season Manchester United is willing to allow the Portuguese star to join a major European rival See Page C-2 LEFTY RETURNS WITH SOLID ROUND Returning to work for the first time since disclosing last month that his wife has breast cancer Phil Mickelson got off to a solid start in the St Jude Classic with a 2-under 68 that left him four shots behind Brian Gay See Page C-2 ROSE APOLOGIZES FOR PHOTOGRAPH Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose (pictured) said he used poor judgment" in posing for a photo flashing a gang sign The Rookie of the Year said in a statement issued through the Bulls that the photo circulating on the Internet was taken at a party he went to while at the University of Memphis It was as a joke a bad one I now admit" Rose said Rose the overall No 1 pick in the 2008 NBA draft who led the Bulls to the playoffs was already under a cloud cast by an NCAA investigation of major violations at Memphis during the only season he played there Lakers win in OT lead 3-1 When the clock expired Bryant trying to win his first championship without ShaquiOe looked at Tiger Woods and wiped sweat from his brow in relief Fisher who has bailed out the Lakers in plenty of big games before thrust both arms in the air in triumph The Lakers can wrap up their 15th ti- SEE PAGE C-3 NBA Missed FTs down stretch prove costly for Orlando By Tom Withers The Associated Press ORLANDO Fla Kobe Bryant is one win from an NBA title to call his own Derek Fisher got him there Fisher forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in regulation and then drilled another one with 313 seconds to go in overtime as the Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Orlando Magic 99-91 in Game 4 on Thursday night to open a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals It was the first time since 1984 when Magic Lakers and Larry Celtics hooked up that two games in a fljCials have gone to overtime JOHN BAZEM0RETHE ASSOCIATED PRESS Dwight Howard right and LA's Kobe Bryant fight for possession in the third quarter If Game 4 on Thursday.